Archive for the 'Work & Career' Category

• 5.5.07 "Ambition Creep" is posted in Best Of, Reflections, Work & Career

In the software world they talk about too many features making it into a product thereby diluting its core functionality. This makes the software experience confusing and less valuable to its users. The term for this is feature creep. The same can be said of ambition–there are so many things to do with our lives and we can’t possibly do all of them well. We may try though, and at a certain point we can lose focus and stray from both what we’re good at and what we really enjoy. Then, looking back, we might wonder whether it was worth it to start down so many paths rather than traveling far on one of them. I feel like I’m constantly subjected to this ambition creep.

Last year I redid this blog and started technotheory, hired two new people, refocused the business on Office design as much as Office training. And personally I joined two new book clubs and resolved to hold some sort of party once per month. Here I am in May of 2007 with all these new things to maintain that I still believe in, and I want to do so much more. I want to start a social group in DC that’s passionate about technology more in the way people are in the Bay Area. Next month I start a series of business-oriented classes with the Board of Trade. I want to hire more people. Oh, and I want to take guitar lessons, dance lessons, and an extended vacation. By the way, there’s that new Murakami book, The Four Hour Work Week, the new CS3 suite to play with, and… (more…)

• 11.26.06 "Yet another entry about balance…" is posted in Reflections, Work & Career

One of my goals for next year is to enjoy life outside of work more. I don’t know if that’ll take the form of working less/smarter, reading more/lighter, or what…but this weekend I’ve been continually reminded of balance and big decisions. On Thanksgiving, I read Nicole Krauss’ The History of Love–which, amongst other topics, questioned how the big decisions in our earlier years will affect us throughout our lives–but how we can act on them. Last night I saw Click with my family; it’s a cute story essentially about work-life balance. And then browsing a bookstore in Central Square tonight Chris and I came across Stephan Rechtschaffen’s Timeshifting, a novel about our perception of time. One quote that caught my attention:

The time management taught at business seminars is essentially designed to make you more materially productive… Once one project is finished–if you’ve allocated your time wisely–you’ll have time for the next…. But this simply turns up the speed on the treadmill of our lives–and, to the applause of those around us, we run faster. The reward for those who “manage” time well is usually just more to do.

I remember when I first began getting clients and I thought that by offering them ways to save time they’d be able to work less, maybe even spend more time with their families. But that assumption was naive–very rarely do people work less just because they can work smarter. I certainly haven’t. (more…)

• 8.29.06 "Consistency and Risk" is posted in Reflections, Work & Career

A long time ago I wrote about minimizing the distance between who I was and who I wanted to be. Whether or not I got any closer to that, I see the same challenge now in my business–it’s very difficult to take on the types of projects I’d like to when I’m just a small company with more ideas than solid resources.

I’ve thought a lot about the different avenues to getting the absolute sharpest folks–finding more contractors, offering equity compensation, taking out loans, giving up, etc. I really hate being young in a small business, and also I struggle with staying optimistic while I take on various risks. (more…)