What I've learnt over the years is that people don't last around because they're the most brilliant, but because they're good people. Honesty, integrity and a sense of having each other's back is important, as important as raw skills.
I've worked with extremely smart people and people that aren't that bright, but committed and helpful. Companies are organisms made of humans. Not all ranks and not all positions require the one-type of human. That is a fallacy most Startups tend to pretend.
When it comes to personal productivity, a big part of it is your own assessment of what you've actually done today/this week/this month. There are weeks where you actually have actionable work that you can push through in a reasonable amount of time. Some other weeks, you have to rely on other team, other people with different priorities and you're struggling to measure any positive outcome, yet you've been very busy.
Overall, my advice is make sure you're a net positive to your team and the company. Cut the crap, and just make sure that you carry your weight in advancing the company. Sometimes, it means staying out of the way, sometimes it means assisting others, sometimes it means coding for 8 hours straight.
The larger the company, the larger the team, the less an individual can just sit down and do the thing. It's unfortunate but that's the way the industry grew. So much money flowed into this industry over the years and now we carry a ton of dead weight that is yet necessary for this industry to run.
The fact is, with multiple teams and work streams, it's virtually impossible for anyone to claim they're 100% busy every week, or that they're achieving a lot. We have to cut the acronyms and keywords bullshit sometimes and just admit the fact that some weeks we make great strides and some weeks we just pedal in the sand; and it's not anyone's particular fault (if it is, repeatedly, then they need to go). Because overall, most people want to feel like they're achieving great things, no one feels good feeling useless. So enabling people to achieve things net positive is extremely important, as much as cutting dead weight. No one sets off to pedal in the sand and feel like a fraud. If you're in a deadlock situation, approach your manager and say so, maybe you can transition to a different position or look for a different position where you can make a difference. Overall you only have one life, and work is a massive part of that, so honesty towards your own bottom line is as important as the business'.
What I've learnt over the years is that people don't last around because they're the most brilliant, but because they're good people. Honesty, integrity and a sense of having each other's back is important, as important as raw skills.
I've worked with extremely smart people and people that aren't that bright, but committed and helpful. Companies are organisms made of humans. Not all ranks and not all positions require the one-type of human. That is a fallacy most Startups tend to pretend.
When it comes to personal productivity, a big part of it is your own assessment of what you've actually done today/this week/this month. There are weeks where you actually have actionable work that you can push through in a reasonable amount of time. Some other weeks, you have to rely on other team, other people with different priorities and you're struggling to measure any positive outcome, yet you've been very busy.
Overall, my advice is make sure you're a net positive to your team and the company. Cut the crap, and just make sure that you carry your weight in advancing the company. Sometimes, it means staying out of the way, sometimes it means assisting others, sometimes it means coding for 8 hours straight.
The larger the company, the larger the team, the less an individual can just sit down and do the thing. It's unfortunate but that's the way the industry grew. So much money flowed into this industry over the years and now we carry a ton of dead weight that is yet necessary for this industry to run.
The fact is, with multiple teams and work streams, it's virtually impossible for anyone to claim they're 100% busy every week, or that they're achieving a lot. We have to cut the acronyms and keywords bullshit sometimes and just admit the fact that some weeks we make great strides and some weeks we just pedal in the sand; and it's not anyone's particular fault (if it is, repeatedly, then they need to go). Because overall, most people want to feel like they're achieving great things, no one feels good feeling useless. So enabling people to achieve things net positive is extremely important, as much as cutting dead weight. No one sets off to pedal in the sand and feel like a fraud. If you're in a deadlock situation, approach your manager and say so, maybe you can transition to a different position or look for a different position where you can make a difference. Overall you only have one life, and work is a massive part of that, so honesty towards your own bottom line is as important as the business'.