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Saturday, January 17, 2009

Overloaded?


Oh no no no! We are wise, we are assertive. We don't take extra work, or let anyone give it to us.

Ya right.

A set of 'to-dos' (touche`- corporate lingo!) bullets are usually jotted down mentally before one joins a company. An experienced IT professional typically adds in the the following :

  • Family is priority. Try not to go home late.
  • Don't take extra work. In the larger scheme of things, it really doesn't matter.

I am one of these typical experienced IT professionals. I had mentally ticked and cross-checked these bullet points before coming to the new office and taking up new assignments.

Then the inevitable happened - Seemingly impossible and frankly unnecessary deadlines. Now remember I had ticked the mental bullets? So I tried using tact with my manager, "I will not work over the weekend as I have other work to be done". (Ok, thats not tactical, but what would be in the face of a deadline?)


Tact definitely didn't work, and before I knew it, I was moving along with the demand and felt like I was towed away in the hurry-flurry of the corporate life!

Lesson learnt:
In any profession, the game of tick-tact-tow is always played. More often than not, we win it with all three crossed out, but come out grumbling.

Disclaimer:
I love my job. In fact, I seriously think this is the most fun job ever. But hey, what is mused will obviously be put here.


4 comments:

Kunal Chandra said...

I think nowadays most people of our generation have that realisation (or the right ticks) but as you rightly pointed out in the hustle bustle of office environment when for a moment you lose all sense of whats not visble (home & family) getting towed away by what is (promotions, deadlines, boss, competition), is not a rare possibility.
Tick-tac-tow and the way you built it was brilliant!!!

Anonymous said...

i thought u were going to join me in 'cribbing about boss' club, but not, crib abt work, but not.
work life balance is one area where the vellaikaaran has managed very well and we have a mountain to climb. as long as 'overload' does not become a habit it is not a bad thing.
sooper lesson learnt. tact, ha ha! :-)
tick is HR related,
tact is losing battle against boss
tow is compromise

when u become the boss, tact and tow begin to mean different things

Anonymous said...

All work and no play makes tom a dull boy :)
Once in a while, you can work in super hectic schedules, thats fun. Stretching yourself. But that shouldnt be made a habbit. Good you told NO, most of us suffer coz of over promising and under delivering. People gotta know the art of Saying NO.

Archana said...

Kunal,
Thanks!

Jiju,
Nah, like my boss and my work - it was justa case of rotten timing!
Need to work a lot on tact though!
Pry tell me how it is different for the boss!

Bala,
My No never worked, and I still underdelivered! :)Anyway, it ended well, so no complaints here!