My life is a constant tension between

a. Wanting to be All The Prepared, meet All The #Deadlines, make Everyone Happy, Time All The Management

b. Wanting to # live my life, not #grind it away; to #create, #explore, #love my loved ones; to minimize the % of my life involving #email; to not beat my head against things I don't enjoy

Thus, my life looks like a rolling disaster, sometimes, to some kinds of people.

Ah yes, the art of setting arbitrary #deadlines to keep your engineers perpetually on edge. Because nothing screams #productivity like working nights and weekends for a deadline that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of #management. Maybe next time, try a to-do list instead of a fictitious ticking clock.
https://newsletter.manager.dev/p/using-fake-deadlines-without-driving #workplaceculture #engineerlife #stress #HackerNews #ngated

Using fake deadlines without driving your engineers crazy

https://newsletter.manager.dev/p/using-fake-deadlines-without-driving

Deadlines? Und nu?

https://no-bullshit-agile.de/nba59-deadlines-im-agilen-arbeiten.html

While my editor is reminding me I need to write, he is very much in the way of me writing.

My procrastination cycle:

Ignore deadline
Find weird distractions (alphabetizing spices, anyone?)
Panic at the last minute
Here’s my latest article on the chaos of self-sabotage. "*
https://bit.ly/4iBVjIe?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
#Procrastination #WritingCommunity #Humor #Relatable #Deadlines

Thank you, and good luck everyone!

I got my lease renewal offer. The website says I have until April 5th to answer.

Then I get a text from someone at the rental company saying that I need to answer by April 1st.

I pointed out the discrepancy. They bumped it up the chain of command.

If I see a discrepancy, I speak up.

Working on the thing

Making other thing wait its turn

Leaving shiny thing off the list altogether

My wife, Chris (who writes under multiple pennames) wrote 21 pages on her upcoming novel last night, completing a draft that she has sent off to her editor. Rewrites expected (possibly lots, she's out of her normal genre), but the mood is celebratory.

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
-- Douglas Adams

#Wisdom #Quotes #DouglasAdams #Deadlines

#Photography #Panorama #CoyoteButtesNorth #TheWave #VermilionCliffs #Utah

Staying out of wife Chris's way. She's up to her neck in the secret novel project that she's doing for a well-known gaming franchise.

Two Ways To Ask For Something To Be Done Before A Work Break

There are two ways to ask for something to be done before a break where everyone in the country is pausing work for at least a day and possibly traveling.

One way is to acknowledge that the holiday is coming up and ask for a rush to get it launched prior to the holiday and put some money behind it for the effort.

The other way is to just say “let’s get this done by Wednesday” and that’s it.

Both projects have been going on for quite a while. The first one is already launched. The second will hopefully get done today. But, the second one really perturbs me for a number of reasons.

1. No acknowledgement that the holiday is coming up and the push might not be practical.
2. No knowledge of what’s in the hopper prior the holiday.
3. Not even a whiff of acknowledgement that this is an ask that is a bit forward.
4. Compensation? No where in sight.

Look, it’s all through email. Tone and inflection get lost in email all the time. That’s why writing an email, then taking a step back, then re-reading before sending is sometimes the best.

Often adding a word or a phrase like “Is it possible…” works wonders.

I’m guilty of not doing the best job of this. But I’m striving to get better.

I Foresee a Bad Day Ahead

I don’t know what’s going on with me today, but I have a bad feeling about this. About everything.

I am working from home for the first time this week and it feels glorious. I have a deadline today that I should be able to meet easily. Why then do I feel this sense of impending doom? I went through all of the email from my half day out of the office yesterday and I just sense that I am going to be pecked to death by the universe today.

We are going to Vermont tomorrow to see the kids. Maybe that’s the reason I feel off today. Maybe my heart is already driving North and as a result the rest of me is just pissed off that we still have a full day to go. I don’t know. We’re going to meet up with the kids for an NCAA hockey game. UMass Lowell (both my and my wife’s alma mater) at University of Vermont (my step daughter’s alma mater and employer, and my step son’s current school). It’s going to be fun, assuming Lowell cleans Vermont’s clock. Both teams are doing well in the early going. I am hoping for a fun game. Unlike the Bruins game last night where they lost in Dallas 7-2. I am just going to make pretend that game didn’t happen, m’kay?

I don’t know about this sense of impending doom. Hopefully I work myself out of it. Wish me luck.

Heute neu: Staffel 3 von Deadlines in der ZDFmediathek #Deadlines #HeuteNeu #PlayByDay
https://www.serienjunkies.de/news/staffel-deadlines-zdfmediathek-124534.html?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=News%20(124534)#sjnews

Feel for people naturalized as US citizens before the presidential elections but after the voter registration deadline.

So near yet so far.

#Deadlines

Phew