Bluuergh, Firebreak, Pi Shaped People
Bluuergh!
I picked up some sort of stomach bug on Tuesday which pretty much hammered my ability to be all that productive for the couple of days that followed. One benefit of working from home whilst not feeling 100% is that well timed power naps are a very useful coping mechanism for getting through the day!
Firebreak
The team have just finished a humongous bit of work and I’ve felt quite militant about preserving some space on the other side of it to click down a few gears, recuperate and celebrate moving something to the DONE column.
Of course, not all work comes to a stop, but at least it provides some light and shade instead of trying to optimise for 100% productivity all of the time, which was always unrealistic, and especially so as we navigate a global pandemic!
IMHO, these ‘firebreaks’ are fairly essential to stop work from feeling like an ultra marathon that is only broken up by holiday leave. When you spend ages working on something, it can feel quite jarring when it comes to an end. Not least the absence of thinking about the work (which is sometimes a welcome relief!) but also the relationships that are forged around the work.
Having some time and space to acknowledge those thoughts and feelings is probably a healthy thing to do.
T, Pi and Comb shaped people
I’ve previously pondered that a smaller organisation that wants to intentionally design services for people needs will need a multi-disciplinary team to do the work.
The members of the team will likely need to wear different hats depending on what sort of work needs doing because there won’t be the luxury of having a speciality per person. What does recruitment for these people look like? I took to Twitter with this question…
What did I learn?
- General job applications or job roles with ‘no title’ can help attract a broader range people.
- Starting with a generalised job role and then training to fill the desired skill gaps may be an alternative route.
- T, Pi or Comb shaped people are often found via networks or communities.
- Recruiters can struggle to fathom out what these people look like from their CV’s.