Firefighting

The members of the fire service do a great job often in hazardous conditions, but in the computer community 'firefighting' has a somewhat different meaning. To a computer person, 'firefighting' is the activity of spending a lot of time fixing systems which have broken. It usually implies a feeling of frustration because of the almost certain knowledge that it will break again, either through a lack of maintenance, or because of much heavier usage than it was originally designed to handle. The problem is of course self-perpetuating because those staff who would be working on building a better replacement are spending their time 'fixing' the old system.

Firefighting comes about because of a lack of planning, resources or both. Maybe managers are reluctant to set aside money for additional machines to cope with future growth, or the growth comes faster or sooner than expected, or maybe it is having insufficient number of trained staff who can plan ahead. Whatever the cause, once in a firefighting situation, the only way out is to have more staff (even if only temporarily) so that some can keep fixing the current system whilst others design and build the replacement. A word of advice, however - do not leave all the existing staff to firefight whilst new staff are brought in to build the replacement. This will only lead to resentment. The existing staff must be given the opportunity to take some part of building the new system. If they are not experienced enough, then it should be seen as a training opportunity for them.

Procrastination - (more or less)

Joking aside, putting off a job until some other time (usually 'tomorrow') it one of the root causes of projects not being completed. This applies both at work and at home. How often have we said, or heard "I'll do it tomorrow"? Often, of course it then is a case that "tomorrow never comes" and the work does not get finished.
So how can we overcome this problem? Firstly by recognising that it exists, and then by planning. Maybe the person is overloaded and cannot do the work (perhaps being too tired). Or maybe there is little or no incentive to have the task completed. To find a solution, several options need to be considered. Is the work really required or can it be abandoned? Is there someone else who could possibly complete the work? Can the priorities of all the competing jobs be changed so that the job being considered becomes more important and so be done in place of other tasks? Is lack of progress a sign that training is required? If there are no competing tasks, then perhaps an incentive is needed to have this work completed.
When developing software using the Agile and scrum, certain principles are clear. Holding regular reviews of progress will show up those who are not getting work completed, and limiting a working week to 40 hours should mean that nobody becomes too tired to do their work.
These same principles can be applied elsewhere also - home, charity groups. Without setting goals and reviewing progress are needed in all activities. But a word of warning - do not let the setting and achieving goals become your only concern and distract you from seeing the 'wider picture'.

Procrastination

I thought I'd write a bit about procrastination, but I'm rather tired, so I'll do it tomorrow!

growth and change

There is no standing still. There is either growth or decay. When we plant a small tree, we support it by providing a post beside it and gently tie the young tree to the support. If there is no support we risk the young tree being broken before it is strong enough to survive on its own. But if we tie the support too tightly we can kill the tree by stopping it from growing.
In the same way we support our children by being there for them when they need us, but not being too restrictive. Sure we need to impose rules, but we must also allow them to make mistakes and still give them our loving support.

So when it comes to the world of work, how then do we expect to bring in new work practices without providing support for the staff who are affected? Training, support and care are just as much needed by adults as they are needed by children or plants.