Growing up, this was the last week of summer for me every year. When I was a child in Virginia Beach, school started the day after Labor Day every year, which is next Monday in the US. This was our last chance to sleep in, enjoy the ocean, and stay out late without commitments. Starting next week we'd be back in school, up early, with homework to do every night.

As an adult, the end of summer doesn't really stand out anymore. Corporate changes are usually at the beginning of the year or in July, so it's the end of June or December that are slower times. September is often the beginning of conference season for me, and I've usually been preparing for travel in September, as I am this year. I'll be in San Diego in a little over a week for VS Live (if you want to join me, use the code Jones).

I hope that most people have busy times and slow times at work. If you're constantly busy and fighting fires, life is not good. That leads to stress, unhealthy living, and burnout. It's not sustainable over time, at least not if you want to keep producing high quality work. I've lived in those situations and they're neither enjoyable, nor the times when I've been at my most effective.

When work is slower, I naturally slow down a little and appreciate that I can take more time to write, answer emails and messages with more detail, and think more carefully about situations. I also use the time to get ahead administrative tasks that I sometimes put off. For me, this is producing and scheduling things I'll need later. This is often a time when I'll write questions or editorials for the future.

These are often the pieces I'm more pleased or proud of. I have time to work through details and spend more time reviewing my work. These are often the best questions I write.

As a developer, this was the time I might refactor code I'm not pleased with, or tackle some niggling piece of work that I know is needed, but never has priority. As a DBA, this is when I refactor scripts and alerts, do more maintenance, maybe add some automation for tasks that I've just been doing manually because I don't have time to do anything else. If I were  still a dev or DBA, this is when I'd be experimenting and practicing using AI as a lever to make myself more effective.

When you have slower times, what tasks do you tackle? Documentation? Improvements? What else might not get done when the pace is a little more hectic? Let me know today.