July 19, 2018 at 8:38 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Challenge of Failure and of Being Unwired
July 20, 2018 at 12:02 am
Hi Steve
This must have been one of the most valuable blogs I have read from you in years. I couldn't agree with you more on this topic. I tend to also feel responsible for everything and want to stay on top of things all the times for the systems that I am responsible for. This week I am back from leave, I took 3 leaves of week for the first time in 20 years 🙂 and did not answer any calls from my work. My team was able to handle everything in my absence with just one minor hiccup when I returned. As we get older we only realize the value of rest. I think this is something we should teach our kids. Thank you for sharing this, this proves that we are all only human after all 🙂
Regards
Eugene
Failure is an event not a person: Zig Ziglar
July 20, 2018 at 1:33 am
Have a great break Steve! Turn that switch off for a bit.
July 20, 2018 at 2:06 am
I've just got back from a 2 week cruise around Scotland, Iceland and Ireland. I deliberately didn't take any form of electronic device, didn't watch the news, avoided the onboard newspaper.
When I got back my Garmin watch synchronised with its app and told me that I wasn't dead, just incredibly relaxed. I can recommend a total break, Iceland is amazing, Ireland is definitely on my visit again list.
When I got back to work those tasks that were urgent and required a handover hadn't been touched so they clearly weren't that urgent.
July 20, 2018 at 2:39 am
David.Poole - Friday, July 20, 2018 2:06 AMI've just got back from a 2 week cruise around Scotland, Iceland and Ireland. I deliberately didn't take any form of electronic device, didn't watch the news, avoided the onboard newspaper.When I got back my Garmin watch synchronised with its app and told me that I wasn't dead, just incredibly relaxed. I can recommend a total break, Iceland is amazing, Ireland is definitely on my visit again list.
When I got back to work those tasks that were urgent and required a handover hadn't been touched so they clearly weren't that urgent.
The older you get you realise a lot of the urgency of whatever tasks is purely manufactured. Of course there are real deadlines imposed by various events and the skill is to prioritise based on the real requirements not what some marketing guy has gotten het up about. For most of us, no-one is going to die.
July 20, 2018 at 6:03 am
I loved today's blog! This is just so true!
July 20, 2018 at 6:45 am
I've been working at my current position long enough to get 3 weeks a year. As I'm getting older I make a point to take 1 week's vacation a year, no excuses. On that week I am required to take my laptop "just in case", but happily my boss (who really isn't an IT type) can stagger through typical non-emergency issues, so long as he has a checklist of what to do.
Surprisingly enough even as a lone wolf IT person I generally don't get any calls during that week. (I think I've gotten 1 call in the last 5 years during vacation).
What about the other two weeks, you ask?
One week is used "by day" when I need a doctor's appt or the like. Sometimes I take off my birthday or get a long weekend. The other week, well, it rolls over. I think I have 6 weeks of vacation saved up now, it's always bothersome to burn some of that so I don't lose it (we're only allowed 7 weeks rollover). Very annoying to have to take time off in the middle of a development hot streak, you know? 🙂
July 20, 2018 at 7:24 am
Nice post today! I take a 2 week absence from work every year around the holidays, and it gets more stressful each year. Not because of the holidays, and dealing with relatives and such, but it is the dealing with a manager and other employees that prefer to call me rather than to try and solve the issues they are having. I am really good about leaving my work laptop out of sight, out of mind when I am off, and do not login to work. I have even had to go as far as to block every phone number from each person in my department on my cell phone so that I can at least have some peace when I am not at home during a vacation, but that only keeps the phone from ringing, they always leave a voicemail. So hopefully, you can be offline over the next 2 weeks, and have management that is at least courteous enough to let you have your vacation to yourself.
July 20, 2018 at 7:27 am
Time to unplug is crucial to our well-being. I don't mind sprinting but I don't want to sprint a marathon. I took my first cruise this year and it was so refreshing to not even be able to have cellular service on the seas. Wifi was way too expensive.
July 20, 2018 at 8:00 am
I saw a post from someone recently that was on vacation and checking email. There were issues, though a backup person was supposed to handle them
Oh come on, I technically wasn't "on vacation," I was in "training." (And yes, it was "training" not training.)
:hehe:
Although, TBH, I did end up not doing anything with the issue, and it was fine.
Now, in 5 weeks when I start my real vacation? Yeah, I ain't checking e-mail. I'm going to throw it to the boss if I take my work phone / laptop along or not (which considering what I'm going to be doing on vacation, I won't even look at either except at most once a day *IF* they *tell* me to take them along. Which I don't think they will.) But yes, I do tend to find it hard to "unwire." Comes from in part being the "lone wolf" production DBA. If we'd still had the two Oracle DBAs on the team, then I would've been even less likely to worry about things while I was gone the other week.
Overall, though, I rarely have an issue taking time off to unwind. If I've got time off (for example, next week I stretched the weekend to 4 days,) I may glance at the work phone, but 99.9% of what shows up is "enh, it can wait until Monday" or "I don't *care* that the cafeteria is closed again" sort of things. So, I don't worry too much about it.
(BTW, Steve, not getting defensive here, although I can see how I might sound that way.)
July 20, 2018 at 8:11 am
Yep, I'm one of those who have a hard time taking time off. Part of it is that I don't get a lot of time off anyway, so I tend to horde it, just in case I really need it. I have, however, gotten used to not expecting perfection, of myself or others.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
July 20, 2018 at 8:15 am
jasona.work - Friday, July 20, 2018 8:00 AM(BTW, Steve, not getting defensive here, although I can see how I might sound that way.)
No worries, and enjoy your vacation. I hope you didn't think I was picking on you, but your post reminded me of a younger me.
July 20, 2018 at 8:23 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Friday, July 20, 2018 8:15 AMjasona.work - Friday, July 20, 2018 8:00 AM(BTW, Steve, not getting defensive here, although I can see how I might sound that way.)No worries, and enjoy your vacation. I hope you didn't think I was picking on you, but your post reminded me of a younger me.
Oh no, I didn't feel picked on in the least, after all, I posted the comment that led to the editorial, so...
The frightening part? I'd bet you ain't that much older than me...
:hehe:
July 20, 2018 at 9:09 am
I work in finance in the UK and, theoretically, it is compulsory for everyone to take a 2-week block of holiday each year (presumably so that anything dodgy they were up to comes to light). However, most people in both the business and the IT side tend to check in during their time off. There are two problems with this; 1) the intention behind the regulation is not followed, 2) there is a tendency for everyone to leave things until you get back if you're the "subject matter expert". It's the latter that bothers me the most - if people always leave things for the SME, no-one else is learning how to cover. There's a self-perpetuating key person dependency that gets worse over time rather than better.
July 20, 2018 at 9:50 am
tune - Friday, July 20, 2018 12:02 AMHi Steve
This must have been one of the most valuable blogs I have read from you in years. I couldn't agree with you more on this topic. I tend to also feel responsible for everything and want to stay on top of things all the times for the systems that I am responsible for. This week I am back from leave, I took 3 leaves of week for the first time in 20 years 🙂 and did not answer any calls from my work. My team was able to handle everything in my absence with just one minor hiccup when I returned. As we get older we only realize the value of rest. I think this is something we should teach our kids. Thank you for sharing this, this proves that we are all only human after all 🙂
Regards
Eugene
Thanks
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