WhatToDoIfYouAreOverwhelmed

Contribute your ideas to help others get underwhelmed enough to take 3 days out of the maelstrom and learn how not to get overwhelmed again.

Consider what a sudden medical emergency would do to your project - if you had an appendectomy, you would be absent for more than 3 days. Is it acceptable risk management to run your project that close to the cliff? Put some slack in to accommodate the occaisional "impossible disaster", then use a little to invest in other ways to carve out more slack while getting things done.

--BobLee 2003.07.09 "Efficiency is intelligent laziness".

Lately I have less work and less structure in my life, thanks to the economy. I find that now everything is overwhelming.

KenEstes 2003.07.10

The ineffective thing I do when I have a day off: I make list of things to do (including items like write a book and/or novel and write the great american software package), and then spend the day reading instead. I'm often calmer after reading, but I still have those things to undone.

Some of the more effective things I do on the job: (1) Make sure that some other people know how to do what I know how to do, so they can cover for me in an office emergency. (2) Make sure the people who have these emergencies know to work with those other people. (3) Delegate. (4) Learn how to say "no". (A topic of last year's AYE.) (5) Plan ahead with others, so they won't need me during a three-day conference.

KeithRay 2003.07.10 (revised .11)

I try to find (and use) 6 support roles in my personal network:

Active Listener: Someone to let you "Blow off steam".
Technical Appreciator: A peer whose judgement you trust to understand the complexities of the stress.
Technical Challenger: A peer whose judgement you trust to encourage you to take a risk and push yourself.
Emotional Appreciator: "Mommy role" - unqualified approver.
Emotional Challenger: To ask, "Are you sure you're doing enough?"
Reality checker: To answer, "Am I the only one who thinks this?"

These help me stay centered, on track and loose enough.

--BobLee 2003.07.10

A decade ago I was member of team who was working on a "critical" project. On Thursday, I was assigned a deliverable that was due in 4 days (on Monday). To create my normal quality of work would require four 14-hour days.

Months before I had agreed to participate in a father-daughter camping trip scheduled for that same weekend. Keri, my daughter, and I were joining a group of other fathers and daughters at Camp Orcila, located on an island in Puget Sound. It was a big trip -- ferry ride, two nights in a cabin with 8 of her friends, and outdoor activities.

I told the project manager about my situation. He was empathetic but unyielding. He told me that deliverable �must� be completed by Monday. My head said, "You must complete the task."

I talked to Jim, a colleague/friend who had grandchildren, about my predicament. He said "Steve, in ten years you won't even remember the name of this project, but both Keri and you will remember the camping trip."

I listened to and followed my heart. I took off Friday afternoon, and Saturday and Sunday so that Keri and I could participate with her friends at the campout. It was a spectacular weekend.

"Terrible" is just one of many derogatory words that described the quality of the work I delivered on Monday. I felt rotten about my contribution. Yet I knew that I made the right choice.

It is almost exactly ten years since I made that decision. Jim was right -- I don�t remember the name of the project. I barely remember the product. My daughter is eighteen years old and she still remembers her first trip to Camp Orcila.

Ten years from now, will you remember the name of the "critical" project you are working on?

Follow your heart.

SteveSmith 2003.07.12

Updated: Saturday, July 12, 2003