Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Sometimes Work Isn't All Bad

For those of you that are new readers - Welcome! Happy to have you along for the ride as I learn how to homestead and figure out whether I can make a career out of working off the land. Many of my readers know that I have a full-time job as an engineer in a chemical plant (never mind the multiple contradictions there). I frequently complain about the difficulties of finding a balance, giving most of my time to the job, but most of my hopes to life outside the job. I don't often find the paying job rewarding and hope that in a year or so I can cut back to part-time, leaving me more time and energy to pursue the dream of self-sufficiency.


Yesterday was one of the few days when my work paid off. I've been working on a project for the last year that is coming to a close. Never mind that the project should have taken a few months, at most. I spent entirely too much time getting folks to own their part of the process and own any improvements to that process. I've written here about how frustrating that's been.  However unsuccessful the project has seemed, the data show that the results have been successful.  In a world where smaller is better, you can see that since May, 2009, the average has been 1.9% compared to over 10% before then.  I love graphs like this.


I didn't entirely realize why at the time, but I got called into a customer meeting yesterday to present the project. What I found out then is that they're using my project as an example of good work that my company does in response to customer problems. Then later in the afternoon at an all exempt hands meeting, the COO mentioned my project as a success, among other things that he said we're doing right.

One of the results of getting other people to own their process is that they will be the ones to get the credit for improving their process, not me. That's the way it should be. I'm more comfortable in the background anyway, and as long as the people in the know know this wouldn't have happened without me, maybe I can keep this job for a while longer, and maybe they'll be inclined to let me go part-time when I ask for it.  That's what success looks like to me.

1 comment:

  1. Hip-hip-hooray for getting some feel goods from your day job! You've really deserved it. I'm sure it makes you feel like you can hang in there longer until making the transition to successful lady goat farmer. I'm happy for you.

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