Way in, way out, way behind

[netpositive]

Using the light, being dark,
Being the world,
You perfect harmony
And return to the Way.
-Tao Te Ching, "Becoming"

I'm feeling more isolated than usual here at work.

Internal teams and projects have been reorganized.
And we're about to start a major additional effort
without what seem to be adequate resources, and
with what seems to be rather, er, belated planning.

Even without being paranoid about some "nuances"
or outcomes of choices being made - or not made -
I feel uncomfortable with the current direction.

I don't disagree with the basic concept, but
I'm worried right now about our ability to execute
everything well and on time - if we can at all.

A number of my coworkers are very good people.
Smart, hard-working, some offbeat senses of humor.
They have made it bearable to be working in the midst
of our normal state of blind chaos. But it feels like
my efforts to help promote visibility or organize chaos
have not borne any of the fruit I had hoped for yet -
if they will at all. I know I've gotten a lot of credit
for trying... but where do I trade in that credit now?

And as the year fails, I am now looking for some sense of
finished accomplishments, or of continued progress.

I keep coming back to this quote that struck a chord,
from the training sessions I attended last week:

Automating chaos leads to faster chaos.
-Dorothy Graham

Where am I? Where do I go from here? How do I get there?

I choose to stay grounded, and observe
my situation with compassion and detachment.

Comments

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

Yeah, like we used to say about shared online cataloging systems: "Now we can make and distribute errors a thousand times faster!"

I wish I could fiind the quote...

[daecabhir]

'twas from a movie:

Computers are such wonderfully stupid creatures... they do exactly what you tell them to do, very fast...

However, if it were not for automation, I would not have a job... so "heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work I go...".

I have a basic theory in life: if you are doing something, and it stops being fun, it is time for a change. Because doing something that is not fun leads to being unhappy, and so goes the downward spiral, if you have reach the point of things not being fun. I'm very stressed right now by deadlines and a co-worker who has inadvertently left me with a big mess to straighten out, but at least I am in my element - learning things hand over fist, and making things work, so it is still fun. Of course, the chaos needs to be tamed, but that comes after this project.

Neat photo by the way... have you settled on a pro-sumer digicam yet?

Re: I wish I could fiind the quote...

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

I have a basic theory in life: if you are doing something, and it stops being fun, it is time for a change. Because doing something that is not fun leads to being unhappy, and so goes the downward spiral, if you have reach the point of things not being fun.

*nod* I'm very patient - perhaps too much so, in some people's eyes - and I also think I generally can take a lot of "not fun" if there's a clear "reward" sometime in the future. At present I guess one of the things I'm working on is figuring out what rewards I can find in this situation.

I'm very stressed right now by deadlines and a co-worker who has inadvertently left me with a big mess to straighten out, but at least I am in my element - learning things hand over fist, and making things work, so it is still fun. Of course, the chaos needs to be tamed, but that comes after this project.

I can understand what you are going through and even how it can be enjoyable. :) However, where I am currently, there never seems to be enough time (or just as importantly, dedicated resources) to tame the chaos - "after this project" is kinda like "jam yesterday, and jam tomorrow, but never jam today."

Neat photo by the way... have you settled on a pro-sumer digicam yet?

Not yet. Among other things, I'm a bit hesitant to lay out a significant chunk of money right now when the near future is so murky financially...