Adding Value

I think the hardest thing about working on long-term projects is that it's difficult to find milestones to make you feel like you've accomplished anything. I'm putting in 9+ hour days right now and actively hoping for a system break that I can fix or a meeting I can go to and help improve or design a process.

Those things make me feel like my day added value. And, I absolutely love when I can look back at my day and know that I definitively added value to something.

Slogging through schema changes and analyzing data for a project that will take two months to implement doesn't provide that "winning" feeling. Sure, it's important. But, it doesn't give you the shot of adrenaline that an immediate (or close to immediate) problem resolution does.

I absolutely know what we're working on is important and will be a great addition to the company. It's just that we're in this stage where people are coding and analyzing but we're not yet to the point where we can see and test the results. It's a challenge to make myself feel good about each day and I'm trying very hard to make my team feel good. I don't know that I'm all that successful, though. It's really just a grind.

The payoff will be when we finish the project, especially if we do it really well. That point in time is just a long way off.

In the meantime, I could go for a few quick wins. I just don't want them to come at the expense of the system or others. Guess I have a bit of work ADD going on. Sigh.

Comments

Jaaners said…
I can so relate. Back in my bank marketing days I had a $2M+ budget. It was very scary to look ahead for a year and make sure I spent that money so that the assets of the bank would grow. That was the purpose of my job. The most rewarding times I spend were in brain storming sessions. There were alway fresh ideas and positive ideas that came from those sessions. I don't know what my point is to you , except I know you are very analitical and a pretty smart cookie and you will make all this work and have very successful results. That is what you do.
9:42 PM
Cheesehead said…
Thanks, Jan. It's just so challenging.
9:54 PM
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