April 7, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Office Cleaning
April 8, 2010 at 1:05 am
There was an interesting TV series in the UK some years ago called (I think) Back to the Floor where top level managers went back to the "shop floor" as workers. They apparently learned to see their business from a new perspective though I wonder how much was scripted to make good television.
It's something I seriously believe more managers should do regularly.
April 8, 2010 at 2:13 am
To get the view of the customer, I wouldn't sit in the bathroom stall.
Rather, I would sit in his chair in his office - after having cleaned that coffee cup - and swivel around a few times.:hehe:
April 8, 2010 at 3:25 am
Very true. Some people get caught up in how technically brilliant they are, losing sight of how their customers view their work. Unfortunately, most peoples egos are far to large to allow them to see an alternative view.
April 8, 2010 at 5:31 am
Ha! I did office clean-up for a while too. I agree, it teaches lots of lessons. And, it provides excellent perspective. I'll always remember just how sweet I've got it in my current position.
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April 8, 2010 at 6:38 am
Good post. This should remind us that, at the core, most jobs fall into a few different categories, customer service jobs whether maintaining the customer's office or his database are not that different.
I remember reading that in the early days of networking, reasearchers went back to study how train schedules were planned in early industrial England. After all a railroad system is essentially a network.
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April 8, 2010 at 6:48 am
Good article.
It's always a good thing to open yourself up to more viewpoints.
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April 8, 2010 at 7:16 am
I too did some part-time office cleaning, but for a car dealership. It was easy and a nice way to make some money with little to no stress. You can gleam a lot about how others operate from cleaning up after them. Anyone who has taken over a job or who has inherited processes from someone knows this!
I also agree we Steve, office cleaning was not my calling either. Too repetitive, not enough challenge.
April 8, 2010 at 9:29 am
I really liked this article and it came at a prime time: My team is preparing to give four classes over the next two weeks on Advanced SQL Training. For this training, we have a couple of managers signed up in addition to their Analysts... I appreciate these managers' interests as I believe it helps give them a better perspective on the issues that their employees deal with each day (the arguments over performance, why they don't just write a query until it's "done", arguments between staff members over the "best" way to do it, and discussions on creating SQL standards). I encourage managers (and all of us) to continue to have a attitude of learning and the willingness to do the "dirty" jobs every once in awhile just to keep perspective. GREAT article! 🙂
April 8, 2010 at 9:36 am
I worked in an assembly process on the shop floor in a welder manufacturer. It was repetitive, boring, and not my cup of tea. I knew I had to do anything else. When I found programming to be my calling, I pursued it and have done well. However, that time as an assembler was invaluable to me later. I was able to understand manufacturing processes better and how they affect the workers. I applied that to my programming. Since then, I've always said that no job is too menial, repetitive, or boring. What I learn from it may come in handy.
Nice article, Andy.
April 8, 2010 at 11:00 am
Nice article and good perspective. Thanks Andy.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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April 8, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Thanks for reading and the comments. I've got another story or two to share in upcoming editorials. Funny that the specific lesson learned is less important than remembering to learn the lessons that life provides:-)
April 8, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Nice job, and thanks for the day off.
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April 9, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Grant Fritchey (4/8/2010)
Ha! I did office clean-up for a while too. I agree, it teaches lots of lessons. And, it provides excellent perspective. I'll always remember just how sweet I've got it in my current position.
So true. I don't always love doing SQL Sever and sometimes it seems like I'm doing the same things over and over again. It's still far better than the truely repeticious tasks associated with doing a menial job.
Ken
April 13, 2010 at 10:40 am
Andy - I keep an old picture of myself at one of my earlier jobs near my desk just to remember where I came from and what I needed to do to keep the machine running.
Great article and worthy of another!
M.
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
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