Whoa. This is downright eerie.

[cjsmith]

Last night I was explaining a bit of my new job to rfrench. I said "They're going to have me do Thing A first, but I'm not sure I understand why yet. It seems to me I should do Thing B first instead. Having Thing B first will give us more capabilities and [bla bla bla lots of good stuff]. And hey, I don't know how to do either one yet, so it's not like changing the plan will slow me down."

I mentioned it to the CEO, Acting VPE and Product Manager, and Chief Architect. Chief Architect said hey, that might be right. Other two said waitaminit, we're not so sure, let's think about it. We all sat in a conference room for twenty minutes.

I'm doing Thing B first.

It is so weird to work at a job where my input is even considered and discussed, much less gets chosen. I am waiting for the other (the first?) shoe to drop.

Comments

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

Nice to be heard.
I'm at the bottom of the food chain here :(

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Too bad we're so small (for now anyway)! Must Invent Teleporter. That way you could work here and live in NJ!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_opus_/]

Hey, kudos for picking the company with the right people!

Don't go looking for shoes to drop, or you may get trampled. Just run with it.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'll run with it as far as they will let me! :-)

[airporter.livejournal.com]

What do I need to do to come work beside you - they sound cool!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Um, commute to Sunnyvale California? :-) They sure do seem cool to me!

[jcgbigler.livejournal.com]

That was one of the things I valued most about my boss at Advanced Magnetics, the company I worked for right after college. He would say "I want you to do foo." I'd say "If I do bar, it's the same amount of effort as foo, and it gives us all the data we'd get from foo, plus all this other useful data." And he'd always say, "Sounds great. Go ahead." (Except for one time during the five years I worked for him, when he said "I agree with you, but the FDA wants to see foo, and if we do bar, we'll have to explain why. So you actually need to do foo.")

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I think that's excellent. There's a lot to be said for hiring good people and then letting them be good people, f'rex by giving you good input. After all, that's one of the big benefits of having knowledgeable and intelligent people on the team.

It must take some rare form of courage, though. If I'm the boss I might be tempted to worry that I'm being shown up, or worry that bar really isn't as good as foo and trusting my team member's word could lead me into a mistake, or worry that my authority is eroding, or any of a number of things. I'm totally guessing. There are reasons I've rarely been a boss of any kind. :-)

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Go you!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

This is weird. I like it, but I'm worried that I'll break it!

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

Stop worrying so much! You'll worry yourself right into a screwup. An "I'm worried that I'll break it" mindset can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Just relax and enjoy it. If you're really having trouble believing it, then adopt a positive "enjoy while it lasts" attitude rather than the other side of the same coin, "I'm worried that it'll stop."

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

That's so true -- but switching around my emotions is easier said than done! I think I will chant "enjoy it while it lasts" to myself. Or maybe just "enjoy it". :-)

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

I know it's hard to rearrange emotions -- that's why I added the "while it lasts." It's unrealistic this soon to expect to be able to completely erase your fears ... they're not going to go away that easily! As time goes by and you still find your knowledge and abilities respected it will get easier, but right now, after all those years of being disregarded, it's logical to worry that it will happen here too. By telling yourself to enjoy it while it lasts, you can have a positive attitude while still accepting your worries rather than trying to deny them.

In other words, don't try to force yourself to pretend the glass is full -- it's at the halfway mark. View it as half full ("enjoy it while it lasts") instead of half empty ("this is going to stop soon and I'll be miserable again").

So yes, just keep chanting "enjoy it while it lasts" -- and don't try to eliminate the coda until you're ready. After awhile it will fall off by itself and you'll find yourself thinking simply "enjoy it"!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Heck, the whole startup could fizzle; most do. Deep breaths! Enjoy while it's here!

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

They neeeded yer brane.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

[Monty Python voice] But I'm not done using it yet!

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Way to go, CJ!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking this is the way things SHOULD work, at least if I am smart and have good suggestions. But in a twenty-year career it's a total anomaly!

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

small companies totally rock that way :) you should drop by IM more often - it'd be fun to compare notes!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

This one rocks, at least! :-) New info came in and I'm back to Thing A, and I don't mind a bit because my input counted.

I often have IM turned off when I'm at work. I'll remember to be accessible occasionally!

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

What a treat to work with so little bureaucracy! Just smart people working together to get a job done. I can't even conceive of it. Sounds like it's gonna be a good fit.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

There is ZERO bureaucracy here. I happened to be standing in the hallway and the CEO, VPE/ProdMgr, and Chief Arch were all standing around nearby. "Since you're all in one place," I said, "I have a question." The meeting was right that moment and we had an answer. It's stunning.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Maybe you're in an alternate reality right now. For god's sake, don't click your heels together 3 times, or you might end up back in real life! :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yikes! I'll put safety bumpers on the heels of my shoes!

[apparentparadox]

Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have been so positive when we had lunch yesterday. Seems like you're missing the whole experience of people slamming you down. Next time we have lunch, I'll try to do better!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

You're such a pal! Willing to do anything to make a friend more comfortable! :-)

[gdmusumeci.livejournal.com]

What fun! Isn't it great working for a company that values your input?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's amazing. Is this how normal people live?

[gdmusumeci.livejournal.com]

Absolutely not. What was it that Thoreau said? "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation?"

Perhaps you're one of the Chosen. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

A good point. I have a bad habit of comparing myself to the luckiest few, and that's not even remotely realistic.

[rampling.livejournal.com]

What a lovely start!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's mind-boggling. Makes me want to watch what I say.

[eichin.livejournal.com]

see, that's how it's *supposed* to work. Now you just need to get in the habit of expecting it, and watch out for signs of it going away and call people on it (probably not a big risk until you double in size, maybe twice, but it is a growth risk...)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ah, you must be one of the permanent inhabitants of this world I have now begun to visit!

[simplykimberly.livejournal.com]

Yay! Good companies DO happen! You probably don't have anything to worry about until/unless they get bought out! Then, at least, you'll have stock options and a year or so before it all starts looking like a big company with big company shit again ;)

Seriously - enjoy it! That's fantastic to be valued in appropriate ways - yay!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's amazingly cool! New information came in later, so as of yesterday I'm doing Thing A first again -- but the actual outcime is not the big thing. That my input is considered worth hearing is the big thing. :-)