Re: Time management

Hi Dale,

Dale Emery wrote:

> Hi Bill,
>
> > It's not been possible, in my experience, to predict the personal
> > and interpersonal problems I had to deal with.  It's not been
> > possible to predict the number or severity of fires I would have to
> > fight.  These are things that it has been my responsiblity to
> > handle, and which took away from the free time that would have
> > otherwise been available for recharging.
>
> That's one possibility.  Another is that they could take time away
> from your planned duties.

They do take time away from my planned duties, which still have to be
completed if I'm to meet my obligations, which I choose to do, which is why
I said they took away from the free time I would otherwise have available.

> Another is that you could reduce your
> planned duties to allow more time for fighting fires.

"They" meaning those above me, I assume.  Yes, they could do that.  Then
assign those duties to...?  This is not a simple problem.

> I'm imagining that if you took the time to recharge more fully, you'd
> have fewer fires to fight.

Ever go on vacation?  Ever returned to find things were running better than
when you left?  I haven't.  Fires, once burning, only get larger unless
they're tended.  Unwatched, fires tend to spring up.  At least with the kind
of organizations prevalent today.  Self-directed, adaptive organizations are
largely an unproven theory in business today.  I think they may be more
possible than is currently recognized.  Thus my exploration.

> > It's been both my experience and observation that the higher up you
> > go in an organization, the larger the number and the larger the
> > severity of those things.
>
> If that is predictable, why don't we plan for it, and schedule fewer
> conflicting responsibilities?

Good question.  Perhaps it's as simple as we don't know how to do that yet.

> > It appears to me that one of the determining factors in achieving
> > higher positions in large corporations is a willingness to subjugate
> > ones personal needs to the needs of the organization.
>
> That sounds right, with one twist:  "Achieving a higher position" is
> also a personal need.

Agreed.

> So that leads to an interesting decision:  Which personal needs will I
> value more highly?  Moving up the organization, or, say, spending time
> with my family?

Yes, that is an interesting decision.  If we can finding a way to remove or
mitigate it, I think those who have to make it (i.e., everybody) would be
interested.

Best regards,
Bill


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