5 ms·

You'd be surprised at how many of the tasks are BS-y when changing the world.

by sanj 17y ago

pw0ncakes 17y ago
You need to take a middle ground. Not doing a mundane task for no other reason than it's "boring" is immature and self-defeating. On the other hand, it's important not to become the office garbage disposal. "Grunt work" that you learn from or that sets you up to do more interesting work is not so bad. If you build a city, you need to maintain the sewer system. If your company has you maintaining 8 peoples' cities because you're young and expected to pay dues, you should get another job.
chrischen 17y ago
Boring does not equal BS-y. BS work is pointless, while boring might be understandably necessary. The authors complaint was of BS work, not necessarily of boring work. You can tell if he is simply avoidant of boring work by seeing if he carries out projects which he sees value toward, and whether or not he does everything, including the boring stuff, to completion. I'll admit his article doesn't actually give insight to this, but it's safe to assume.
- timwiseman 17y ago
  If he manages to be his own boss (startup, small company, etc) then that is precisely right. However if he has a job(and he states he does) then his value as an employee is about him carrying out the projects his boss(es) see value in. Of course, a good boss will try to explain why the tasks he is assigning are important so the employees will see value in it too. Sometimes that is not possible. For instance, perhaps the reason behind the task involves sensitive information that cannot be released (this comes up very often in the military, and occassionally in corporate jobs.) Perhaps there just isn't time for the explanation right then. Or perhaps the employee just disagrees with the explanation when given. In those cases, a good employee will get the project done well whether or not the employee sees value in it because the boss/organization does see value in it. An employee that does not do that should and probably will be fired with cause.
  - chrischen 17y ago
    You're absolutely right. Frankly I wouldn't want to hire only people who do what they feel like. But then again I would also recognize their true potential and wouldn't have them working under someone following explicit directions. They'd get a promotion from me and given more freedom. I'll hand those people problems, not instructions like the rest of the working population may receive.
- liquidben 17y ago
  I think the grandparent post's application of quotation marks around "BS" subtly speaks volumes, i.e. perception of the bullshit value of a job is potentially invalid. Marco's essay reads as if he's got a pretty unilateral opinion about the worth of things. A person is allowed to deem something BS, but they've got to be open to potential compromise. Apparently someone once thought over-designing the O-rings on the shuttle was BS work.
  - chrischen 17y ago
    I assumed the article's definition of BS is stuff that is universally BS. Frankly if something isn't BS, the reason can be properly explained. And if the subject can't understand the reason why, then he/she is not ready to do the work. So whoever over-designed the O-rings must have had a good reason to do so. If he/she had a good reason, it is by definition no longer BS (it may still be boring grunt work). If not, then they were just lucky that it worked out.

You'd be surprised at how many of the tasks are BS-y when changing the world.

by sanj 17y ago

You'd be surprised at how many of the tasks are BS-y when changing the world.

You need to take a middle ground. Not doing a mundane task for no other reason than it's "boring" is immature and self-defeating. On the other hand, it's important not to become the office garbage disposal. "Grunt work" that you learn from or that sets you up to do more interesting work is not so bad. If you build a city, you need to maintain the sewer system. If your company has you maintaining 8 peoples' cities because you're young and expected to pay dues, you should get another job.

chrischen 17y ago

Boring does not equal BS-y. BS work is pointless, while boring might be understandably necessary. The authors complaint was of BS work, not necessarily of boring work. You can tell if he is simply avoidant of boring work by seeing if he carries out projects which he sees value toward, and whether or not he does everything, including the boring stuff, to completion. I'll admit his article doesn't actually give insight to this, but it's safe to assume.

timwiseman 17y ago
If he manages to be his own boss (startup, small company, etc) then that is precisely right. However if he has a job(and he states he does) then his value as an employee is about him carrying out the projects his boss(es) see value in. Of course, a good boss will try to explain why the tasks he is assigning are important so the employees will see value in it too. Sometimes that is not possible. For instance, perhaps the reason behind the task involves sensitive information that cannot be released (this comes up very often in the military, and occassionally in corporate jobs.) Perhaps there just isn't time for the explanation right then. Or perhaps the employee just disagrees with the explanation when given. In those cases, a good employee will get the project done well whether or not the employee sees value in it because the boss/organization does see value in it. An employee that does not do that should and probably will be fired with cause.
- chrischen 17y ago
  You're absolutely right. Frankly I wouldn't want to hire only people who do what they feel like. But then again I would also recognize their true potential and wouldn't have them working under someone following explicit directions. They'd get a promotion from me and given more freedom. I'll hand those people problems, not instructions like the rest of the working population may receive.
liquidben 17y ago
I think the grandparent post's application of quotation marks around "BS" subtly speaks volumes, i.e. perception of the bullshit value of a job is potentially invalid. Marco's essay reads as if he's got a pretty unilateral opinion about the worth of things. A person is allowed to deem something BS, but they've got to be open to potential compromise. Apparently someone once thought over-designing the O-rings on the shuttle was BS work.
- chrischen 17y ago
  I assumed the article's definition of BS is stuff that is universally BS. Frankly if something isn't BS, the reason can be properly explained. And if the subject can't understand the reason why, then he/she is not ready to do the work. So whoever over-designed the O-rings must have had a good reason to do so. If he/she had a good reason, it is by definition no longer BS (it may still be boring grunt work). If not, then they were just lucky that it worked out.