7 ms·

When a person leaves a company who has been there for a long time, a similar effect occurs. These people often do a host of small tasks to that noone is really

by Okkef 5y ago

When a person leaves a company who has been there for a long time, a similar effect occurs. These people often do a host of small tasks to that noone is really aware of (themselves included; they don't see how it's special or that nobody else knows about it). It can take the organization a long time to recover and realign.

xyz11 5y ago
Yes, very true!
quickthrower2 5y ago
Why do they keep the tasks secret? I bet because they know they are important but they also know they are fragile in the sense no one else will care enough to do those things. And worse someone else will say don’t do them because they waste time.
- lucumo 5y ago
  It's probably not so much keeping it a secret, but just not broadcasting everything they do.
- watwut 5y ago
  They don't do them in secret. Typically they just do them as part of their routine.
- magicalhippo 5y ago
  During a summer not long ago, a client called with an urgent issue. Some critical messages were not being passed on, leading to a full stop on their end. However I couldn't make heads or tails of what systems this was or how it related to us. After a bit of back and forth, the customer said "ask Glenn, he always fixes this for us". Glenn was of course on vacation and didn't respond to messages... A few hours pass while we make zero progress on this issue and customer increasingly annoyed, when Glenn finally responds to my messages. Turns out that on a different server from where our software is installed, there was a Java-based message broker service running that needed occasional kick in the pants (IIRC stopping, deleting a file, restarting). We're not a Java shop, we don't use message brokers. For years, Glenn had been keeping this service running and updated for our customer, as the customer didn't have any internal resources that was capable of handling this. And nobody else at our shop knew this. Why? Well, he just did what had to be done and moved on to the next issue at hand, as he always did...
- crispyambulance 5y ago
  Not everything that someone does has to be "a deliverable" on some project manager's radar. There's joy in doing work that's satisfying and beneficial but that doesn't necessarily align with the immediate stated objectives of the manager, project or organization. There's a word for this kind of thing: "covert agency". I don't remember where I first saw it, but looking back at my own career, being able to exercise some covert agency made miserable jobs worthwhile in some ways.
  - redleader9345 5y ago
    The folks in charge who don't want the foot soldiers to have any agency at all, they call it Shadow IT
- pjc50 5y ago
  The tasks are rarely secret, it's the other way round: things that nobody above them wants to bother seeing.
JackFr 5y ago
That can be mitigated by making people take 2 consecutive weeks off every year, which many banks do. (It’s also considered an anti-fraud measure.)
- lawn 5y ago
  Is that supposed to be a lot? Here in Sweden people usually take ~4 weeks or more consecutively during the summer vacation.
  - fancyfish 5y ago
    In most companies in the USA, 2 consecutive weeks off is longer than normal. Not unusual to have a total of 2-4 weeks vacation to use each year.
    - jseban 5y ago
      Sounds great to me, as a Swede I hate being forced to take 4 weeks consecutive vacation. Would love to instead have 2-4 weeks spread out through the year. It's a stressful burden for me as a single person who's life naturally revolves mostly around their job, to suddenly invent a new life for myself for 5 weeks. I just end up bored and restless, wasting time, even if I travel 4 weeks is just too long. 1 week at a time is perfect really Edit: And you have to take those weeks in the summer as well, you can't take 4 consecutive weeks in fall, winter or spring. So it's really inflexible. If you want to go hunting in fall, and skiing in March, tough luck, in Sweden everyone "needs" to take all their vacation in the summer for some unknown reason.
      - lawn 5y ago
        It really depends on the place you work, I don't need to take my vacation during the summer for instance.
        jseban 5y ago
        Yes but like the comment says, it's the norm so you'd be lucky if you don't have to do it and most likely it will not be possible. It's like you have to retire every year and go through that difficult transition to a jobless person. Many people just end up drinking too much.

by Okkef 5y ago

xyz11 5y ago

Yes, very true!

quickthrower2 5y ago

Why do they keep the tasks secret? I bet because they know they are important but they also know they are fragile in the sense no one else will care enough to do those things. And worse someone else will say don’t do them because they waste time.

lucumo 5y ago
It's probably not so much keeping it a secret, but just not broadcasting everything they do.
watwut 5y ago
They don't do them in secret. Typically they just do them as part of their routine.
magicalhippo 5y ago
During a summer not long ago, a client called with an urgent issue. Some critical messages were not being passed on, leading to a full stop on their end. However I couldn't make heads or tails of what systems this was or how it related to us. After a bit of back and forth, the customer said "ask Glenn, he always fixes this for us". Glenn was of course on vacation and didn't respond to messages... A few hours pass while we make zero progress on this issue and customer increasingly annoyed, when Glenn finally responds to my messages. Turns out that on a different server from where our software is installed, there was a Java-based message broker service running that needed occasional kick in the pants (IIRC stopping, deleting a file, restarting). We're not a Java shop, we don't use message brokers. For years, Glenn had been keeping this service running and updated for our customer, as the customer didn't have any internal resources that was capable of handling this. And nobody else at our shop knew this. Why? Well, he just did what had to be done and moved on to the next issue at hand, as he always did...
crispyambulance 5y ago
Not everything that someone does has to be "a deliverable" on some project manager's radar. There's joy in doing work that's satisfying and beneficial but that doesn't necessarily align with the immediate stated objectives of the manager, project or organization. There's a word for this kind of thing: "covert agency". I don't remember where I first saw it, but looking back at my own career, being able to exercise some covert agency made miserable jobs worthwhile in some ways.
- redleader9345 5y ago
  The folks in charge who don't want the foot soldiers to have any agency at all, they call it Shadow IT
pjc50 5y ago
The tasks are rarely secret, it's the other way round: things that nobody above them wants to bother seeing.

JackFr 5y ago

That can be mitigated by making people take 2 consecutive weeks off every year, which many banks do. (It’s also considered an anti-fraud measure.)

lawn 5y ago
Is that supposed to be a lot? Here in Sweden people usually take ~4 weeks or more consecutively during the summer vacation.
- fancyfish 5y ago
  In most companies in the USA, 2 consecutive weeks off is longer than normal. Not unusual to have a total of 2-4 weeks vacation to use each year.
  - jseban 5y ago
    Sounds great to me, as a Swede I hate being forced to take 4 weeks consecutive vacation. Would love to instead have 2-4 weeks spread out through the year. It's a stressful burden for me as a single person who's life naturally revolves mostly around their job, to suddenly invent a new life for myself for 5 weeks. I just end up bored and restless, wasting time, even if I travel 4 weeks is just too long. 1 week at a time is perfect really Edit: And you have to take those weeks in the summer as well, you can't take 4 consecutive weeks in fall, winter or spring. So it's really inflexible. If you want to go hunting in fall, and skiing in March, tough luck, in Sweden everyone "needs" to take all their vacation in the summer for some unknown reason.
    - lawn 5y ago
      It really depends on the place you work, I don't need to take my vacation during the summer for instance.
      - jseban 5y ago
        Yes but like the comment says, it's the norm so you'd be lucky if you don't have to do it and most likely it will not be possible. It's like you have to retire every year and go through that difficult transition to a jobless person. Many people just end up drinking too much.