Take a Bow

Just about every engineer describes at least one part of his job as being “thankless”.  As a person who works in the measurement world I used to lament: “nobody wants to measure things, they just want to make stuff”. 

Boo, hoo.  Poor me. 




Designers cry how nobody appreciates their sheer genius and their amazing insight.  Production people moan about the struggles of deadlines and budget… and not to mention the ever present quality control pressures.

It’s a wonder that anyone would want to be an engineer…
…but you are one – and that says something about you.

So let’s take a look at the concept of feeling “rewarded”.  To shed some light on this I’d like to tell you about two recent conversations and an old, old story.

Conversation #1.
The topic of “the next generation of engineers” came up among some friends.  One of the guys was talking about a seminar that he attended on the topic of “managing millennials”.  It was interesting to hear of this topic.  Plus it was a catchy title – so I really tuned into what he had to say.  I’m not sure that I agree with all of the generalizations and stereotypes, but there was a general thought many people of the younger generation are growing up with a concept of “you get a reward for simply participating”.  This is indeed becoming a popular trend – the significance of winning and losing are being diminished and effort (or worse yet simply “being there”) is being rewarded.

Conversation #2.
I have a great graphic designer that I get to work with on occasion.  One day we were talking about the differences and similarities between creating software and creating art.  I told him that developing software can be incredibly engaging – it can be something like solving Sudoku puzzles for a living.  He chimed in, “I do a Sudoku puzzle every day on my lunch break!”

An old, old story…
You may have hear the expression “prodigal son”, or “the prodigal son has returned”.  The term is from a Biblical fable or “parable” (kind of like one of Aesop’s fables) which was used to illustrate a point.  The quick version of the story: 1. Son demands inheritance from dad.  2. Son blows inheritance on wine, women and song and hits rock bottom.  3. Son comes back asking for forgiveness.  4.  Dad welcomes him back and throws a party.  5. Brother get’s ticked off asking: “where’s my party?”

I used to take the brother’s side.  After all, where was his party?  However, the dad’s response to him was pretty insightful.  He said something to the effect of “your party is being here with me every day”.  The angry brother didn’t fully grasp that it was much more rewarding to be in a good place every day – rather than deal with the rough stuff that the prodigal brother went through.  Bottom line: the angry brother didn’t realize how good he had it.  He has the privilege of being in a good place.  He gets to be there all the time.

So let’s put the pieces together…

The engineering workplace can be rather thankless.  If you are used to being noticed, thanked and praised you may be in for a harsh surprise.  You may be sitting in a cubicle right now thinking about unrewarding your job really is.  Some of you might have grown up in a not-so-competitive culture and you aren’t used to the lack of “best effort” medals or stickers.  That’s ok.  It’s time for you to pull up your big engineer pants and create your own rewards.  Think about these things…

1. You get to solve puzzles for a living.  That’s a pretty cool job when you stop and think about it.

2. There are many jobs that could be much worse.  Elephants anyone? 

3. You can make your own rewards.  When you hit milestones or have personal victories – take a break.  Take a walk.  Have a coffee.  Grab a candy bar.  Do something to get away for a few minutes.  Call it a mini-vacation for 15 minutes.

4. Do your part to create a “culture of reward” around you.  When you see someone do something cool – acknowledge it.  One thing you will find is that when you start helping others feel good about their work, you will start feeling better and more rewarded yourself.  Who knows it may even rub off.

 

Remember this: you get to be an engineer.

Finding Your Muse

Muse:

From Greek mythology - a goddesses of inspiration.

Almost every writer has, at some point, suffered from “writer’s block”.  But what engineers?  We often get “stuck” ...and how come we don’t get a clever name for it?  In fact, our stuck-ed-ness is often pretty significant (dare I say more significant than writer’s block?)

When an engineer gets stuck, many external forces can be at play:  things like the constraints of tight schedules, constraints of other connected systems and even the constraints of the laws of physics.



So how do you break through the block?  Let me offer you a couple of quick ideas for finding your muse...


1. Take a break.  Yeah, I know... you’ve got a schedule. 
If you’ve ever gotten a car stuck, you probably know that spinning your wheels only gets you more stuck.  The same applies to your creative processes.  The time you spend backing up and re-approaching the problem can often result in a faster arrival at the solution. 

Hint: How to take a break with purpose.
What you do on a break is really up to you.   For some people it's exercise.  For others it may be a trip to the coffee machine/shop.  For many people (even famous ones) it's a "power nap".  Regardless of what you do, I'd encourage you with this one principle: if you are going to tune out; tune out with purpose.  Try setting an alarm on your phone or on your watch for a 15 minute break.  This plays a neat trick on your mind.   Typically, when people take a break, all they think about is “how much work that have to get back to” and they worry about not getting back to it in time to finish.  Thus they never really give their mind a break. Knowing that an alarm will bring you back allows you to fully leave.


2. Do a DBR.  Something “different but related”
I always wanted to come up with my own acronym so why not now?  Different-but-related activities can keep you thinking in the right direction, but from a slightly different angle.  A DBR should be something that you look forward to doing – but at the same time stimulates your thinking.

Finding your DBRs:
First you need to identify those things that are related to what you do and then find interesting outlets for those things.  An important note: your DBRs should almost feel like a hobby or a “guilty pleasure” - they should be enjoyable activities with some kind of connection to your work.  Reading a technical journal is not necessarily a DBR (unless you’re a hopeless geek).  On the other hand, playing golf or basketball is probably a stretch in the context of DBR.

Let me use myself as an example: 

I write a lot of software for measurement systems. In addition I’m regularly in front of an audience consulting and teaching.  My DBRs aren’t going to be the same as yours, but for the sake of example, my DBRs are:

• www.Gizmodo.com  As I’m involved in the development of new technologies, I find that learning about other, cool, new technologies can be very inspiring.  99% of the time these technologies aren’t related to what I’m working on but seeing cool, finished products is inspiring.  PG-13 warning: The writing style is edgy and sometimes contains profanity.
• www.Ted.com/Talks  I think every rockstar engineer should spend some time listening to TED talks.  These are 15 minute talks on almost every imaginable topic.  Rockstar engineers don’t just learn about the subject matter, but they also can pick up on some great presentation skills.  I’m often more captivated by the latter (i.e. the presentation styles) than the content.
• www.CodeProject.com  I write software primarily in the C# programming language.  CodeProject provides a constant diet of other clever things that other people are doing in C#.  Their projects aren’t even close to mine, but just seeing their work often gives me a re-charge.
• Various leadership/effectiveness/communication blogs.  Email me if you’d like to know some of them.

3. Talk it out
Now this one may not apply to everybody.  I’m a very verbal thinker so the process of talking to someone is a huge help for me.  This may not apply to everybody.  But for those of you that aren’t verbal thinkers, I’d encourage you to give it a try.

Guidelines for conversation as inspiration:

• Remember that conversation is a gift:
  If another person is willing to give you his or her time – treat it with respect.  They are giving you a part of their lives.  Be thankful, act thankful and tell them that you are thankful.
• Respect the other person’s time and mental state:
  There is a chance that they are in the middle of doing something amazing.  Even if nothing is scheduled on their calendar they may still be “tied up”.  Respect that.
• Respect the other person’s expertise and interests:
  I don’t talk mathematics with some of my friends.  I don’t talk business strategy with other friends. 
• Respect their difference of opinion:
  If you are asking a person for help, DO NOT SHOOT DOWN THEIR IDEAS.  There is no place for defensiveness or negativity when you are the one asking for help.

Every one of us will have times where we are stuck and a muse would come in handy.  (Although I’m not sure I’d recognize an “engineer muse” if one walked by.)  So until that happens; take a break, do a DBR or just go find someone to hash it out with. 

Postscript: In case you haven’t guessed, I was stuck this afternoon while writing software and it got me thinking about the whole being stuck thing.  Writing is also a DBR for me.  Instead of writing computer programs in computer language, writing human words in human language is a good break.  So thanks for helping me out today! 

Rock on!