Friday, May 18, 2007

A Little Less Faith, and the Return of the Slacker

We've had some recent company policies implemented surrounding the "accountability" for individuals and teams in application support. There have been a few situations that prompted an over-exaggerated (yes, that's an intentional redundancy) in due-diligence that has left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

With out going into too much detail, it's one of those situations where a new policy implemented has left myself and others feeling like that company that we work for has no faith in our ability to do our jobs. We are being somewhat "punished" for the lack of actions in other teams and other areas of application support that have track records notorious for dropping the ball. It's a very unfortunate situation, and today I had to draft an email response in a threaded discussion about this very situation to express my own views and disappointments on the subject.

"I feel almost as if my organization (and company) does not have faith in my abilities as a Systems Analyst. That doesn't make a best place to work let alone a place I want to reciprocate a feeling of teamwork or dedication."


At least I can approach my peers on the teams closest to me and my direct manager to let them know how I feel. I can say, with some certainty, that I know I'm not the only one who feels like that.

I've decreased my overall productivity with work, which is very unfortunate. I've been somewhat of a star player here for the past (almost) 2 years. With some of the uncertainties that lie in the changes going forward for our company and my role within (I am not in jeopardy of losing my job, it's just uneasy to know exactly what's going to come down the pipeline for re-org, job role, etc..), and the seemingly lacking appreciation and confidence from the company in what we do--- the slacker within has reared his ugly head.

I've spent a decent amount of time outside of my usual duties to blog, work on web projects, research new computer technologies, read news websites, dream about new computers and music equipment.. granted I'm still getting my job done and done well, I'm not going beyond as much as I did before. It's really hard to keep that up sometimes, ya know?
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The rental house that Amy and I have moved into is freaking awesome now. They replaced the carpet in our lower den area after we had left-over problems from the previous tenants' animals' bad habits. With new carpet in the lower den (which acts as our computer/general chillout room), all of the space in the rest of the place (big kitchen, a living room, and 3br/2br, garage, big yard..), and nearing the complete restoration of the deck in back-- I'm loving the move back to suburbanite living.

I grew up in the suburbs of Reno and I realize now that I missed the neighborhoods, the families, the people waving as you walk by on an evening outing, the quietness, the space, the BBQ's... it's awesome =D

Should I get back to work? Yea.. probably. Maybe I will dink around on the 'net for a bit. Yay internet!