Introduction
The 10 tenets of working in IT series originally started with a post on PacketPushers back in 2012. I got a good response to that and when I was writing it, I had envisioned breaking out each tenet to its own post.
This final post in the series covers off how to review. Not just reviewing the other tenets from time to time but review your tasks, your career and your life.
Review
Reviewing is all about taking a look at where you are in your big plan. This will only be effective if you have set yourself goals. Whilst these targets can move and change based on circumstances, both within and outside your control, adapting to these changes is going to be more effective if you go through a regular review process.
Don’t micromanage yourself though, which will usually end up being counter-productive. I find that setting goals, breaking them down in to tasks and putting time scales against them makes it an easier job for me to keep on top of them and setting a regular review session, the frequency of which is usually determined by a combination of the end date and priority.
It’s also important to review your career progress. Have you been so heavily focussed on your current role for such a long period of time that you’ve missed opportunities to progress, either upwards or outwards? It is important to take a look down from a higher altitude to see what is on the horizon and potentially beyond.
The same goes for keeping a track on life in general. How many workaholics, highly successful career people, have sub-optimal personal lives because they apply all their energy to their careers and come home with nothing left in the tank? Sure, there are times when you know giving it 110% at work is going to pay off down the line e.g. pulling a project out of the disaster bin, and a compromise at home can be agreed with all parties, but if these periods extend for too long unchecked, things can go awry over time.
Treat your career and your personal life like a prized network; monitor, be proactive, tweak, capacity plan and get feedback from its users. The last thing you need is an outage.
Summary
It’s all very well having a solid plan of action with the skills and behaviours to see that plan through but if you don’t take a step back every now and again and review what you do, what needs throwing out and what can be improved, you may find yourself not achieving your full potential. Keep challenging yourself, measuring progress and moving forward.
I hope this series has been useful to you, at least in parts if not in its entirety. Feel free to get in touch or drop a comment in on the blog.
Till the next time