Comments on: A perfect day http://steves.seasidelife.com/2008/01/08/a-perfect-day/ I'm Steve Richards a strategist and all round tech enthusiast working on enterprise desktop, application delivery and collaboration solutions. I work from home by the coast in the North West of England. All the views expressed in this blog are my own. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:43:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Steve Richards http://steves.seasidelife.com/2008/01/08/a-perfect-day/comment-page-1/#comment-595 Steve Richards Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:30:08 +0000 http://steves.seasidelife.com/2008/01/08/a-perfect-day/#comment-595 Good advice from the overworked trenches Nic! Good advice from the overworked trenches Nic!

]]> By: Nic http://steves.seasidelife.com/2008/01/08/a-perfect-day/comment-page-1/#comment-594 Nic Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:58:04 +0000 http://steves.seasidelife.com/2008/01/08/a-perfect-day/#comment-594 I've given up 'perfect' anything, years ago. I can't even dream about 'a perfect anything'. However, I can clearly define what a horrible day is, esp. 'at work' (which is increasingly done at home, in the garden, etc.): 5 hours answering unsolicited, unnecessary, unproductive but unavoidable emails, phone calls and instant messages. 3 hours of reviewing incomprehensible, incorrect but indispensable design documents. 3 hours of attending boring teleconferences with people who should not be allowed to talk at all. 0 hour of useful work, such as writing things for ...others to review. 0 hours to play 0 hours to learn 0 hours to eat and drink etc. I need to break out of the trap of 'major Release deadlines', 'critically important bids', 'do-or-die remedial projects' etc. My advice to younger engineers is not to work on huge programmes; never mind the kudos. They leave you too exhausted and broken to enjoy what's left of your life. I’ve given up ‘perfect’ anything, years ago. I can’t even dream about ‘a perfect anything’. However, I can clearly define what a horrible day is, esp. ‘at work’ (which is increasingly done at home, in the garden, etc.):

5 hours answering unsolicited, unnecessary, unproductive but unavoidable emails, phone calls and instant messages.
3 hours of reviewing incomprehensible, incorrect but indispensable design documents.
3 hours of attending boring teleconferences with people who should not be allowed to talk at all.
0 hour of useful work, such as writing things for …others to review.
0 hours to play
0 hours to learn
0 hours to eat and drink
etc.

I need to break out of the trap of ‘major Release deadlines’, ‘critically important bids’, ‘do-or-die remedial projects’ etc. My advice to younger engineers is not to work on huge programmes; never mind the kudos. They leave you too exhausted and broken to enjoy what’s left of your life.

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