Life under deadlines

[spb_lady]

[beginning of complain] Haven't posted here for a while... lot's of things were changing at the end of the year. I'm still in a pretty hardcore transition, but things are slowly settling down around me. I just started a new job a few weeks ago and it seems that I will love this one. But for now it's being pretty stressful. Part of it is the fact that it's all in a foreign language... even in two of them. Another part is that the processes I'm supposed to manage aren't somehow formalized yet, so I need to create the standards myself. But I realize that I have no energy and time for planning some strategy, because I'm just dieing under every day deadlines, hundreds of e-mails and small things to do. I ended up working at home last evenings in order to cover at least some deadlines, but it doesn't feel like a right thing to do and I have no idea how to get out of this hole. May be it's just the first period of adaptation and things will get better eventually as I get used to the job, but for now I'm just depressed. Wise tips how to survive needed!

[end of complain]

 

[gnatty8]

Working in multiple languages must be rough, I don't envy you.

For these processes, that need to be formalized, are they fairly homogenous? I am sure someone, somewhere has created standards for similar processes, so you may have an opportunity to leverage work that has already been done elsewhere. If your industry is specialized, you will likely find message boards that cater to people in your line of work. These can be rich resources for someone just getting started. In terms of working at home in the evenings; I hate to say it, but for a lot of people, a couple of hours a night at home are unavoidable perqs of being in a demanding role. Hopefully, your compensation reflects this.

Oh yeah, and things will get better as you adapt to the new job and things that seem difficult now, become routine. It's like a new language (which you seem to have some experience in also, lol), the more you use it, the more natural it becomes. Hang in there.

 

[Douglas]

Everything gnatty says is wise, though I have not personally experienced these message boards and such before. It is likely other people have implemented similar processes, but it can be hard to get your hands on them.

Just hang in there, accept that you'll have to work some extra hours for now, trust me that things will become more manageable and routine as you get used to them, and you'll inevitably speed up in the little things and digest the big picture to the point where you can make good process and strategy decisions. I guess it comes down to just, as gnatty says, hanging in there.

Good luck.

 

[spb_lady]

Originally Posted by gnatty8

Working in multiple languages must be rough, I don't envy you.

yeah... the problem is that I feel pretty comfortable with english... I speak russian twice a week now may be - when I call my parents or friends. And unfortunately my english is much better than most of my colleagues. Which makes handover a long and painful process. I try to ask something only in case of real emergency and even then it doesn't mean I will get some help.

Originally Posted by gnatty8

I am sure someone, somewhere has created standards for similar processes, so you may have an opportunity to leverage work that has already been done elsewhere.

that's a good tip by the way

I work in fashion and one of the problems I'm facing now - lack of analytics on sale process. I have a vision how it should be done, but it will probably take half of my life to make our IT department to understand what kind of software and graphics I need

Originally Posted by gnatty8

Oh yeah, and things will get better as you adapt to the new job and things that seem difficult now, become routine. It's like a new language (which you seem to have some experience in also, lol), the more you use it, the more natural it becomes. Hang in there.

right... I actually never thought it will be easy... thanx for support!

 

[Thomas]

Just wanted to echo Gnatty's and Douglas's posts, particularly the part about hanging in there. There are a lot of things in a role that will get faster as you do them more often. Congratulations and good luck!

 

[GQgeek]

Hopefully, work done upfront will reap dividends later. When I started my new job a few months ago, I was coming into a huge mess of a system that had absolutely no documentation and nothing was designed/configured according to industry best practices. I spent a lot of time during the day putting out fires and a lot of hours outside the office doing research and design work for the new solution I was going to put in place. I didn't have much of a social life. Most of the major infrastructure changes will be done at the end of January and then I can start leading a normal life again.

The most frustrating thing, for me, was getting bogged down in process. There were things that needed doing, that should have been simple, but because of some of the people involved, took a long time. I hate bureaucracy, but just work through it and it'll get better, eventually.

FYI, I'm in IT, and the thing to remember about IT departments is that most of them don't like dealing with users, even cute ones. I certainly don't because most of the time they're just wasting my time (I have people below me that are supposed to handle low level work but that doesn't stop some people).

I'm very conscious of my role in the overall business and that is to provide technology solutions so that the business can operate better and so that various stakeholders have the resources/information they need, and where i see potential improvements, I suggest them. However, many people in IT don't see beyond their own silos into the larger enterprise, and some can be very stuck in their own way of doing things because they don't want to learn anything new. Working with people like that can be a real pain.

I don't know what kind of software you have and what you want, but if the current tools aren't giving you the information you need, then don't go through IT, go through whatever level of management is appropriate in your organization and make a business case for it. If you sell management, they'll TELL IT to make it happen. If you have no idea what sort of software you need and your IT department isn't being helpful, start by seeing what other people in your industry are using. If you're totally lost here send me some info on what you're using now and i may be able to make some suggestions.

 

[globetrotter]

triage - main issue is deciding what you really have to do. try to figure out a way to quickly put the things that need to be handled right away in one pile, the things that never need to be handled in another pile, and the stuff that you have to handle but can wait in a 3rd pile. I find that a lot of stuff simply doesnt' effect my business one way or another, so I don't waste any time on it.

the other advice above is good, too.


good luck

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

triage - main issue is deciding what you really have to do. try to figure out a way to quickly put the things that need to be handled right away in one pile, the things that never need to be handled in another pile, and the stuff that you have to handle but can wait in a 3rd pile. I find that a lot of stuff simply doesnt' effect my business one way or another, so I don't waste any time on it. the other advice above is good, too. good luck
^^ Yeah, good suggestion. And delegate where you can. If people are bugging you about trivial things that could be handled by someone beneath you, get that person to handle those requests and let everyone know they will be handling them so that you don't get pulled in. When you're new there's a desire not to say no to anyone, but in certain cases you just have to or offload to someone that's less burdened. I'd also suggest using some sort of flagging system in your email to represent the different piles. Don't just ignore emails though, respond and give people some sort of estimate of when you'll give them a real answer.

 

[acidboy]

things will get better.

 

[thinman]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

triage - main issue is deciding what you really have to do. try to figure out a way to quickly put the things that need to be handled right away in one pile, the things that never need to be handled in another pile, and the stuff that you have to handle but can wait in a 3rd pile. I find that a lot of stuff simply doesnt' effect my business one way or another, so I don't waste any time on it.

the other advice above is good, too.


good luck

+1. This will give you time to strategize and formalize processes, which is where your real time-savings will eventually come. That and delegating everything you possibly can.

 

[Dedalus]

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[Metlin]

In addition to all the excellent posts above, I'll just say this -- take a break once in a while. You'll be amazed at how much as well-rested, even short, break can do to your spirits and overall attitude.

Everytime I get really bogged down by something, I just go on a 3 day weekend trip and go climbing or kayaking or something. It's terrific, especially when you're disconnected from people and gadgets.

 

[spb_lady]

Guys, thanks for your advice! Everything you said is more or less well known, but in the minute when I started to panic it was very helpful to read it once again.

Things already looked a bit better today in the morning as my bf took me to the beach this weekend

It cleared my head a lot.

And in the middle of the day HR had a meeting with me and asked me if I can interview one girl tomorrow for a position of my assistant!

I was about to kiss him, to tell the truth. It will be one month since I started to work in the company only on Friday... and I've got an assistant already. Nice surprise

Feels like I can see the horizon finally