Getting my Hands Dirty and how it helped me...

Very often as line managers, senior management, Directors, etc, we tend to neglect the basics that our subordinates experience. In this way and in my humble opinion, a false impression is always created that there is either too less of work available or the difficulty experienced is over rated.

Having been someone who clocked in at a small firm of accountants and auditors, before my college year had begun, the ropes seemed long and tedious at first. It was the very same ropes that filled my life with experiences that would set me up for life. Being an adventurous young man, my mind always pondered what it took to get up there in life, either running my own business and managing a team of individuals. I am happy to say I have accomplished both.

One thing that I had learnt was that managers always expected the best but not always knew how it came together. I do understand, we have to get results on time, come hell or high water, but behind the results, lies more important data - the what, why, when, by whom, etc. Financial reporting has always been based on historical data and forward looking projections (which at times seems like a white lie to oneself).

My experience is that getting ones hands dirty, usually as close to the source as possible, allowed me to better grasp the situation. It allowed me the opportunity to make a call, circumvent a sitution, cut back weeks of errors and remediation and create efficiencies. We may very well ask, is this our scope of works, but in reality, is it not part of the large picture we signed up for?

Over the years, I made it my point to 'get my hands dirty' and moreso, the outcome had to include...

a. I understood how the system worked

b. I understood the business use cases

c. I understood the personas who were using the system

d. I understood the pain points of the current system

e. I could co-relate and imagine behind the scenes how data was stored, retrieved, manipulated.

f. And most importantly, I knew the nitty-gritty of the system to microscopic level.

So that was just a few words on how 'getting my hands dirty' helped me better understand what goes on and how to achieve greater results.