The Romantic

I love my job.

It fascinates me, consumes me and absolutely drives me bat crazy. It battles with my emotions, does sometimes idiotic, many times damaging but mostly wonderful things with my mind space. It challenges me, hands me a ton of headaches, chances to solve difficult problems and presents to me a cycle of frustration and joys. The complex ones turning simple, the simple ones going criminally backstabbing complex, the ‘Ooohs!! the ‘Yayys! and ‘Aaaaghhs!! Makes for an emotional rollercoaster!

?I hate my job.

It is mind-numbing, monotonous, total buzzkill and drives me nuts. It is a struggle to get out of bed, drag my feet to work, be awake in the meetings and survive the day. It frustrates me, gives me a headache, plays games with my head and presents me a bleak view of the future. The days going from bad to worse, the possibilities going from barely visible to invisible and the Aaaaghs every moment! Makes for a not so merry-go-round.

?I do my job.

It is a job. It is my karma. It is something that needs to be done, go from point A to B, make C to do D and report to E. I am a super efficient machine and do what is told to me. It is all about structure, organization and execution. No emotion, just plain action. Nothing more, nothing less. The days go by like clockwork, work gets done, fires get put out and the day repeats like clockwork. Satisfaction is in completing said tasks.

?I am… ?

There are many personalities that you see, experience and live with. I have always wondered about the choice of words to use for these different engineering personas at work. How do they see their work, relate to it, manage it and how do their personalities reflect what they do? What triggers them, drives them, fulfills them? What kind of these personas do you want in your organization? Whom should organizations nurture? How do you handle these personas? How many of these personas are needed in an organization and in what percentage splits?

?It’s Fascinating.

??“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” is a brilliant book that was released sometime early 1990s authored by Robert Pirsig and quickly went on to become a very popular book with a cult following, myself included. I am reading it again now and probably for the sixth time since 1992, when I found this in a neighborhood library. Borrowed it thinking it’s a motorcycle maintenance book, of course (duh!), and ended up realizing it’s a book on maintenance of the self (groan!). Quickly, the book grew on you and ended up as an addictive, deeply profound narrative that throws out new interpretations every time you pick it up. Perspectives! It is all about perspectives, different ways in how people relate to work, how personalities interact with environments, the way people think, behave and respond to scenarios.

?Robert Pirsig introduces two different faces personas of an engineer. In the memorable words of Clint Eastwood “You see, in this world, there’s two kinds of people, my friend. The Classic and the Romantic”. Of course, Robert Pirsig didn’t say that and neither did my favorite Clint uncle but I am paraphrasing and taking creative liberties here.

?The Classic and the Romantic.

?Robert Pirsig does a brilliant job of describing the personalities by how they perceive and handle the situations they encounter during a motorcycle journey. What appears to be a simple act of checking a motorcycle function for one is a complex one for another. And all of this boils down to respective personalities, in how they perceive their role in the act, in how their inherent bias or lack of it clouds or supports their judgements and how they either love it, hate it or just live it.

?The workaholics, the nerds, geeks out there will surely vouch for their respective emotions in their respective jobs and how it envelops you in its clawing clutches or crushing embrace. They will happily state that work can turn you into a Zombie, give you insomnia, have you jumping with joy, grin ear-to-ear, bang your head against a wall, tear your hair (if any left) and curse repeatedly to no one in particular. But the non-workaholics, the matter-of-fact ones don’t behave this way and tend to go through a flatter emotion cycle in comparison to the wild swings of the other. The job may be the same but the personalities that do these jobs tend to swing between loving it and hating it. Guess it’s something to do with their wiring maybe.

Let’s analyze

?The Classical Engineer

The textbook definition of a Classic is “something that is of a high quality, which serves as a standard, a model or a guide / reference”. He/She is typically someone who does things by the book. Very objective person, very clear purpose in life, sticks to the prescribed process and will not deviate. They bring structure to work, they derive repeatable methods, they organize and build a methodical approach to executing the prescribed job. It is important for the Classic Engineer that there is a book, a reference documented system, a manual to follow for a task. The Classical engineer, incidentally, will also be the one who would prepare such a guide and ensure the project is well organized.

?The Classic Engineer brings order to chaos, is exceptional in bringing a method to madness. The very nature of a chaotic, disorganized environment is a strong trigger for the Classic to get started and bring order. He thrives on structure, process flow, checklists, templates, manuals et al. In the same breath, the Classic can be thrown off by disorder, angered by lack of instructions, frustrated without a manual, ticked off if he/she has to do a job meant to be done by someone else and if things don’t go according to a set piece. The Classic doesn’t necessarily love the job itself. It’s a job that he believes is something that can go about mechanically, efficiently and because it needs to get done and it pays the rent. Nothing to fall in love with but something to be excellent at, be sharp and be ruthlessly efficient.

?The Classic would typically exude this behavior outside of work as well and finds himself drawn towards an organization kind of activity, where he could help with structure and methods. You would find a classic managing a committee, running a non-profit or something similar. The Classic finds his love in maybe an altogether different subject like the Arts or Sports. You may see him cursing in agony or screaming with joy watching the Premier League. You never know. ?

?The Classic will drive the Romantic Engineer up the wall or will drive himself up the wall handling the Romantic. ?

?Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing …. (drumbeats)

?The Romantic Engineer.

History has pages and pages written about the romance of man and his profession. Michaelangelo and his paintings, Beethoven and his piano and artists who lived and breathed their work. But on this side of our lovely world we had our Engineers who loved their job, treated it like art and did amazing things immersing themselves into it in the process. We have Imhotep of the pyramids, Da Vinci with his sketches and Galileo who actually was sentenced to death for his work. My favorite of them all from ancient times was Archimedes, who literally jumped with joy out of his bathtub and is known much for it but has much more to his credit including being obsessed about his work. Romantic engineers carry their job romance all day and get to experience light bulb moments of realization, the spark of sudden clarity on the thinking throne and the sudden realization of a solution to a long frustrating problem in the shower.

Eureka!

?The Romantic engineer is a workaholic, carries his work everywhere, is always thinking about it, improvising and looking forward to getting back to where he left off. He is obsessed with the details, with getting to deeper layers of the topic and not letting go unless it answers the many questions rattling in his head. The Romantic is usually a hands-on do-it-yourself kind of person, wants more action for himself and a fully involved kind of guy. If a Classic engineer looks at a box, he sees a box. If a Romantic engineer looks at a box, he sees texture, lines, designs, how-does-it-work thoughts, what-if-it-was-done-another-way thoughts, why-did-they-do-it-this-way puzzlement and groans about why-didn’t-i-think-about-it. The Romantic is fascinated with details, loves the intricates and his mind continuously is churning out the possibilities, the mechanisms, the design thinking that went behind it.

The Romantic just loves it all. He is not one to be asked to do something but is the one who does it purely out of his own selfish motivation and probably to get it out of his system and not wallow in the misery of not being able to do it. He doesn’t crave attention or appreciation but is rather fond of his work finding use in this world. No money or any bait would do the trick of wooing a Romantic than good exciting work.

The Romantic will definitely drive everyone up the wall, especially the Classic. Probably himself too in the process. You never know. I am imagining right now Obelix tapping his temple going “These Romantics are crazy”.

?How do you find Romance at work?

Okay that came out wrong.

?How can I love my job?

Ok that sounds better. Fundamentally, we all need to find ways to love our jobs and keep the excitement of it alive. It is well understood that there are intellectually stimulating jobs, physically challenging jobs, joyfully fun jobs and then there are these just numbing, monotone, boring, loveless jobs. Things you just hate kind of jobs. Paperwork, data entry, repetitive testing, accounting, security, receptionist, a secretary and many more that we see around us and wonder how can one do that every day, every year like a monotonous routine and doing it mechanically every day.

?But it is also said that the beauty of a job is in the eyes of the job holder.

?Study shows that it is not the jobs but the people who define how the jobs actually are. Every job’s beauty or boredom is in the control of the job holder.?It is possible to find love in every work that you undertake.

Does money buy you a job you love?

Money is absolutely necessary and its like Red Bull. Gives you a high. But only for an hour. After the high comes the lows. But a job that you love comes to your rescue and gives you a high day in and day out, come sunshine or rain and through thick and thin. There is absolutely no relation between money, lack of it or excess of it, to getting to love your job. It is a mutually exclusive topic and here are some lovely stories to drive home this point.

·???????A house maid finds joy in arranging toys in a funny way every day so kids coming home after school squeal with delight

·???????A janitor names every machine in a manufacturing plant, talks to them while cleaning them, pretends they have problems and so need extra attention.

·???????A testing engineer has a competition running with himself on speed of closing a task, finding code flaws, finding a new way to code software and sticking it to the design team

·???????A security guard has a guessing game on the next one coming through the gates; the next one is a dork with glasses or the next is going to look impeccable or haggard. They tally points at the end of the day. Hilarious! I wonder what they have me slotted as.

?Humans are actually the variable in the joy of a job and not the job itself. Humans are a fundamental design principle.

?Job delight = F {Human, Mindset, Effort}

Of course! That’s common sense which isn’t that common.

?It takes effort to love your job, so pay attention. Nothing comes without effort. The first thing to do is change your relationship with your job with some simple changes. ?

?Here is my “Love your Job” in 3 Easy Steps

?1.??????Redefine

2.??????Get Creative

3.??????Go 80-20

?Redefine One important way to find love in your job is to change the way you perceive your job and change the way you are perceived at your job as well. For example: Don’t call yourself a maintenance engineer, call yourself a Mr.Fix-It or Mr.Problem Solver or even Captain Marvel. Find a name that is creative and introduces an element of fun in the work environment. Don’t be embarrassed.

I am not a Sw tester, am Sherlock Holmes, I solve software crimes. What will I solve today?

?Get Creative Let’s start by introducing topics that define you, triggers your interest and gets you energized. Let’s then look at introducing these interests and merging them into your job. Example: You are a testing engineer and you are an avid sports enthusiast in say Football. Going forward you are a Football coach assessing fitness of code. You create fitness sessions (code functionality testing), you explore weakness areas (coding bugs) etc. You change the names of the test cases, you introduce football terminology, you create fantasy football leagues in your environment and promote a testing fantasy league on the same lines.

?I am Juergen Klopp. My target is 100points in this year’s Testing League. I have a points system for code bugs. Bugs are classified as Simple bugs – 1 point, Terrible bugs – 3 points and OMG bugs – 10 points.

?Go 80-20 Researchers say to look for joy in a job, you need to be immersed in it for at least 20%.?You are okay with 80% numbness as long you have 20% fun. So go find that creative juice to make your job fun for 20% of your day. Find that spark of fun, build you own world within your job. Try interesting twists like those security guards, gamify the environment and setup a lunch or Friday beer fund, get people to buy into your gamification, give your work a character, create your own world that you immerse yourself in. Maybe you are looking for a Pokémon and not a bug in the software code, maybe try giving work names to everyone in your team at work – maybe everyone has call-signs like in Top Gun. Set aside that minimum 20% of work to look forward to and delight yourself. At the end of the day, you will look back and say,?“Oh wow! That was Fun!"

To all the Romantics out there, spread the love.?

Love your job!?