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Highly Sensitive People and the Interruptive Workplace

Good News: I have a new manager and increased scope at Dayjob. My job title and description will be adjusted to formally recognize what I've actually been doing for the past three years.

Bad news: New manager wants me in the office "more often". It's the only point on which we disagree. But it's a big point. For some time now, I've been telecommuting three days a week.

Within a month of my starting work at this company (on a temporary "contract"), I asked to telecommute one day a week. When they offered to make the position permanent, I requested permission to telecommute two days a week. That (and a Mac on my desk :-) were my most important negotiating points before saying Yes.

About a year and a half ago, I increased my telecommuting to three days a week. As my commute time and exposure to noise and disruption have gone down, my stress levels have also gone down. The ability to telecommute is one of my top reasons for staying with this company.

Asking me to "be the office more" feels like a punishment for a job well done.

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Is Customer Satisfaction Worth $9.95?

Back in early June, I noticed that the front grill emblem on our Scion xB was missing. I decided I wanted to replace it and our local dealership's price seemed high so I checked online. I found a decent price but their web ordering system was out of whack and proposed $35 for shipping (um, no). There was, however, a box I could check to "get a quote" for shipping.

So, I placed the order (using PayPal) and checked the box. The next day, they sent me a quote for shipping.

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Evolution of a TWikiist

I've had a rather eclectic career. Most of the time, I've been a programmer, starting with Unix (shell, awk, and some C), then moving into Perl. At other times, when the mood suits, I've been employed as a technical writer.

I've also been a Quality lead and a Linux sysadmin. I've created web pages, managed mailing lists, provided Macintosh support, and written code in JavaScript and Visual Basic. Regardless of my job title, I've always been happiest when I'm helping other people to be more productive in their work, either by writing code or writing and editing documentation.

At present, I'm the resident TWiki adept in a large Internet company.

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Privacy in the Internet Age

I read an article today, in Read Write Web, on Facebook's "privacy changes". The headline screamed "Facebook's Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy is Over" .

Well, apparently that's not actually what Zuckerberg said. That was an interpretation for a sensationalist headline. What he said was:

People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time.

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Step Away from the Problem

A few days ago, I was working on a small application for some people at Work. Part way into the project, I went out briefly on an errand.

Driving down the street, I suddenly realized that I could (and should) make a simple change to the user interface that would result in less risky code as well as a better experience for the users.

Later that day, I found myself banging my head against some JavaScript. No matter what I did, it was not working. I'm not a master JS programmer, so I figured it was probably just something I didn't understand yet about the code. Still frustrated, I stepped away for lunch.

When I returned to my desk, the first thing I saw was that two forms on the same page had the same name. Oops. That's not going to work. I renamed one and the JS code worked as planned.

When you're in the middle of a problem, it can be difficult to step away. Your brain wants to Solve This Thing Right Now. But many times, stepping away is just what is needed.

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