On a call at the moment, but with two screens, I can listen with both ears, and watch screen 1, with the demonstration, with one eye and watch screen 2 with the other eye, typing this blog.
The demonstration is on a tool that is meant to represent the little machine that feeds me my next bit of work, tracks what work I am handling and will apparently provide statistical evidence of what a wonderful being I am. This tool is something that we are stuck with, being dictated from on high, but that does not mean I have to like it.
Now, the management will say that I need to work with the tool to make it work for our organisation. (i.e. being on the inside peeing out) rather than fighting against it (i.e. being on the outside peeing in). Once again, just because they say that does not mean I have to like it either. And to be honest, as positive and Tigger-like as I am, I cannot help but be struggling with this, because it really means that the management have lost the plot.
I like the freedom and creativity of my role, even if sometimes the creativity is about finding a way over an immovable blockage, and this new process and its associated methodology, broadly around the Lean arena, is intent on stripping out the fun, the creativity and the art, replacing it instead with a whole bunch of science. Once the process is pure science, then they can remove the human intelligence and replace it by a machine or an offshore resource. I am not trying to give any offence to offshore resource, since they have an important role to play in the world's economics, but what I am saying is that I believe that my role is part art and part science, but the people who are implementing this new process believe that with enough control, it can become pure science**. I feel this new process wants to put me in a little box, with an "in" slit on one side and an "out" slit on the other side, and I just process a unit of work and pass it on. A bit like the film Brazil***. Once that has been achieved, and I know I am repeating myself here, then you can simply swap me out (very expensive resource, albeit worth every penny) with something that costs a pint of diesel and a drop of oil to run.
Oh, nearly forgot, the title refers, in case you have not been paying attention****, to the working days left before I have a week off. We are very much looking forward to going away. It creates stress in the preparation, and the words "is it really worth it?" will be uttered more than once, but when we are finally sitting in the 'van eating our first fried egg bap, with the third cuppa of the day in front of us, it will be worth it.
Until we meet again...
------------------------------------
* If you round up to the nearest evening
** Needless to say, I strongly disagree
*** Probably
*** Shame on you if you have not
No comments:
Post a Comment