N.M.D. (It's not my business)

In the past few years, the question of prioritization has been tough on me. I saw that many friends and colleagues also suffered from this: how to understand which problem to solve and which one to ignore? Where is the line?

Installation

If you are reading this in search of advice, you are probably an energetic and enterprising person. You consider yourself a responsible employee who deeply cares about doing everything right. You care about software and systems, or about people and organizations, or about processes and policies, or about all of the above.

This attitude probably served you well in your career. People speak of you as a very responsible person, and people admire your ability to think deeply about problems. You try to cover all aspects, the whole system around, and it helps to find reliable solutions that solve real problems, and not just treat the symptoms.
')
And yet, despite these strengths, you often feel frustrated. You see so many problems around, and when you point at them, people sometimes get angry. They perceive your feedback poorly. They don't want your help fixing the situation. Colleagues ignore comments, the manager does not listen, your manager’s manager nods sympathetically, and then continues to do nothing.

Such agonizing disappointment can wear you down over time. I know because I was in that position. I left a big company because I saw too many things I couldn’t fix. When I became a manager, it seemed that I had the authority to make everything right. Then I thought that when I became the head of the entire development department, I could do it. Then I thought that when I became a leader, I could do it. The pursuit of a dream to fix everything exhausted me. I dare say that I burned out a little and finally decided to leave the post of CTO.

Escape from the trap

I came to understand that there is no such work where you can fix it. It is true that the founders have enormous power to determine the direction of development and culture, but trying to control everything causes many other problems that go beyond the scope of this essay. If you are not the founder, it is better to just take a pause: it is impossible to control everything and solve all problems, regardless of your position. There is always something that cannot be fixed.

How to decide where to direct the energy?

Step One: Find Out Whose Problem It Is

If this is your job (or the job of someone who reports to you), great. Forward! First, clean your own garden. Make the systems as reliable as you think they should be. Implement processes that you consider effective and efficient. Show me an example. Stop reading and get down to business!

If nobody is involved in the problem, why did this happen? Just no one bothered to do it or the organization specifically decided not to do it? If no one bothered to do, can you do it yourself? Can your organization solve the problem within itself?

If this is someone's work, how much does it affect your daily life? Is the problem bothering you simply because someone is doing something wrong or is it in fact significantly interfering with your work? Is it really? So much? No work at all with this? If so, quit!

Step Two: Talk to everyone

If you clearly do not own the problem, you need to talk with everyone. If the idea does not please, stop! This is a sign that you should not get down to business! It is already draining you, and you have not even begun to understand. It is probably better to just forget about him or, in extreme cases, tell the manager about your anxiety, and then forget.

If you agree with everyone to talk, then do it and look at the problem from the side. This can be done formally, through a document describing your situation, or informally, in the form of a series of interviews. You will need this information to work in order to make a plan for how to remedy the situation. Maybe you realize that the problem is not really as important as you first thought? Or has someone already decided it? So that's great!

If you know who is doing this, you need to give it a chance for correction. This means giving examples of how the problem affects you or your team. Not enough of these examples? Stop! So this is not your business! Do not bring problems that people from other departments complain about. These departments should solve their own problems. If necessary, tell their manager that you hear complaints and let him decide whether to do this.

Step Three: Planning Corrections

So, you talked to all people, but the issue has not yet been resolved. If nobody does it, and you still have a desire to fix the problem, great. Make a concrete plan, how you will fix it, and share this plan with people who need to know about it. It should be expected that after the reviews you will have to revise your plan, and the number of reviews and necessary changes will be directly related to how big the problem is, how many people it affects and how controversial the correction you are proposing is. Expect these reviews, discussions and revision process to take some time. You will need feedback from all places. The opinion of friends is good to begin with, but be sure to include your skeptics in the discussion. Your goal is to convince everyone that they want to solve the problem. Yes, this is much more discussion. But if you are tired now, you probably should not take on this business!

If the other team has a problem, you talked to them, gave clear examples of why this is really important, and their answer did not satisfy you, then there is a choice. Maybe refer to the manual? If you have clear examples of complications, and your colleague could not do anything, then this is a great time to escalate the problem! Consider whether you can agree to remedy the situation with another team or bypass the situation with their help. In cases where the situation is related to the company's culture, think about whether you need to inflate it or just leave it as it is.

Step Four: Accept Plan

And now for the hardest part. You found this problem, complained, took it upon yourself, and now you have to fix it! This is what you wanted, right?

Unfortunately, the fix will almost certainly take much longer than you think, and it will take a lot of effort on your part. And it is unlikely that you will give up other things to do this. But if you passionately want it, then it will add strength to working overtime.

Step Five: Evaluate Your Efforts

Fine! You fixed the problem! Everything turned out to be a bit more complicated than you expected, right? Especially if you had to change something in the company culture. But the work done brings satisfaction. You see the improvement that you have sought, and you have a great story.

Now think about whether it was worth spending time on it. What else do you want to change in the company as much?

Think about what else you could do with that effort. Finish earlier critical project? Hire several like-minded people to help you? To write a novel? Set a personal record in the burden?

First choose a suitable culture.

To prioritize is to learn how to choose your company and your boss, because you really should not be concerned only with correcting the current state of affairs. From time to time it is fun, but when you feel surrounded by such problems, you cannot ignore them and are powerless to correct them, then this becomes a real burden. Such a feeling is a good sign that it is time to look for a new job, preferably in a company that is more in tune with your lifestyle. Life is much nicer when there are people around whom you trust to solve problems, even the most important ones.


Scheme provided by twitter user @felidelg