Indeed a challenging quote.
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The feeling of being a new client
Yesterday I was let out into the wild for a couple meetings. In one meeting, I met a project architect younger than me by several years, and in the next one I met the principal of a local firm who was buddies with my old boss.
It was a very odd feeling that I’m on the other side. Over the past couple years, I had gotten used to the idea that some my clients will be younger than me. Now I am that client.
An not just any client – the client coming in not know what to expect, where its all new to me because I don’t know what I’m doing (yet)! I’ll be doing this again and again over the coming years, but I should try to remember this feeling, because most clients don’t get the luxury of a do over – and they have to live the results.
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Team concept
I need to chew on this more, but my team mentality can be summed up with “we succeed even though I make mistakes”
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New Adventure coming up!
Well that’s a wrap. Thanks to all the excellent coworkers, clients, and consultants that I worked with at Aptus! It’s been a great (almost) 4 years, but it’s now time for new adventures as a project manager at the State Public Works Division.
Yup, I’ve joined the dark side.
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Still Rockin’!
This little guy. We made pancakes on July 4th, leaving just a little remnant left in the stainless steel starter bowl but forgot to refeed him. While I drove off to run some errands, my mother in law saw the “empty” bowl and tried to wash it out, leaving it to soak in the kitchen sink.
So you could imagine the shock and horror when I came back and saw the bowl filled with dirty dishwater. But there was still some stuff crusted on the sides and a dollop of starter maybe the size of a small candy corn at the bottom of the bowl. So we threw out the dirty water and dumped 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water back into it.
Must have been a rough day for him cause nothing really happened that night (usually you get a nice ferment by eight hours), but I decided to wait till the morning to give him his last rites.
I woke up the next morning planning to start anew but I looked in the bowl and l he was good – frothy and poofy! There was the minor issue of the gnarly dishwater soak, so I tossed and refreshed him a few times before throwing him into the fridge….and then pulling him out to make this lovely loaf.
So for those keeping score at home he’s now survived death by boiling (threw in too hot water one day, but was able to rescue him by pulling off some dough before I baked my loaf) and now death by dishwashing. I had wanted to say “Don’t mess with Mr. Mianbaobao!”, but honestly, he can take it.
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Old and new habits
Sometimes they are a long time brewing but happen in a flash. For quite a while I be been doing decaf shots but it has two major downsides – it’s not very tasty and it still has trace amounts of caffeine in it.
Last week I decided to stop that, but the bagged mint tea was very meh. The next visit to the shop I had a flash of inspiration. Get fresh mint from on the kitchen. Throw some hot water on it.
And boom a new habit in a flash.
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The Garbage Work
I have an aphorism that you know you really like something if you don’t mind doing the garbage work that comes with any job. Its one reason I know I like architecture. There is a lot of grunt work in the profession, but I don’t mind slogging through that stuff between the moments of really enjoyable work (for me its puzzling out a floor plan within limited confines).
But this morning I realized its also true in other field. I’ve been practicing tai chi on and off for the last few years, but I also have a gimpy right knee. From the beginning my teacher said I need to just exercise that knee every day, strengthening the muscles around it and teaching it to bend straight. Given that I haven’t done so and its definitely a limitation on how much I can practice, I’m at a crossroads.
Time to exercise that knee.
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One moment.
Here is a an short interview on Hiroji Kurota’s iconic image during the Million Man March.
He went to the event at the suggestion of one of his Newsweek editors. It was spur of the moment and he didn’t even have press credentials. At the end of the interview he notes that attending this event led to the South during the civil rights movement.
Its reminds me of how life sometimes just turns on a dime. The stray suggestion, that leads to a single step that leads down to a whole path of discovery.
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Aphorisms in my profession
I find that I spend my self repeating lots of aphorisms, here’s the whole lot of them.
If you don’t get a promotion in two years, it’s time to find another place.
People will take all the free work they can get. I’m gonna also.
You have to protect yourself and your time. It’s your choice to do anything.
It’s your job to tell your manager what can be accomplished given the constraints. Let them decide how to allocate your efforts. The logical extension is that sometimes you got to threaten to let a project fail, because the alternative of sacrificing yourself for the sake of a project.
When you work overtime you are getting a lot of experience, even if you’re not getting paid. 44 hours a week is 10% more than the regular joe and the learning compounds fast. On the flip side, if you’re willing to accept slower advancement in the profession, it might not be worth working OT.
Architects get paid in money and experience. Make sure you’re getting your fair share of one, the other, or both.
Don’t let yourself be comfortably miserable at a job.
We don’t make as much as other professions, but it’s better than a lot of the other alternates out there and I really enjoy the work. But if you hate the job, for god’s sake we don’t get paid enough for the stress and long hours.
For a recent job, I made it clear in the first interview that with a young family I was not interested in doing overtime. It almost certainly affected my negotiated salary, but my boss was really good about making sure I would not be overloaded. It was the best decision I made for that four years run.
The architect is a symphony conductor but he also has to play his own instrument.
Every email you send has a lawyer attached to it.
It’s not a problem unless you have a solution.
If you aren’t recovering from the previous recession, then the next recession is around the corner.
An architect’s job is to manage expectations.
And don’t forget to write meeting minutes.
