Reply to boss!

[chucker8]

Hey all, I just joined the forums today after finishing Tim's book.

So, I'm stuck in my office job. Using Tim's advice on 80/20 rule, interrupting interruptions, and email magement - my productivity has gone up. However I'm still stuck in the office atmosphere with idiot co-workers who spend most of their time babbling and minutae.

So, today I ditch work at noon and email boss saying im working at home. I get this reply:

"Can we please discuss this? I expect that you are working from the office at all times and if not, then it needs approval before hand" :eek:

Ughh. Heck its friday and the dweebs around will do diddly squat all afternoon - geez I already accomplished more this morning than they did all day. Also, I'm quite underappreciated and underpaid for the job anyhow.

What's a good response to the boss? :D

[David-Andrew]

Tell him what you told us, in nicer wordings. And yes, you should ask him first!

[kamakiri]

You have the entirely wrong mind set. It is not about your boss or your co-workers at all. Idiots or not, you have no power to change that, so those thoughts should not even be given the time of day. Dump them now, and quit giving your energy to them.

The 4HWW is not about 'ditching work'. Tim doesn't call writing work, but that is where he makes most of his money from, and what he spends most of his time on. It is clear that you did not show your boss the results that you accomplished, if any (other than a mind set change that is).

Friday or not, bailing at noon makes you look like a slacker. Especially as it is clear you didn't have permission in the first place. The misguided assumption that your boss will pick up on some productivity increase has got to go as well. It is your responsibility to increase your productivity to the point where you are noticed and recognized for it. Then move on to working from home, because you are the tail and your job, boss, and co-workers are the dog.

[chucker8]

cool. thanks for the feedback
kamikari - any advice on getting "noticed and recognized" for my increased productivity? For whatever reason i can't seem to get the appreciation for the work I do.

[sub8hr]

That was highly entertaining. Most people already commented on the fact that you should have asked the boss first.

Given that you just finished the book, how long have you actually been putting anything into practice? If the answer is since you started reading the book at the beginning of the week, it's highly unlikely that anyone at your office has noticed any difference at all.

First, you should know that the general managerial response to good work is not notice and recognition, it's "since that is done, here's some more work to do." Along with a solid pat on their own back for their ability to hire such cost-effective labor. Seeking appreciation for appreciation's sake is generally a fools errand. No matter how good you are, you will still have to fight tooth and nail with most bosses to get any kind of tangible reward such as a raise or a promotion.

Second, most people vastly over-estimate the actual value of their contribution to work. They see only the work they do, and don't really have a good idea of what other people are doing. If you want to be able to prove increase in performance and productivity, you should start charting something measurable against whatever goals you are supposed to be achieving in your role. At the end of the day, the burden of proof generally falls on you to show what you've done and not on other people to seek out and take notice of it.

[kamakiri]

kamikari - any advice on getting "noticed and recognized" for my increased productivity? For whatever reason i can't seem to get the appreciation for the work I do.

Some times it is not the questions that you ask that provide the most insight.

you say for whatever reason you aren't getting noticed. You have provided volumes of reasons in these two posts alone. Not knowing the other side, I can't say for certain, but if you want the hard truth, here it is:


You have a crappy attitude
You play hooky
You overate your own productivity
You don't understand the principals of the NR
You under appreciate the significance of LD
You are not responsible

You are an employee. You are paid for 40 hours of work. What ever expectations you might have, they really don't matter in the eyes of your employer, who expects you to be in your chair at the office.

If you can't be responsible enough to stay at work when you are supposed to be there, how in the heck do you plan on persuading your boss to let your work from home?

BTW What is the work that you are so under appreciated and under paid for doing?

[sadu]

As someone who employs people, it's nice to get the occasional burst of productivity from staff. You have to deal with all the training days, slack days, sick days, nothing to do days etc etc. So getting some productive days is really part of the job description - certainly not something you would expect a gold sticker for after only a week.

It sounds like you are skipping ahead to liberation a bit quick. Elimination took me a couple of months - you need to train your co-workers and clients which takes time, and you need to demonstrate to them that the changes are for the better. ie they get better / faster service, which they will notice (though they won't say anything), but will therefore be more accommodating of your out-of-the-ordinary email / phone answering policies. Last thing you want is a client going to your boss saying that it's taking too long to get an email response or that you aren't answering the phone etc.
You then use your newly-found free time to automate all the annoying shit that you can't eliminate, refine your systems.

I would recommend getting buy-in from the boss on the whole process. Your boss can help you establish a policy where the team aren't allowed to bother you or forward you any phone calls before 11am, or something along those lines. Tell the boss that 3 hours of uninterupted time each day will help you deliver X results - where X is billable hours, or shipped orders, or something measurable at the bottom-line level that they can understand. Let's face it, 3 hours of uninterrupted time is the same as a whole day with interruptions.

In my old job, I would turn up at work 2-3 hours before anyone else and then leave early (arranged beforehand with the boss). Worked a treat. Now I'm working in an opposite timezone to my customers and get 0 phone calls and 0 emails during my productive day.

4HWW is easy to get enthusiastic about, but take it one step at a time. Make sure you do each step properly, and always take the time to test / tweak each change that you make.

[Dus10]

In some places, you could get away with this. However, given your bosses response (with the only context being text on a message board), he seems like the kind of guy with no spine. If he really meant it, he would have docked you 4 hours sick time, or something. Now, there are two ways it could work 1) you are able to control your boss to a degree, or 2) he will keep giving you these weak responses to your face, and then do something drastic in the back room.

My last boss was like this, and he ended up getting fired. My new boss is like this, too, but since I basically run the show, I am not given the liberty of flexible working arrangements. Heh, me and this one guy basically get the bulk of everything done, and we are ridden hard about our schedules and lunches, etc. The others, including a new guy that was brought on to relieve our stress, put in let than 8 hours a day, and don't cover us well when we are at lunch... and sometimes they take off for half of the day, like you did... and they get away with it.

It is really cramping my exercise routine, as I exercise at lunch, and I typically take a 1.5 to 2 hour lunch, and I still work 9 - 10 hours a day.

Here is my advice, if you can swing it: work with your boss on getting out of the office for a half day every other week, and then work on making it weekly. This will get you closer to what you are after. If you have a review coming up, it may be likely that they won't give you much in the way of a pay increase, so ask for a "flexibility" increase. Then, if you are stuck in the office and are producing way more, spend some of your time developing a muse. You could keep it strictly mental (just thinking about your muse), if that is all you felt comfortable with... or you could actually work on a few things. Keep working to get more flexibility and getting your muse going.

This is really just what Tim is talking about in his book, but I am just suggesting you think of it on a smaller scale, rather than ditching work for an entire day.

[chucker8]

I work for a small software company. I'm a Sales Engineer - meaning I assist Sales team and pre-sale prospects with answering questions about the product, how to implement, etc.
I guess where I'm coming from is that I truly belive I'm under-compensated for my skill set and experience. In fact they'd be screwed without me. I guess it's up to me to pursue the marketplace and look for something better. But, in the end I don't want to be stuck in the same 9-5 gig I'd rather spend tiime developing a muse - but until that muse starts making money I got bills to pay.

So in looking what I should do next. I'll have the boss outline measurable goals - and then use Elimination techniques to over-deliver on these goals? And then, revisit the remote working arrangement?

[sub8hr]

From what you just said, you will likely have a more difficult time getting anything you want at all from your current position. "Pre-sales" support roles are largely thankless jobs where you are expected to be on call at all times (speaking from past personal experience). Your value as a worker is not so much in deliverables as it is in constant availability, so it is more difficult to eliminate and liberate in these roles. While the sales people you support are viewed as the money makers and likely showered with rewards and incentives, your role is viewed as a cost of doing business to be minimized as much as possible. Not to discourage you from trying, but just trying to give you a realistic idea of how your role is likely perceived by management.

Aside from just tracking goals and improving efficiency, you should consider that the people who control the purse strings (and the flex time strings) likely don't understand what you do and have a hard time attaching concrete value to your position. They wind up basing their impression of you on abstract things like "giving them positive energy." In the mind of the typical manager, attitude is far more important than ability to do work for internal roles. Even if your manager understands what you do very well, they likely have to get signoff from their manager on things for you like raises and flex time. Your boss's neck is on the line if he starts doing non-traditional things like granting flex time, so you have to help him make it an easy case to his manager.

[FreedomFinder]

What's a good response to the boss? :D

F you I quit. If you'd like me to sign an NDA I'd be happy to, since your company is going belly-up anyways.

[kamakiri]

F you I quit. If you'd like me to sign an NDA I'd be happy to, since your company is going belly-up anyways.

Response : FAIL

@ Chucker - Thanks for coming back to this thread. I am impressed at your thick skin. That is a skill that is going to help you in your quest for LD more than anything. Most of the posters who come here after just finishing the book leave an over energetic post about new goals, blah, blah, blah, then never come back.

Sub was right on, that you are in a thankless position, and I agree that it is an availablility issue. On the flip side, if that is the case, you are in great shape to work outside of the office. All you need is a cell phone and a wireless modem. Does anyone need to know you are working from a beach hut in Bora Bora? Not as long as you answer that phone every time it rings.

It actually sounds like you have a ton of low hanging fruit. The best place to look exeptional is in a room full of idiots. Getting a new job will only put you right back at the bottom of the crap heap, making it far more difficult to rise up and stand out.

Here is a short reading list you might be interested in:

The Master Key System - Great for motivation.
How to Win Friends and Influence People - This will open your eyes, and help you change a ton, and realize how much it is about you and not the surrounding idiots focusing on their minutiae... I struggled with those same ideas until the 3rd time I read that book and it finally clicked. I could have written that same post you did 10 years ago.
No BS Time Management for Entrepreneurs - A bit outdated, but a great intro to aggressive time mgmt.
Re-read 4HWW - Focus on the non-muse stuff, that is the real bread and butter.

Start using Google Reader, the RSS aggrigator. Sign up for the following blogs:
Zen Habits
4HWW
Brazen Careerist
Ryanholiday.net
Fail Blot (I can't eliminate it, Pure junk in this blog, but it brings a smile to my face every day)
Dumb Little Man
Escape from Cubicle Nation

There are more blogs of note, and you will quickly find that you can get a much better chunk of info from them than you can from the newspaper or TV. Looking at Zen Habits jsut now, I think today's post was written for you:
Finding Passion and Purpose in Life (http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/zenhabits/%7E3/B9jyb9evmws/)


A lot to digest there. Good Luck!

[sub8hr]

Thanks for the list of blogs Kami. I just got really into Brazen Careerist.

[Marcie]

Thanks for the list of blogs Kami. I just got really into Brazen Careerist.

Ummm, check out her all-time most popular post. Fair game, but I just wanted to point it out, maybe opposite sides of the fence. Thoughts welcome.

[sub8hr]

Ummm, check out her all-time most popular post. Fair game, but I just wanted to point it out, maybe opposite sides of the fence. Thoughts welcome.

Hah! I must admit, she does have some good points though.

1. Auto responders are extremely annoying. Most people likely wouldn't notice the difference if you only respond twice a day. That is actually a lot for some people. Many of the companies I have worked with take days to get back to an email.

2. Tim does use deceptive practices that rub me the wrong way. Ex: Faking needing approval on pricing from a superior for a negotiation.

Based on what I know about Tim from the book and blog, I would not want to personally do business with him. Speed of implementation is critical, I need partners who are responsive. If I have a hot button project I can't wait for my partner's weekly e-mail check to get a response on something. I also can't work with someone I have a lingering worry about whether is being honest with me or is feeding me a line of crap as part of some tactic.

Tim's work is best viewed like any other. Not with unquestioning idolatry, but in a carefully examined way to weed out the gems from the fluff. Some of it is good, and some of it is not. For me the real value has been simply that it gets the conversation started on various topics.

[chucker8]

Awesome stuff, thanks everyone