Predictable dentist's appointment and recognition at work

My dentist's appointment was predictable. I got x-rays done on my teeth. My teeth were cleaned. I have no cavities. Predictable is good.

On Monday, I went to an all-employee meeting at work. My manager rolled out a project that our team has been working hard on for several months. He had a slide recognizing all of us by listing our names.

For the last 1.5 months, I have been working closely with a developer to document a new way of installing software. We worked well together.

Well, his manage had a slide that listed only software developers on his team. He didn't put me on it. It didn't sit well with me.

On Tuesday, this developer sent me a recognition e-mail, which is a part of our internal program, saying nice things about working with me to get these steps documented. I appreciated it and responded back. My manager saw this recognition and also acknowledged it.

It's nice to be recognized from time to time.

Issues and a proposal

It's nice when you make a point and folks side with you. My motto is to give it a try, say what you need to say, and see what happens. It's better to say what you need to say than regret not saying a thing.

At work, a number of us were given a task to drive projects to their completion. My counterpart borders incompetence. She decided to assign a number of folks deadlines, including me. I pointed out that she can't arbitrarily assign deadlines to folks who need to do the work without consulting with them.

In an e-mail, I pointed out the issues that I have encountered trying to get various folks to collaborate on a single document of which they own certain sections. The idea that I need to work with them on deadlines and such was time-consuming.

Instead, I proposed a different way to get this work done. The leader of this group liked it. She held a meeting with us. On Friday morning, we ran through my proposal and it was approved. Go, me!

The catch is to strike a balance. It is one thing to list all issues encountered. It's also helpful to suggest a new approach.

I don't like inefficiency. It makes sense that I would speak up. Otherwise, I'd be miserable wasting not only everyone's time and effort, but mine, too.