Career

The Unaccountability Job?

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

I was discussing jobs and careers with a friend recently, and as you may guess it wasn’t complimentary. I mean there’s a reason David Graeber wrote a book called “Bullshit jobs,” which surprisingly I have not read.

What got me thinking is not how many jobs, are well, bullshit (I mean I know that but I should read the book), but the danger of the job description itself. Jobs can become a kind of “Accountability Sink,” and I think that’s potentially more common than we may realize.

An Accountability Sink is a concept I was introduced to in – you guessed it – The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies. The idea is that some processes and parts of an organization that adsorb accountability. It’s the help line that never lets you actually reach someone. The process no one is responsible for. The idea that “number go up” means all else is fine.

Now these aren’t always bad. Some people make bad decisions due to bad data. Accidents happen. We need some Accountability Sinks where the organization takes or diffuses the hit otherwise no one would want to do anything. I mean I work in medicine, and everyone is working hard, everyone is addressing risk, and if the organization didn’t accept responsibility, everyone would go insane from stress.

However you can guess that though they may not be bad, Accountability Sinks become problematic. Enough Accountability Sinks and leadership of a company can devastated people, states, economies, and countries. They may not even realize what a-holes they are as they’ve lost feedback.

Now, let me bring it down to the level I started at – I wonder if some jobs, some positions are Accountability SInks. The job is a convenient person to blame or the job comes with the assumption of unaccountability.

Ever been some low-level peon on a job? First to take blame? First to get laid off? Your position is an accountability sink. You can be let go because you carried out someone else’s bad decision. You can let go to juice stock prices because of a bad quarter brought on by C-level failure. You were the accountability sink, a human crumple zone for corporate accidents.

But also ever seen how some jobs – and not necessarily leadership (but too often, leadership) can make the most dunderheaded decisions and get away with it? You’re assumed to be right as you’re an expert or a business genius. Your failure might be considered part of your job, and it’s fine that, say, a system went down as that’s expected. Yes, you decided on conflicting standards, but as it’s not apparent until people try to make shit work you’re fine because you followed the recommendations.

Your job may be the accountability sink for others or have accountability sink built in. Either way congrats, your job may reduce responsibility.

Kind of makes you want to take a look at your job again, doesn’t it? Though it might not hurt to take a look at your co-workers as well . . .

Steven Savage

Writer, Writer, or Writer

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

Serdar and I often discuss what people really want when they write. Many times we encounter people who want to be writers in the I-make-a-living at it, and/or the It’s-my-life-sense. This “writer lifestyle” is a very abstract, boiling down to “some author is famous for some series and makes a living at it.”

Such a vision doesn’t really say much. Writers have to ask what they really want and honestly, and in my experience it’s often not what they think.

A few examples – perhaps ones that will help you.

Want to make writing doing fiction? Well, you might be able to get a hit series you enjoy writing. Or you’re going to have to write your backside off, doing whatever works, targeting your marketing, and still possibly doing it wrong. If you want to write fiction, get ready to rely on luck or demographics – and probably both.

Want to just write for a living? That’s very possible. I know people who do it, but you have to think broadly. Tech writing, training manuals, marketing content, all of that is writing. You’ll need to find what works for you, and then probably still play broad. Also be ready to write some stuff that’s not world-changing or impressive, because someone has to make that powerpoint.

(Seriously, the world needs people that can just communicate, trust me, I’m not joking about the Powerpoints).

Maybe you want to make money. No offense, writing may not be the way to do it, or maybe it’s just part of your work. That’s my case, where writing is a hobby and an edge as a Project Manager, but not exactly the core thing I do. But I make more than a tech writer, and I get to talk very seriously about timelines, but maybe that’s just me who finds that cool.

Maybe you really like the connection of writing, perhaps you like having fans and readers or a writing community. Then write whatever you want as a hobby, do zines, run a writer’s group, do a newsletter on whatever, and so on. If you want community, then focus on community first – yeah a newsletter for historic preservation may not sound cool, but may be satisfying.

Maybe you like helping writers. Your future might be teacher, editor, publisher, etc. Maybe other people’s writing is what really matters, and your own is a hobby or a side thing. Sometimes it’s fun to help things happen for others. It can even pay better.

There’s no real one kind of writer to be, there are many. But you have to ask why writing matters to you and what you want out of it – and all the things associated with it.

Even me, I am asking what my next writing goals are. I enjoy writing, I’m not exactly looking to make it as a career, but I’ve also had multiple indie author stages. It’s good to ask questions about what you want.

And like me, even when you get it, keep asking.

Steven Savage

Be Where You Are

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve’s Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

“What’s your next career move?” I hear people ask each other a lot. Some people even ask me, and as I’m fifty-five, statistically it’s not going to be a long discussion. Maybe I seem really fascinating, but I somehow doubt it.

If you wonder about my hobbies – writing, art, etc. – that might be of interest, but they’re not exactly careers. No, people are more asking about my job, which is IT Portfolio Management. I’m a nerd wrangler and productivity guy – which probably makes most people want to hear more about that creative stuff and not, say, workflow diagrams.

The thing is that my ambitions are more or less staying where I am. That can mean some pretty short dinnertime discussions when talk turns to jobs (and I’d like to discuss things like the latest anime).

I like managing Projects and making them harmonize together. I like data mining and measuring real performance and what’s valuable – and getting into fights over real value. I like helping people make things happen.

I mean maybe I might be some kind of Associate Director or Specialist Manager which are often more “Portfolio Manager who gets to come up with ideas.” But I’m just the getting things done guy. That’s who I am, I like where I work, so you know . . . let’s stick with it.

I think we’re encouraged to want to keep climbing, and for no good reason. If you have certain goals and so on, then go for it – I’ve met people who have achieved lofty heights (and pay rates) but it was part of a plan. But don’t climb just the for sake of climbing – the money is probably not worth it, trust me.

The other problem is if you learn to climb up, you’re going to have to learn to climb down. You need to factor in things like stress, retirement income, impact on your social life, and so on. You might also find yourself dealing with politics and publicity you might not be ready for, especially in the age of social media.

There’s no reason to keep climbing if you’re happy.

Honestly, maybe there’s a future career for someone – Reverse Job Coach. People come to you to learn how to slow down.

I just won’t be doing it. I’m happy where I am.

Steven Savage