If you’ve done your work, you’ve only done half of your job | Hacker News Reader

If you’ve done your work, you’ve only done half of your job

blog.idonethis.com

61 pointsrguzman5 comments

If you have done your job AND communicated well, that is still only half your job. Ensuring the company, department, etc runs well is a bet better...

I am unsure if I could get it right in a soundbite. What I learned working in kitchens, from 'you got time to lean you got time to clean' to 'your job isn't done 'til everyone's job is done', mixed with creating and running a business, and solving hard complex problems is that 'it' must be done. If everyone just does their part, it won't be enough.

Working at 100%, to me, is the rate I can work day-in/day-out without being burnt-out. I do that, as it is my work ethic. Although, I have been at some jobs that will throw fake work at that 'problem'. If that is the case, I leave. Someone somewhere needs things to get done.

Seeing the populace of Japan get back on its feet is a great example of a good community doing what it takes. How to make that happen beyond your immediate vicinity is a whole different can of beans.

So we now need a crud app to communicate what we have done at work? Lol . I think management and people at the ground level know who the high performers are. When things are broken they know who will take charge and fix it. Who can deliver consistently. This is obvious to all team leads.

To be fair, you could put just about any human activity after "so we now need a crud app to..." and hit a successful startup.

I think you're talking about different issues. I read it as a practical communication issue more than a visibility issue. If people are getting stuff done, but not telling anyone that they're getting stuff done, it creates an atmosphere where people don't think stuff is getting done, and that's just needless stress.

I've been guilty of this as well, and although for the most part everyone knows I get stuff done, it does create uncertainty about where our project stands. It's hard to remove the air of "we're fucked," and that's especially tragic if by all objective standards you're doing fine.

Daily standups take care of communicating progress well enough. The added value of software to organize work has to do with keeping track of all that needs doing and in what order, especially for teams that aren't colocated.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com