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How do you avoid missing the big picture at work?

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Re: How do you avoid missing the big picture at work?

#21

Post by loa_in_ »

bobblywobbles wrote: post #17

At the start of my current job, I too felt I didn't understand enough and certainly did not know what the big picture was at work. I credit two things that have helped me see the big picture at my job: 1) Relentlessly pursuing all that I could to learn 2) Having a come-to-terms moment that yes it was okay to not know and not feel bad for asking questions Work is different than school. In work, it is more important to…

I have come to the conclusion that you accidentally described all the reasons why, and how you actually never did see the big picture and how to busy oneself enough to stop looking for one.

Re: How do you avoid missing the big picture at work?

#22

Post by rcd2 »

noud wrote: post #4

I lost the big picture of my company a long time ago. Maybe I've never seen the big picture at all... and never been more happy with my job. Ignorance is bliss. On a more important note, do you know the big picture of your own life? What do you want to do with it? How do you see yourself in 10 years? Are you a better person today than you were yesterday? Knowing what you want to achieve in your life is thousand times…

You're right here. I don't. And maybe my perception that everybody else seems to know everything that's going on around them is just biased by my own fears. I don't know...

Re: How do you avoid missing the big picture at work?

#23

Post by rcd2 »

bobblywobbles wrote: post #17

At the start of my current job, I too felt I didn't understand enough and certainly did not know what the big picture was at work. I credit two things that have helped me see the big picture at my job: 1) Relentlessly pursuing all that I could to learn 2) Having a come-to-terms moment that yes it was okay to not know and not feel bad for asking questions Work is different than school. In work, it is more important to…

> I'll do this many times throughout my day if I don't already know the answer. If you are feeling afraid to feel "dumb", I don't know exactly how to force it, but you need to have a moment where you accept the fact you will not know things and will have to ask questions to get the answers you need. It becomes easy to ask questions once this moment happens.

I need to staple this (or maybe the whole answer) to my wall and read it many times a day. Thanks :)

Re: How do you avoid missing the big picture at work?

#24

Post by rcd2 »

pksebben wrote: post #16

I would recommend getting in touch with that fear and facing it. Being afraid of a label is a terrible reason to avoid doing something as important as understanding your job. Richard Feynman was famous for asking dumb questions - sorry about the dumb article but it was the quickest one I could find (1). There's more if you Google, he wrote about it autobiographically. Life outside of academia requires this kind of em…

I think you're onto something here. Yeah, Feynman is a good source of wisdom. He has other nuggets of wisdom I like (for instance, "You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish."). Thanks for the article. I will read it.

Re: How do you avoid missing the big picture at work?

#25

Post by rcd2 »

karmakaze wrote: post #6

There's different kinds of 'big pictures'. Certain kinds I work to understand, paint and realize. Other kinds I purposefully avoid. Area I'm weak at and choose not to specialize in are office politics, external market forces unrelated to product-market fit (e.g. price wars or shipping crappy stuff first), etc. The kinds I am active in are seeing how different technical solutions merge at higher levels, or very long-t…

Thanks! Good advice here.

Re: How do you avoid missing the big picture at work?

#26

Post by rcd2 »

Viliam1234 wrote: post #18
jdmtheNth wrote: post #12

Isn't the big picture just maximizing income for the company while minimizing expenditures? This is the only purpose of everything but charities. Products are only for transforming into money.

That's too big picture. The manager probably meant the picture one or two levels smaller.

Yes :D it is.

My "big picture" was not so big. It's just to get enough context to do my "mundane" work well. I forgot to say that I'm only a mid-level engineer. For instance, to give good opinions/high-level solutions during ticket refinement sessions, realising when a ticket is not clearly written and things like this.

Also, there's always this debate about the level of detail that goes into a ticket. Lots of detail makes refinement sessions take ages (and they aren't the place to "solutionize".

However, tickets with fewer details (just the business outcome), can be challenging as we may not yet know all our service's logic or we may not know enough about the organisational structure of our company (for when we need to interact with other teams with different competences).

Re: How do you avoid missing the big picture at work?

#27

Post by rcd2 »

lytefm wrote: post #8
karmakaze wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being detail oriented is not at odds of big picture thinking. In fact people with only the big picture can cause a lot of wasted cycles as there's not a clear translation to implementation. I think better terms than big picture people are ones that think abstractly, conceptually, or analytically. These are the folks who are good 'at naming things'. That means they understood both the business aspect of what areas to…

> I think better terms than big picture people are ones that think abstractly, conceptually, or analytically. These are the folks who are good 'at naming things'. That means they understood both the business aspect of what areas to separate and iterate upon, as well as isolating technical factors that minimize code quantity and maximize flexibility. If they can do this with a minimal amount of abstract machinery/meta…

[dead]

Re: How do you avoid missing the big picture at work?

#28

Post by BlackFly »

karmakaze wrote: post #7
BlackFly wrote: post #5

Honestly, some people are just detail oriented. One thing I hate about performance reviews is their perverse need to point out your weak point and suggest fixing that, disregarding whether it makes broader sense for the individual's career and whether it may undermine their strengths. During recruitment I have been looking for big picture oriented people lately, but most of my colleagues are detail oriented and do no…

Being detail oriented is not at odds of big picture thinking. In fact people with only the big picture can cause a lot of wasted cycles as there's not a clear translation to implementation. I think better terms than big picture people are ones that think abstractly, conceptually, or analytically. These are the folks who are good 'at naming things'. That means they understood both the business aspect of what areas to…

Time spent thinking about the big picture automatically detracts from time thinking about details. I tend to agree with you that being a jack of all trades and knowing when to apply which strategy will work best, but not all people can master knowing when to apply which strategy.

Having people around with specific biases together with people who can intermediate (another type of skill) can still make a fantastic team is my overall point.

Re: How do you avoid missing the big picture at work?

#29

Post by rcd2 »

jonahbenton wrote: post #3

The social tension of recognizing that other people understand something that you don't is real and often asking does not help, because the ask presents a social signal that leads to more isolation. Another approach is to consider the work you are assigned more deeply before you begin and understand the various different ways it could be done. Each assignment will have multiple parts or aspects and those aspects each…

Thanks for this advice. I think this is very pragmatic and actionable.

Re: How do you avoid missing the big picture at work?

#30

Post by rcd2 »

theGnuMe wrote: post #13

Is your manager's comment real to you? Or is it just their attempt to shift blame by shaming you? If someone has now explained the "big picture", do you see a path to have seen it earlier?

I think I know of a particular situation that might have led him to give that piece of feedback. To be fair I think we're both to blame.
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