Hey,

On Fri, 5 Apr 2002, Austad, Jay wrote:

> Ok, I know this isn't even close to a linux question, but due to the nature
> of this list, a lot of the members work in high stress, hectic environments.

In my long job history, I don't think I've ever had a job that's as
hectic as my current one - complete with long meetings/conference calls,
teams spread across the country, each machine has about 20 groups of
people associated with it, etc.

We all got the PDA of our choice, a laptop with extra docking
stations/monitors to use it at home, fast network connections, Super
Pagers, cellphones, etc.

All those things are nice, but to me the most important element (and I
realize this sounds like Management Talk) is Teamwork. The ability to rely
on my teammates, in perticular.

My team is in charge of security for a subset of UNIX machines. There are
7 of us. EVERYONE is going to be overwhelmed at some point. You'll always
get comflicting scheduling, or you'll forget who exactly is the contact
for Project X (not a real project), or be up all night fixing something so
you can't make the confoerence with Group Y, etc. And if you can't, at
that point, call someone up and say "Hey dude, I'm totally smashed, can
you take care of Z for me?", then you're screwed.

This is not to say that all 7 of us aren't totally overworked and
under-slept, and don't have to struggle to make deadlines and come up with
solutions. But ti does mean that when we need the extra hand, it's there.

So my recommendation: Yes, get youself a nice Palm/Visor/Clie. Sync it
with whatever Gnome/KDE productivity products exist (on topic!). Get a
cellphone. But most importantly: Make sure your team consists of people
who can (and if possible, like to) work together, and cn rely on each
other. Make sure responsibilities and knowledge are spread out
more-or-less equally withing the team (for example, Project X is the
responsibility of Diane and John, Project Y is Mary and Steve, etc) - this
way everyone has a backup and there's always someone you can ask for help.

If at all possible, make sure the team has good leadership.


I realize that sometimes you're the only person available and there really
s no team - but there are always people and groups you are working
with/for, and getting a good relationship with them is also invaluable.

HTH,


-Yaron

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