Uninspired

Today I was reading about how television works, because I am now in the television industry. (Yes, I still work on software, but software for TV)

I like to think about how the user interface of stuff is designed. Why did the designer(s) think something was a good idea? What about the thing makes it so a certain design was chosen? Did the designer(s) understand their audience?

Another thing I think is very interesting is to watch how people use stuff. People use tools in ways that were never intended by the tool’s designers, and people do some pretty imaginative things to get around a tool’s design flaws.

Very rarely, have I found a software tool that just does what I need it to do without me having to spend extra time tweaking it. When developing software, is there a perspective that can help you create an intuitive tool that just works in an obvious way without the user having to invest extra time to get the tool to work?

Today, while reading about how television works, I was struck by a very simple analogy that helped me generate a quick list of things to think about as I design my next ‘get-rich quick’ widget. (OK…not my next…actually my first, but next makes me sound more credible.)
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So…how do you get through a bad day at work? A day where you are just really bored or something bad/frustrating happened, or where you just had a very hard time dragging your sorry butt out of bed?

Mony is a friend I met while working in the biology research lab. She played this game when she had a bad day or if I was complaining about a bad day. It really worked in cheering me up. I call it the “Would you rather…” game.

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This weekend I received a photo of my ex-boss’ butt in the mail.

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The Chief Happiness Officer is calling today Global Belly Laugh Day. I read a little more about the Chief Happiness Officer and found out that he is a certified laughter instructor. I read more about this and discovered Laughter Yoga.

At first glance, I find this whole thing a little nutty and sad – that in order to laugh we have to get together in groups to laugh about nothing. Have our lives become that depressing?

On the other hand, this completely reminds me of an incident with my Uncle years ago that leads me to think there is some merit to the premise behind Laughter Yoga.

Here is what happened.

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Hey you people! You know who you are.

The one who told me your boss makes you feel like a buffoon. The one who told me that his boss told him he wasn’t “cool” anymore. You, who IM’d me and asked if I thought you needed to see a doctor because you cry every day at work? The ones who tell me you are bored and your talents are underutilized. You – that man who’s just hanging in until retirement, but miserable beyond belief. You know who you are! You know your blood pressure is sky-rocketing, you know you’d rather go to the dentist than go to work. You know I am not making these scenarios up!!

Check out this article from The Chief Happiness Officer on How to Deal with a Bad Boss.

See, you aren’t alone. You aren’t a buffoon, you don’t need to up your meds, these things happen to a lot of people . There are constructive things you can do about it. I have actually tried some of the things that The Chief suggests. When they didn’t work, it elucidated the situation I was in very clearly, so I knew my path was to leave the department or leave the company entirely. When they did work, my job got better!

Here is a journalling of my day off in the snow on January 16, 2007. It was a blast!

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There has been some pretty crazy weather all over the U.S. recently. It is always a big deal in the business world to try to stay open, have the employees come in, and not lose a day of work. I’ve never held a job on the business end of things, but somehow I doubt that a snow day costs a software development company so much money that it is beneficial to risk injured employees (who can’t come into work for several days after the storm and raise the insurance rates as a result of the injuries acquired trying to get to work during the storm) or employees who miss a bunch of work because their vehicles are damaged from trying to drive into work on a snow day.

The craziest snow day for me was when I worked at The Company. I love this story because it demonstrates the short-sighted greed and macho management that abounds at so many companies. On the other hand, it is also a story about the kindness of strangers.

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Here are more examples of people just like you who took that hugely scary risk and are happier because of it. Please let them inspire you.

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