This is going to be a hastily written blog post because I mainly want to capture this for myself rather than write some beautiful prose.
It's also good advice for a past me, not necessarily for the masses.
These are just some things I thought of in a 5-10 min session to pour out what I could think of.
- Learn who people are, what their function is, what team they're on.
- Communication rituals like weekly reports help you as much as they do others if not more.
- If you're constantly on your computer supposedly working, you're probably not being effective.
- Any kind of negative treatment of anyone has a blast radius that affects people you wouldn't think are affected.
- Don't take anything personally. Even if they want you to.
- It's about them.
- If you can't tie your work strongly to a key stakeholder's interests and motivations, it's pointless work.
- You never have all the information. I try not to confuse having enough information with having all of it. My job to become informed is never truly done. That is meant to sound humbling but not hopeless. Whenever I come across something new or find myself in even a casual conversation with someone, I cherish this as an opportunity to see around a corner, pivot, etc.