Optimize for Agency and Performance
Simple thought today about “Performance”.
It’s hard to perform if there’s no joy in the act of performing.
Things that are too easy are boring, and there’s no joy in “performing” them.
Things that are or feel impossible, where you can’t “out think” the problem, also get boring. There’s no joy, and instead of performance you get burnout (or just Bored, with a capital B).
When you’re stretched just enough, when you can take your skills and experience and “perform” them in service of generating value and growth (for others and yourself!) - now that feels like a “performance”.
If I can’t “perform” my skills and experience, this inevitably leads to a loss of agency.
Over the long term, I want to be mindful of the skills and experience I’m gathering and make sure I’m finding opportunities to “perform” them.
Questions to ponder:
- If my work isn’t “sparking joy” (sorry Marie Kondo) lately, is it because I am not “performing”? Not in the strict “performance management” sense, but in the sense of not being able to use the skills and experiences I value?
- If I am working on (or want to work on) things that bring me joy, and are valuable to the organization, but aren’t valued in the context of my team, can I ever be considered a high performer?
I’m Siddhartha (Sid) Shankar, and I am currently a Senior Engineering Manager at GitHub serving the CodeQL dynamic languages team, supporting JavaScript/TypeScript, Python and Ruby. I have had the privilege of leading and managing engineering teams since 2015. I’m at my best when engaging in opportunities that require bringing people together - often across teams - to deliver value to customers in a sustainable and pragmatic way. More about the author →
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