I will be straight to the point. The purpose of Lessons Learned is to convey all the earthly wisdom I somehow managed to accumulate over forty years of work. Go ahead, and create the stereotypical picture of an old guy, sitting in a lazy boy before the fireplace or marching around the park. And he is saying, “You know, when I was your age ……”
But when you think about your own experience, I can bet that you have had some role models who set the bar. If you haven’t, I hope someone comes along. I was lucky. These people weren’t saints. These were, after all, professionals who practiced their craft. Their objective was to do their job well. They may not have had a blog that spelled out their list of lessons learned. But they left an impression nonetheless. Some of what they demonstrated will appear in the coming pages.
Being in IT presented some interesting challenges. For most of my professional life I have had to contend with technical and human challenges that had no textbook to follow. One of the most laughable things in IT was the “terminal degree,” as if getting a Masters Degree would amount to anything relevant five years later. I, and the people I worked with, had to deal with constant change. While it is true that previous generations had to deal with advancements in technology, it was nothing compared to the world we went through in the last fifty years. The smartphone that I carry in my hand today has the processing power of a computer that inhabited the entire basement of a building in the year I was born. It is interesting to note that in the world my father grew up in, a computer was a job description.
So I learned a few things along the way. When I look over the list, most of the lessons learned were in the IT field, but the lessons have more to do with human nature than the technology itself. For that reason, whether you are flipping hamburgers, cutting lawns, welding, plumbing, navigating a ship or serving as a county clerk, the lessons I learned apply to you as well. Hope you enjoy what I write and your comments are always welcome.
© Copyright 2023 to Eric Niewoehner
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Diagnosing DOGE: Purge of the Probies
Who are the probationary workers that were fired? Why? And why are they being hired back? I have been laid-off only once in my professional career. It was no surprise. I was a grain trader for a large Midwest cooperative and they had decided to close down the grain division. So I saw this was…
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Diagnosing DOGE: Bullet Points
What is a retired federal employee’s take on the request from DOGE to submit five bullet points? The Department on Government Efficiency (DOGE) recently stirred up considerable controversy when it used the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send e-mails to all government employees demanding that they list five things they accomplished during the week….
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Age Discrimination in the IT World
Few of us knowingly discriminate against “old” people. But it is out there. It is often quite subtle. The IT World has peculiar ways of discriminating.
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The Professional Ethic
What are the transcendent values that compose the “professional ethic?”
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The Emphasis Rule
As professionals, we need to learn how to manage our time and how to focus on the primary objectives of our job. As managers, however, you can help your staff excel by encouraging them to set annual goals, and choose one thing they hope to improve upon. Applying the Emphasis Rule, you can help them…
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A Lesson in Time Management: The “90% Rule”
Everyday we have certain things we need to achieve. Yet we often allow the details to get in the way. This article is not about giving 90% effort. It is not about doing only 90% of the job. This is about time management, getting the most of your time and resources to accomplish your tasks.…
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Documentation — The Key to Continuity
Documentation is what you ask for – don’t expect people to just do it. As a business owner or manager, it is your job to insist on it.
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Change Management
If anything strings together my career it is observing how people, including myself, respond to change.
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…. And Another Certification — Confessions of an old computer professional
I just obtained another certification (officially), which joins the numerous unofficial certificates that I earned through corporate training courses. Whenever I go through this experience I have to wrestle with the justification of the certificate process. Is it really worth it? What does it prove? Originally posted on LinkedIn on February 16, 2016, this article…