The restful hypothesis

I'm taking every fourth week off, starting now. Nine days of uninterrupted rest.

Why? I've been working fairly actively for the last 15 years. I've learned some things about myself and my field.

Projects tend to become hectic. Workplaces become demanding. There would always be so much more to do but so little time.

The pressure to enact big, meaningful changes gives one tunnel vision and encourages one to create and manipulate dangerously oversimplified models of reality in order to create the self-deceptive illusion of reaching organizational goals. (Heimo recently wrote about a similar subject.)

It's hard to critically evaluate efforts one is personally invested in. Most people simply don't go there. I've only been able to step back after the fact.

Postmortems are useful, but not as useful as saving the patient in the first place.

That's why I'm taking every third week off from now on.

To routinely step back and ask myself whether I'm really invested in accomplishing the right tactical goals.

Agile that!