My day is done, for now. For a while, I thought I am out in a snow-packed space (although I don't seem to feel the coolness, lagi naka-warmer ang aircon namin) because everywhere I glance, everything that my sight touches is white. It might due to the fact that I've been burrying my nose over this assigned task, so engrossed I did not notice I am nearly kissing my computer screen. For the whole day I was only seeing the one screen in my computer - RoboHelp - with its wide white space (the editor screen) and with few images. While hearing the irregular sound of my keyboard (tick tack, tickitack....) and due to my eye's mistiness, I thought the images were already floating.
It's been month since my IS (immediate supervisor) told me that in addition to my team's QA related tasks, technical documentation will now fall under our responsibility. Oh my goodness! That was not a good news after all. My team obviously took the news with a heavy heart.
How are we going to accomplish and deliver a task where we do not have the fundamental knowledge? Imagine, an entirely different group of people is obliged to work on something urgent, a work that is usually handled by a different person equipped with the right skill set.
Why not come to your IS and discuss the matter at hand? Oh yes we did. And there the problem started. Because we do not have any choice but to accept the responsibility. As my IS said, you cannot say you're not going to do it because that cannot be. Which means whatever the explanations we have as to why we could not readily accept the additional job responsibility will be useless.
We're not fa... zip mouth
We don't... zip mouth
What... zip mouth
Being still an employee, if you found yourself in this kind of situation - there are only two things you could do: it's either you accept the job, treat it as a challenge or you quit, write your resignation letter and fly out.
Initially, I took it as a threat to my capability. And knowing it is somewhat not align to the career path I want to trudge, I took it as a negative blow. My mind suddenly process the inevitable and the what if's.
But I know I need to make a choice so I opted to accept it. I chose to accept it as a challenge. The fact that it threatens my aptitude, it is a challenge.
I stay. And so did my other team mates.
So there... I called my team for a meeting, we splitted out the tasks, talked about the deadlines and the best possible approaches we could used for the situation.
The documenting of online help was assigned to me. It's in HTML format so in order to accomplish the task, I have to use the RoboHelp and apparently I do not have any previous orientation with this tool which means I do not have any slightest idea how to use this tool. One of the bosses said it's like you're just using MS Word. That's a good news. True to what he said, its basic feature is like MS Word but totally different if we talk about the advanced features.
I started with the tutorials and with the basic steps of documentation. With continuous exploration, research, learning its navigation and reading RoboHelp related topics, I was able to move forward with the task. I had observed my progress overtime. I am learning it. And I marked the date today (October 29, 2009). After weeks of not knowing how to start, of being blinded on what could be the best approach, I am close to finishing the online help. A great accomplishment! Somebody ought to congratulate me!!! (shout).
I posted this not because I want to brag about my accomplishments but because I want to point out several important things:
1. First, you have to strongly consider why you were asked to do the things outside of your job scope. It could be because your employer has confident in your capability.
2. The more you try doing the work even if it is out of your job scope, the more you see the positive in it. Yes, that could be a chance for you to increase your knowledge base, improve your skill sets and expand your work experience.
3. This might be an opportunity for you to play a larger role at the company that could lead to a promotion or salary increase (particulary if the economy is doing good).
So take the ego out, take the whining out. If you believe you could not deliver something, then talk to your boss, laid out your problems, ask for guidance but still look at it with a positive view. Believe me it would lessen (if not sieze) the feeling of being obliged to do something. Also, never lose the enthusiasm to learn something new - this will be your motivation to get the job done.
Know what, I suddenly found a reason to rekindle my enjoyment of staying here. I am sure that if I leave my current company someday, it is definitely not because of this new assignment.
Here is a motivating thought from Harry S. Truman:
It's been month since my IS (immediate supervisor) told me that in addition to my team's QA related tasks, technical documentation will now fall under our responsibility. Oh my goodness! That was not a good news after all. My team obviously took the news with a heavy heart.
How are we going to accomplish and deliver a task where we do not have the fundamental knowledge? Imagine, an entirely different group of people is obliged to work on something urgent, a work that is usually handled by a different person equipped with the right skill set.
Why not come to your IS and discuss the matter at hand? Oh yes we did. And there the problem started. Because we do not have any choice but to accept the responsibility. As my IS said, you cannot say you're not going to do it because that cannot be. Which means whatever the explanations we have as to why we could not readily accept the additional job responsibility will be useless.
We're not fa... zip mouth
We don't... zip mouth
What... zip mouth
Being still an employee, if you found yourself in this kind of situation - there are only two things you could do: it's either you accept the job, treat it as a challenge or you quit, write your resignation letter and fly out.
Initially, I took it as a threat to my capability. And knowing it is somewhat not align to the career path I want to trudge, I took it as a negative blow. My mind suddenly process the inevitable and the what if's.
But I know I need to make a choice so I opted to accept it. I chose to accept it as a challenge. The fact that it threatens my aptitude, it is a challenge.
I stay. And so did my other team mates.
So there... I called my team for a meeting, we splitted out the tasks, talked about the deadlines and the best possible approaches we could used for the situation.
The documenting of online help was assigned to me. It's in HTML format so in order to accomplish the task, I have to use the RoboHelp and apparently I do not have any previous orientation with this tool which means I do not have any slightest idea how to use this tool. One of the bosses said it's like you're just using MS Word. That's a good news. True to what he said, its basic feature is like MS Word but totally different if we talk about the advanced features.
I started with the tutorials and with the basic steps of documentation. With continuous exploration, research, learning its navigation and reading RoboHelp related topics, I was able to move forward with the task. I had observed my progress overtime. I am learning it. And I marked the date today (October 29, 2009). After weeks of not knowing how to start, of being blinded on what could be the best approach, I am close to finishing the online help. A great accomplishment! Somebody ought to congratulate me!!! (shout).
I posted this not because I want to brag about my accomplishments but because I want to point out several important things:
1. First, you have to strongly consider why you were asked to do the things outside of your job scope. It could be because your employer has confident in your capability.
2. The more you try doing the work even if it is out of your job scope, the more you see the positive in it. Yes, that could be a chance for you to increase your knowledge base, improve your skill sets and expand your work experience.
3. This might be an opportunity for you to play a larger role at the company that could lead to a promotion or salary increase (particulary if the economy is doing good).
So take the ego out, take the whining out. If you believe you could not deliver something, then talk to your boss, laid out your problems, ask for guidance but still look at it with a positive view. Believe me it would lessen (if not sieze) the feeling of being obliged to do something. Also, never lose the enthusiasm to learn something new - this will be your motivation to get the job done.
Know what, I suddenly found a reason to rekindle my enjoyment of staying here. I am sure that if I leave my current company someday, it is definitely not because of this new assignment.
Here is a motivating thought from Harry S. Truman:
I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.
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