Blast from the past: 11.5.2011 - Write Your Own Job Description

Found something in my blog that I was writing on 11.5.2011 but never published. I think it maps pretty closely to my later blog post on my personal strengths inventory.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm reading J. Allard's exit email from Microsoft. It's fascinating and you can find it here.

About halfway down the page, he writes how the Microsoft interviewer challenged him to write his own job description. I've heard of this happening before in interviews and while it's never happened to me, it occurred to me that this would be an excellent exercise for someone like myself that is STILL trying to figure out what his strengths/value proposition are. In other words, if I start networking like crazy over the next month, what impression do I want to leave with people so that they have a rock-solid idea of what it is that I do and how I can be of value.

I also completed the Strengthsfinder 2.0 survey last night and while the results are interesting and definitely relevant to this exercise, I'm going to table my thoughts on those for a separate post. For now, I'm simply going to try and brainstorm a bit on what I think my ideal job would be and what my value proposition should look like.

First of all, if I look back at those jobs where I've done well, one dominant theme, or persona, comes up, that of the "cross-functional problem solver".

So, what exactly is a cross-functional problem solver? Within an organization, the CFPS is an individual that, fundamentally, has an ability to work closely with other teams and functional disciplines to get things done.

What are some characteristics of this persona?

Strong communicator
Doesn't sweat the small stuff
Strong critical-thinking ability
Broad knowledge of the various functions within an organization
Curiosity, inquisitiveness
Negotiation Skills
Ability to look at issues from the other person's perspective
Ability to work with technical people
Strategic thinker - understands the larger goals and objectives of the organization
Customer focus

Here are some of the jobs I've done where these skills and abilities came into play:

Back in the day, in the Marine Corps, things turned around for me when I took on the Orders Clerk job. That job involved a certain amount of Project Management and a lot of coordinating with other agencies, such as Disbursing and the team that handled the movement of household goods. Also, there was a fair amount of coordinating with higher headquarters units, group and wing, and various other units around the base. I shouldn't forget the interaction with various Officers and NCOs, keeping them up to speed on what was happening with their people, and also the last minute dance to get orders signed, either by the CO or one of the other officers with signing authority. Another skill involved in that job could be described as the ability to understand the logic of the bureaucracy and administrative regulations.

After college, I worked as a Technical Router at Microsoft. This was my first call center job. Mostly, this was a communications-focused role. Critical to success was the ability to communicate with the customer and the various technical teams and to develop a broad understanding of the technologies being used. I was really, really good at this job. I also did exceptionally well as a coach and trainer when the program expanded.

Next would be working at drugstore.com, first as a customer service rep and then later as an Ops Guy (various titles). My time as a CSR was fine, but not especially instructive in terms of my overall strengths, aside from customer focus. Although there is a cross-functional element to it, the basic job of a CSR is to support the customer with the tools at hand. This changed to a large degree when I went to work on the Operations Team, first as the workflow coordinator, or whatever you want to call it, and then later taking on scheduling and reporting and eventually doing the Blue Pumpkin implementation. A large part of my role during the last 2+ years at drugstore.com could very easily be described as problem solver at large for the contact center. I'll write more about that later.

After leaving drugstore, I worked a number of different contracts at Microsoft. The common theme again was problem solver. The TAP was probably the best example of this, as I entered a situation where they were close to project failure and basically rescued it. I need to do some more writing on this and try to remember all the little things I did. How did I rescue the project? What were the key elements? This was likely my very best work performance of all time. I was really, really engaged with this project.

Interesting Feedback

Got some mixed feedback yesterday on my job performance. The feedback largely aligns with my own evaluation of myself, though there were some points made that I think are unfair. 

The criticism, for the most part, is about the program not really moving forward and becoming more robust, which I think is largely accurate. If I'm being honest, the problem is that I haven't put too much thought into it over the last year. Of course, I've also been learning the job, so there is that. There are skills involved in this that I've developed during this last year that are much stronger than they were previously. During that period, as I've been learning the skills of this program, I've also been managing the day to day activities well enough. In fact, I'm quite strong on that aspect of things. I do well at managing meetings, working with people, communicating, negotiating, and general responsiveness. These are all aspects of my job that align really well with my strengths. Where I have trouble is putting together this larger program that is more robust and encompassing in such a way that it improves the way that people in our org go about their daily business. 

There are a few parts of this criticism that I think are unfair. First, I can't make other people do their jobs correctly. I can't force the service managers I work with to be strong service managers. I can't force them to engage the right stakeholders in their projects. I can't solve the problem that the groups in this organization don't talk to one another. Second, I'm pretty busy with my day to day work. Between the main thing and this other work that I do with A, and various ad-hoc projects that get thrown at me like Telemetry or setting up a Test Pass group or supportability, my day is reasonably full. It's not like I'm sitting around doing nothing all day long. Also, all of these smaller things they give me add up and divert my attention. Hopefully I'm not just whining about this. Third and last, I'm all alone here. It's just me. I don't have a team. I don't have resources. I'm a vendor working with Full Time Employees, which can be pretty isolating. 

As an aside, I should mention that I would like to get a new job. But that isn't just about this feedback that I received yesterday because, as I said up above, the criticism is largely legitimate. Basically, this is S telling me that he is an unsatisfied customer. So, what do I do about that? Do I just crumple under the pressure and let myself get fired, or do I rise to the occasion and actually create this program the way that he and I both know that I can? The prize, if I can get that done, will be something much better six months from now. If I can do this the way that I think it needs to be done, then that will be a learning and growth experience that will make me a better PM and leader, and an accomplishment that I can hang my hat on.