Had to fire a guy once when I worked in retail, lovely bloke, but just couldn't handle thinking things through, I took a fortnight off in the run up to a busy period, came back and he'd done nothing, including the stuff I'd listed for him to do, etc.
He came in a few weeks later, really happpy, he'd got a much better job for him and thanked me for making him realise it wasn't for him.
His new job was a greeter at the door of a sports store "it's great, all I have to do is say hello to people, I don't have to think at all".
My mind boggled. I couldn't and still can't imagine being happy in a job that encouraged no thinking.
Actually, I've worked as a car park attendent (summer job when 16), and while it was a slightly weird job (marina car park, mixed multi storey pay and display, permit holders going out on boats for ages, and a separate staff area abused by some of the commercial tennants), there is actually a fair bit to keep track of, and you have to be on the look out for a variety of problems, including suspicious behaviour, abandoned cars, etc.
Normally it's not a type of job that requires no thought, even a carp park needs management, but a class of job within the broad scope, frequently but not always the lowest grade staff.
Until the guy above got his job, I'd assumed greeters were predominantly there to watch the store for potential shoplifters, for example, that's definitely true in some chains, but not apparently the one he was in.
This was a near-empty gravel car park with a half-asleep person with his feet up, clearly about 15 seconds from falling into an irrevtrievable coma. I'm sure that working a car park which gets a lot of use is quite different :->
You might disabuse me of my nostalgia, and smack the rose-tinteds from my face, but there was something about the simple physicality of working in KFC that was really enjoyable.
Naah, you took a sense of satisfaction from doing that job well. But, so far as I can tell, it took concentration, and thought. Not innovation, right enough.
It's an odd one - when I worked telephone enquiries, the individual minutes/hours of the job were fine - they flew past, because the job kept me busy and I felt a sense of achievement. It was the morning walks to work, not looking forward to 8 more hours of it, that killed me.
There were a few places you could improve processes, but it was discouraged, of course. Generally, a lot of the enjoyment was honing the physical skills. Which I don't do a lot of. :)
Yebbut... 'Is the thing I'm thinking of the simplest one? Hm. There's going to be a corner-case I've not thought about, so that approach will be wrong. Perhaps the answer is on the Internet? And it'll probably need to scale. Where's the scaling book? Ok, so if I re-architect all this other stuff, then that simple answer may well work. Unless there's something else I've not considered... Oh. Lunchtime!'
All fair enough. 'Might possibly' is intended to be license to ignore all that stuff till it is proved to be a problem (or the universe ends, whichever is the sooner).
But, as you say, you need to be clear that you plan to chuck it away and build a better one if you need to.
It would depend on the context. If it was 'think less and do more' it might be justified criticism of a known failure mode in academics like me. I'd certainly think about it before doing anything .... errr ... which might not necessarily be the best way to respond. Come to think of it.
Depends on context. If the idea was to help with analysis paralysis, it could be OK, if the message was, 'just do as you're told and never question.' I'd be looking for another job.
As I'm the only standout currently, I should explain. At the moment the problem with my job is that all I'm really being paid to do is administration, but I'm being expected (not unreasonably, given my skills) to do quite a bit of the research as well. To be fair, the role isn't that well-defined. But thinking less would also give me more time to think about other things, such as my PhD, which would be nice.
While there is a certain simple joy in having a job where you can simply zone out all day, it loses it's sheen after a while. Personally, I like a job which makes me think but doesn't make me *have* to think, if that makes sense.
Also, ditto with the "happy to simply have a job in the current economic climate" comments.
I don't think I could think less in one of my jobs - it feels like brainless work, most of the time. The other is at least a little more diverting, thank goodness.
Reason I've been meaning to look for a new job even though I rate my job an 8 is that while I get well-paid, my wife has no job and also can't get benefits, so I'd need to be *extremely* well-paid for the two of us to average out at 'enough money to live comfortably'...
If my actual current manager were to tell me to "think less", he'd probably be meaning I should still think a lot because a lot is expected of me, but not overthink things the way I can sometimes do. Similar to drdoug's response, I guess.
I sometimes get the feeling that I think too much at work. It seems to always be me who points out problems with the code, or scenarios in which the code won't work correctly. Maybe the code doesn't need to work perfectly in all conceivable scenarios; the existing code likely doesn't. I'm probably also over-analytical... I spend too much time thinking about and working on thing which aren't my main concern. I also spend too much time trying to word emails/messages well. Like this comment here; it's a simple comment, but I've spent way too long writing it.
I think that spotting situations where code won't work is a good thing - so long as you weigh up the costs of fixing it against the likelihood of it going wrong. Having nobody on the team that could spot that kind of thing would be worse.
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He came in a few weeks later, really happpy, he'd got a much better job for him and thanked me for making him realise it wasn't for him.
His new job was a greeter at the door of a sports store "it's great, all I have to do is say hello to people, I don't have to think at all".
My mind boggled. I couldn't and still can't imagine being happy in a job that encouraged no thinking.
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But it does seem to keep them happy, so who am I to complain?
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Normally it's not a type of job that requires no thought, even a carp park needs management, but a class of job within the broad scope, frequently but not always the lowest grade staff.
Until the guy above got his job, I'd assumed greeters were predominantly there to watch the store for potential shoplifters, for example, that's definitely true in some chains, but not apparently the one he was in.
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And I was always encouraged to bring a book with me. After the first couple days, I was encouraged to bring more than one book with me.
These days I'd almost certainly use up my monthly allowance on my mobile contract fairly quickly I suspect.
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It's an odd one - when I worked telephone enquiries, the individual minutes/hours of the job were fine - they flew past, because the job kept me busy and I felt a sense of achievement. It was the morning walks to work, not looking forward to 8 more hours of it, that killed me.
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But, as you say, you need to be clear that you plan to chuck it away and build a better one if you need to.
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Also, ditto with the "happy to simply have a job in the current economic climate" comments.
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I'm probably also over-analytical... I spend too much time thinking about and working on thing which aren't my main concern. I also spend too much time trying to word emails/messages well. Like this comment here; it's a simple comment, but I've spent way too long writing it.
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