Balance.

With meager inspiration from one of today's inbox articles I thought it worthwhile to outline expectations about work when you're not at work.

There is a covert and assumed expectation that when you are at home, training, on vacation, sick or otherwise not physically at work that you are to be in contact and responding to everything that goes on back here at MSIS. I am sure there are many individual and shared reasons for that behavior, but it is important that is cease. It ain't healthy, it ain't smart, and it ain't reasonable.

Certainly there is an anxiety about work backing up or dependencies others may have on you, but when you feel that tickle to answer emails on the weekend or feel like there is an expectation that you answer every email or text within moments of it appearing just remember that your time away from work is your time.  The sun will rise on the University again regardless of if you answer that email about a project update or incident.

Balancing your focus on what is important and when it is important helps both your work life and your home life.

When in doubt or in conflict about balance or priorities it is reasonable and expected that you raise that concern until it is addressed. If for any reason you feel it is not being addressed, please let me know and I will resolve it.

We all have more work to accomplish than what is possible in any given day and that forces the conversation around limiting our work in progress and clearly identifying priorities. That behavior is a skillset that has to be learned and practiced for it to be effective. We have some workflow to help facilitate it, but it is incumbent on each of us to determine our personal actions to stay somewhat sane.

UM does have some HRD sessions and classes on related topics. There is an abundance to literature both digitally and in print that you may wish to try. I am happy to fund both within reason as it is just as much a skillset as any technical talents I look to professionally develop.

Focus, breath and take it one step at a time. We don't need heroes to be successful, we need consistent and predictable delivery.