While I still have a few clients, I’m definitely winding my (paid) work life down. I still like keeping my hand in. Sorta. But the sense of accomplishment when I could quickly figure out how to message new products, how to talk tech to business folks in a way that’s clear and compelling…Well, let’s just say that the thrill is mostly gone.
Never thought I’d quote a jacket worn by Melania Trump, but it’s generally a case of ‘I really don’t care, do u?’
That said, I still have a few clients whose products I am generally interested in. I’m not ready to give them up quite yet. And sometimes a new client manages to pique my interest a bit. Others? Thanks but no thanks.
And overall I just have less patience than I used to.
Something that’s unclear and/or clearly wrong or misleading, and someone doesn’t take my advice - they’re not long for my world as a client. Not that I haven’t always pushed back, but I used to be more subtle, willing to work things through gradually. Now I’m pretty much “satan, be gone” or else. Note that this doesn’t happen all that often. But it can and does occur. And when it does, I have neither the patience or the interest to chivvy a client along on the path of righteousness. I try not to be obnoxious about things, but that’s all folks.
Another thing I find irksome is the different processes and tools that each client has in place. And expects their contractors to go along with. It’s the cost of doing business, but it used to be easier to do business when working on a writing project meant attaching Word docs to email and going back and forth that way. If there were a lot of folks providing input, and there were suggestions that conflicted, you just set up a document walkthrough.
Now each new client brings with it a new headache.
No two clients use the same online meeting tool. Each with its own user interface. Each offering its own user experience. And ain’t one of them that’s all that intuitive when it comes to operations like “to mute or not to mute.”
No two clients use the same file sharing tool. File sharing, file shmaring. I’m just going to download it, anyway.
No two clients use the same collaboration tool. Do I put @names of my fellow collaborators in the box to the right or pick from the checklist at the bottom of the screen?
I’m sure that these tools are all great. And if you actually work for a company, they’re no doubt worth using and getting used to.
But I’m starting to find the startup costs for learning yet another way to go about things are getting way to high. I now know what ‘barrier to entry’ means.
And it’s not just work-related technology.
Everything these days seems to be overly complicated.
I actually preferred my old Kitchen Aid dishwasher to the far more tricked-out Bosch one I have now. I’m not supposed to pre-rinse the dishes. The sensors gotta sense that food crud in order to work correctly. But most weeks, I only have enough dishes to run a load one a week. Am I just supposed to leave that bowl with the hardened yogurt and granola remains sitting there for a week?
I only drive a few times a year, and it seems that every Zipcar or Avis I hop into has a different way to turn on, a different way to work the lights, a different way to shift.
Did I actually get in a rental car last year that had some sort of circular shift that you had to twirl to move from P to D? Whatever happened to PRNDL on the floor?
All three of the cars I’ve owned in my life were manual shift. So how come I had such a hard time grasping that weird little shifty thing in the Mercedes that Zipcar upgraded me to (at no extra cost) when the Civic that I’d signed up for blew a gasket. Or whatever.
Actually, the Civic of my dreams was taken out of commission for some reason other than gasket-blowing. I was the one who blew a gasket.
And personally, I wish that every car had a manual override when it comes to rolling down the windows or locking the doors.
The more technology that’s embedded, the more sensors in place, the more likely something is to breakdown.
I’ve been told that I may have to replace the motherboard in my dishwasher before it’s five years old. That old Kitchen Aid was a 30 year workhorse that never required a repair.
After all these years, I don’t find technology – core or applied – all that intimidating. Just this past year I got to become a civilian (non-tech person) expert in things related to AI. And every two weeks, I put on my electronics engineer cap and right a blog post for a client who’s a card-carrying EE. Nope, I just find it boring and aggravating.
If anyone’s paraphrased the bit about London and said that when one is tired of technology, they’re tired of life, they are plenty wrong.
And now I must away, off to read a book. An honest to goodness physical, page-turner book.
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