Procrastination among IT professionals...is this a real issue?

Oh dear. I expect we are about to see the usual jokes. "I was planning to do something about procrastination but never got round to it." And many variants on that theme.

Mike

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Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

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I find my own procrastination a blessing and a curse.

On one hand, when a problem presents itself, if I jump on it right away that often costs me a lot of work. But if I postpone working on the solution, or ‘procrastinate’ - more often than not - I come up with better and better solutions saving me a lot of unnecessary or tedious work. Some of the solutions come even Saturday night when I am doing something totally ‘not-programming’ related.

On another hand, I am forced to procrastinate because users do not provide the information I need to proceed with my work. “That’s a good question. Let me think about it” (for a week or two). “I’ll have to come back to you with an answer” and time goes by, week by week. Or, my favorite: “This is exactly what I’ve asked for, but this is not what I need” (is that also ‘procrastination’?)



---- Andy

There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

@Andrzejek, if I may...if you would need to point out the biggest 2 issues that you are dealing with related to procrastination, what would that be?
I believe that taking the time to understand a task/problem/project is not procrastination, is just proper planning

To come at this from a different direction, and based on the fact that you are asking the question at all, I suggest you take a look at some websites that can help you assess if you are depressed or not.

Example

I still have difficulty accepting my own diagnosis but I simply ticked too many boxes. Procrastination is one

Andy, what you are talking about is not procrastination. It is a recognised and valid problem-solving technique. You are putting a problem to one side until you can get a better perspective on it - or you are in a better frame of mind to tackle it.

I'll bet we've all at some time gone to bed with an unresolved problem, only to wake up in the morning with the solution staring us in the face. Or, we've adopted a solution, then come back the next day and realised that there is a better approach that we could have taken.

That's not procrastination. Procrastination is more negative. It is putting something to one side because you don't want to do it.

Mike


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Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips and downloads

Perhaps it the old philosophy of: "No decision is better than the wrong decision"

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I used to work under our IT department. When we got a new director, he had a conference call with the entire department so he could preach to the masses. One of his proverbs was something along the lines of "It's important to give the illusion that you're working on their problem when you're not". [flush]

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@kwbMitel for sure I am not depressed (or at least this is what I hope). The thing is that sometimes I just can't find the energy and perhaps motivation to do what I am supposed to do.
Now I am trying to understand if it's a "me" problem or is something everyone is fighting.
Also, I agree with Mike on the problem-solving technique.

So, you’ve asked this question about procrastination because you found yourself procrastinating (more than usual)? And you are wondering if this trade is spread over other IT personnel since you are in IT Management? Is that the reason for your issue?

Or is it driven by some other observation



---- Andy

There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

Indeed, it is a personal issue and I want to understand:
1. If there are other people (working in IT) which experience this procrastination issue;
2. How much it affects their/your job.
The next step would be to further investigate on my own and maybe come up with some solutions, both for me and for other people, hopefully.
For now, I am just gathering as much info as I can.
Thank you!

I don’t think the ‘issue’ has anything do to with IT world. If anything, it has to do with humans. People, no matter what they do, they either procrastinate or not. And to go even further, people procrastinate on some subjects, and are happy to do other tasks right away. Either at work, at home, in professional life, personal life, family matters, etc.

What makes you think “this procrastination issue” is limited to people “working in IT”?
(Other that people here at TT are mainly IT people)



---- Andy

There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

You are absolutely right. But I have to start somewhere. And because I work in IT why not start with people that I share the most passion(s) with?
Hope it makes sense.

OK, here is my ‘procrastination’ approach to my IT life:
When I work with people (my users) I like, I usually provide a quick service to them to keep them happy because – well, I like them and that’s what I do to people I like.
The ‘other’ cry-babies and trouble-makers I don’t care about, I tend to procrastinate because, well, you know… But that’s my approach.

I talked about it to another IT person and his approach is the opposite: he does quick work for people he doesn’t care about because he wants to get rid of dealing with them fast. The people he likes, on the other hand, he wants to have around and takes longer to make them happy.

That’s just some opposite reason for procrastination.
How do others deal with these issues?



---- Andy

There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

>> for sure I am not depressed (or at least this is what I hope). The thing is that sometimes I just can't find the energy and perhaps motivation to do what I am supposed to do.

That's exactly where it started with me. I still have issues accepting the diagnosis, so your response doesn't surprise me. My analytical brain however can't deny that I have a significant amount of symptoms which include " I just can't find the energy and perhaps motivation to do what I am supposed to do."

Here are points that apply to me, how about you?
[ul]
[li]Loss of Interest in All Activities[/li]
[li]Irritability and Isolation[/li]
[li]Anxiety[/li]
[li]Loss of Energy[/li]
[li]Insomnia, early-morning wakefulness, or sleeping too much[/li]
[li]Overeating, or appetite loss[/li]
[li]Trouble concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions[/li]
[li]Fatigue[/li]
[li]Digestive problems that don't get better, even with treatment[/li]
[/ul]

In my case is mostly:
- lack of interest
- Trouble concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions
- loss of energy towards my goal.
I don't experience other issues, but the fact that I workout a lot might help as well.