Have you ever noticed that the biographies of almost every successful person contains the chapter(s) where everything goes disastrously? It seems inevitable that there are periods in our careers where things don’t go right, no matter how successful you are.
Interestingly my least successful project was also one that had only a very small OSS component to it. It was one of the triggers to starting PAOSS.com. PAOSS was a way to remain connected to OSS outside the demands of that day job.
That project may’ve been less successful, but it certainly wasn’t short on handing me lessons. It wasn’t the lack of OSS in that day job that made it less successful. I’ve done other telco projects that have given very different, valuable insights on OSS without being directly related to OSS.
I’ve recently had a number of job offers that have looked quite exciting. They’ve made me re-think whether I’d be better at my “art” (with PAOSS as the vehicle) if it wasn’t also my main career arc.
Derek Sivers has an interesting take on this here, “Do something for love, and something for money. Don’t try to make one thing satisfy your entire life. In practice, then, each half of your life becomes a remedy for the other. You get paid and get stability for part of your day, but then need creative time for expression.”
Contrary to Derek’s suggestion, do you combine your art with your job? If OSS is your job, what is your art?
Have you ever had an OSS or BSS project that’s impacted by poor data quality? The problem of data integrity gets raised on almost every
“One of my favorite things about designing software is designing the defaults. The defaults define the experience for everyone out of the box. And, therefore,
Have you ever been tasked with mapping out the processes for the telco you work for? Either as a way of documenting current state, or
In the last week alone, I’ve had two potent reminders that the world of OSS is simply (pun intended) too complex. This manifests in many
Here at Passionate About OSS, we are exactly that – Passionate About OSS (Operational Support Systems). We’re also passionate about BSS, NMS, or any other names you call the tools that help to operationalise your network.
5 Responses
I believe in Derek.
My art is body flight. Believe me, you can’t think about OSS, MVP, project deadlines or any other thing when you launch yourself from a moving aircraft.
Pure magic!!
Steve,
Awesome!! Do you share your art online (eg videos, stories)? If so, please send us links.
So the wind in the hair that comes when doing an OSS production release doesn’t measure up with the wind in the hair before the parachute opens?? 😀
Us older skydivers just tend to show off to each other.
It’s more like “knees in the breeze” as the hair is tucked away in a helmet.
(Maybe a lesson there for OSS participants – save the skull from the ravages of the brick walls)
Sounds like the title for a blog – “OSS, the contact sport, helmets and padding required” 🙂
If you do what you like, that is love. If you like what you do, that is happiness. Simple