The Standup That Didn’t Stand for Anything
Photo by Yoko Saito @yokosaito on Unsplash
I’m feeling the post-vacation doldrums. This is despite actually liking my job (the coding at least).
So, you might expect that I would enjoy being back to the grind, but for me it is the opposite. I’m in stand-up meetings not contributing, not because I’m shy or unprepared but because I’ve nothing to do.
The Return
I know this might not go down well with some of my audience, specifically those who are drowned by work on their return from vacation. I know it’s a situation when you have too much to do, but for “The Invisible Developer” (I’m a conscientious type) not contributing is akin to death.
I feel like if I were to die at my desk it would take a couple of sprints for anyone to notice.
This has been hammered home to me on the standup on the Monday of my return.
The Standup
Ideally standups would last a few minutes, and for larger teams 15 minutes or so (if you’re pushing it). I’ve been in companies where they are like the last seasons of Friends (once Chandler and Monica are together what’s the point?) and the drag is real.
This morning our standup lasted 51 minutes (for real). The only interaction with me was referring to me as my job title, telling me I was invited to a 30-minute meeting later to discuss something that could be solved in 3 Slack messages.
It’s not the lack of welcome back. It’s the lack of interaction, and surely the team must know that I’m not doing anything. It’s been like this for weeks, but coming back to it after vacation is soul-crushing.
My Mouse is Moving, But My Brain is in Neutral
After standup, I do have my technical team standup. That involves me saying:
“Not much from me. Very happy to be back.”
They ask about the vacation, I don’t even answer. They don’t chase up the conversation.
My strategy for the rest of the day is my secret weapon. My code that keeps the mouse moving so I’m never “inactive”. It’s not that I’m lazy, I literally have nothing to do. The defect I found in the code 6 weeks ago still cannot be worked on as there isn’t testing capacity (I’ve solved it on a local branch anyway), I can’t work on refactoring as there isn’t testing capacity (all refactoring must have a ticket and must be authorized as once one developer introduced a production bug).
I’m now in a strange limbo where I’m paid to exist more than to produce. I keep telling myself that I’m here if they need me, and that’s what I’m paid for. Thanks to my almighty mouse juggler I’m able to write blog posts, prepare for interviews and appear busy. It just makes me sad, that’s all.
Don’t worry. I have a 90-minute meeting coming up, right at lunch. I’m going to eat soup over my laptop and listen to the meeting (I’m not involved other than needing to be present). That will just about wrap up my day.
Conclusion
I do appreciate that I’m in a lucky position, being paid to effectively sit and prepare for interviews (I’ve one this week, as TSD fans will be glad to hear). It’s actually hard to get motivated to do anything when you have 8-hour days filled with nothing.
I guess at least I can do nothing from home? I’m trying to think of other positive points.