It’s my firm belief that every office has – or desperately needs – an enabler. \u00c2\u00a0Maybe you know the type. \u00c2\u00a0There’s a steady line of people walking over to ask quick questions about tons of random things. \u00c2\u00a0If there’s a problem, they’re (if not fixing it) just walking around, watching, listening. \u00c2\u00a0The next time everyone is stumbling around in the dark, working on the broken a\/c he’ll say “hey, they hid a light switch in here behind this panel. \u00c2\u00a0That’s better”. \u00c2\u00a0You know the svn repository directory called “include” or “handy” or “access” or something of the sort? \u00c2\u00a0It has the “example.pl” file with an example of every cool, handy, awesome trick in the book and how to use the module to do all the irritating things you need to do constantly in one line? \u00c2\u00a0That’s his. \u00c2\u00a0When the new folks come around to meet everyone he gets up and says something to the point of “Hey, I’m the enabler. \u00c2\u00a0I’ve been here a little while now, and if you need to know anything – just let me know. \u00c2\u00a0Want some candy?” \u00c2\u00a0When the old folks say “Hey, they moved the stapler!” he says “Yeah, it’s in the other room now by the stapling pool. \u00c2\u00a0Let me show you. \u00c2\u00a0Did you meet the new head of stapling? \u00c2\u00a0They also moved the shiny copier here too, so if you need something in higher quality, come over to this one.”<\/p>\n
Their production may be only average or above average, but everyone in the zone around them is way above average. \u00c2\u00a0That’s because when they find some way to automate the widget approval application process, they get excited and share it. \u00c2\u00a0Suddenly widget applications go from hours a day to seconds (this has actually happened to me) and everyone gets way more widgets out. \u00c2\u00a0 Meanwhile he’s been using his newfound time to try to find a way to get a chat room for everyone in the team so they don’t have to yell or call all day.<\/p>\n
He’ll automate things to make not just his life easier, but everyone around’s life easier also.<\/p>\n
How do you find your enabler? \u00c2\u00a0I think it starts with being nice. \u00c2\u00a0Having too much empathy for everyone else helps too. \u00c2\u00a0Does someone not only order their drink \u00c2\u00a0at the Tastes Burnt with a smile and say please, but pay attention to how they yell them to each other so they don’t have to translate it? \u00c2\u00a0That fellow down the row who strangely requests a garbage can for a strategic spot in the middle? \u00c2\u00a0Depends: did you find yourself (along with him) saving time and reducing hassle by having one in just the right place?<\/p>\n
Why would you want to become one? \u00c2\u00a0Well, there’s some drawbacks and some benefits.<\/p>\n
Drawbacks:<\/p>\n
On the plus side:<\/p>\n
In short (too late!) – I think there’s someone who acts as the grease that makes any office run smoother – and that it’s important they’re there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s my firm belief that every office has – or desperately needs – an enabler. \u00c2\u00a0Maybe you know the type. \u00c2\u00a0There’s a steady line of people walking over to ask quick questions about tons of random things. \u00c2\u00a0If there’s a problem, they’re (if not fixing it) just walking around, watching, listening. \u00c2\u00a0The next time everyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[18,10,3],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imaginarybillboards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imaginarybillboards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imaginarybillboards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.imaginarybillboards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.imaginarybillboards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.imaginarybillboards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60,"href":"http:\/\/www.imaginarybillboards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions\/60"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imaginarybillboards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.imaginarybillboards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.imaginarybillboards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}