On the Workload

Yes, I know that my posting rate seems to be slowing down. It's one of the busy seasons over at work.

I don't have much time at the moment, but I'll take a few minutes to explain things for the benefit of those who haven't held onto a job before, or those who haven't been part of the workforce for a while. You see, there are certain times of year when the workload just suddenly piles up on your desk. And by "workload", I can mean any number of things: paperwork, project executions, late-night meetings, anything. At these times of year, the office tends to be in "hell week" mode -- everyone's busy trying to finish what they can before the end of the week rolls around.

Normally, these "overworked" weeks come at specific times of the year. The end of June and the end of December are particular favorites, as these dictate the presence of mid-year and end-of-year reviews. What that means, therefore, is that the project managers are inevitably rushing the last steps of their self-driven initiatives at these times. After all, the review periods that take place here are usually favorite deadlines.

The work also has a tendency to pile up shortly before extended holidays or vacation periods. Every time the people in the office realize that they won't be back at work for another week or so, it usually means that a mad scramble is likely to take place shortly before the holidays come on. The consequences can also be applied to any high-level manager who plans an extended vacation, because they almost always look to finish what's on their plate before they head off.

This time of year, however, is the post-vacation period... it's that time of year when half the office has just returned from a long break (in this case, the Christmas holidays), and as such, have about two weeks' worth of unanswered e-mails to slog through. I certainly have my own share of papers to read and check and edit, despite having stayed in the office throughout the long break. On top of that, I'm expected to give a hand to the tens of hundreds of people who are doing the same thing.

You can see why I haven't been getting much sleep lately, least of all finding the time to sit down and write blog posts.

It doesn't mean that this'll last forever, though. Sooner or later -- maybe in a week, maybe in a month -- things will stabilize a bit and I'll be able to go back to my old arrangements.

Now I'll just have to find a way to survive...