On getting your job done
Working the Dread Pirate Roberts way
Long before Silk Road, there was the Dread Pirate Roberts of The Princess Bride. And how did one become the Dread Pirate Roberts? Well, it’s all marketing, and hard work.
Wesley explains how he went from captive to valet to pirate: With the current Dread Pirate Roberts ending every day telling Wesley “Good work. Most likely kill you in the morning.”
In my work life I’ve attacked things in a similar way. Every day is a referendum on my job and my abilities. Do good work. They’ll most likely fire you tomorrow.
It explains why I want something to show for every day of work — a wireframe, documentation, whatever. It means I have a trail I can point to when the time comes for justifying your existence to the organization.
Sometimes, you end up at cross purposes. Sometimes, you end up caught between organization and personal cultures clashing over what that value is. And that’s difficult to work through. The best you can do is just keep showing up and making yourself valuable.
We cannot take anything for granted. Organizations, and organizational politics, can shift quickly. The important thing is to show up and do good work every single day. If they value you, you will be valued. If they don’t value you, you will be to some other organization.
