work lessons

(soft) things i've learned from working:

• set and manage expectations.  if you can, be the first to set a deadline or to propose a way of doing things.  otherwise, you are giving away power.  scale down what people expect of you, then overdeliver.
• communicate, over-communicate if necessary.  tell people (above and below you) what you're doing and how you're progressing, frequently.  know what other people are doing, how they are progressing so you know how to help them. 
• take care of yourself first.  always carve out a set of responsibilities for yourself.  make sure you accomplish what you said you would do before helping anyone else.
• communicate at the right level.  think about what your client, partner, manager, associate, support staff, outside vendor cares about, and communicate the things they need to know.
• purpose.  it's important to understand the purpose of any set of tasks and to question it if it doesn't make sense.  ultimately, you want to give someone what they want, which is not always what you are told to do.
• fix misunderstandings immediately.  there's really nothing worse than miscommunication on a project.
• staying late consistently is nothing to be proud of.  it means (a) you are being overworked, (b) your project is mismanaged, or (c) you don't make life outside of work a priority. 
• be reliable.  answer the phone, respond to emails, be on time.  always. 

i know these things are really basic.  and i think a lot of them are good things to practice all the time.