A nagging question among the people around me, especially the younger ones: how do you find the ideal job, project, mission, product, environment, etc.? The one you’re going to love, enjoy, be proud of, for which you’ll get up in the morning?

How do you find it? How do you track it down?

Actually, the answer is probably how to build it! How to design it!

When I meet the benexters (the people from beNext), this question comes up repeatedly. I ask them, what would be the ideal job in their eyes? And what is currently preventing them from getting it? If they had no constraints, what would they change today? I mainly talk to product owners, scrummasters, budding coaches, coaches, developers, HR, bizdev. I don’t know if my point of view can help in other environments, but I know that in theirs it must be the case, I’ve applied these principles to myself for a long time, and I hear people say that I’ve “built my job”.

Don’t have any preconceptions

I’ve stopped asking people what context they’d like to work in. I’ve understood that all of this was an illusion. When some tell me they don’t want to work for a bank, but in media or culture, they don’t want to work for a large structure, but for a startup, I explain to them that I’ve learned over time that we can’t know what an environment has in store for us before spending time in it. That appearances can be deceiving. That one department of a company isn’t necessarily representative of the neighboring department. That the startup or media/culture organization may not have organizations that reflect their business, and vice versa. So, no preconceptions except naturally if a company’s subject matter is contrary to your convictions and you don’t wish to participate in it, which I can easily understand.

Have you tried? And what happened?

Do things and don’t lecture

Before having grand theories about your ideal position, and what the organization and its dynamics should be, try to carry out actions that produce concrete results. Try to undertake things all the way through, to learn, to better understand. Too often we demand something else without even having tried to participate in something all the way through. To have a real perspective on things. To measure a real impact, and learn from that journey.

Have you carried something all the way through (even if the end is failure)? And what did you learn?

Feeling authorized

The most important thing for building your own job is probably feeling authorized to do so. And to feel authorized, the best thing is not to have to ask for permission. For permission to be granted. And for permission to be granted, the simplest thing is to do something that doesn’t require permission. For that, the best thing is to experiment. That is, to move forward based on short trials that we’ll abandon if they’re not conclusive. And if they’re conclusive, well you’ve started to build your job as you thought it should be done. And another experiment will follow the one that worked and will become established, and then another, then another. You’ll have built up much faster than you think a whole that will make sense. You don’t build your job overnight, you build it as you go.

Clarify and reassure others to free yourself

Constraints often come from the people you work with. There are two postures that seem important to me to avoid being stuck in the quicksand of a relationship that would slow your learning.

The first consists of clarifying things. You’re asked for something that in your eyes makes no sense, brings no value, is impossible to achieve within the given timeframe. The person asking for this is generally your boss. It’s counterproductive, useless, unpleasant, to cheat, avoid, or sabotage. It won’t get you very far except to make things obscure and harder. On the other hand, I suggest you clarify your position on this: clearly state that you think that a) it brings no value, or b) it’s useless, or c) it’s impossible to achieve within the given timeframe. But by adding: you’re my boss, so I’m going to try to do my best and follow this request. Either you’re wrong and you’ll have learned a lot. Or you’re not wrong and the person who asked you for the task will be able to recognize it and the relationship you’ll build at work will probably be rich. A real dialogue seeming to be established, it’s also the best path to building your job. But if the person doesn’t recognize it, you’ll still be much more audible the next time the situation occurs. No one will be fooled, no one will be able to be falsely fooled, in fact no one is ever fooled, but there it will become blatant. However, everyone has the right to be wrong. What I want to express here is that the first thing to build a dynamic with the people around you is to clarify the situation to better respond to it. By not being clear, situations get bogged down. With clarity (not bravado, not provocation) you’ll know if you want to leave, when and why, and if you want to continue, and why.

The second consists of reassuring the people around you. To buy your freedom, leave them their peace of mind. Generally, it’s about avoiding making them responsible. What is this person afraid of? What does this person need to not feel in danger? If you can answer these questions, you’ll probably gain space for yourself.

Update: June 16, 2020

Yesterday, coming out of the covid crisis I wrote a text to all members of the company. I realized it was the mirror of this text.

…I hear, however, the frustration that’s poking its nose out: we came out of lockdown and yet the constraints persist. Unfortunately it was predictable: the slow return to normal. It’s probably going to last a few months but I couldn’t be categorical. Among these constraints “I don’t like this project” I don’t want to go there. I’m not imposing anything, I’m simply asking you to understand that we’re still in turbulence. But beyond this situation I’d like once again to write one of my beliefs: There’s no generalizable rule, but I’ve learned a lot that we can’t judge a project in advance. I don’t want to be a PO but a PM? (You’ll recognize yourselves) Naturally the best way to become a PM is to be a PO in the structure, naturally there are POs who ultimately act as PMs and … vice versa. We can’t know how things are going to unfold before being in the context. Agilists repeat endlessly: “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”, why would it be different with job descriptions and the jobs themselves (in one sense as in the other: better, worse). Another pipe dream I’m fighting against: I want to be a PO in a startup at the heart of the product in a real startup environment. Let me laugh. Either the startup is 4 months old, or politics has caught up with it, or the lack of cash makes freedom impossible. In short, it’s the same. The ideal PO position I don’t know where it is. And a startup doesn’t indicate that it will be better. Nor worse. Once again: “you can’t judge a book by its cover”. Am I being the old man who rambles? Lecturing? Maybe, made in 1971. the old parrot. Old school boy. It’s my experience, I’m simply trying to share it with you. Do with it what you want. I’m talking about PO/PM, it’s not the same for other positions? Of course it is. Once again: don’t look for the job of your dreams, build it. You’re looking for the project of your dreams, build it (on site).