Comment by Lwrless
1 month ago
I'd heard of the "monkey" metaphor from my friend before, but I never really used it in my day-to-day work. When a report came my way with a technical problem they couldn't solve, my first reaction was always, "Okay, I'll take a look," instead of guiding them to take ownership and figure it out on their own.
Looking back, I wish I hadn't let those monkeys jump back onto my back so often. It ended up causing a growing backlog and a lot of pressure for me. It also made it hard for team growth.
This piece really speaks to me, and I'm curious how others here have experienced this in work.
I'm a people pleaser and am involved in too many things at work. Friday afternoon mid-sentence I realised I was putting like 5 monkeys on my back for something I'd get done before we start the sprint Monday morning...
Good article to reflect on. Tone is a bit crass maybe but a good read. Need to get better at helping (if I can) and then delegating, instead of defaulting to "let me look into it".