Tasks without inherent quality

January 4, 2023

I currently spend a lot of time thinking about why I do not feel the same amount of satisfaction from work, as I used to. Surely there is not just a single reason to point at. But I have thought quite a lot (probably too much) about it, and I will try to explain one of my thoughts about it here.

Currently I work as a freelance Solution Architect and have a long career as a software developer behind me. It is not everything about programming I remember as being great or fulfilling, but there are parts of it that I miss and parts of it I see as more conducive to fulfilment than what I currently do.

To get the obvious out of the way; it has nothing to do with the place I currently work. It is actually one of the best contracts I have had in a long time.

What my thoughts seems to keep circling back to, is the concept of tasks having an objective measure of quality. Not in the way the tasks are defined, but in the way they are carried out and completed.

As a programmer you almost always have tasks with built-in quality. You can choose to ignore it and just do sloppy work, or choose to ignore it because the quality is in having the task fixed as quickly as possible, as opposed to as well-built and robust as possible. But at the end of the day, there is always a quality aspect to your work.

A lot of the frustration experienced as a developer is because of pressure to do work faster rather than better.

As you move further and further away from the code and actual implementation, a lot of this “quality” diminishes. Sure, there is quality in a properly architected system. But I have yet to work as an architect anywhere, where the majority of my work was in actually architecting. (Queue the developer that can say that the minority of their work is spend in writing code - in which they can also be correct).

But my point is that, either I am further and further removed from where the inherent quality in the work is, or I am getting worse at recognising it.

A lot of tasks revolves around analysing solutions, doing due diligence, ensuring compliance with legislation etc. All important tasks. All tasks where I have an important role to play. Tasks where I can feel like I do a difference. But also all tasks where it is difficult to recognise “quality”. There is no “right” solution. There is no “gold standard” for good work.

It all comes down to where I am confident enough to state an opinion and stand behind it.

And that is one of the theories I have as to why I do not feel the same amount of fulfilment with the roles I currently have, as I did in the past as a developer. The tasks are too “fluffy” in terms of quality. They are important - yes. I make a big difference - also yes. But apart from the scenario where I get something completely wrong and screw up, there is no real distinction between good enough and really good. The quality aspect of the work is missing - or I am unable to see it.