JonFancey's BLOG

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The triangle of happiness  @10:40:44 AM    
I've long thought that there are three main ingredients which ensure a fun time at work (if you don't believe work should be fun then stop reading now). This isn't particularly insightful I'm sure, but has worked well for me. So here they are:

(Note that there is no implied order here.)

1. People

great people can make anything seem bearable - if there was an order, people would be at the top.

2. Tasks

how satisfied we are with the work we are given/must do has a big impact on our contentedness.

3. Money

earning loads of cash can overcome a lot of frustration felt with deficiencies in 1 & 2.

The interesting thing here is that it's my belief you can be happy with just any two of these. If you have all three you are a happy bunny indeed - enjoy it while it lasts! Less than two and it's time to move on - you are miserable.

I've been thinking a lot lately about this triangle...
-- 3 comments: View - Post your own comment

Posted by Rob Kent @ 10:32 AM, July 29    
Er, could I square the triangle and add length of commute as a fourth leg? I recently had a commute that was 2 or 3 trains (depending on which ones were not running that day) and a bus, up to 2.5 hours each way. Commuting quickly accelerated to the top of my prerequisite criteria to the point where writing COBOL in a home for retired assassins while earning a pound an hour would seem preferable (no, that's not what I'm doing now!).


Posted by Will Tee @ 02:50 AM, February 24    
Absolutely the top three, and in the same order I thought!

Well, I guess Tasks and Money can move around; but my last time out I was ready to accept less money if I knew I would be doing cool stuff. And currently, my position is mostly resting on only one of the three (so, call from recruiter came across loud and clear today). Nice to know others have the same triangle.


Posted by Matt Simner @ 10:03 PM, January 10    
It's funny but I'd independently come up with the same thing a while ago. I quoted almost chapter and verse to my 'boss' at the last company I resigned from! The only thing I'd got there was people - money and work satisfaction were nowhere to be seen!

It's strange how many companies don't get this simple concept. It applies almost universally to IT.

I've now got an average of 1.5 / 3 (what does that say?)