fbhjr

When I got in today I had to document that we had finished putting together a prototype, figure out if where they want to put the columns in the new building would be bad for our prototype lab, discuss for almost two hours what the people from production will be doing to help us build prototypes, phone interview someone for the last of the open jobs I have and write reviews for two people who work for me before I could sit down at my CAD station and work on any design. And, it’s been like this all week long.

For more than 25 years I have been proud that what I do for a living was design new things.
That what I got paid for was to think of new things that people had never thought of before. (Even if often pretty similar to things that did already exist.)

For those 25 years, I’ve hoped to get something patented. The legal proof that I did come up with something no one else has come up with.
Several times I’ve had things that qualified, but I’ve never worked for a place willing to make the investment. But, those places had contracts with me that said I couldn’t go do it on my own either.

This job, my name is in on four patents, two with me as the prime designer.
But, my primary job is no longer design, but management.

I’m really torn on this.

Part of me says “now I get to help other people do what I love. I get to show them the ways to do it, how to avoid pitfalls, how to make sure things work and what to look for to make something really good.” (But, I know you can’t teach people how to be creative either. You can encourage it, but not teach it.)

However, I don’t want to give up doing it. It is my very favorite part of what I’ve been paid for since 1986.
My boss tells me that I can still do both.
But, this week it does not seem that way.

We’ll see how that works out.