Work-Me & Blog-Me
JANUARY 2021 UPDATE: I’ve been a through jobs since this post was first written and then updated and I am back with the Aussie regulator. While I don’t have the old disclaimer on the front page anymore, where a topic is contentious, I’ll be sure to link back to this post.
AUGUST 2012 UPDATE: I've changed jobs since I posted this. However, I think it still works as a fair assessment of the relationship between this blog and my current job, which is not with the regulator.
In this, the Web 2.0 world, connections can be made easily. There is no practical way to disconnect completely my blogging from my work.
And while my little disclaimer on the right is designed to create a barrier between the two, it probably doesn't address what has the potential to be a complex relationship.
This blog is my thinking brain in text. Primarily, it's an academic endeavour and therefore, by definition, it is about learning and discovery. I think it is very important to note that I am not blogging any final answers here. These are my thoughts and while I hope they are well considered and rooted in rationality, they are, more than likely, incomplete.
This blog is a personal endeavour with inspiration taken not only from my working environment but also personal activities and encounters. Nothing on here should be considered as necessarily relating to my employer or any specific aviation organisation of which I do get a privileged view. In an effort to ensure that this is the case, I tend to use news items, academic papers and training materials as my main sources of inspiration.
Overall, my blog is about me.
My work on the other hand is not about me. I work as part of a team which is part of an office which is part of a larger office which is part of an organisation. I'm a small piece in a very complex puzzle. I try to fill out my piece to the best of my ability and I hope that I do.
I have applied some of the thinking posted on this blog to projects I'm working on. In doing so, I have realised that some of these posts do indeed need more thought and I will probably bring that thought back here for posting.
I have put forward the arguments posted here in discussions with colleagues. They have listened (I hope) and then synthesized this information with their understanding and their objectives in mind. Like I said, I am part of a team and the viewpoints of many tend to provide a better answer than the opinion of one, especially when the full nature of the environment may not be apparent to each individual.
In short, you can't read this blog and ask why my employer hasn't implemented my ideas and nor should you consider my posts here to be the policy of my employer. In the first instance, as much as you may agree with me (if so, I am flattered), we may share a limited view of the overall situation. In the second instance, I am not omniscient (don't tell my wife), omnipresent (don't tell my boss) or omnipotent (don't tell my kids).
There is Work-Me and there is Blog-Me.
This here, is Blog-Me.
Just to be clear, questions have been raised regarding my blogging activity. No specific issue, just a heightened level of concern over what is still a relatively new form of personal activity. A social media policy is probably forthcoming from my employer and when it arrives, I will abide by its provisions 100%.
