Blogging about work

Andrew Finegan blogged about why he doesn’t blog about his work. “To blog about work would be to jeopardise my entire future career in the sector”, he says.

I don’t blog about work either, these days. I have a few reasons, although I don’t think I have the same restrictions that Andrew does.

Firstly, most of what I do involves dealing with other people. And because I’m dealing with other people, a lot of it is complex and I suspect would be quite boring to read without context. And likely would be boring to read with context, which I’d have to explain, and I’m not that good a writer, nor am I that patient.

Secondly, because I’m dealing with other people, a lot of it is also confidential.

Thirdly, it just wouldn’t feel right to blog about what I’m thinking or planning, without first talking about it with my colleagues and team members. If nothing else, I’d want them to hear things from me first, rather than reading about things on this blog. I wouldn’t want to write something flippant about work and have it misunderstood. In some cases, it wouldn’t be very prudent to post what I’m thinking in such a public space. Also, my social media rule gets invoked: don’t post anything you wouldn’t say directly to a person.

Finally, I don’t think my work is all that interesting to read about these days. I read things: emails, reports, contracts, plans, applications. I write things: emails, reports, memos, plans, talks. I plan. I attend meetings. I talk to people. I (try to find time to) think. Rinse, repeat.