It's time to write a typical summer post
Bowen Island, King Edward Bay, looking West towards Keats Island.
By Gregory Ronczewski, Director of Product Design at Ibbaka. See his skill profile.
It is summer. No question about it. Long days, sunsets over Keats Island and the empty beach in the evening when the rocks are still warm when you sit to dry after a swim, watching the sun slowly make its way down. Those are the minutes I wish to last forever. It's been sixteen years since we started coming to this beach, always sitting on the same rock watching the same landscape. Moments like this make time standstill.
Time is a fascinating subject. I wrote a post in 2018, In a world without time, inspired by a book by Carlo Rovelli, The order of time. If you like physics, or rather, if you hate physics, please look for a book written by this author. You will not be disappointed. Anyway, the perception of time changes, and I am not talking about relativity or anything complex. It's just a fact that we all experience. When you are a kid, summer vacations run forever. When you are older, one month often feels like a week. Apart from the simple math—at ten, a year is 1/10 of your life. At sixty, one year represents 1/60 of your life—routine often contributes to the speeding of time. The same tasks that are done repeatedly make the time blend into one passage when days are identical. In a way, the last year fell into this category. For many, working from home make the days feel similar. Brain researchers say that if there is nothing significant to record in the memory, the time subjectively shrinks. That is why we remember vacations and trips, but it is much harder to distinguish between regular workdays.
I have to admit, the idea of not going to the office, managing my own time sounds really good. I've done it for fourteen years, so the lock-down and being confined to my house was not bad at all. I know that I am very fortunate. I live at the end of the road on a small island—big garden, big house, not many neighbours—an ideal scenario for a pandemic year. But, there is another twist to this—the type of work at Ibbaka changes very often. We all play multiple roles, multitasking and switching workflows and approaches are done constantly. I think this alone makes the perception of time different. Of course, the rhythm of the day is still marked by the video call at noon, our scrum when the team connects to make sure we all know where we are going. But, apart from that and a few regular client calls, the days are all different. For example, I've been doing quite a bit of storyboarding, figuring out how to convert a narration into a video. Then, there was graphic prep for the animator who turned the storyboard into a movie. Both required different workflows and different skills. Now, I am back in the prototyping world as we move towards another release of the Ibbaka Talent platform. And from time to time, I try to write a blog post. I think the best part of working at Ibbaka is the always-changing landscape of work. Perhaps that is why we put so much emphasis on skill profiles - they are the gateway to starting a new role, especially in a team context.
One of the ideas we are playing with is an exploration mode. Inside a skill profile, the user is encouraged to organize skills into core and target lists. Core skills are those used every day. Skills that we are familiar with. Target skills are those that we are working on developing. Now, the exploration mode will look at your core skills and see what other roles you may be able to, or want to, play. The platform will show that, for instance, you are missing one or two skills from being well suited for a new role. It gets interesting when you ask to show what roles are suitable based on the target skills. It is a part of the career path concept that we are often discussing. And, of course, there are the Open Competency Models. The Design Thinking Model is now available for public use, and we are planning to launch two more models in the coming weeks. Looking at a model and comparing the required skills and their levels of expertise gives another way to glimpse into the future and whatever jobs or roles may be available. Each approach, apart from an exciting career option, makes the time slow down a bit. Days do not feel the same when the task you are working on is different.
You will be surprised what hidden talent you may discover when you start building your skill profile. Our AI will help you by suggesting skills based on your past roles or jobs. Or, simply upload your resume, and the onboarding wizard will find many skills for you. Before you know it, you will be looking at your unique skill map. The research shows that even a single small change to the routine will impact the overall perception of time. The days are longer, so there is plenty of time to read one of Rovelli’s books and join the Ibbaka Talent community. Don't delay - try to slow down time, just enough to enjoy another warm, summer evening.
