Write It Down

As an engineer, we are often reminded how important it is to write stuff down. Stuff that’s written down is more available than stuiff that exists only in someone’s head, or in someone’s private stash somewhere. In the UK, the warning was always,

“What if you fall under a bus tomorrow?”

– leaving the rest of the project in the dark about what you had planned.

In the US however, the version of the warning I hear more often is

What if you win the lottery tomorrow?

which is a much nicer and more positive message, typical of “sunny California”, perhaps. Of course, there are extremes in both places. One colleague in London would say

What if you get torn apart by wild dogs tomorrow?

– dark, but unlikely (although I can’t be sure about Tooting HAHAHAH). Another colleague in the US, when greeted and asks how he is, responds, “Top o’ the world, Ma!” which is fun and yet also dark when you realise where it’s from.

Actually, thinking about it, if winning the lottery meant you immediately quit and never saw any of your colleagues again and you didn’t go into the office to hand over to your  replacement – not such a positive message. It’s a good measure of how much you enjoy your job and like your team. I like to think that if I won the lottery and won a life-changing amount of money, I would have at least a few minutes for my esteemed colleagues. Send them a note at least.