Today has been a day spent mostly doing a bunch of odds and ends jobs – collating coursework marks, notifying students of their marks, writing a reference for a student applying for an MSc course, tidying up email loose ends and participating in a meeting to discuss subject group’s implementation of the University’s Performance Development Review process. None of this was particularly taxing, but all of it consumed time and meant that the day was filled with ‘busyness’ but no progress was made on any more creative projects.
Along the way, I had an interesting conversation with a colleague/friend who I have not crossed paths with for a while in which we chatted about how much stuff there is to do and how difficult it is to settle down to become immersed in more challenging, creative and personally satisfying projects. The result is a deep sense of frustration because ultimately it is these creative projects (research, development of learning resources or support materials, designing new courses/modules etc.) which bring most enjoyment and value. Creative projects are what drive things (people and organisations) forwards so it is deeply unhelpful when it is such a struggle to get into them. They are really at the heart of business in a university, so it is sad that all of our busyness prevents us from getting on with the real business.
Tim O'Hare 