Confessions of a researchaholic

When I initially joined Adobe I thought that sufficiently mature prototypes are required for selling to the product partners, but some recent experiences taught me that it is possible to drive progress (including eventual product transfers) via rapid iterations and demonstrations.
The key is to have sufficiently convincing presentations on the most relevant aspects without spending too much time optimizing elsewhere, which depends on good judgement and prioritization on what and when to focus on.

During this process, we can be more comfortable taking on tasks that are uncertain, ambiguous, and beyond our current expertise if we can leverage the collective strength of a strong team, which requires good project management and tech leadership.

I used to think that I can take on only projects that I have sufficient competence and interests.
But later I realized that if I am working with strong collaborators, I can trust them to handle the parts that I am less good at or less interested in, which would allow me to embark on more ambitious endeavors.
A strong team also provides me more growth opportunities to learn from others, and to be inspired by their ideas and creations.

This post is inspired by “is unlimited (or more precisely, untracked) PTO a scam”.

Taking a break away from work can enhance mental and physical health, reduce burnout, and provide a chance to see things from a different perspective.
All of these can boost our productivity and creativity when we return to work.

If we stay at work while being unproductive, we are not doing ourselves or our teams any favor, as it could drag down the team performance and negatively impact how others perceive our competence.

After noticing some positive correlation between people’s performance and the amount of PTO they take, I am trying to take more (unlimited and untracked) PTOs, even if just to have time for individually focused works (like reading/reviewing papers) which tend to be outside my main duties (mostly product/management related nowadays).
Company/organization-wide shutdowns remain the best opportunities for me to be complete away during which no co-worker is expected to ask me for anything.