… and why I hope I never will be
For those of you who have somehow missed the pop culture phenomenon (and I just threw up in my mouth a bit calling it culture) that is Larry the Cable Guy, he’s the reason you’ll occasionally encounter drunken frat boys and cheesy mesh-backed baseball caps screaming “Git-r-done!”
And as much as I loathe that lowest common denominator, Jeff Forxworthy knockoff brand of comedy, I found his mantra floating through my mind this morning while meeting with the web development team working with me on a major web redevelopment project.
We’re at that stage now where the finish line is in sight and it looks an awful lot like an oncoming train. Best laid work plans have long since gone awry and we’re under the gun to get it ready in time to meet the very last inflexible deadline. The rose-coloured glass phase that is planning is long behind us and we’re in the nitty gritty that is production.
And I’ll be jiggered if I don’t want to just “git-r-done.”
It’s the temptation of many in my field, I’m sure. But the onus is on us, as the comms and PR folks, to slay the beast that is “git-r-done” and remember why we’re here. My job isn’t to get a new website online, it’s to create something of value for my organziation, our members and anyone else who may find a reason to use it.
I owe it to the people that hired me, and the members who pay my salary, to go well beyond ‘gettin’-r-done.’ I owe it to them to maintain focus and produce something of quality, no matter how largely the deadline looms.
So what are your tricks, dear readers? How do you get past the allure of Larry?