1. Get a pet or hobby that makes you feel better about yourself.
2. The regulation is the regulation; your job is to enforce what we have interpreted.
a. Anyone asking for leeway or “just this time” is not your friend, see rule 7.
3. Do not assume that anything you have been told is correct, verify with objective evidence
4. Oversimplification of your tasks or anyone else’s tasks will screw up everything.
a. If someone is oversimplifying something critical, you must correct them.
b. Leaving a false impression is as bad as the oversimplification itself.
c. Sometimes you may make people mad for making them feel stupid; refer them to rule 1.
5. Any decision you have been compelled to make will come back to haunt you; that haunting can go from 15 to life in an orange jumpsuit.
6. Plan
a. Make everyone else plan.
b. If they don’t know how to plan, teach them.
c. Planning is not taking what the customer wants and then figure it out how to get there.
d. Saying “Yes” is not project management.
7. Precedents: If you give an inch, be prepared to hand out miles with a smile. Setting precedents is a luxury you cannot afford.
8. Clarify. If you hear something stupid, clarify. If you hear something shady, clarify again.
a. When you clarify something shady: Always get it in writing. “It won’t protect you, but it will help with sentencing.”
b. If they are not willing to put it in writing, then DON’T DO IT.
9. Say it with me: Hardly anyone remembers being late on a date. Everyone remembers when someone dies because something was rushed.
10. None of this is personal.
11. Even when it feels personal, its not personal.
12. Even when it is personal, you can’t take it as personal.
13. Everyone wants things, give them what they need.
14. It’s hard to say “no”. Do it anyways. If you clarify maybe you can say “yes” to a different question.