Brakes

Cruising around on my bike this weekend yielded a situation: my front brake felt "off." But how bad could it be? The wheels were riding smoothly. I was able to stop the bike when I wanted. I was out, doing stuff, having a good time. Was it worth pausing my fun day to get it checked out?

There are many times in a manager's career where something feels weird. Maybe it's the pace of the project, the direction the product is going, or a vibe with the team. Something is 'off' but you aren't sure how serious it is. Is it worth bringing up? Is it worth being labeled a 'worrier', being called 'paranoid', or have a boss tell you to, "stop imagining things"?

In the beginning, I'd sense that something was wrong but I didn't have the language or experience to know what to do with my instinct. Intuition is a funny thing. It's hard to explain, impossible to quantify, and yet it's very real and very much a part of being a successful manager.

As one gains more experience, that feeling becomes stronger and harder to ignore. I've gotten more comfortable with relying on intuition and speaking up when that tiny voice pipes up in my mind. I still get called a worry-wart (and worse), but sometimes someone will say, 'I was thinking the same thing.' 

And my bike - my brake pad was falling apart and had an exposed chunk of metal ("It's been a long time since I've seen a piece this big" - friendly bike specialist at my neighborhood shop) that was stripping my wheel's rim. It wasn't great, but I caught it early before my rim was really damaged. Ten minutes later, I was off with *amazing* new brakes and a much calmer inner voice.