On Monday I had a textbook experience of ‘adult’ work: a quarterly report. But let me start from the beginning.

In July I was given a new position, Head of Infrastructure at a large blockchain company where I have already worked for more than five years. It has been almost three months in the new role and I finally got used to it, almost like you get used to a pair of shoes over time. Every corner becomes clear and obvious and it feels like it has always been there with you. That is exactly how it feels for me now.

During this time I ran into a lot of completely new experiences:

• I realised that interviewing people can be hard for me, not because I do not know how to do it, but because I want only the best people in my team. That means I have to reject candidates with great soft skills when they are lacking in hard skills.

• I understood how much career growth, and what happens around you in general, depends not on obvious factors like age or education, but on very different ones: personal drive, not being afraid to take responsibility, and a certain level of boldness. For example, 80% of my team are older than me, even though I often heard and read that age is an important factor and that a manager, especially a department head, simply cannot be younger than their reports. Turns out they can, and it can be very effective.

• I learned to plan my days better, to keep a calendar, and to generally stay on top of things.

• I became much tougher with people and learned to demand instead of ask, which has had a very positive effect on the team’s efficiency. At the same time (as far as I can tell) I am not overdoing it.

Now about the quarterly report. Before, I only heard about this creature in movies, where it is shown as a source of stress because people are ‘running out of time’ to finish it, and as a handy way to show how busy a character is at some specific moment.

In reality, all of that is nonsense. When someone ‘does not have time’ to prepare a quarterly report, it simply means they are not fit for the position they hold. For me, the quarterly report was not some new piece of work at all. It turned out to be a way to collect in one place all the plans my department delivered, and everything I have planned for the near future. It was also a place where I could back up my plans with specific numbers and achievements. In other words, I just updated what was already prepared and written, and put it into a format that is clear not only to technical people.

Maybe it sounds like I am praising myself too much, but I am not. To quote my CTO:

‘The most structured and high‑quality presentation.’

Why am I writing this here? Just to remind you: when you are doing something that is meant for you, and that you are meant for (in my case both my job and my startup), when you are not afraid to show yourself, and not afraid to take on more responsibility than was originally expected, you will succeed in that work and things will go well for you.