Ode To Elliott Jacques

Another aspect of resolving this
(To make our lives resemble heaven’s bliss),
Is “span of time” in which we operate,
And given that, how people then relate.

A shrink named Jacques in Britain saw this fact
In terms of “felt-fair-pay” – resolving spats
In industry between the types of staff;
Then focused all his life exploring that.

“How far ahead can you plan out a task?”
One aspect he explored with questions asked;
Then followed up with samples from their work,
Until he saw the span of time they took.

He found our spans don’t stay the same through life,
But shift on curves he drew from left to right;
Each time-span curve rose up as years went by
Then fell again (he found no reason why).

Each person’s curve was never quite the same;
Some rose quite fast, some slow with little change;
With graphs which plotted changes by the years,
He came to understand a cause for tears:

For tears drop salt, and thus relieve our stress,
A circuit-breaker when our life’s a mess;
As shrink he saw folks when they came to him,
And told him ’bout the troubles they were in.

One aspect of our work which raises stress,
Is jobs where we must see now more, now less
When we can’t see, or organize that far;
(Or can, and others can’t – that’s hell, by gar).

But that’s a moving target for us all;
We change – curves rise quite slowly then they fall;
It’s like a dance at work but Jacques could see
A pattern in the curves for you and me.

The curves are smooth, but spans themselves discrete
(We lurch from one to next when change we meet);
Three months the boundary of first basic span,
Where all start out, and some folks never can –

See farther up ahead throughout their lives,
Yet they find ways to cope and thus survive;
The boundaries of the longer spans which rise,
Are logarithmic, making for surprise –

Six months; a year; then two; then on to five;
Then ten; then twenty (few past then alive);
Disruptive times attend our shifts in span,
As we prepare to do what now we can.

And “felt-fair-pay”, and “stress”, how do they fit?
A rise in span takes felt-fair-pay with it –
In logarithmic jumps, “So match my pay
With value I now bring each working day.

“For now I see and organize ahead,
In ways quite helpful to the others led;
They know it, so do I, so make it fair;
With felt-fair-pay you’ll show me that you care”.

When people see ahead but cannot act,
Their stress goes up, and that’s a proven fact;
When people who can’t see are told to see,
They can’t, and stress goes up for you and me.

We fallow folks who see one larger span;
We lead folks one span down, (and know we can);
When gap is larger, we can’t comprehend
The things folks say, and signals that they send.

The size of detail chunks is tied to span,
Like height above the ground for every man;
As we go up, we see a larger view,
The details fade from sand, in vistas new.

So when we make a shift in vision’s span,
We fail to notice details others can;
A trade-off – we can see a longer view
And see a tapestry few others do.

Each job in life requires a certain span
To pull it off – so match as best you can;
It cuts the stress for everyone around
(Less work for shrinks is one effect he found).

If you can plot your span upon his graph,
You’ll see upcoming changes, then you’ll laugh
Instead of cry, and take each change in stride;
New blessings take, kick back, enjoy the ride.

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