Who Does This Work Help?

I’ve spent much of my career learning how to understand difficult problems, make decisions and help other people move forward. I care about doing that work well. I also find myself asking who benefits from it, especially when the answer is several steps removed from the task in front of me.

A friend has challenged me to give an example when I explain something in broad terms. It’s a useful challenge, because I can talk about the value of technology and risk work and still leave someone wondering what that means in an ordinary day.

Imagine a parent trying to complete a school form online. They can’t get into their account, and the password-reset instructions keep sending them in circles. Eventually, they have to contact the school, where someone else needs to help them get access before they can finish the form.

A team working on that problem might describe its work as improving account recovery. For the parent, the result could be getting the form done without spending their evening chasing help. For the school, it could mean staff have more time for other things. The account still needs to be protected, so making access easier also requires care over who can regain it.

As a parent, I can relate to wanting to get something like that sorted and get on with the evening. The work behind it involves a technical process, decisions about security and an explanation someone needs to be able to follow. The people using it may never know who designed or reviewed it, but they experience the result.

That’s part of what I admire about my dad’s work. His connection to the community around him makes it easier to see who the work is for. I want to bring that same understanding to my own work, even when the people benefiting are further away.

When I explain why a piece of work matters, I want to be able to describe the person it helps and what becomes easier or safer for them. That also gives us a way to question whether the work has achieved what we intended. In the school example, finishing the project would be one thing. Understanding whether parents can actually get back into their accounts would tell us more.

I find that more satisfying than describing the work only through what we completed. It helps me understand why the details deserve attention and gives me a clearer way to explain the contribution.

What I admire in my dad’s work is something I hope Miss Mango gets to experience in her own way. As she discovers what she enjoys and what she’s good at, I’d love for her to find that something she knows can make another person’s day a little easier. I know how much that connection matters to me, and I’m curious to see where she finds it for herself.