There is an assumption that joy and work are different things.
If something is extremely boring or annoying with a task at work, it's treated as an "oh well, that's life" by most people and most bosses.
I think that's fundamentally flawed.
I also don't think joy means to make things easy. Some of the most delightful and creative experiences I've ever had are when I had to work in constraints.
1/
Creativity often thrives in constraints. Time, space, material, method, or tools. Removing or restricting these sometimes leads to amazing results and experience. Less is definitely more very often.
Constraints are one thing, but hostility is another.
2/
It's one thing to have a deadline, to have pressure.
And it's another to have to do that while you're being yelled at to go faster or to have your favorite tools/processes be taken away and be given the cheapest possible ones that break constantly.
Those aren't constraints. They're a framing of work as mere tasks—a removal of joy, and even a hostility to it.
3/
So I refuse. I inject joy into labors. I enjoy the process for its own sake.
This is not to say that I'm not trying to get anywhere. But the destination is not the only goal. The journey itself is also the goal. To make a change in the work and have the work change me.
4/
Robert Roskam
Uwe Kleinmann