Irregular comments, noticings, and perhaps the occasional observation.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

How do you know they can do what they tell you they can?

Rise slowly again this morning - alarm at 6:00 rise at 6:20. I neglected the preparations from last night, so in addition to the normal morning routine I have to put together breakfast and lunch. (As a result, as I cast my thoughts back to the beginning of the day, I forgot to take my vitamins.)

In to the office by 7:30, a quick review of e-mail (I'm still new enough that e-mail doesn't take up a ridiculous amount of time), then discuss the morning's meeting agenda with Peggy. A bit of time on arranging the day, then to the meeting.

My first real meeting coordinating the Hedging agenda; a few bumps, but not too bad. Back after the meeting to another impromptu scheduling meeting for one of the higher priority projects in the queue, and some good results there. Lunch, and updating documentation and project plans. Uncover some process discrepancies as I go through this, and spend some time with the BA to work them out.

More work in the afternoon updating project plans. I think I'm going cross-eyed, but the upshot of this, in connection with some reading I'm doing, I believe I have a good way to show evidence of the work that I am doing, and how this could be leveraged for this and other opportunities. The genesis of this comes for DeMarco & Lister's Peopleware, in a chapter called 'Hiring a Juggler'. Basically, they describe a hiring interview with a juggler - he says he can do all the things the manager asks. At the end of the interview the juggler asks if the manager would like to see him juggle, and the manager says "I never thought of that." Having evidence that we can do the work speaks volumes. Now, I'm looking at what would constitute meaningful evidence for a Project Manager, and how I can develop and carry that with me (whether I pursue other work internally or decide to move on).

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