The Work Sector
Mar. 24th, 2004 12:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plumtreeblossomor...
Answer to 30 "How's the new job going?" Inquiries
In my mind's eye I am seeing the department's existing infrastructural dynamic as chickens skittering helter-skelter over dust, crisscrossing paths frantically and repeatedly, but never reaching a destination, having no destination to reach. I wrote the above sentence at home early this morning. Now I'm here in the chicken pen, seeking out possible solutions to the current chaotic state of things, which is what I was specifically hired to do.
I've only been installed here a few days, but one of the immediate problems I've identified is that no one owns their projects. Every little item has ten hands scribbling on it, and none of the hands know what the other hands are up to, or why. Ergo, nothing gets through the pipeline without confusion and delay. The chief deficit (that I can see from my mostly-outside perspective) is a lack of streamlined workflow. There are too many cooks on every pot. More work needs to be delegated to individuals, who can manage it without the lethal committee-mindset slowing down everything. Solving that problem could help several other work dynamic issues solve themselves. I was hired to help the new Director bring things closer to that place.
Everyone here is patently terrified of the new Director, and I want to help them not to be. He is a brilliant, charismatic person with an often dazzling rocketman presence. If they would just, for once, talk to him as the human being he is, they would see why there's no need to pussyfoot around him. There's this great Willy Wonka-ness about him. Picture Gene Wilder as Wonka and that mad-genius sparkle in his eye. This guy is like that all the time. I'm looking forward to helping him. I've had several good discussions with him, including one about Japan. I'd like to nudge others to humanize him in their eyes, but I have to do it somehow without stepping on any chicken feet. And I have to be very careful not to catch the panic bug, stay streamlined myself here. Chaos is contagious.
This morning I jumped at the chance to run an office errand because I wanted the 1-mile walk that came with it. That gave me some headspace to meditate/ponder possibilities for helping get this pen organized. Last Friday there was so much discordant energy that it sent me flying out for smoke breaks 8 times in 8 hours. I have to remind myself that these challenges are sent into our lives for a reason. I just didn't expect it to be quite this comprehensive a challenge.
But, I have all the free coffee I can swallow, and a bag of trail mix. Let's get cracking.
Answer to 30 "How's the new job going?" Inquiries
In my mind's eye I am seeing the department's existing infrastructural dynamic as chickens skittering helter-skelter over dust, crisscrossing paths frantically and repeatedly, but never reaching a destination, having no destination to reach. I wrote the above sentence at home early this morning. Now I'm here in the chicken pen, seeking out possible solutions to the current chaotic state of things, which is what I was specifically hired to do.
I've only been installed here a few days, but one of the immediate problems I've identified is that no one owns their projects. Every little item has ten hands scribbling on it, and none of the hands know what the other hands are up to, or why. Ergo, nothing gets through the pipeline without confusion and delay. The chief deficit (that I can see from my mostly-outside perspective) is a lack of streamlined workflow. There are too many cooks on every pot. More work needs to be delegated to individuals, who can manage it without the lethal committee-mindset slowing down everything. Solving that problem could help several other work dynamic issues solve themselves. I was hired to help the new Director bring things closer to that place.
Everyone here is patently terrified of the new Director, and I want to help them not to be. He is a brilliant, charismatic person with an often dazzling rocketman presence. If they would just, for once, talk to him as the human being he is, they would see why there's no need to pussyfoot around him. There's this great Willy Wonka-ness about him. Picture Gene Wilder as Wonka and that mad-genius sparkle in his eye. This guy is like that all the time. I'm looking forward to helping him. I've had several good discussions with him, including one about Japan. I'd like to nudge others to humanize him in their eyes, but I have to do it somehow without stepping on any chicken feet. And I have to be very careful not to catch the panic bug, stay streamlined myself here. Chaos is contagious.
This morning I jumped at the chance to run an office errand because I wanted the 1-mile walk that came with it. That gave me some headspace to meditate/ponder possibilities for helping get this pen organized. Last Friday there was so much discordant energy that it sent me flying out for smoke breaks 8 times in 8 hours. I have to remind myself that these challenges are sent into our lives for a reason. I just didn't expect it to be quite this comprehensive a challenge.
But, I have all the free coffee I can swallow, and a bag of trail mix. Let's get cracking.
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Date: 2004-03-24 01:11 pm (UTC)