I understand better how Software Engineers organize their work now

I returned Sunday from 4 days of immersion into quilting at VQF (google it) and a mind full of ideas for my next quilts.  Some many ideas, so little free time and a fabric stash that will long outlive me.  BTW, if you want me to leave my fabric/yarn stash to you when I die, drop me a line.

Last night, after work and golf, I have great intentions to sit down at my machine and finish one of the projects from one of the 3 classes I took at VQF.  I looked at the 5 unfinished projects and was paralyzed.  Which one could I put 15 minutes into and move along?  Was the right thread in the machine for any of them? Are there any deliverables that I have for any of them?

A concept that we have talked a lot about at work is how much time software engineers spend actually coding.  Their ideal span of time for coding is 4 hour blocks, and our management schedule is 1 hour meetings.  So, if they get in to work at 9am, and see a 10am meeting, they are reluctant to get started because it might not be the right block of time. 

That is how I felt last night.  I needed at least an hour to get to work on something, and being the lark that I am 10pm at night is not the right hour to sit down with a sharp rotary cutter and scissors and a sharp machine needle.  Accidents happen when you are tired around sharp instruments.  SO, I did nothing on the projects and tried to organize my fabric stash so that when I am ready, I can grab the right fabric. 

Maybe tonight I can find a 1 hour block of time.  I entertained getting up at 5am to put an hour in this morning, and actually almost did get up and do that.  My excitement for finishing those projects and starting up some new ones might actually get me up at 5am one of these mornings.  For now, I am admiring my unfinished projects, and planning my new ones and strategizing to find 1 hour blocks to sew.

Sort of Like Wayne Gretsky

This is a bit of a stretch, but I am sort of like Wayne Gretsky.  I heard once that when he plays, he views the ice from above, and looks down on where the puck and players are or will be.  I do the same thing when I think about directions and getting somewhere.

This topic came up on Sunday when we drove into the ICA.  I get places by a "helicopter" or Google earth view of an area.  Just now I found myself almost lifting from my seat, to view how I would get from here to our dinner engagement.  That is when I said out loud to myself, "I am like Wayne Gretsky."

When I am trying to figure out the BEST (and I am almost always interested in the best, or path of least resistance) way to get some place, I view it from overhead.

I don't think this is how everyone navigates.  Bee seem to indicate during our conversation that this is not how she navigates.  How to you view directions?  When you are heading to a place is it the turn by turn directions or the helicopter view?  So many things to ponder.

Island Citizenship - what does it look like?

For the next few years, my volunteer hours are going to be spent on the board of SIC (Star Island Corporation).  This weekend we had our June retreat "on island" and it was bittersweet.  It was fabulous because we got two days on the island and not so good because we spent most of the time inside meeting.  We could look out the windows at the island's natural beauty, which includes the pelicans aka pels (college age kids who work on the island), conferees and guests of the island.

One major topic we discussed a lot was Island Citizenship.  Some of us tried to drop the Island part and just call it Citizenship, but IMHO, we should leave Island in the concept.  The essence of the concept is that we all have to exist on this fragile small island (rock) in the middle of the Atlantic where most of us come for one week of the year.  Many of us identify with "our week" and for the Island to exist we have to lift up our eyes and view the Island for the entire year, not just our week.  The second part of the concept is how we treat each other within this Island community.  There is lots of good work within our denomination about intentional community and right relations.  (Google those)  The third part is that our Island is fragile in many ways, and since we are all so passionate about making sure it exists for our grand children and beyond, we need to make every effort to fill beds this summer and beyond. 

The Board has done a lot of good work since I joined 15 months ago, and it is a concept like Island Citizenship, which peaks my interest and causes me to get up at 5:30am on a weekend to put some effort into it.  Shoalers beware, and non-Shoalers feel free to listen as well; the next time you see me, I will probably be enthusiastically talking about this concept.  In the meantime, what do you think so far, with this little bit you have heard?  Do you belong to an organization where participants feel so passionate and are working hard to maintain its future?  Have you thought about intentional community and right relations?  Do you have any best practices for moving an organization in those directions?  This is a true Sally post; alwaysaskingwhy!

Big company or small company person?

I had dinner with a friend tonight and one topic we discussed was working for a small or big company. As in many issues for me I am mixed. My first job out of college was as the 5th employee at a restaurant and we built it into a 65 employee business access two sites over two two years. I also worked at a startup (small company) right before Intuit (large company) and have worked at two other large companies, Polaroid and Smith & Nephew Endoscopy.

I am not sure but I think I prefer a small company. Right now I have the best of both worlds. Small business unit which is very entrepreneurial inside a large company. This might very well be why I often describe it as "I don't really feel like I am going to work!"

I do believe that usually people prefer one or the other. My dinner colleague is definitely a small company person.

What do you prefer? Do people stay in large companies for the security? Do they work in startups for the excitement and risk? Can you have the best of both worlds in the same company or am I being a polyanna about my current situation? Alway asking questions!



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A&W Drive-in memories

Yesterday on our way home from visiting friends in Cornwall we stopped at the A&W drive-in in Middlebury Vermont. I love this place. Probably since 1964 when we spent the summer in Vt, I have been there most years of my life. We moved there in 1965. We also often went to the A&W drive-in in Rutland Vt.

The most told story about the drive-in is the time Mom rolled down the window with 8 mugs of root beer on it. We love that story and every time say "Don't roll down the window!"

The taste of root beer floats always takes me back to this drive-in. More than once we have driven from almost an hour away to go there.

Yesterday I really wanted a root beer milk shake. Yum Yum! They were out of root beer syrup yesterday. Not to worry! Second best is a root beer float.

Summer to me is the opening of the drive-in and a root beer float on a hot summer day.



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Life comes around in a circle

This picture was taken in our bathroom at Coniston. It is not the best picture in the world but is iPhone quality so what do you want?

After owning Coniston for just about two years we are getting around to the tweaks of home ownership, like hanging pictures. These three pictures are not art in the true sense rather they depict a moment in my life when I was living hand to mouth, and had very little disposable income.

It was my first apartment in Boston in 1985, after I separated from my first husband. Crick and I lived on Jersey Street in the Fenway area of Boston. For excitement we used to go to games at the 7th inning, and just walk into the park for the last few innings. 911 has changed a lot of things! You cannot walk into Fenway like his now.

We also used to look out our apartment window on game nights and after the first car was towed from in front of our building, Crick went to bed. His treat was watching the tow truck. It is amazing how many smart Red Sox fans cannot read No Parking signs.

As a way to decorate my new apartment I put together these three pictures which represented the true Sally and a few of her loves. One thing I collected as a kid were post cards and when I went to an art museum, I bought post cards of my favorite paintings. These "pictures" were hanging in Lexington until we redid a bathroom a few years ago and have sat in a box of pictures that made it's way to Coniston last summer.

A flood of memories of that time in my life came over me as I cleaned them off yesterday and straightened some of the postcards. I am in such a different place in my life AND they now hang in the bathroom at Coniston. I still get a feeling that the true Sally as a little girl and then the true Sally who discovered herself during that time of my life and the true Sally who is being discovered every day is represented in these postcards. Nice to have them back in my life!


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Golf and Behavior changes not so easy for perfectionists

Last Sunday while playing golf G and M (2 brothers) after the first 9 holes they dissected my back swing and holding of the club. Mind you, there are just a few people I will accept tips from on my golf stroke. My attitude until now has been, "the ball went forward, and most of the time it went in the air, happy for both of those, and it is a beautiful walk today with good conversation."

Since I am playing at least twice a week this summer, this is the time for change. My "back nine" were horrible after the dissection, but I knew that would be the case. Thursday and yesterday I was still working out the kinks so less than half of my strokes were solid. I know, because I teach change to managers for work, that change is hard. You actually have to rewire the brain for the new behavior and not fire the old response AT ALL during the rewiring. AT ALL is extreme but pretty true in the case of my golf stroke. For the last week I have focused on two things that are different in my stroke.

1- don't bend my left elbow on the back swing and
2- hold the club like you are holding two baby birds.

Two things to change is almost too many BTW. I tell managers to focus on one change at a time.

We can all improve our behavior and responses until the day we die and for those of us ENFPs who are constantly trying to improve things this is our path. I cannot say that I have improved that many behaviors. My first grade teacher commented that I should work on patience as did my manger recently, 50 years later.

Think about the concept of golf for a minute and of all the variables. I asked G and M for a list of other things to work on, after I have institutionalized these two, which may have been unfair but this is the summer of Golf for me. Got to shave off a few strokes while still enjoying the game. Got to not bend that elbow.

So I think we can change if we are aware, have feedback, focus on the rewiring, and have a healthy dose of patience and ability to laugh at ourselves, during the clumsiness of the process. I will never play scratch golf or be on the WPGA but I will continue to enjoy the game while getting better and peeking at the next item on that list.
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