Update on Totten Pond Road / Winter Street Construction

Yesterday, I attended the annual meeting of the 128 Business Council. Intuit belongs, so we get an invite. This group provides a shuttle to Alewife to our office park, and will soon provide one from Waltham Center (Commuter Rail) to our office park.

The person who heads up road construction projects for Waltham gave an update. He was an excellent presenter and gave me lots of data I have never had about this bridge update. I still marvel that this project can take 9+ years (stalled with bad construction company for 4). It is supposed to be done Fall 2011.

Almost his entire presentation was pictures, of the update, he was very articulate and it eased my worry about never being able to drive to work for 10 minutes, without driving through 4 construction zones.

The other thing I realized at this meeting is how happy my job makes me. I love to come to work casually dressed. There were lots of suits at this meeting, Property management suits. I felt pretty under-dressed, but happy.

Last week, the Waltham PD came to video tape a Safe Biking session. I think about riding my bike to work a lot, but the last mile, either way I come is very dangerous. A biker pulled in front of me today, GOING THROUGH A RED LIGHT. Good thing I was paying attention. I would not be that kind of bike rider. I am a bike path bike rider so traffic freaks me out, coz I am not used to it. I may get up the courage to ride my bike though, which means I need to bring it back from Coniston.

Mini reunion in Mesquite

This past weekend we traveled to Las Vegas and then drove to Mesquite for a mini reunion, where my cousin and his wife and my aunt and uncle live. Other than a brief severe health scare at the end of the last evening, we have a great time. We are all going to learn the Heimlich maneuver as mandatory training before our next reunion.

I will never be gambler. Slot machines the minute you de-plane and smoke filled casinos are just not my cup of tea.

These are my cup of tea:
Spas, massages, pedicure and Settlers with the cousins
Beautiful majestic countryside and vistas that seem to go on forever with colors
you only see in the West
Wonderful time with family
Sharing stories of growing up in Colorado
Hearing stories I forgot or never knew
Laughing so hard I cannot catch a breath
The smell of rosemary everywhere
Supporting our generation as the prior one faces increasing health issues

Not Used to unresponsive people

So Intuit has really spoiled me. At this company, when you send out a request via email or telephone, you usually get a response. When people don't respond right away they apologize. The person who does not respond really stands out. Even people who do not know you reply quickly.

This behavior has trained me to not have to remember that I called someone or emailed them, because they reply.

I take that knowledge into my non-Intuit space and get really disappointed at lack of response. I have sent emails twice to people that I need to find out information from for the virtual work project that I am on at work. I attended a NEHRA workshop that they gave on virtual work. I emailed them 6 months ago and then last week. STILL NOTHING.

Knowing my Myers-Briggs I should be more "go with the flow", it is OK to drop the ball on things. Sometimes the task actually gets forgotten and goes away. My mantra is "wait long enough and people will change their mind on whether they need you to do that task".

So, I am still waiting and if this info was mission critical, I would figure out another way to get it. I am just disappointed and not used to unresponsive people.

I am a Connector and a Problem Solver

We all do things so naturally, that we don't realize they are a gift. I naturally connect people and things. I am constantly brainstorming and solving people's interpersonal issues. Recently, at coffee with L, she was talking about her business and how she needs to find a place to have a silent retreat. BOOOOOOM, I suggested that she use Coniston. It is working out, and she is traveling there is a few weeks.

Yesterday at a career fair I was talking with another booth participant. He flew from CA on the red eye, and was leaving at 3pm to go back to CA. His boss told him, go find some MIT interns for the summer. WOOOOOW, I could be the university relations person for him. I could learn enough about his business to attend these east coast career fairs, and save him the flight and time. He actually gave my business card to their HR person, with the idea already communicated. I knew that because the HR person fed back my idea to me with some improvements. This might be a good retirement job. Travel and work at the same time . . .

Some professions that are good for my skills are recruiting and matchmaking. I don't do too much of the latter.

I am also a very good problem solver. I keep brainstorming ideas until a good one comes up. I actually have to keep the lid on this one sometimes, because it is not a venue for problem solving but rather just venting.

So, every once it a while it is good to reflect on what you are good at, and to make sure you are doing enough of that in your job and personal life. Myers Briggs is a good way to figure this out as is self reflection.

Virtual work - some learnings

On a subgroup at work we are exploring the whole idea of virtual work

There are 3 broad definitions of workers we slot into virtual work:


1.Distributed Workforce – work out of an Intuit site and spend some portion of their time working with peers, directs or manager across sites or with external partners to get work done.

2.Flex Location – employees who work regularly/frequently off-site part-time (e.g. at home, on airplanes, from hotels) or from some combination of locations during their day or week.

3.100% work-from-home or non-Intuit site – employees working remote all the time…never (or hardly ever) work at an Intuit location.

Once again, I realize what a great company I work for. I went to a NEHRA session on virtual work today, and I had to stop myself from saying, "We do that." too many times.

However, always learning I did absorb a few things:

• Shifting mindset of leaders is very important, and as soon as you show them the numbers they will jump on board
• The legal liabilities are just roadblocks, and can be overcome
• Need to think about career development and promotional opportunities for virtual workers
• Really important; not everyone can work virtual, and not every job can be virtual
• Communication to co-workers is really important
• Measure the business units, and publish who is NOT supportive

TTFN