"The Lunchbox" Wow, what a system

We saw the move "The Lunchbox" last night which really got me thinking a lot.  I just now finished reading about this incredible delivery system of lunch to workers in India.

It is amazing in this day and age that such a complex system still exists, and yet a simple system.  It is nice to know that people still appreciate home cooked meals, versus a restaurant meal.

I wonder how long this system will exist, and how long it will continue to be an effective delivery of lunch to office workers.  The movie quite accurately shows Mumbai and the collecting of the lunch boxes by bicycle, sorting to get on the right train, then unloading them and delivering them on the other end, again by bicycle, to the office workers.  And in the afternoon leg, the collecting of the lunch box to return it to the home.

I suppose it gives a job to the deliverers, and provides a home cooked meal to workers with a specific dietary requirement.

On one hand, I really love that this system of delivery has existed for over 100 years, and again I wonder how long it will last.

The story line was wonderful.  It is true, that we express in writing, things we would not otherwise express face to face.  Both main characters are lonely, and share of themselves in notes left in the lunch tins.  They share a lot in these notes in fact.

The only thing that I did not like was the ending.  It left me hanging and caused me to make up the ending, which is OK I guess.

Have we gone too Digital? Just wonderin'

Don't get me wrong, I am all for being green and not cutting down trees.  I support storing documents and photos on my computer or in the cloud.

However, in the past week, two organizations to which I belong have experienced the loss of organizational knowledge because a binder with paper documents was lost, misplaced, or thrown away. 

We have a church administrator who is very organized and she keeps everything you need in a binder and most of those binders are at her finger tips.  I asked her a question yesterday and within 2 minutes she found the information for me from five years of history in our church newsletter.  She pulled out five binders, flipped to the correct month and found the information for me.  I wonder if we could have done this search as quickly digitally.  Probably with a good search function we could have.  Yes, and there is something about seeing the hardcopy which is a different experience.

I think about this as well, as I sort my pictures and try to put them into some kind of order.  My digital ones are all by year and month, but hard to search, BECAUSE there are so many of them.  Some of my non-digital photos are in photo albums, and the experience of searching through for a specific one is just a different experience.  Touching those old photos brings me back in a way that viewing on a screen does not.

So I really sound like an old fogey but I miss hardcopy sometimes and I hope to find some of those lost binders, because I know there will be valuable information, we might need for a future task.

Does everyone know about Freecycle?

I am in the process of getting rid of stuff that I don't need in the house any more and I don't want throw it away and have it end upin the land fill. I have felt that way for quite a while and one website that I just love is Freecycle.

I am actually shocked when people have not heard about this great Website. It takes a little bit of effort, but you pass things on to others who need them and the items leave your house.

I even helped a friend last year when she was moving. I took several car loads of stuff away from her house to mine, and got rid of most of it on Freecycle. First, I invited all of the neighborhood kids over to pick through it and then I put it on Freecycle. I believe that this is a local issue which is why we have tag sales and why I invited the neighborhood kids over first. Freecycle is local, since many towns/cities have their own group.

For the uninitiated, the way it works is you join a group and post items as OFFER, with a picture attached if you think that will help someone take it. People reply that they want it, you get to choose who gets it and you mark the item as TAKEN. Often, people reply within 5 minutes to my items so I monitor my email right after I post, so I can reply quickly and then take it "off the market".

I started using Freecycle for green and sustainability reasons. Now it is a game. Over the next month, I am going to post one item a day on average and feel better because my house is less cluttered. So far I have gotten rid of fireplace tools and screen, pet door and a box of CDs and tapes.

If you have not tried it, DO! If you already use Freecycle, what has been your experience?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Why have a landline?

I have been experimenting with something recently. I never answer our landline. I then use the *69 feature to see who was calling. Often it is blocked but just as often it is a phishing call or a robocall. I cannot believe how many of these there are. Who actually talks to them? Who actually gives their financial information to them? They must be mildly successful since there are so many of them.

Why have a landline? It is tied up with our internet connection but we can get around that, I think. I have trained most of my family and friends to only use my cell phone. There is a message on the landline to call my mobile to get ahold of me. I also include it at the end of every email you get from me.

I wonder if anyone else has the same experience with the robocalling phishing scammers? Does anyone see a problem with not having a landline? My cell may break, but would that be the worst thing in the world to be detached from a phone for a few days?

When we had the early Halloween snow storm this year, we were without electricity for over 2 days. Our landline died before our cell phones, and we could go somewhere to recharge them, so I think in an emergency the cells might be more effective.

SO help me out here, please! Do you have the same experience with calls? Have you considered dropping your landline? Am I crazy to be contemplating it?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Just not sure some technology is more efficient - IM and texting

As I was IMing with a colleague yesterday this thought that is the title of this blog post came to me.  Before IM, you would walk to the office next to you, or pick up the phone and talk live.  Those conversations might not have been efficient but I suspect they were more efficient that some of the IM "conversations" I have seen or been a part of.  Additionally, IM lets you remain a bit detached from the person, where you cannot read innuendos or body language.  There is so much room for misunderstanding.  Having said all of this, IM and chat have become such a big part of our communication.  Why?  You don't have to get up and leave the task you were in the middle of is part of the answer.  It is quick and can bring remote workers closer is another part of the answer.  It allows multi-tasking is another reason.

Walking around the office and hearing the clicking of the typing and the bell sound notifying someone of another IM causes me to ask, is this really more efficient?  I bet some of those conversations should be live ones or at least phone conversations. 

I often am in the middle of typing an IM thread and stop myself and pick up the phone or suggest a live conversation when we are both free to avoid bad communication or misunderstanding.

I know that IM does provide some convenience which is why we do it.  You can quickly get information when you are in the middle of another meeting and that person can reply even if they are in the middle of another meeting.  For this, it is valuable and efficient, albeit distracting.

Texting has also entered our culture as a method of communication.  I "get" texting.  You can send a message, and the person does not have to be there, and can answer at their convenience.  A quick message or question that can be read on your own time is not as disruptive.  It is like voice mail, if you really don't want to talk to someone, you can text them.  There is still abuse with texts, when in fact conversations should be live.

So I wonder what the next technology will be?  What will replace IM and texting?  What other multi-tasking activity will be banned while you are driving?

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!

Latest Rant - PST or PDT; EST or EDT

For many years my trigger was being called a "GIRL"! A girl is an immature female species and many men unknowingly in the work place call women, "girl" when she is smart, or aggressive or assertive etc. As I said, they don't realize they are doing this. At Polaroid, a male who worked for me, called me honey and babe, when I gave him less than positive feedback. He also brought his 4 inch thick notebook into his 1-1 and dropped it from 4 feet above the table, onto the table in an effort to intimidate me. It did not work!

Many folks (men and women) have argued with me about this GIRL thing, and I have asked them to just observe. Often they come back and say they also observed it as well. I don't know when this changed but it no longer bugs me as much.

It has been replace with a much tamer trigger/rant.

When people put PST (Pacific Standard Time) and we are actually in PDT (Pacific Daylight Time), this jumps off the page for me. Mind you, details do not usually jump off the page, but this one does. In a conversation just now with a colleague, she puts just PT to get around that.

Am I just older than many people at work? Yes, I am older and I remember when daylight savings time was implemented so the difference between PST and PDT was much more important.

So why has this trigger replace the GIRL trigger? Maybe I have educated enough people around the GIRL issue. Maybe as I get older I don't mind as much being called a GIRL.

I can only store one joke in my memory at a time and tell and retell that joke until I hear the next good one. Maybe rants are the same way and the PDT rant has replace the GIRL rant. I will not promise to raise my eyebrows the next time I hear girl, but I no longer am giving the lecture which starts "A girl is an immature female species . . . "

Harvard Square differences

Last night since we arrived home early from our dinner with Star Island friends, we decided to drive into Harvard Square for a "date". We parked at Huron Ave so we could get our exercise in, walked the 15 minutes to the Square, spent 20 minutes in the Coop, Murg bought 3 books, and then we walked over the the Charles outside hotel bar for a drink. Fortunately the Red Sox game was on so we watched a nail biter as Baltimore scored two in the ninth, closing to within one run.

On our way to the Coop we happened upon this scene. 6 individuals sitting in chairs in a semi circle watching the game on a TV inside a store, facing outward to the street. There were about 15 other people standing around them, since the chairs were all occupied. They could have been at Fenway watching, they could have been at the Charles Hotel with us. We were only a few hundred yards away drinking our beer and Dark and Stormy.

We discussed whether the chairs were their own or had the store provided them with the chairs. We wondered if they were homeless! We wondered if this is a scene for every Sox game! The Red Sox are adored by many people in this area. Watching the game when you are out and about on a Saturday night is easy no matter what your situation in life.

Life is Good, go Red Sox!

Very Interesting - Grand Challenge Summit today at Wellsley

Today I attended this Grand Challenge Summit at Wellesley, sponsored by Wellesley, Olin and Babson. I was invited because Intuit has hired interns from Olin for the last 3 summers. I had not done my homework prior to the summit, as to what the 14 Grand Challenges are, and will be doing that reading in the next few days.

What was clear, very early on, is that there were a lot of academics attending. There were also quite a few students from the three schools, and a few industry folks like myself. I have some friends who work in colleges and universities and I have had discussions with them about the culture of academia. It is very different from any culture that I have worked in before.

One of the comments that a woman from Harvard made to me on the bus ride from Olin to Wellesley was "Professors don't go through any training on education or how to teach." She said it so matter of fact, and I paused a minute before I burst out laughing and started shaking my head. Seriously? Those individuals, who stand up in front of millions of students all over the world, do not have training in training, or training in education. They are rewarded for research and teaching is a means to an end, of getting the research and being able to do the research.

There were lots of statistics about the future that were quoted. The one that stuck with me is that by 2019, 50% of education will be online education. It was pretty funny to watch a room full of academics squirm in their seats when this prediction was quoted. One man refuted this with all kinds of opinion, and I leaned to my colleague and said "A little bit of resistance, maybe, or job nervousness about job security."

There were some great speakers, some great videos of Grand Challenge students projects, some interesting panels including one of the three presidents of the institutions, Linda Wertheimer and Paul Romer.

I came away with a new desire to help with educational reform, after my efforts have been exhausted with health reform. There is a lot of work to be done in this world and it is being done by a lot of smart people.

A half day out of the office, and I was pretty happy to return this afternoon to my cozy office in corporate America, armed with some new thoughts about education, engineering, culture, innovation, collaboration and Grand Challenges.

Airlines again - good and bad

I know that I have touted the brilliance of customer service for Jet Blue but one agent slipped through the cracks or missed the obligatory customer service training, or as we call it at Intuit, customer success. An agent in Boston on 4/16/2010 was very cranky had a short tempered, dismissive attitude. I could not get close enough to photograph her clearly, so here she is from far enough away that she could not "smack" me either literally or figuratively. She is the one on the left, the one on the right does get it and had a great attitude. This is an anomaly for Jet Blue, to have a cranky service person!

This is where I am confused though. We had a flight to Dulles Airport, deplaned and walked into the hallway, looked for our connecting flight to Orlando, and IT WAS THE EXACT SAME GATE AND PLANE that we had just left, and they made everyone get off. The next flight was a new number, but the same plane and about 20 of us were on both flights. The exact same crew were on both flights.

Why did they do this? Is it TSA related?

BTW - this travel experience was exceptional. Both flights took off on time. They fed us Terra Yukon blue potato chips and sodas. Individual TV screens with lots of channels. Great service except for the agent in Boston (if you forgot, she is on the left in this picture).

We arrived in Orlando, EARLY!

If only they could all be this perfect.

It did occur to me that because of volcano in Iceland Eyjafjallajokul "Ey ya fyat tah YOH kuht" there were a lot less flights from Dulles Boston and Orlando which might explain on time departures on a Friday afternoon the Friday of April school vacation. Am I becoming a cynic in my old age?

It is only one floor away

Yesterday at church, the main floor bathroom was occupied so I went downstairs to use that one and as I walked down the stairs, I realized that I had not been downstairs for a while. I used to go every Sunday when I did youth group, but now that I am not involved with RE (Religious Education), I don't go as frequently. I could also sense that I am getting disconnected from the children and youth in the Church by not going "downstairs". I vowed that I could never get disconnected from the youth in the church and become one of those old fogies who complains about them and their behavior.

Intergenerational interaction are a challenge for any group, and especially our church. We try to raise awareness, by intentionally scheduling activities that get the generations to "play" and "work" together. As an aside the Burlington VT UU church has social hour separate for adults and those involved in RE. This seemed really strange when I noticed this because it really separates youth, children and the possible adults relationships they might be developing when a young person runs, and almost knocks down the 101 year old octogenarian, and the "it takes a community" intervention happens by that loving adult, not always their parent or guardian. In the case of Burlington UU, they have 2 services and there is no place to accommodate all the people who want to be social during social hour.

What I thought yesterday is our challenge at work to get the 6th floor and 7th floor to interact, or even the North side 6th floor and South side 6th floor to interact (they are separated by the kitchenette). We schedule lunches, lectures, social events, and we are still inclined to hang with our familiar buddies. We often discuss this at our leadership meetings, that many employees in different Business Units on the site could share work information and end up helping and supporting each other on work projects, because they are working on the same technology.

There has to be a reason to go to the North side of the floor rather than just wandering over, and there has to be a reason to go "downstairs" at Church rather than to use the bathroom. How have you helped groups, who seem so separate, realize the advantage of reaching out across that boundary of a floor or a kitchenette? Do you have a similar story to my floor kitchenette one?

Length of Blogs and content really matter

I realized just now as I abandoned reading a very long blog, that for me to read a blog to the end it must maintain my interest it needs to be short, and probably fit on one computer screen. Some of this has to do with the advent of facebook and twitter, which are short snippets of information.

I suppose if the blog were well written, that I would continue reading to the very end no matter how long. I also might have kept reading it if the topic were interesting. I landed there surfing the net and through a particular series of clicks, it seemed interesting, but as soon as my interest waned, I scrolled down to see how much more, and since there were 5 computer screens worth, it was not worth my time to finish reading.

So I think the following are important for me to start and finish reading blog posts:

• Interesting title that catches my eye OR
  
• Known author who I follow
• Writing keeps my interest and is therefore well written
• Balance of human interest and humor

Part of the reason I am thinking about blog posts, is that this week I am a guest blogger on the Quickbase Team blog. I am thinking more about my writing, my content and my style. I have never really cared if anyone follows me on my blog, and since I feed my blogs into facebook more people read what I write, and make comments.

My blog is me, pure and simple. Sometimes the posts are long, and a rant, or short and a description of a thought I just had, or something I have been thinking about for a while.

I wonder if this fits on one computer screen?

Isn't a Silver Medal still very very good?

We watched that hockey game in the loft of Coniston. M brought a projection system, and we got a rabbit ears signal from Plattsburgh NY. It was a very exciting game to watch with many family members. A variety of Adirondack chairs, camp chairs, and dining room chairs gathered around the TV.

I was obviously disappointed that our boys did not win, but my overwhelming feeling was, "They still did pretty good, silver is a good medal to get." Brother M disagreed. Second place is just not good, nothing to brag about. Really? Only gold medals have bragging rights, second place does not rate at all?

I am not sure whether this is an indication of competitiveness, or cooperation or gender or what. I do know that I have come in second place before and been slightly disappointed but still proud to have second place.

None of the US hockey players were smiling or looked even happy to have second place and a silver medal. OMG, they scored on the Canadians with 24 seconds to go. Wasn't that a feat and something to be proud of? They held them off from scoring a third goal for most of 2 periods. Isn't that something to be proud of?

I guess only gold medals and first place positions have bragging rights. Sad face, and disappointment from Sally.

Just wondering - did Outlook change the way we work and think?

As I set here on the plane, I can see the person across the aisle and he has his outlook calendar open. It looks pretty much the same as mine, full. Is he sitting there as I have been sitting here, wondering where I might have a free 5 minutes tomorrow? Is he contemplating how to solve for the double bookings?

That picture of an Outlook calendar is how many over 50% of working folk, organize their day and go through their day. I don't even need to see his details to understand what his days look like.

A senior executive at that great company I work for, keeps 30% of his calendar free. I think this is a wonderful effort, because he is then available when people need to drop in. I don't think many of us do that.

So, I wonder if we should stop relying on Outlook to drive our days? I wonder if we have gone overboard with calendaring and on the hour meetings? Microsoft has an incredible influence on how we work. I am not sure this is a good thing. I'm just saying.

Gossip - what a topic!

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls." ~

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (born November 12, 1815)

Gossip was our topic last night in our covenant group. One of the members sent out this quote to share with us after the discussion. It resonated with me and is now my quote of the day.

There were many complexities of this topic and the ones that stuck with me were:

1) there is a subtle or maybe not so subtle difference between sharing information and gossiping and one lens to look at is through is what was the intent. A malicious intent is gossiping

2) Some of us were treated not so nicely in our childhoods by people talking behind our back and spreading rumors (middle school aged kids can be so mean as they sort out the pecking order) and this colors our reaction to whether it is gossip, and therefore hurtful or just sharing of knowledge.

3) I thought this would be a rather shallow topic and once again was surprised by the covenant group process. Take a seemingly shallow topic, put a trusting group of people in a circle, listen to each other, shift and move your thinking based on what you hear and say and after 90 minutes, you know those people better and you know yourself better.

For me, I have developed a little tougher exterior to what might be being said behind my back. I don't view it as gossip but rather that person's perception of me. Their story that they need to tell others. Often it is not about me but about them.

So how do you share information about others without it being perceived as gossiping and hurtful? I think I know gossip when I see it, but will look at it with lenses of intent and insecurity.

iPhone - what else can I say?

My only real, apparent excuse for not blogging is that I got an iPhone. Yes, I coveted them for a long time and finally broke down and joined the cult. Since I can check my email account(S) on it and check my Facebook on it, I need to log into my laptop, a lot less frequently. That and I have been a bit busy crossing the US by plane, and visiting friends in CA and having a friend from HI visit.

It is also near the end of summer and I like to try to get outside in the waning light.

Red Sox games and Mad Men have been my only TV addictions, so it is not TV that has replace blogging.

I am wondering if this blog is going to become extinct? It is not as if I don't have anything to say or that my thoughts have stopped. A couple of times in the last few weeks, I have said outloud to myself, that would be a great blog topic.

I have not needed to rant about anything for a while, although if I watch Fox TV it is only a matter of minutes before a rant could erupt.

No, it is simple, it is the iPhone. Maybe shorter blog posts on the iphone will start to show up here. You mean 140 character messages, now there is a novel thought.

TLAs enough already or useful?

At work, everyone uses acronyms, TLAs (three letter acronyms). Recently a team was created that for exactly 4 hours we called the ancillary team. Believe it or not someone shortened it to A-team. At other companies, I would object to this use of TLAs, but somehow they are positive and useful here.

A recent hire, knew that CP1 meant something significant, and just waited long enough to figure it out. Even now, 2.5 years into Intuit, I sometimes lean over in a meeting and ask what one means.

It is a "secret" language in a way. There is even a database which has all of the TLAs in it for new hires and they are encouraged to add ones that they discover are missing.

It is such a part of our culture and you can resist for a bit, but eventually you find yourself talking in shortcuts and saying things like "secret sauce" and "true north"

These are all good because we actually are aligned and speaking the same language.

Nevertheless, I was really surprised the the A-team only took nano seconds to be a part of our lingo

Time Management and Folders a la Sally

I am on a kick to try to keep my inbox to one screen, so I don't have to page down. Because of this, I have created lots more folders. One of my folders is called READING, which is something I don't have time to do right now, but when I have discretionary time, I will read it. I laughed at myself just now, because I am NEVER going to get around to reading that article, but I don't want it to go away forever, on the off chance that I do get around to reading it. Believe it or not, this loose organization actually works for me.

Yesterday, I went to a file of URLs that I want to revisit, and actually looked through a couple. I found out that for the most part they are not relevant any more. This all leads me to believe that it is about letting things go. Why cannot I not just delete that article, or forget that URL? This is my safety net to know that I might be able to track it down through my URL file, or my READING folder.

I guess I could just have faith that if I really need to read it, the universe will send it my way again.

Grey hair

I was reading something recently that talked about when women started dying their hair. I have to admit I have my Dad's hair in that I have 5 grey hairs, and might not go grey so I can not totally understand the whole dying part.

A friend B has cancer and lost all her hair. Her chemo wig is Grey, and her normal hair is not. This got me thinking about grey hair. It is not such a bad thing, just like dandelions are not such a bad thing.

I wonder if I had grey hairs, lots of them, if I would dye my hair? Don't know.