Friday, February 01, 2008
Two Weeks In The New Office
1-FEB-2008:
Work is so unpredictable, just like most things in life. I had just settled nicely into the new year's routine when suddenly, I was asked to work in a different project which would require moving to another office. I don't think anyone likes going to the new site. Not for me at least. First, it took me longer to get to and from work. Secondly, it's not next to Tesco anymore (sigh), which means I couldn't do my weekly grocery shopping during office hours anymore. Thirdly, it took me away from the colleagues who were closest to me. I couldn't join the "gang" for Friday lunches anymore.
At the new site, I met a completely different group of colleagues. There were about 20 of us in the team and only 20% were females. Were they fun? I guess so. They seemed like it judging from all the "toys" lying around the desks. Yes, toys - plastic sandwiches, rubber balls, toy vegetables, funny hats, etc. During the first few days, one of the guys kept staring at me as if I might taste delicious. Another guy who sat opposite me talked to his computer. Mostly, he just asked his computer 'Why? Why do you do this to me?' and told it to 'Fuck off!'. He didn't come in at all during the second week, perhaps too pissed off with his computer.
This team worked hard ... and differently. I have to admit that I gained loads of insight during those 2 weeks. I didn't have much work to do - mostly observation and learning. It wasn't exactly a honeymoon though. There were 'brown bags' almost every other day - the term 'brown bag' here means meeting during lunch time where you bring your own lunch (presumably in a brown bag).
It was interesting that every meeting has a name to it. Every morning at 9:45am, there's a 'Stand Up' - basically a quick 15 minutes status update where everyone gathers by the white board (standing) and listens to updates. Every Tuesday, there's the 'pre-planning game' - something to prepare for the actual 'planning game'. 'Planning game' occurs every Wednesday and often lasts for half a day. We really do a lot of planning, you see. Haha! Every Wednesday morning, there's also the 'retrospective' - a session to provide feedback on how the project is going and how things can be better. It was really interesting that my role would then end up having nothing to do except to tell people what to do. ;-) If only it could be like that.
