There's one thing that I really dislike about traditional time-and-materials work. It's the hurry up and wait game. In the hurry up and wait game of the auditing world, I have to hurry up to go onsite, get the clients happy and comfortable, organize, and make evidence requests. Then I wait. A looooooong time. I wait and wait until the evidence rolls in. Only then can I actually begin producing deliverables. I am getting paid for waiting, since the work is primarily T&M billing, but this is difficult for me since I don't like to be bored.
It is also difficult because no client company likes to see their auditors looking bored. They know that the cash register is cha-ching-ing away every hour, and yet they can plainly see that nothing is getting done. They may even admit that they're to blame (being that the evidence request fulfillment is taking so long) but they don't like the situation. Truth is, neither do I. But that's how it is, according to the contract and terms of engagement.
Back to waiting!
Labels: work
A former colleague of mine, Sean Van Tyne, has an upcoming event. Unfortunately, I can't go since I'll be in Houston. But I would if I could, since I am confident that this will be a good presentation.
Subject: Market Aligned User Experience
What: Market Aligned User Experience seminar
When: Wednesday, October 8
Where: Del Mar Double Tree
Register: www.beanvantyne.com
Labels: work
Early in the process of starting any new job, I have a Freakout Day. It's the day when I realize just what I've gotten myself into. It's the day when:
- I realize how much work (time, energy, focus) I'm now committed to.
- I realize how much of what is in existence & has been done before isn't going to work for me.
- I figure out what real structures are in place for me to draw upon as resouces.
- I realize that despite the initial adrenaline rush, there's a slog ahead of me.
- I can see the opportunities, but I am intensely worried about the threats and obligations that are packaged with the situation.
And that's when I freak out. I never cry or get angry or do anything embarrassing, I just get all anxiety ridden & really wound up tight. I have a minor crisis of confidence and stress out about how and whether I can fix the situation and be successful.
There is a good side of this "freakout day." It brings out my true grit. As a result of that day, I dig into the job with a focus that comes from deep within me. The day usually includes a break for a few conversations with close friends in order for me to talk it through, then I have a drink or two, maybe a nap, and a late night work session. By morning, everyhing is better because I've decided what I need to do, in what order, and made some significant progress on the tactical work product (hence the late night.)
Yesterday was my Freakout Day for this job. I'm better already.
Labels: work
I just got home from Europe. It is 10:AM in Venice, which means that I have been mostly awake and en-route for 28 hours. I am spent, but I am also feeling anxiety about all the stuff that I need to do. This anxiety kept me from sleeping much on the plane rides back... well that and the cramped Coach-fare seats.
Somehow, come hell or high water, I need to drag my butt to work in a few hours. Let's just hope that I am present in both body & spirit. I shutter to think what my to-do list will look like.
Protecting your personal and professional identity is vitally important because everybody knows everybody. Rather than 6 degrees of separation, I'm finding that a significant amount of new professional contacts are actually only 2 or 3 times removed from my former professional contacts.
In the modern era people move around and communicate so easily and often with people in other social and professional groups. This is especially true in the areas I've been working in: data security and compliance. Just today I was chatting with a guy in Colorado who knew my former colleagues (back in San Diego) on a first name basis. The other night I happened to fall into a conversation with a CEO of a company that is a business partner of my current company.
Of course, this is all predicated on the notion that your identity is good because you are consistently acting in an ethical fashion. When someone in the chain can't be trusted, the whole system gets topsy-turvy. And so a corrolary maxim is that one has to align oneself with other people and companies that also have good reputations.