Travel & change...

Molly:

Because of traveling I've changed how I organize my weekends. Since I have limited time at home, I have to prioritize my time even more. For instance, when I am home I have to take care of the chores that most people would spread out through the week. Also, I have limited belongings on the road, which leaves my other hobbies (scrapbooking, tennis, etc.) to the weekends. In addition, I second guess travel for leisure sometimes (because it also takes up my weekend, my time at home). The weekends on the road also are slightly different. Since I'm limited to a suitcase, I often find myself without a sweatshirt or something that I -might- have packed had I been at home.

MJ:

Lifestyle. Ever since, I began life as a consultant I used to find myself working and playing hard during the week. I used have to have a stronger will power to rest when I clearly need it when I was in school. After life as a consultant, I started to notice that when I get back home for the weekend, I am always tired. I sleep a lot. My friends claim I have 'grown up' because they do not see me go crazy. However, I realized that I need to get some balance back in order to sustain my career and proceed to excel in it. I consciously find myself trying to leave social gatherings at a reasonable hour. The old me would have shut the place down but I have slowly started to realize the importance of a fresh mind and a well rested body when at work. I also realize how much I miss indulging with my friends and boyfriend over the weekends.

Rachel:

I enjoy cooking. Specifically, I love using my wok to whip up a healthy and tasty dinner that includes lots of vegetables served on rice or noodles. A couple of years ago, I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) where each week I received a half-bushel of locally grown vegetables. These vegetables varied depending on the time of year and I learned new recipes in order to use the vegetables. In fact, I was so excited about the vegetables, that I encouraged several friends to join the CSA as well. We would pick up our vegetables each week and swap our least favorite veggies. A half-bushel is a surprising amount of vegetables and I would cook at least 3 to 4 evenings per week.

Then I started traveling. I could only cook on the weekends due to my travel schedule and there was no way I was able to cook and consume all the vegetables in 2 or 3 days. For a while, I ate airport food, fast food and hotel food – hamburgers, pasta and other relatively (and very) unhealthy food. I gained 10-15 pounds within 3 months - a not uncommon occurrence for many business travelers (http://www.mailman.columbia.edu/academic-departments/epidemiology/research-service/travelers-alert-business-travel-linked-obesity-an). I decided to make a concerted effort to eat as healthily as possible. I ate salads and turkey sandwiches (but still allotted myself the daily cookie) in addition to fish whenever possible. I eventually lost the initial weight that I had put on with traveling. However, I still miss receiving and cooking a bunch of assorted (and often unusual) vegetables each week.

Toni:

Where to begin - I could honestly write pages on this topic. One of the things I had to change was how I care for my son while I'm away. Not just the logistics of who's picking him up from daycare and feeding him but also making sure we stay connected. That he hears my voice everyday and I can see and hear him as well. My husband and I have our little strategies to help everybody stay connected. He calls me every morning so I can say good and every night, he also takes a picture of him everyday for me. Now I have a photo record of him for the last four months which is amazing.

Chic Truck

Top row: Achint, MJ, Shefali, Toni & Elian
Bottom row: Rachel, Molly, Christina

This was Rachel's rental 'car' for a few weeks.
We took the liberty to name it the Chic Truck!

Team Proximity: Part 2

Team Identity: Teams need to be cohesive and strong, as well as share a common sense of purpose or identity in order to reach their goals. In this blog posting, we reflect on how we view our team identity and interaction and how we forge together as a team.

MJ: Interaction: something where 2 objects have an effect upon one another. On Autocomplete we cannot accomplish unless we interact successfully. I find myself interacting with people across different roles and different teams. The mediums we use vary – face to face, emails, phone conferences, video conferences, IM… I find myself holding conversations that are professional, personal or downright uncomfortable. There is a lot of indirect communication between people as well- knowledge transfer through a middle man, announcements and sometimes rumors. This is not surprising on a large project involving professionals from 3 different organizations working on a code base that has been in development for over 3 years having a ton of dependencies on other existing projects.

Starting out, the reputation that precedes Autocomplete had me immensely curious and to some extent apprehensive about how the atmosphere on site will be like. I had imagined an environment thick with tension and competition. Today I will proudly admit to being a part of a ‘team’. Like mentioned above, although there are 3 organizations that are represented, the Autocomplete project has managed to strike a working equilibrium between consultants and team players and varying degrees of friendship. I see a lot of laughter, a lot of conversation and a lot of questions being asked across the different roles staffed. Debate is also not infrequent. So far I have seen healthy discussions that have lead to constructive solutions/approaches to tackle the issue at hand.

On the flip side, in a group this large and diverse it is not easy to knowledge transfer as quickly or evenly as one likes. Sometimes it is difficult to evenly distribute credit. Agreed we don’t work to get patted on the back but a sense of accomplishment never hurt anyone. Further, I have seen misunderstanding and misstating of opinions can lead to quick souring of relationships. Conflict is inevitable when there are humans involved. What has been amazing about this project is that whatever might be the personal stand effort has been made not to let it creep into quality or the ability to work efficiently.

Over all I find some days my effect is positive and some not so much but I love the constant challenge of maintaining the balance between consultant and friend.

Molly: In a team of about thirty people, from three different companies - TW, "Auto-Complete" and "The Middle Man", the interaction will vary dramatically between members, companies, roles, etc. As you can see from our personalities blog, the women on our project alone are a varied group. However, we have several commonalities with one team member or another. As our team has come into a 'norming' phase, I see many patterns we have developed - both during and outside of work. For instance, there are trips to the grocery on Mondays, dancing on Wednesdays and team workouts during our spare time. Groups of the team drink together, play basketball after work, read the same books, etc. Being that three companies are working together, there are times the team is split by company, role, etc. With a group of thirty, it's very difficult not to split at these natural breaks.

I believe much of our team interaction during work is influenced by the dynamics of Agile software development. For example, we have our retrospectives and IPMs on Wednesdays. Our meetings have a significant influence on how thirty people structure their Wednesdays. Also paired programming and the open space environment inherently promote more conversation between team members. While we pair we learn about our teammates, create a connection between members and roles. For example, the interaction between all roles is required as a user story is written, reviewed and developed. Agile demands the need for flexibility within a team, something that has to be learned over time. As we have entered the 'norming' phase, I believe our team's ability to react together in order to meet changing requirements and unexpected bumps in the road has grown significantly in our few months as a team.

Rachel: I have two favorite quotes about working in a team:

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” ~ Ryunosuke Satoro

“If you can laugh together, you can work together.” ~ Robert Orben

The second quote immediately comes to mind when I think about the TW and [Autocomplete] members on our current project. I enjoy the joking, teasing and laughing that occur between many of the members. This type of interaction helps to cement the team together and builds a rapport, thus enabling us to push towards and complete our objectives. In addition, it relieves pressure when stressful situations arise. However, I feel that there are still a few members from [Autocomplete] and more than a few from [MiddleMan] that we should actively try to incorporate into our “world” of laughter, jokes, and various fun outings. Only then will we become the ocean - an unstoppable force - to which Satoro refers.

Shefali: Everyone I have interacted with on the [Autocomplete] & TWU teams have been very approachable and friendly. The people I have paired with have helped me understand the code base and patiently answer my questions around the business and technology. I haven't had a chance to interact with the MiddleMan BAs much. But from what I gather they seem to be approachable too. In all I find our current project is a very safe environment where in I can learn from my peers and voice my opinions fearlessly.

Toni: Now that we have all been working together for a couple of months - it feels like we are a more cohesive group. I personally enjoy the fact that I'm able to interact with everyone daily/hourly/every few minutes :) In the beginning it was frustrating because when I needed to find one of the client employees to answer a question I would have to go through the middle man. Which was often time-consuming, now that's not the case anymore.
A unique nature of this project is that we are working on one of several applications that our client has. This requires us to work with other teams to ensure the smooth integration of our new development. Also a few weeks ago all project teams across the client site stopped their individual work and focused on defect fixing for the next release - which was a awesome undertaking but also really helped foster a feeling of unity among our team and between other teams as well.