Snowed in (and yet a typical week at work)
Due to the Colorado blizzard, I haven't stepped more than 50 feet from my house in two days. Same with many of my teammates here in Colorado. But as others have pointed out, Sun's Open Work program has allowed all of our team to keep functioning as usual.
Much of our communication and collaboration is electronic nowadays, so it's pretty easy to function as a team even though half of us are snowed in. I had video chats with our folks in the UK and Germany, and lots of phone calls as usual, plus the typical hundreds of emails and and dozens of exchanged storyboards, wireframes, reports and requirements documents.
Here was yesterday:
7:00 - 7:25 Catch up on overnight email. Grab a bowl of cereal while reading.
7:25 - 7:30 Review new comic storyboard illustrations, send comments.
7:30 - 8:00 Shower, get dressed, etc
8:00 - 8:30 Talk with Dave in Massachusetts about an interesting new product for sale online.
8:30 - 9:30 Review Sun.com usability and user research findings with Ben in Colorado (by phone)
9:30 - 10:45 Project dashboard review on big scary megaproject with people in UK and California
10:45 - 11:30 Shovel snow from driveway and walks. Let dog help.
11:30 - 12:30 Email catchup
12:30 - 1:00 Lunch and read Wed Wall Street Journal since the Thursday Journal was snowed in, too.
1:00 - 2:00 Next quarter project and budget review with our leadership team.
2:00 - 3:00 Review preliminary discoveries from a "secret shopper" project with Elaine et al.
3:00 - 4:00 Get a live remote product demo for part of the big scary megaproject. Offer comments.
4:00 - 4:30 Shovel more snow. Let dog help again.
4:30 - 6:00 Check in on projects via email and IM. Review three wireframes for new designs.
6:00 - 7:30 Review video replay (via our intranet) of usability test on buying servers. Make notes.
7:00 - 7:30 In parallel to above, work on a vendor rating system for Bev
7:00 - 7:30 Watch "Identity" in the background with #1 son and marvel at how contestant doesn't know Stan Lee
7:30 - 8:15 Tacos for dinner with the kids (Um, where's Blair? Escaped to Emily's? Tacos with #1 son then.)
8:15 - 9:30 Email, file some site bugs, download new Mac tools (Paparazi, iShowU, CSSEdit), read Tim's blog
9:00 - 10:30 In the background, watch all the blizzard coverage on the news.
Hmmm... when I write it down it looks pretty boring, huh?
Much of our communication and collaboration is electronic nowadays, so it's pretty easy to function as a team even though half of us are snowed in. I had video chats with our folks in the UK and Germany, and lots of phone calls as usual, plus the typical hundreds of emails and and dozens of exchanged storyboards, wireframes, reports and requirements documents.
Here was yesterday:
7:00 - 7:25 Catch up on overnight email. Grab a bowl of cereal while reading.
7:25 - 7:30 Review new comic storyboard illustrations, send comments.
7:30 - 8:00 Shower, get dressed, etc
8:00 - 8:30 Talk with Dave in Massachusetts about an interesting new product for sale online.
8:30 - 9:30 Review Sun.com usability and user research findings with Ben in Colorado (by phone)
9:30 - 10:45 Project dashboard review on big scary megaproject with people in UK and California
10:45 - 11:30 Shovel snow from driveway and walks. Let dog help.
11:30 - 12:30 Email catchup
12:30 - 1:00 Lunch and read Wed Wall Street Journal since the Thursday Journal was snowed in, too.
1:00 - 2:00 Next quarter project and budget review with our leadership team.
2:00 - 3:00 Review preliminary discoveries from a "secret shopper" project with Elaine et al.
3:00 - 4:00 Get a live remote product demo for part of the big scary megaproject. Offer comments.
4:00 - 4:30 Shovel more snow. Let dog help again.
4:30 - 6:00 Check in on projects via email and IM. Review three wireframes for new designs.
6:00 - 7:30 Review video replay (via our intranet) of usability test on buying servers. Make notes.
7:00 - 7:30 In parallel to above, work on a vendor rating system for Bev
7:00 - 7:30 Watch "Identity" in the background with #1 son and marvel at how contestant doesn't know Stan Lee
7:30 - 8:15 Tacos for dinner with the kids (Um, where's Blair? Escaped to Emily's? Tacos with #1 son then.)
8:15 - 9:30 Email, file some site bugs, download new Mac tools (Paparazi, iShowU, CSSEdit), read Tim's blog
9:00 - 10:30 In the background, watch all the blizzard coverage on the news.
Hmmm... when I write it down it looks pretty boring, huh?
