Sylvia's Journal

I used to work on the Afghanistan project as a short term consultants and occasionally steering things, very lightly, from a distance.  Now I am on the upper deck so to speak and discover the intense back and forth that happens behind the scenes. It is fascinating and intense.

Between my work hours and those of the Kabul team we cover about 19 hours of the 24 available. I am usually at my computer very  early in the morning and stop around dinner time; the Kabul team comes on board just when I go to bed, around 10:30 PM, and quits when I come on again.  I considered for a moment to change my working hours and do a night shift rather than a day shift, to be more in harmony. But missing out on these beautiful days in Lobster Cove to catch up on my sleep would be a shame.

It’s work planning time in Kabul and I am reviewing Excel spreadsheets with lines and XXs. Why we think that long lists of activities in tiny typeface can accurately represent the work we need to do is a mystery; more of a mystery is that we keep using this format despite the stress and despair that usually accompanied work planning.

I solve this problem by always changing the lists into mind maps and I have a nice piece of software that helps me do this (MindManager). This way I can manipulate levels and make sure that the details contribute to the higher level objectives.

Another problem I encounter is that work planning terminology is like a local dialect;  people use different words to mean the same thing or, more frequently, they use words without thinking about what they really mean, the most problematic ones being ‘output’ and ‘outcome.’

And then there is the issue of habit. There is a default in planning that is powerful to change: the cut and paste of the previous plan, making it as routine and easy as possible where it should have been a deep conversation that starts with ‘why are we here?’ or ‘what do we want our legacy to be?’ and ends with scrutinizing the activity lines to make sure they get us there.  I am introducing this discipline and am waiting to see the response. I already got one: ‘a fresh new dialog’ that I am bringing to this project. I like the word fresh – stale is not good for the body and soul.

The sling/shelf contraption is doing bad things to my trapezoid muscles and the many smaller muscles in my upper back, neck and shoulders. Things were already a mess before the sling (whiplash from the accident that I doubt will ever go away) but this is not helping. Sitting in front of a computer also doesn’t help and within an hour of the start of my work day my shoulder and back muscles were burning from overuse. I took the sling off and did not put it on all day and requested an emergency massage from Axel (which he expertly delivered). I added to that an expert massage from Abi later in the day that did much to relieve the discomfort.