Into The New Year

The new year seems to be off to a brisk start. When I woke up Monday morning and my brain was racing as I tried to get ready to swing back into the working world. Things are fairly chaotic at work but I'm hoping to put the processes into place that will, if not smooth the edges completely, at least reduce some of the turmoil experienced.

If I were to sum up our challenges in a single statement it would be this – we are short resources and we have a relatively uncontrolled flow of work. That combination means that rather then doing a deep quality of work we are just moving things through as fast as we can. Quality suffers.

I think in a high percentage of the projects that get completed there are always unintended consequences. Those consequences lead to a lot of rework. There is an abiding sense that we are not reaching our potential, both in terms of personnel and in terms of quality. It is quite the challenge and I'm going to see if I can manage up, but his bandage my management, this year and make something of a difference.

On the personal front I got a new computer after my laptop started acting up. I could see the end of life cycle somewhere in the near future and decided to preemptively replace it. I didn't replace it with another laptop. I replaced it with a Lenovo desktop system, A very nice touch screen and a very modern system. I like the new system but it's probably going to take me a week or two to get it set up like I want it. I am looking forward to it though and I've been enjoying it so far.

With the quality of the iPad it can now, effectively, replace a laptop for travel. It's a pretty impressive system. I am dictating this on the iPad right now. If you haven't used as your personal secretary, you're missing out. I've also mentioned in the past that I am a huge fan of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It also is a pretty impressive piece of software. I plan on installing it on my new computer sometime later today.

Well, it is time to start swinging into the day. I'm going to finish my cup of coffee, run through the shower, and fire up my work computer. I hope your day is going well.