Tag Archives: work team

Juggling

Posted on by acrystelle
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Maverick can juggle. Goose can juggle. The Boss can juggle.

A perhaps peculiar activity in my work team is juggling. Much like the Chocolate Drawer, it’s all started with Maverick.

Maverick has two juggling balls. It seems he can’t think without them. This became quite prominent when he was working on a major project, the most stressful period probably between November and March. Until this time, I never took notice of his juggling absently while talking or pondering some conundrum.

Then Miss Gravy&Chips arrived in the team and brought her juggling balls into the office. Juggling has now become a distinctive trait of my work team.

This week, Miss Gravy&Chips moved into the Technical Library. Her juggling balls were calling to me. I feel left out if I don’t have a skill others’ possess. So I thought I’d give it a try and be one of the ‘cool kids’ who could juggle. I’m the most unco-ordinated person I know. Fail.

I’ve started to think about the possible reasons why I can’t juggle. Or more to the point, what it takes to juggle. Let’s think about it. You throw a ball, wait til it reaches a certain point, then throw the next ball and catch the first. Repeat. My inability to juggle may be linked to how I deal with, or juggle, the various things in my life. I tend to think about too many things at once. I’m always anticipating and planning for what’s coming up next. I guess in all the blur that has become my life in the last 12 months, I’ve slipped into not taking things as they come.

In this mindset, I find I’m already doing the ‘next thing’ before it’s time to actually do it. I throw a ball in the air and before I know it, I’ve thrown the next one and they both come down at once and I have no time to catch them both. Does this reflect how I approach my life? Do I lack patience? Yes I do. Am I anxious? Most likely.

I’m determined to learn how to juggle. I’ve begun to practice every day, until it becomes something I do to calm my mind for 10-15 minutes. To slow it down a bit, to think and to ponder. Juggling reminds me to react to a given situation as it arises, to focus on completing the task at hand, and to trust I will be able to deal with what comes next.

Juggling. It’s been a good lesson.

‘Work’ on the Mind

Posted on by acrystelle
1

For today’s #blogjune post I had plans to write something meaningful, something compelling and with more purpose than what I’m about to write. Instead, all I can think about is work and my day. I’ve only just arrived home, so I guess I haven’t had a chance to wind down yet. But I do have another writing piece to complete tonight…..I shall reflect on my day.

Over the last week I’ve arrived home later than usual. I don’t have to rush home to complete study, now it’s the mid-year break. I’m taking my time throughout my days at work, allowing myself to go out for lunch, stay a little longer to finish tasks and to catch up with my supervisor or colleagues. I haven’t minded at all, actually as I enjoy my job and the place I work.

Today I started training an addition to the engineering technical library. I haven’t trained someone in about three years, so I’m a little rusty with instructions, explaining processes and perhaps minus some much needed patience. Training is exhausting! I’m always thirsty because I’m talking all the time and I have a person constantly ‘hanging’ off me, awaiting the next task or process to be shown. My project work has been shot for another week. I’m only three weeks behind my project schedule (sarcasm). Actually those three weeks worth of project work is crucial to the entire project, so I’m a bit disappointed I don’t have a chance to work on it probably for the next two weeks. I find I need to keep reminding myself that with this person trained up in the ‘everyday’ processes of the library, I can return to paying full attention to my project work and continuous improvement. I’m lucky I already know the new addition. We’re able to have a chat and laugh every so often to break it up.

I went through the two biggest and most important processes for the technical library – incoming and outgoing technical documentation. I wanted to explain these processes in their simplest form, get the basics down pat. I had planned to provide more background information about the role of the central, document control system, but I didn’t get very far before I was side-tracked. Perhaps I should have this person processing and worry about knowledge later. Though I still maintain that it is important to understand the role of each process and the purpose of the system as they contribute to the ‘big picture’.

Lunch went for two hours today. Two hours! I haven’t had that long a lunch since my PR days. The Airbus rep who resides in the hangar took a group of us out. From the team I work with, there was Miss Sheep, The Boss, Maverick and Miss Gravy&Chips. Not so great food, but great company. It appeared the group wasn’t too anxious to return to the office. Hey, that’s just how we roll. ;) But I think this also had something to do with “The Boss” being in attendance. Next time we’ll need to go out for dinner so we can have a drink or two.

Okay, I think I’ve written out my thoughts on the day. A fabulous process for winding down, I’ll say. I could probably move on to my next writing piece now….

A Day in the Life of a Technical Librarian

Posted on by acrystelle
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I’m still finishing off my last assignment for the semester, so what little inspiration I have for today’s post (given that I’m so incredibly tired), I’ll draw from my work day as a Technical Librarian at an airline.

7.30am – arrive at work, check Twitter and log onto my computer.

7.40am – start processing Technical Library email inbox – new service documentation and manual revisions to be entered into system and assigned to engineers for assessment; manual/document requests; responses from vendors, and any other notification relating to technical publications or access to websites.

8.00am – log into my Google Reader and briefly check out what is there to read throughout the day. Check Twitter.

8.40am – Goose gets in, says ‘G’day’

8.45am – pop in to see the ‘Dad’ (I didn’t get to this morning, but usually we’ll have a 15-20 minute chat about work and other things)

9.00am – Check Twitter (and continue to check Twitter nearly every hour throughout the day). Goose and I head to the lunch room to grab a tea/coffee.

9.15am – say ‘good morning’ to rest of the team, a bit of banter, a few stories.

9.30am – 11.30am – continue processing email inbox and follow up on a few loose ends between working on a project task. I try to answer and resolve as many issues as possible (from internal or external to the company) by before or just after lunch.

11.45pm (ish?) – an engineer visits the library and shares his latest news of a training course, learning about new aircraft. I am surprisingly fascinated by how fuel systems on an aircraft work.

12.15pm – 1.00pm – (today) catch up chat with supervisor

1.00pm – lunch (finally!)

1.15pm – worked out a plan for tasks to be completed in the afternoon, follow up this and that; checked project status and planned next steps.

1.25pm (approx) – continued working on CMS project.

2.00pm – Goose and I head to the lunch room for afternoon tea/coffee

2.15pm – begin looking over my assignment draft (I usually don’t do uni work at work, but since it was a quiet day…..)

2.30pm – chocolate

3.00pm – headed out of the office, picked up my new glasses on the way home.

4.30pm – started working on my assignment again.

6.15pm – picked up partner from work.

And….now I continue to work on my assignment and hopefully have it reasonably finalised before a final edit at work tomorrow.

It’s been a quiet one at work today. The only major issue I had to follow up was some manuals which were discovered to be out of date. I had contacted the vendor earlier in the week. Only after I followed up my request for current revisions, sending an email to all my contacts for the vendor, did someone respond. I’m hoping the manuals will be sitting in the library inbox tomorrow morning. A maintenance provider need the manuals to carry out maintenance on parts the manuals relate to.

The collection of manuals held by the technical library are subject to regular audits, in order to maintain currency and accuracy. Notifications of new revisions to documents and manuals are usually received by the technical library from the vendors.

So not a particularly inspiring post and I apologise for the somewhat boring day I had. However I am grateful for the quiet day as lately it’s been my “rest” and a bit of social time before hitting the study at home to do assignment work.

 

Nearly there…..

The Chocolate Drawer Saga

Posted on by acrystelle
2

I really missed my work mates today, especially when I didn’t receive my 2.30pm chocolate. :(

So I must reminisce…….and escape my assignment writing for a while.

Ah yes, the Chocolate Drawer Saga.

Once upon a time, a work team located in a far, far away land called the aviation industry, there was a smart young lad named Maverick, who started a chocolate drawer.

Now I must intervene at this point and refer to an earlier post in which I alluded to the chocolate drawer and my contribution to it at a time of a massive project for the department (and indeed the company). Dear Maverick was working (ridiculously) long hours and so in a bid to help where I could, I donated to his chocolate drawer.

The chocolate drawer shifted team dynamics, but alas, little did we realise this so.

For a time, the chocolate drawer was unknown to me, until I peeped over the aisle to Maverick’s desk and discovered his (then) secret stash of chocolate goodness. Following my initial contributions, or dare I say, offerings to the sacrificial alter that is chocolate, I too started to reap the rewards of the regular chocolate or two a day.

This went on for some time….some days it was at 10.30am, morning tea time, as well as the 2.30pm, productivity-all-time-low time. Others started to contribute – de TRAX man, Miss Gravy&Chips and perhaps others. All was well in the land of this work team, until……

Team members began expecting more from the chocolate drawer gods. Time and time again, throughout the day, they needed their chocolate fix. Then Maverick, the typical engineer that he is, saw the rate at which these chocolates were disappearing and predicted there may not be enough to go around at each ‘chocolate time’ if the chocolate was consumed by those (who shall not be named) at a faster rate than which it was supplied. PANIC!

All came to head, not long ago when Miss Gravy&Chips ventured into the chocolate drawer to “sneak” a chocolate from the alter. In his anger and despair, Maverick reached into the chocolate drawer, grabbed a handful of chocolates and threw said chocolates at Miss Gravy&Chips.

“Here! Take them! You want chocolates?! Have them!”

And the chocolates fell to the floor. (Ok, well some of them did. Good ‘ol Goose decided he’d swipe a few.)

And now, it’s been so decided (mostly by Maverick), that chocolate time will now be at 2.30pm each day, when each team member will be given their rationed chocolate.

Offerings to the chocolate drawer remain voluntary, and Maverick now has a key to remove temptation between chocolate times.

It is not known when the ban will be lifted, when team members will be trusted with the chocolate drawer again. But one thing’s for certain, the message is clear. Chocolate is a treat, a reward, and should only be consumed in moderation when it can be savoured and appreciated for the wonderful chocolatey goodness that it is.

(And that was the most free-flowing writing I’ve managed to achieve all day)