Where to next ?

Work's going through one of those spells at the moment where it gets picked up by the short n curlies and shaken about a bit ...

Which means that the people who actually do the work are getting a fair bit of disruption. Basically, the powers-that-be want to move people from jobs that they don't think can be afforded any more into jobs that are Top Urgent Must Do Yesterday type work. You've got people who will stay as they are, people who will have to fight for the same post as it's duplicated with someone else's and the people who need to find another project to work in.

I'm in the group that has to find somewhere else. Feelings ? Initial - shock, disbelief. I handle a few functions for our group that will still need to be done, so my work is going to need to be redistributed amongst the other guys. (1st "what the hell?" thing here - note the work still has to be done, yet the post is marked "no longer required").

However, that initial shock and disbelief (shared by my boss and his boss) is passing into a more Philosophical mode. I've been in the project for almost 10 years now, which is a Very Long Time where I work. It's been a good run but it probably needed a kick like this to dislodge me. It's a fun project filled with great people but knowing I'll be out of there soon has come as some kind of relief. Plus I had a glimpse of what was around the corner and wasn't particularly impressed.

And what's been highly amusing is seeing a few senior people in multiple organisations start waving "What are you doing????" flags after hearing I'll be on the way out :-). I grabbed a task a couple of months ago, shook it up and turned it into a process that was coordinated, controlled and was working. Now that process will have to be taken on by other people. I've done that in a few other areas as well. I'll do what I did in graduate days, which is to tidy up as best I can when I move but there's always legacy differences.

It's the Knowledge factor that's most serious though. The post duplication and post cancelling means a lot of Knowledge will escape from a lot of projects and it's often there that the loss is most felt. I'll still have a few contacts left in where I am now, so I'll keep checking in to see how things are going. The sad thing will be that some of them will also want to escape but will be locked in because people in my position will get grabbed first.

Not gone yet though, it'll take another couple of months for the escape tunnel to get dug. One of my contrasts though is in how I deal with Change. I'm not great at initiating Change, in fact I have a lot of personal "inertia" that makes me resistant to doing things differently. Sure, I'll happily make things up as I go along and refine a process until it's Shiny but changing the way I do things, lot of resistance there. However the contrast is that when I need to Change, I like to get it out of the way as quickly as possible. (Lol - so I can settle into a new rut ? :-)

It'll be a very strange place over the next couple of months though, as the organisation settles into a new look.

What helps when heaped with uncertainty like this is how the various people react to it. It's kinda like a Gallows Humour, where the ones on the way have greeted the news with good humour. We're thinking of having a little Support Group, suggesting that it would be the Millwall club after their "No one likes us, no one likes us, no one likes us, we don't care" football chant drew a chuckle :-) There's definitely a bit of a "we're all in the same boat", which reflects how close knit the workerbee level in my team has been over the years.

So we're all wondering where we will be in a few months. Hopefully I'll land in somewhere that gives an interesting technical challenge.

Thought I'd save the last word for someone who has helped more than she realises over the last day or so. One of the things I'll be remembered for is an infectious inane grin that tends to get even people in really dark moods smiling. Today and yesterday it's been me in the dark mood, with it being lifted by another person with an infectious (but not inane!) grin :-) I'm quite jumpy, I'll look around to see who's walking up the corridor and then I try to look away quick as to not stare. It's tough to look away though when you see a face light up with a big grin, you can't help but respond in kind :-) And a smile is always good for the soul.

Actually - that last para could refer to a few people I know at work but I'm thinking of one particular little Angel there :-)

Time to get back to listening to music and maybe a bit of the Internet SpaceShip Game too ...

PS I'll also be remembered for the PowerSneeze. Wonder how long it'll take my next project to get used to that ! A remark from earlier was "Oh, that was a big series", with my response being "Nah - that was light sneezes, I didn't see stars that time"

Additional - blog admin comment : I've removed the Daily Puppy as I've noticed it had grown advertising. I'm getting nuffin for that ad so it's GONE !!!!