REM on the CD
April 23, 1999
6:00 a.m.
I'm really tired. While I'm not a sleep camel, I tend to subsist on 5-6 hours of sleep a night, and I'm not getting it right now. Beyond that, today is the last of a three day Project Management course that I'm instructing. Teaching takes a great deal of attention and concentration. It takes energy, and when I'm done with a day like that, I feel totally drained. Last night I went from the class to an parent's Executive Committee meeting for Brigid's school. The night before we went to a fund raiser for the school. The night before, thunderstorms woke us up at 1:00, 2:00, and 4:00. I don't remember the night before that!   I actually use a lot of writing theory in teaching this course. People come into project mamangement with a lot of preconceived notions. (Personally, everything I kow about the subject is taught better by Dilbert [g]). But I think the biggest problem comes in the separation of what is project planning (the mechanics), and what is project management (the art). The course is 80% mechanics, 20% art. And my philoosophical bent is to get the course members thinking about what they are doing as they are doing it. Are they managing or planning? How will the people they want to affect take their approach? What do they feel when they are being "managed", and how often have they inadvertently felt "managed" when their boss is really just "planning", but doesn't know how to express herself? People sometimes have a difficult time pulling themselves out of this situation, and i've found using the creation of stories (mechanics vs. art, readers vs. writers) gives them a different perspective from which to grasp my points. They seem to enjoy it, anyway. And if nothing else, none of them go to sleep! It looks like Lisa Silverthorne and I are going to reprise our PlotFest this weekend. Of course, we're not content to let things stand as they were. Last PlotFest resulted inthe first drafts of a story a piece and several other tales plotted. This time, we need more. So Lisa's using a little of her "use or lose" vacation, and we're planning on getting two stories complete rather than just one. We'll see how it goes. Have a good one.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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"Simplicity and straightforwardness are in the power of all of us." Henry Alford |
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