My Reputation Precedes Me
May 15, 2002
7:25 a.m.
I was at a blood center a few days back, when I saw a professional acquaintance. Nothing like chatting while they're siphoning blood, eh? Anyway ... we talked about various elements of work, specifically including a project management course that we were both a part of for a period of time. She said some complimentary things about my organizational skills, which I accepted, but didn't really think much about. I mean, yes, I'm pretty organized at work, but all the really takes is writing a lot of things down, and then filing them in places where you can find them again. Computers are great for this if you spend a little time thinking about what you're doing before you do it. "There's a rumor going around that you have a big "Should Map" on your wall at home," she said. I smiled. For those of you who don't know, a "Should Map" is corporate speak (or at least Cummins-speak) for a document that describes how a process really should work ... note, that's not to say it's how any process actually does work, but this entry isn't about corporate screw ups.... "A should map about what?" I replied. This stymied her for a moment. "I don't know. Just whatever you're working on, I guess." I laughed. "In that case, I suppose I do have a should map on my basement wall." "You're kidding me?" She had an incredulous look on her face. "No. I'm not kidding. But it's not anything for work. It's a bunch of yellow and pink stickies that describe the flow of my book." "Your book?" the guy subbing for Dracula said with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah," I said sheepishly. "I write science fiction." "I thought that was you. I saw the article in the paper." Some people, it seems, have pretty good memories. That article ran quite awhile ago. I waited for the notorious "Where can I get your work?" question, but it didn't come. "Well," my acquaintance said. "I'll have to tell everyone that the rumors are right." "I guess so," I said. Then we went back to chatting about boring work things. A few minutes later, orange juice in hand, I finished up and headed off to my next meeting.   Have a great day.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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