How job transitions really work

"Want my job?" My friend B sent me an IM the other evening. He's a Product Manager on my team, but about to move to a new project - he's been trying to figure out who should take his place. Problem is, all the other PMs are slammed.

"I don't want my projects to just get lost," he said.

Pause. Pause. Pause.

"I could pitch a project plan," I pinged back.

"You could totally do it!" he typed. "Transitioning to you would be great! I can throw your hat in the ring metaphorically!"

Big deep breath. I'd planned to think about a job change oh, maybe next April. I don't have the background to easily move to the PM team but try-before-you-buy deals are always a little easier. With decent luck and a push from friends, it might work. I haven't had time to figure out if I actually want to do it, but if I could try it unofficially for a couple of months.....

"OK," I typed. "I'm in!"

So here I am, 48 hours later. I've agreed to devote 30% of my time to something I've never done before & don't know how to do. My boss is on board but has his own agenda - I'm going to have to fight off his priorities in order to get my own in place, all while making sure I can still go home to my own team again in case this other thing doesn't work out because it very easily might not.

In 40 minutes, I'll be leading a meeting of people who know more than I do and who aren't expecting me to take on this role.

In case you're wondering ...

... why it took me so long to finish Microserfs, it's because I am currently also reading:

Snow, by Orhan Pamuk
--> artistic & cool, but it's taking me forever - something about its being a translation, I think. Sigh.

Temples, Tombs, & Hieroglyphs, by Barbara Mertz
--> Egypt is fun. This book is like gossip about Egypt.

Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste, and Style, by Tim Gunn
--> lent to me by a coworker with whom I had a mind-clearing conversation about shoes & closets. I have decided my style mentor is Katherine Hepburn.

Write Away, by Elizabeth George
--> for inspiration; it's so like an instruction manual that I can't help but be seduced. Also a good read.

The Queen of the South, by Arturo Perez-Reverte
--> I want to like this book, so I'm still reading it, but I keep getting bored.

So there.

Bookcase I

My bookcase project begins! This morning on my way to work I stopped by Ace Hardware for wood-finishing supplies. I love Ace. It's full of tools & paint & bags of ready-mix concrete & bins of screws & a whole lot of other things that make me happy just by existing. The Ace in Palo Alto is also staffed by middle-aged men who look as if they spend their weekends doing complicated things with dove-tail joins & tablesaws. In another place and time they'd look at me and tell me to go ask my husband - but this is Palo Alto in 2007, so instead they recommend which kind of tung oil they like best to finish their own projects, and when I check out, the guy I've been talking to accords me the ultimate badge of honor:

"You must really know what you're doing," he says, looking down at my double pack of tack cloth.

I grin. "First time, actually," I say. I haven't felt so proud in weeks.

All of which causes me to think, what about the kids whose Moms aren't also devotees of hardware stores and whose Dads never rewired lamps with a small daughter looking on? Do those kids not get to make their own bookcases, because hardware stores & tools & sandpaper are unfamiliar territory instead of a comfort zone?

That sucks.

Television request

For the past year or two my guy & I have dedicatedly watched CSI (for him) and, more recently, Grey's Anatomy (for me), but CSI is increasing its percentage of gore & serial killers and as a result I showered as quickly as possible this morning, leaping out with the shampoo only half-rinsed from my hair, trying hard not to imagine the bloody palm of a Bad Guy coming to Get Me wrapping menacingly around the edge of the bathroom door frame.

Ugh. I need a new show, something engaging but less focused on random bludgeonings.

Sigh. I am such a wimp. What happened to the good old CSI days where it was just sex & gambling crimes, rather than wackos? Sex & gambling crimes I can mentally deal with by thinking, "Well, I don't date someone who does (insert elaborate and/or bizarre sex practice involving dice and/or roulette tables here) so I'm safe!" Wackos, on the other hand ... I am less sure how to persuade myself are just a plot device.

Apology

I have eaten
the organic apple
that B & T brought us on Sunday
as a gift

and which
was next to the persimmons
we gathered
on our bike ride

and carried
home in our pockets.
No need to forgive me -
I am sure you don't mind.

:)

'Microserfs' is genius

... because it includes lines like this:

"What's truly freaky is realizing I'm vulnerable to identity changes because I'm so desperate to find a niche. I feel like Crystal Pepsi."

and

"People without lives like to hang out with other people who don't have lives. Thus they form lives."

and

"Letting go of randomness is one of the hardest decisions a person can make.... If you concoct a convincing meta-personality, ... then that personality really IS you."

This is one of the best 5 books I've read this year. Easy.