Work

I started work last Monday. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but I went in anyway. I decided in order to beat the traffic, I would leave for work at 7:00. I was able to get a driver at around 7:10 and arrived at the security desk at around 7:45. After signing in and giving the serial number of my laptop, I was escorted to the 6th floor (floor number 5) to my office.

I passed through a sea of cubicles and fully expected one of them to be mine. After we rounded the corner, I was lead to a door with my name on it. They gave me an office with a large desk, 3 chairs, a good size white board, etc.! In fact, they had bottled water on the table behind my desk, a cooler full of coke, and a fruit basket.

There is a young man that works on our floor whose job is to make sure things are clean and orderly. Every so often, he knocks on my door and asks if I would like tea or coffee. I also saw him, on Monday, walking to every desk in the office and placing a fresh rose in a vase on each desk. (Speaking of flowers, this country has them all over the place. They use real ones everywhere. All the restaurants have them on each table. We like it).

Well, here I am getting my computer set up at my new office. There is nobody on the floor except me and the young guy I told you about. In fact, nobody showed up to work until after 9:00. Most came between 9:30 and 10:00. I guess since the traffic is pretty bad, many people choose to get to work after 9:00 and leave work later. Many of the team I work with stays until 8:30 or 9:00 PM in order to get on conference calls with our team back in Olathe, Kansas.

I was introduced to the team leads in a meeting we had for about one hour. I explained my appreciation for being allowed to come and work with them in India. I think everyone has the misdirected idea that I am some sage bringing wisdom from the far country. I made it plain that I don't have all the answers (and not even all the questions). I said I would do my best to field questions they have in their teams, but by no means can solve all issues. I hope that is understood, otherwise this may be a long 2 months :)

Got to do some training with a small team I will be working more closely with in the next several weeks. That was very productive and I think we will enjoy working together. Harish will be working very closely with me. We hit it off pretty well and had a design session together laying out the short term work we have to do. I believe Harish and his wife will be coming back to the states about the time Mary and I return. It would be nice to help them get settled in to the area. Neither have been to the USA before.