Newsletter 2004 - Work
Early in the year I was asked to become lead product manager on the latest release of our software. This was a great challenge and a wonderful opportunity. It has led to some very late nights as many of my colleagues on the project are based in Canada and the US. This means that they don't start work until the afternoon in the UK. I tend to get quite a lot of work done in the mornings and then spend an ever increasing amount of time on conference calls in the afternoon. The release is due by Christmas 2004, so I should really be able to enjoy the holiday period. I am really proud of what has been achieved by all the people working on the project (around 150 people) and know that it is really going to make a difference to what people can achieve with our software.
I didn't do as much transatlantic travel as last year, but still visited quite a few times. My first visit of the year was cut short for health reasons. The plan was to go to Corporate Kickoff in Ottawa and then spend a few days in the Ottawa office before going on to Sales Kickoff in Orlando, but I was taken ill and missed most of Corporate Kickoff. I spent a fairly unpleasant night on a trolley in hospital in Ottawa and then made my way home and a week later was under the surgeon's knife having a hernia repaired (thank goodness for company medical insurance schemes).
My next visit was much more successful. I managed to get to Orlando this time. The conference was held in one of the Disney hotels. It was so wierd to have breakfast among all the families planning a day out at the parks and then have to go to work. At least it meant that one was able to soak up some of the Disney experience in the evenings. We had meetings the week before the conference and were there over a weekend and so got a day off. The original plan was to visit one of the parks, but the weather was so hot that we decided to go shopping instead. We did however get a wonderful couple of hours at the Kennedy Space Centre. It was unfortunate that I didn't have more time as there is so much to see and do there. Another advantage is that the whole tour is conducted using air conditioned buses and buildings, so it doesn't matter if the weather is too hot or too wet. As part of the conference, one evening we were taken to the Universal Studios theme park. The park was shut to the public, so it was only us there. We therefore avoided the biggest problem about theme parks - the queues! It was wonderful walking straight through the queuing areas and getting straight to the rides. They had four rides open to us and all bar one were really wonderful. The best of the lot was the recently opened "Revenge of the Mummy" ride. It was obvious that everyone there thought so too, as we had to queue for this one for around 15 minutes. I would love to have done it a second time, but we had reached it toward the end of our time at the park so that just wasn't possible.
Don't get the wrong idea - we do a great deal of work, but when the opportunity to relax comes along, well one has to take it.