Roblog

I do dislike transitions. They're actually a little invigorating and exciting, but they're generally always painful.

I got a call yesterday from a Senior Executive saying that they needed some help on performing the "due diligence" on a new deal (that is potentially quite large) for taking on support of 900+ applications (in this context, "due diligence" is the initial investigation phase to collect and analyze as much data about the potential deal as possible to confirm that the original exchange of information between Accenture and the client does not contradict any assumptions). Getting in on the beginnings of a large deal like this could be a great role for me, since it would likely lead to a long-term role. That combined with the fact that I've not been 100% utilized recently in my current role which ends this summer regardless made me eager to get involved.

The problem, as always, is ending my current role. I *really* like the client I'm working with now; it's a striking difference from my previous client which endemically treated contractors as resources to expend, rather than partners to value (although some individuals there were very supportive). I want to not only live up to my professional responsibilities here before I move on, but I also don't want to leave my client manager in a lurch.

I try to reassure myself that it wouldn't be so painful if there wasn't mutual regard between myself and my client contacts. If they disliked me, or I disliked them, it would be a much less stressful transition (which is how my last transition was like, now that I think about it). So overall, I'm glad that this transition is somewhat painful.

The way these things tend to start, it's very important to get involved swiftly and visibly with the new project, since these are among the first impressions and contacts the client will have with some of the people that may be coming onto the project to stay. That means that if I am to get involved in the new opportunity, it has to be immediately or not at all so someone else who has the time can start.

Thankfully, both my current project's Accenture leadership and the client manager are willing to work with me to allow this to happen. It all hinges, of course, on my ability to complete my deliverables by the end of this month. I'm confident I can do that, but it will make for a busy month. Although, frankly, an uncomfortably busy month will be a nice change of pace from the slow drip of activity I've had recently.

I have been looking at a unique opportunity to determine how fast my thumbnail grows. When I got in my car wreck last December, the depoying air bag's cover hit my thumbnail, and gave me a small bruise. I suppose it was coincidence that it happened to line up almost exactly with the edge of my lunula. Since then, it has been traveling up my thumbnail, more or less intact.

Carefully measuring its position, I can see that it has traveled about 6/16 of an inch since December 11, which is 70 days ago. Some quick calculations indicates that this translates to almost 2 inches (5 centimeters) a year. This is 0.0000000035 mph, in case you were wondering.

Searching on the web, I can find growth rates between 0.8 and 1.8 inches per year, so that puts me right on the edge of the upper bounds. If those figures are accurate, perhaps my thumbnail just grows faster than most, or maybe my thumbnail injury did not move along precisely with my thumbnail growth as I'm assuming.