Roblog

This was the first time I had any "downtime" between projects. In all my other transitions at Accenture, there was always overlap between my outgoing project and my incoming one. As such, all my past transitions have been time-constrained.

This one was quite different. Although my end-date on my previous project was artificially moved up (earlier) due to budget cuts, my deliverables were similarly cut. So the end of my previous project was no more hectic than it had been before I was planning to roll-off. In fact, my last day was filled with little more than putting some finishing touches on my deliverables, saying my good-byes, cleaning out my work area, and performing all the roll-off steps.

I had been told my next role (a short 12-week assignment) wouldn't start until Tuesday or Wednesday of the next week. That meant I'd have two days with nothing to do. It was stressful facing a gap of any length in the current economy, but two days (actually a day and a half) wasn't so bad. That is, once I got some reassurance that it would only be two days. I didn't want "two days" to turn into "two weeks" or "two months". It didn't - in fact, I had a 2.5-hour conference call today with the other members of my new team to kick-off our new effort.

Anyway, I tried to take full advantage of my unplanned (forced) vacation. I shuttled my daughters to and from school when I could to allow my wife to stay at home. I ran some errands (grocery shopping, mostly) and did some laundry. I went out to lunch and a movie ("Duplicity" - it was OK) with my wife. I fixed the attic light that rudely stopped working after I had installed it a few weeks ago. I also fixed the back door whose closing mechanism separated from the door months ago.

Now, I have to shift gears and start full-bore on my new project. The other people on my team are deeply experienced in this space, so I'm excited to get started on the project with them.