May 26, 2004
Dear Everyone:
I have a DRB meeting tomorrow and figured I’d probably be too tired to work on a Letter after it.
“What’s a DRB meeting?” you ask.
It stands for Decision Review Board. When you work on a project, one of the things you decide (or more likely, it’s decided for you) is who will be your Decision Review Board. Depending on the size of the project, the DRB can be a lot of people, or just one or two. (One turns into the Decision Executive instead of a “Board”.) Typically, a DRB consists of a group of managers whose job it is to tear your proposal to shreds with as much brutality as possible.
Our DRB is comprised of two managers.
The project is my facility drawings project, the one that most
resembles an attempt to herd a roomful of cats.
Last week, I got an email from the project sponsor (the manager
who started the whole project) that stated:
“Schedule a DRB meeting for next Thursday at
Not, “When will your team be ready for a DRB meeting?” But, “Schedule the DRB meeting.” To say that we’re really not ready for a DRB meeting would be the greatest understatement since Noah said, “It looks like rain.”
So, much scrambling to try and get all the data pulled together. I scouted around in our document management system for PowerPoint presentations that had “DRB” in the name, and found quite a few that I could use as a template. This was helpful as I have never done a DRB meeting before.
By using the template, I can assume that I will hit as many of the “usual suspects” as possible. It’s also helpful in that it requires that you jump through numerous hoops and dot the “I’s” and cross the “T’s”. Otherwise, I might not even consider some of the details needed for a proper DRB presentation.
I have no doubts that the DRB will offer many helpful insights and point out lots of things that we overlooked. Much fun will be enjoyed by all.
In the meantime…
For nearly a year, I had very few people around in my “Pleasant Hill” office. The two specialists were usually in “Livermore” or at some customer’s site. One of the other analysts has been in “Hobby” all this time. Two other analysts found reasons to work in “Pleasanton”. I often had the place to myself for days at a time.
But since the last restructure, there are now three other people in my office most of the time. This is nice, since it gives me someone to talk to, but it will take some time for things to settle out. Three people all playing their radios, all set to different stations, can present some difficulties. But no worries. It’ll all come out in the wash.
On the home front…
Mother continues to stay at “Jeannie’s” place. Since I was working in “Pleasant Hill” last Monday, I went over there for a visit after work and we had dinner together. Next Saturday, we plan to take Mother up to “Oakley” to have lunch with Cousin “Candace” and her son, Cousin “Perry”.
Then, on Sunday, Mother and I will fly up to
So what does that mean for the Weekly Letter?
One more week without a movie review. After that, it’s Katie Bar the Door.
Love, as always,
Pete
| Previous | Next |