one month on the new job

On my most recent job at n2N, many of the people I worked with had been on teams together, some three or four times. Rather than form a clique, they opened up and made me feel like a member of the team. There were of course frustrations -- wasn't it KAH who said that if it was all fun they wouldn't have to pay us? But when I got that job, I had the longest honeymoon period on record, from about last February til September. And then, well, we hit a wall, the company went under, blah blah blah.

The new job is a mixed bag. There's really been no honeymoon, though I have hopes for things being less mixed eventually. In fact, things may have started to improve already.

I was brought in, in part, to help lead the writers on the team to use a new technology and style of writing and tool (DITA and XMetaL for those in the know). The last few weeks have been bumpy. Each person on the team is in a different place with learning and with accepting the new way of doing things. (Oh, and by the way, we'll be doing some things the old way, which means that I have some learning to do too.) We also have a team of onsite translators. While some of them are very very nice, many of them are angry because to them, more writers means more words to translate, and more work. So some of the translators are not nice, and in fact, won't even look at me.

To help the team prepare for the New Way of Doing Things, I've been giving classes, evaluating homework, helping with information architecture, meeting with writers, and I even went on a field trip with some of my colleagues to meet with writers in a sister company. I've also been working with the toolsmith, himself recently hired and a great ally, to ensure that the group has the technical support it needs. Basically, I've been focusing all my time on teaching and leading and advising and almost no time on the subject matter about which I'll be writing.

My boss has been a great ally of the process, but has her own level of understanding of all the New Stuff. She is learning too. And I think in the beginning, she was a little wary of me, not sure that I knew what I was talking about, and concerned about making things work in a way that meets the needs of the group. Truth to tell, she wants to get us started very quickly, with much less time to prepare (at least since I've been there) than many groups might take. This is not a bad thing, but it can be stressful.

And finally, I've been working with a woman who, in the words of my nephew a few years back, "has tissues." We've already had at least one stormy scene, requiring my boss to intervene and have long conversations with both of us. Oddly, when I acknowledged the work tissues to my colleague, much of the tension dissipated, evaporated almost. And when I talked to my boss about the tissues, many of the tensions with her seem to have eased as well.

But the good news is that every person I've dealt with is well-intentioned. Most people (except the afore-mentioned few translators) smile at me in the hallway. I am starting to meet some of the non-word people I'll be dealing with (engineers, product managers). And the overriding feeling I get is that people *are* on the same team, that they are very busy, but as time allows are willing to be helpful. This is a very good starting place.

Last week, the tensions were so high that I was already starting to dread coming to work. This week was much better, and I'm nervously eager to go back to work on Monday. As I say, it's mixed. Perhaps when we start doing "real work" (writing, reviewing, editing), I'll get more integrated onto the team and into the workflow.

Isn't it funny? The work is fine, but it's the personal environment that I'm reacting to. I'm hoping that I will feel continue to feel more comfortable in that environment before long.