What's Going On

Even when you work in the Real Office all the time, it can be hard to really know what is going on when change is afoot in an organization. For the long-term shut in, getting plugged in and staying plugged into the scuttlebutt is critical during times of change.

I have a network of contacts that I keep up with, but making sense of the intelligence I receive is hard. I feel a bit like the three (or four or six) blind men and the elephant -- each person touches different parts of the changes that are transpiring, and thus has a wildly variant opinion about what is going on. I spend a lot of time filtering and correlating to determine what is really going on.

Luckily I have a long history with the organization, and this helps me with placing it all in context. But I discover something new everyday, and I'm realizing more and more that keeping those intelligence (okay, gossip!) networks alive and well is a big part of my job now.

Sounds productive, doesn't it?