On the Critical Path

Would you believe that a little more than one year ago the new Yawkey Station opened? My teammates and I eagerly  patiently waited as the grand opening kept sliding; but on March 10, 2014, a mere two years later than planned, the shiny, new Yawkey Station opened.

With several trains added, I was thrilled! Quite a few were express trains so those of us west of Natick benefited the most. By catching express trains, I was able to reduce my commute nearly in half. I vowed to never set foot on a local train again. Initially, there were some problems as the MBTA worked out kinks in the new schedule. I cut them some slack, but then reality set in. My rose-tinted glasses became faded and scratched as I realized that there was still an abundance of late and canceled trains.

I have observed many reasons that a train can be late:

–          Mechanical difficulties
–          Problems with switches
–          Problems with signals
–          Excessive rain
–          Excessive snow
–          Excessive heat
–          Trains that are short-staffed
           (possibly caused by excessively awesome weather)
–          Police activity
–          Overcrowded trains 
            (I often have had to stand while holding my heavy bags
             on a herky jerky train all the way from Boston to West Natick.)
–          Medical emergencies
           (possibly stress-induced from all of the above)

           (Let me know if I missed any.)

In January 2014, I blogged about the MBTA and commented about a woman who insisted on chatting despite receiving shushes daily. Oh how I long for those days when that was the chief complaint of us quiet car snobs. Would you believe that Chatty Cathy and I are now friends?!  I even know her real name!

A year later, Mother Nature raised an eyebrow and said, “You think you have problems? I’ll give you something to complain about!”  She inhaled deeply until I thought she would pass out, and then she blew and blew for what seemed like an eternity, sending frigid air and blustering snow for many days, giving us a winter with a commute from “H” “e” “double hockey sticks”!

When the going gets tough, we New Englanders stick together. Here is a scene from the quiet car taken January 26^th, the day before the first major snow storm. The masses were exiting Boston in anticipation of being snowed in the next day. It was standing room only and you can see that we were in pretty good spirits; people cracked up as I asked them to pose for my selfie. Little did we know what would ensue in the weeks to follow.

So that was then, and this is now . . .

 As recent as 3/16, just two stops into my nine-stop trip and it was standing room only.

The latest estimate to repair and modernize is $6.7 billion! To put this in perspective . . .

 I know that my analysis is kind of silly (Excess revenue? Certainly not this year or last year for that matter).  But $6.7 billion is a heaping pile of money and ultimately, much of it will come from the tax payers (although western Mass may not want to chip in).

I feel a very faint glimmer of hope knowing that Governor Baker has appointed a panel to look into the issues and make recommendations. One of the things they are looking at is how other transportation systems are run. Hopefully they will look at well-run rail systems where annual snow fall is heavy – possibly Amori City, Japan, the #1 snowiest city in the world. Snowfall in Amori City is approximately 312 inches per year and they do have a rail system.  That is 26 feet, my friends, and they manage to keep their trains running. What about our northern friends in Canada – they must be able to deal with it. Right?

I do hope that the governor’s panel looks deeper and we are not just throwing dollars at the problems.  Time is a’wasting if we want a chance at hosting the 2024 Olympics (or do we?). Perhaps we could volunteer our process improvement team to work with the MBTA!  I’ll set up the project in Tracker and ISPP.  I think a healthy dose of best practice PMM and BAM could go a long way.

Do meetings make you unhappy?? I read a fairly old article in The Guardian that stated that the amount and length of our meetings at work is one of the main reasons why employees are unhappy. It suggested that the more meetings one has to attend and the more time one spends in meetings, the greater the negative effects. Extensive articles and research done on the topic of meetings has resulted in countless tips to help run more productive meetings.

Are these findings still true? Why can meetings be so bad for productivity and happiness? Here are a few reasons:
• They break your working day into small time pieces, making productivity difficult
• They are usually update meetings vs. working/collaboration meetings
• They usually contain a low amount of information conveyed per minute
• They drift off subject easily
• They have vague agendas
• The facilitator did not sufficiently prepare

My days are usually consumed with meetings. Before you start feeling bad for me, I do this to myself. I usually schedule these meetings as a part of the various projects that I manage. How can I ensure I’m efficiently running these meetings, so I’m not making my team members miserable?

It’s as easy to be careless with words as it is to be careless when scheduling and using meetings as the main use of communication. I’ve seen a mnemonic used to determine and guide meaningful communication. The mnemonic is a reminder to t-h-i-n-k before you speak.
T- Is it true?
H- Is it helpful?
I- Is it inspiring?
N- Is it necessary?
K- Is it kind?

Could we use a similar mnemonic to remind us to think before scheduling meetings?
T- Is the meeting timely? Are you using exactly the amount of time you need? Why schedule a full hour when you only need 15 minutes?
H- Is the meeting helpful? Have you given the team the agenda and topics ahead of time to allow the team time to prepare?
I- Is the meeting informative? Is there information to share with the team that requires discussion or approval?
N- Is the meeting necessary? Can you send an email with the update instead of scheduling a meeting?
K- Does the meeting leverage the knowledge and skills of the team members?

Meetings have become our default in facilitating discussions and updates. But this communication method isn’t always best for all work and personality types. Some individuals need time to complete a thought or idea before they are comfortable sharing with the team. Others like to think out loud. This difference can change the dynamic in a meeting and lose input from some team members. Instead, try asking everyone to come prepared to discuss a planned topic in the next meeting. This simple change could facilitate a better discussion involving all team members.

I hear about meeting fatigue often and I do my best to be mindful of how I use others’ time. I’m interested in any techniques that you’ve used. Please share your experiences in the comments.

The statement “the unexamined life is not worth living” is ascribed to Socrates. As a once dedicated self-help book reader, I encountered it multiple times and used to embrace it fervently. Now, my interpretation of it is more relaxed; I view it as a simple reminder to pay attention to how I am living my life.

I recalled it recently when contemplating some minor improvements that my brothers and I made to my parents’ house on Cape Cod. It has been in the family for over 40 years. My parents bought it from a divorced couple who wanted to be rid of it and each other. The sellers did not even want the furniture, artwork, plates, glasses, or pots & pans. The house was almost fully furnished. So after shopping for relatively few additional household items and doing a major cleaning, it was ready to support carefree summer living.

Over the years we did a lot of work to the outside of the house; the ocean air takes a toll on wood and windows. But the interior stayed in surprisingly good condition and we did not scrutinize it.

Last summer was the first after our Mom passed away. We decided to take a fresh look at the inside of the house for possible improvements. The following is a small sample of what we “discovered” and fixed:

• We did not like most of the artwork and took much of it down, and sold some.
• Three tables in the living room were too high or low to use easily while seated. We replaced them with cheap alternatives that fit better.
• The TV was too small for our older eyes. We got a bigger one.
• Two bedroom closets lacked shelving and one had no pole for hangers. (How did we not notice that?) We added them.
• The dressers in two bedrooms were both ugly and too small. We bought nicer ones.

We were amazed by the number of compromises that we had happily lived with for 40 years, but, with a new perspective, realized should be improved. The fixes were quick, cheap (thanks Craigslist), and delightful.

This chapter reinforced for me that it is indeed very good to examine one’s life every once in a while but, for most things, more often than every forty years.