The class is going really well. They've formed into teams who are working well together, and we're interspersing the heads-down goal-based scenario work with some puzzles and inter-team challenges. Competitive problem-solving really appeals to Technology managers.

Today's going a bit slowly for me, as my responsibilities are mainly just keeping the one team I'm coaching in particular focussed on the tasks at hand, which at the moment is blindingly easy as they're running along at top speed doing exactly what they need to do. We'll trip them up tomorrow, but for now... the web awaits.
posted by Tom at 3:15 PM | link | (0) comments

Well, the class starts tomorrow and I'm psyched. We spent a large chunk of the day reviewing coaching techniques, which are often fun and rewarding to use (really). Here's the basics from the Cleese video (see if I can remember them all):

1) Set the goals -- the task, and the meeting.
2) Promote discovery (self-directed learning) through:
-- active listening (listen quietly, paraphrase and summarize the points, confirm you understood them)
-- draw out the consequences (let the team member figure out the implications and understand them)
-- share your experience (help them learn what you've learned, good or bad)
3) Set the parameters (ensure the team member has a realistic scope of activities that won't get them in trouble)
4) Authorize and empower (ensure everyone else knows what the team member is doing and won't block it)
5) Recap (make sure everything is in agreement).

Class starts tomorrow morning at 8am. I figured out where Andy (the other faculty member) and I know each other from, and it astonishes me that we worked it out. Andy was one of the faculty members for my first Andersen Consulting course six years ago. It was a very memorable course, with (as a highlight) a very successful class party at the home of the other faculty member, Mike Plamondon, who lives here in St. Charles. Mike has a collection of hot pepper sauces, which was quite deadly.
posted by Tom at 6:54 PM | link | (0) comments

Spending my weekend studying lecture notes on my own in a classroom in a small town in Illinois. Why did I volunteer for this again? This makes my normal social life seem bouncy and extroverted, which I guess is a useful perspective to gain, but I'd rather not have gained it at the cost of a perfectly good weekend. The greater Chicago area got socked by snow last night but my flight down from Toronto was uneventful and St. Charles hasn't changed at all, despite the fact that Accenture is now a client instead of an owner of the facility. We still use it more than A*th*r *nd*rs*n. What's a little depressing this weekend is that 90% of the other attendees are new hires and they're all really young. I feel old.

Not as old as my co-faculty guy though: he's been with the firm for 12 years. I can't imagine... On the other hand, he's done some work in Northbrook (near here) so while I'm studying he's setting off to meet old friends. To be fair, he got here the night before last so he's already had a full day studying the materials, whereas I have some catching up to do (which I'm not doing right now).

At least it's a bright sunny day outside, and I don't have to cook the lunch I'm about to go enjoy.
posted by Tom at 1:28 PM | link | (0) comments

Back in the airport in Toronto. Seems like just yesterday I was here last. Oh yes... It was just yesterday. D'oh!

So I've started Thirty Nothing and it is indeed just like High Fidelity, except written by a woman instead of a man. In the genre of angst-riddled 30-something relationship novels, this distinction is important both for the things that are different as a result -- clearer-headed analysis of messed-up teenaged muddles from the girl's side of the picture, of course -- as well as for the things that are the same. In both novels the central thesis is that we 30-somethings are just about getting old enough to figure out ourselves and behave sensibly towards one another, for the first time in our lives, even though we're (of course) incurably messed up inside. Everybody's incurably messed up inside, so we're ok.

I don't know if this thesis holds up to stringent analysis, and I certainly know a few very happily married 30-somethings who've never seemed messed up at all to me, but I do know that reading these books, while entertaining, is hard on me personally as a 31-year-old single man with no current prospects. Are the authors trying to make me feel bad, or was that just a lucky side effect? Yes, I know, I'm avoiding the issue day to day by travelling across the continent for work and not looking for any relationships anywhere in particular. But I was taught (by my peers and my own experience) that the best relationships are those which are not planned, that just happen through good chemistry and lucky circumstances, and I'm not sure that my recent run of no circumstances at all puts the validity of the overall strategy in doubt. (It definitely puts the wisdom of my short-term tactics in doubt, but that's another question entirely.)

Anyway, this rather rambling post is dedicated to any single romantically inclined 30-something women who should, by some bizarre chance of fate, ever come to read it.

Back to Thirty Nothing. I sure hope the author is single, because if someone wants to point out the pain of single life to me, I'd rather they were in the same boat. No offence, mom.
posted by Tom at 4:09 PM | link | (0) comments

It is so cool to be able to update my web site from the airport lounge. I am waiting for a connecting flight back to Toronto in Vancouver. It's a warm beautiful day on the west coast and the view on the hop up from Seattle was gorgeous.

I finished the new Orson Scott Card Bean novel yesterday, Shadow of the Hegemon. Quite good, I thought. He's still never really equalled the brilliance of Ender's Game, but this latest is considerably closer than the last one, Ender's Shadow.

Next up is a quirky-looking book from England called Thirty Nothing. It looks as though it will be in the same style as High Fidelity, but I'll let you know when I've read it.
posted by Tom at 6:13 PM | link | (0) comments

Oh my GOD my schedule is getting busy. Here's a quick overview:

S	M	T	W	Th	F	S
21 Toronto	22 Seattle	23 Seattle	24 Seattle	25 Seattle	26 Guelph	27 Chicago
28 Chicago	29 Chicago	30 Chicago	31 Chicago	1 Chicago	2 Chicago	3 Snyman Cottage
4 Snyman Cottage	5 Toronto	6 Toronto	7 Colorado Springs	8 Colorado Springs	9 Colorado Springs	10 Toronto
11 Toronto	12 Toronto	13 Toronto	14 Seattle	15 Seattle	16 Seattle	17 Whistler
18 Whistler	19 Seattle	20 Seattle	21 Seattle	22 Seattle	23 Toronto	24 Toronto
25 Toronto	26 Toronto	27 Toronto	28 Toronto	1 Toronto	2 Toronto	3 Toronto
4 Toronto	5 Seattle	6 Seattle	7 Seattle	8 Seattle	9 Toronto	10 Toronto

posted by Tom at 2:29 PM | link | (0) comments

Here are some of the specific things that are important to me:

Singing. Exultate, Consort Caritatis, and, yes, SMM. The joy of cooperative artistry and the release of emotional energy through the voice.
Intellectual challenges and puzzles. A lot of technical challenges at work are strictly left brain which is why I enjoy them. Most games are obviously left brain as well. In the last couple of years, I've enjoyed expanding into the right brain area with increased resposibility to figure out and fix interpersonal challenges, and more social multiplayer games.
Pets, specifically my cat Hoover. (I'm looking forward to getting her back; she's been an unwitting casualty of my travels as a guest at my parents' and my friend Patrick's).
Images and sounds. One of the appeals of computer games is the sheer beauty of some of the graphics.
Travel. See images and sounds.
My family. We may not communicate very well, but we definitely love each other.
My friends. Where would I be without you guys?

Not in that order, of course. :-)
posted by Tom at 2:05 PM | link | (0) comments

Back in Seattle. Weather foggy.

This damn 7 Habits book is starting to get me thinking about who I am and what I want to do with my life. Don't get me wrong; this is hardly the first time I've been led into a navel-gazing introspective self-diagnostic basic principles step-back-and-take-in-the-bigger-picture frame of mind. Since it hasn't made a significant difference all the other times I've tried it, I doubt it will this time either (which Covey would argue is a self-defeating attitude). Anyway, I can't debunk the guy without giving him a shot, so here are some thoughts around a personal mission statement:

To be dependable.
To be someone friends and family choose to turn to in times of need.
To be a person of integrity, knowing that while I am far from perfect I can be comfortable that I have tried to support truth, honesty and justice.
To love and be loved.
To know that while accumulation of goods is a reflection of success, it is not success itself.
To strive to be physically fit, and help my body to keep me healthy.
To seek out new challenges.
To get more sleep.
To support the goals and careers of people I work with as I would like my goals and career to be supported by others.
To understand and achieve the objectives, both stated and hidden, of the clients who pay for my work.
To respect and understand my fears.
To overcome my fears.

This list will clearly require revision before it becomes something I can work from. Expect more navel gazing to come.
posted by Tom at 1:25 PM | link | (0) comments

Friday. I've been in the office for a luxurious week, with various small events:

Monday I went to see Philip Webb, who seems to be in good form. He's tireless on the merits of Linux and is trying to convince me to switch from Windows. If only...

Tuesday we had an Exultate board meeting after work, although I arrived late. The board has changed quite a bit since the last time I was able to attend, with Diane and Julia adding their considerable talents to the mix, and with the success of the current fundraising campaign the whole feeling of the meetings has changed from the slight "bridge of the Titanic" sinking feeling to one of cautious optimism. Lots of work to do, of course, but Exultate is steaming into the third decade of its existance with new energy and nary an iceburg. Afterwards, Julia and Kelly and I went to Bar Mercurio and had much wonderful food and wine. You may note a theme in a minute.

After work on Wednesday I went out to dinner at Nami with Dirk, Christine and Kevin (their son). Christine just started working with the company and is trying to adjust to the political environment of her project, hoping she hasn't made a mistake. Dirk is doing very well creating assets for the B2B service line, and seems to have a whole network of junior managers and senior consultants cranking out materials for him in the office. Kevin, 2, enjoys tuna sushi. I had Nami's famous sushi pizza (which is roe, salmon and thin greens on a baked ricecake base) and it was highly delectable.

Thursday night we had a belated farewell party for Colin Lindsell, which migrated (eventually) from the Duke of Westminster to Rodney's. TJ and Dirk are clearly regulars, as we were treated like royalty by the staff, who brought massive quantities of fabulous seafood and a big bucket of wine bottles to the table. We staggered out of the place quite a few hours later and my head didn't feel to great this morning.

I should definitely have weeks at home more often!

My schedule for the next little while:

Seattle on Sunday until Thursday.
Participating in an info session at the University of Guelph next Friday to start getting "Accenture" in front of our prospective employees.
Possibly staying in Guelph for the weekend of having my parents come back in to Toronto.
Likely another week in the Toronto office through Feb 2nd.
Spend the weekend at the Snyman's cottage, trying not to let Dirk kill me with his snowmobile.
Training in Colorado Springs from Feb 6th to 9th (by which time I have to have finished the 7 Habits book, see rant below).
Training in Toronto on presentations on Monday the 12th, then back to Seattle.
Whistler weekend February 17th-18th...
etc.

I have to get more sleep; this schedule may kill me.
posted by Tom at 4:30 PM | link | (0) comments

I'm reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" for the first time, in preparation for a training course I'm going to take in early February. (It's required pre-reading.)

This is one deeply annoying book.

I have completely lost track of the number of times Covey claims something is a "fact" when there are clearly exceptions and special circumstances. His style--standard for the business lecture circuit--uses generalities, capsule personal examples of a point illustrated in life, and quotes from far more accomplished writers and authors, to back up his arguments. Which is too bad, because his central themes--substance over style and self-awareness--seems to be good ones. Ironically, his style is the same as that used by the people he derides as proponents of the "Personality Ethic".

Gah. People complain about technical writing as using incomprehensible gibberish terms, but I believe that business lecturers do far more damage to communication by using everyday language incorrectly or through relying on their own or (worse) others' incorrect logical arguments to support their messages.

</rant>


posted by Tom at 3:55 PM | link | (0) comments

Monday morning, and I'm at work in the Toronto office. This is extremely unusual for me for a Monday, now. This is the first Monday that I haven't been on the road since last March... which is pretty ridiculous.

I had a fun weekend but a tiring one. My new computer arrived last Friday and most of the weekend was spent setting it up and gaming with a few friends. The game of the moment is Counterstrike, which has actually been big for quite a while but is still pretty new for me. If you've got Half-Life, you're all set; the Counterstrike add-on is free at their web site.

Dell did a good job of getting my machine configured, built and shipped. The only mistake they made was sending me the wrong speakers, and when I called them Friday afternoon to point this out they were quick to fix the problem. Purolator had the right ones to my door this morning, so now I am in quadrophonic heaven. Or will be when I get through the speakers' 30 page manual and figure out the remote control... (!?!)

As my friend Dirk commented when I told him about the new machine, this is all clearly more evidence that I need to start dating again.
posted by Tom at 12:23 PM | link | (0) comments

A beautiful sunny day here in Seattle. The sunrise glinting off the underside of the clouds over the mountains this morning was spectacular. But I was at work WAY too late last night to fully appreciate it. Coffee was required. Coffee was procured. Life is now returning to normal.
posted by Tom at 12:51 PM | link | (0) comments

Just added a new page to log the progress of setting up this site. Trials, tribulations and lessons learned will be included. Enjoy...
posted by Tom at 1:25 PM | link | (0) comments

I found an excellent book on Web Usability last night. I'm still wading through it but it will definitely be useful for work. It is Designing Web Usability, by Jakob Nielsen. Here is the order page on Chapters.ca, and Nielsen's web site, www.useit.com.
posted by Tom at 11:04 AM | link | (0) comments

"Such is human psychology that if we don't express our joy, we soon cease to feel it." - Lin Yutang

I'm in Seattle and for a few brief days do not have to wade through snowdrifts or slush puddles. Toronto's winter weather is one of the things Torontonians pretend to ignore. We conveniently forget about the lakes of dirty water that form on our corners and are sprayed across unfortunate pedestrians by speeding SUV's. We choose not to remember the bitter winds that blow through the office tower canyons and chill us to the bone. Instead, people like me who work in the downtown core ramble on about the virtues of the PATH system and its victory over blizzards and squalls. Friends from the suburbs have long learned to drive carefully on snow, and since the brave souls of the city road crews work around the clock while the white stuff is falling, the streets are usually cleared, salted and navigable.

So it's a bit of a shock to the system to get off the airplane and suddenly not have to pretend that the ground isn't covered in ice. Gloomy clouds and rain showers Seattle may have, but walking around is fundamentally easier here than it is in Toronto at the moment. So for the next three days until I return home, I'm going walking.


posted by Tom at 8:20 PM | link | (0) comments

The Usual Suspects gathered for dinner tonight, and we went to see "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" at the Paramount afterwards. We ended up watching it on the IMAX screen, although the film got a bit grainy on such a big canvas. Anyway, I was quite suprised to be disappointed by the movie. It was ok, and the fight scene choreography was stunning, but the film did a poor job of characterization (particularly of the villainous Jade Fox) and none of the characters seemed to have earned their superhuman fighting technique. While the harnesses that enabled the stunts were skillfully erased, the flying leaps and "Singing in the Rain"-style wall running were so obviously the result of wires--most of the time the characters looked like they were being picked up, not jumping under their own steam--that in many cases the fight scenes actually detracted from my enjoyment of the movie. A shame, because the scenery, sets and characterization appeared to be as authentic as they were beautiful, and the actors involved are very fine and do a perfectly decent job of their work.

Ah well.

I'm back to Seattle tomorrow for the week... After three weeks of holidays (easy on the system but hard on the pocketbook) I'm just about ready to sink my teeth into some work again. I only hope there's enough to keep me busy!
posted by Tom at 2:36 AM | link | (0) comments

Web site for the day: www.inpassing.org. Absolutely hilarious.

Here's a sample:
'"You totally could, though. I talked to my roommate's boyfriend on icq for like half an hour once, and he totally thought I was her."
"And to think 5 minutes ago I wasn't terrified of you."
--A girl and a guy outside Ben & Jerry's '
posted by Tom at 10:36 AM | link | (0) comments

Happy New Millennium!

If you know about this page, then you probably also know about my new email addresses. Here they are:

work@tomleslie.ca goes to my work account. Which officially belongs to my employer, so they can read my emails, although there's no particular reason they should.
home@tomleslie.ca goes to my desktop at home. At the moment, a lot of junkmail goes to that account so I will probably continue to only read the mail there on the weekends.
tom@tomleslie.ca goes to an internet email address that I'm hoping to be able to read on the road. It's probably the best bet for personal emails.
cell@tomleslie.ca goes to my cell phone. I get charged $$ if I get too much email there, but the occasional note, reminder, invitation or whatever is very welcome.
shop@tomleslie.ca is what I'm going to give to vendors, to collect all of my account info, etc. I imagine it will also collect a whack of junk mail.

As you can see, I'm enjoying my new domain!
posted by Tom at 10:27 AM | link | (0) comments