I’ve been back on the job for a little over three weeks, returning from my sabbatical from Microsoft. A lot of folks ask me what it is like to be back and wonder how it is going though. So I thought I’d write a few paragraphs here to explain.
In many ways my return to my team reminds of a lot of a speeding locomotive. The locomotive is speeding down the tracks at over 100 miles per hour and I needed to get on.
Do I ask it to stop for me?
Nope.
My team accomplished a lot while I was gone and is on a solid path for execution. I needed to get back on board with that and not jeopardize anything. I had to trust the direction and move on with them. So upon my return I did the equivalent of perching on the top of a tunnel and making the leap onto the roof as the train passed. I barely made it, just grabbing the caboose. Pheww!
Over the past weeks I’ve been steadily making it from that caboose to the locomotive, getting updates on projects, understanding the direction and learning from my team. It has been very rewarding to see what people can do while I am gone reinforcing how strong of a team I have. As we near the end of my third week back I can safely feel I finally feel like I’ve made it to the front of the train and haven’t slowed down one bit.
It feels good and it is really good to be back.
Folks ask me other stuff too, like how many emails were in your inbox when you returned?
In my inbox alone there were over 2500 mails, even more in sub-folders I had created with certain rules for distribution lists. Upon my return I created a folder called “sabbatical”. I dragged all the mails into that folder and started fresh. I figured that if it was really important folks would send me mail again, or most likely my team would have looked after it. For the record I did not read or compose a single piece of Microsoft mail during my break.
or if I’ve made any changes in how you work?
Totally.
I feel much more focused upon my return, I am making a conscious effort to be involved at the right level with my team and their projects. This of course is a delicate balance. Beyond that I’ve become more of a morning person, coming into work around 7:00 am and working steadily until about 6:30 pm. I am doing my best not to do work email in the evening. It doesn’t mean I never will, but I want to focus it into the day as much as possible. Time for me to be successful both at home and at work, I know I can do both.
So with that its back to work and that focus which is filling a number of open positions on my team including a software developer position and two Evangelist roles as well (one for Channel 9 and another for Channel 10)
Lots going on, all aboard!
Photo credit: Kordite
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