Week 1

At the end of week 1, this place is looking promising. I've accomplished most of the initial assessment that I need to function here. This is the kind of stuff that's fascinating when looking back in the months or dare I say years ahead. I've learned about most of the key individuals and their roles as well as the political landscape, management styles, and tools.

I won't comment on individuals here, but know that it seems the bases are covered to keep the place running, and that some key people will be missed if they leave. I still need to better understand the roles in the producer, marketing, sales and enterprise. Also, I'm still sitting in a cube well away from the Engineering or Ops teams, so I still have to make the effort to see others.

There are a set number of tools that I need to use on a regular basis, but none of them looks overly oppressing or just a pain to use. Thinking back to prior gigs, I can recall Lotus Notes, Reflection, Baan, outsourced Mail (with ridiculously small quotas) or the absence of tools that stand out. Here, I'll need to use one project management site, a wiki for dept tasks and documentation and status, bug tracking, site monitoring tool, and requirements management... actually, there are more that I know I'm missing.

There are some points that you realize what you've learned over the years, and comparing a new place with the prior workplaces exposes that. Glad that I've had the chance to work at both large and small companies and that at least up front it appears this place is the best of both worlds in that it's small and dynamic while having the large company backing.

Oh, and for fun, I joined the fantasy football league. More on that for sure!