Geographically distant teams

My workday yesterday was been bookended by Skype calls. 

The first was a monthly editorial meeting with the executive editor of Japan Harvest. Most it is a meeting that gives us accountability with regards to bigger-picture stuff related to the magazine and communications with the organisation who publishes it (Japan Evangelical Missionary Association). The call only spanned about 9 km, but allows both of us to work from home with no commuting time or cost.

The second call was to the UK, with a member of OMF's International Communications team. She was providing support to me in my role as part of the mobilisation team for OMF Japan. She taught me a new techie trick to use with my social media role.

Both these calls were very useful and extremely convenient. Not to mention time- and cost-efficient.

Over the last seven years I've become an experienced geographically distant team-member. I didn't know this term until I went to a workshop in Bangkok last year and spent a week learning about teams. I was puzzled at the time because the teams I'm involved in are quite different to the face-to-face ones they were talking about, so I did some research and discovered a the term "geographically distant team" (also known as geographically dispersed/distributed, remote, or virtual team). In this world of increasingly fast internet speed, the sorts of teams I'm a part of are increasingly common. Teams where the members work from their homes, or from locations that aren't favourable for regular commuting.

Below I've pasted part of an assignment I researched and wrote following the above mentioned workshop (which was called Project Timothy 3). I wrote it before the mobilisation team of OMF Japan was formed formally, so that team is not mentioned. 

If you're working on such a team, you may find it useful (sorry, it's a bit longer than my usual blog posts).

Project Timothy 3 focused on understanding teams and how to best help them work, but the type of teams the course focuses on is teams that work closely together, they see one another often, and are in the same geographical location. The team that I am most involved in is a geographically distant team. We produce a magazine, Japan Harvest, for missionaries in Japan, but do it from our own homes. Our team lives in several prefectures in Japan and two other countries. So for this assignment I sought to understand geographically distant teams better and then took a look at my own team, at what’s working for us and what needs some attention.

What are they?

Geographically distant teams are increasingly prevalent in this world as companies and organisations take advantage of the technology available to them to connect teams in ways that has never been possible before.  A broader term that’s used more frequently is “virtual teams”. They are groups of individuals not physically in the same place but united by a common goal.

Wikipedia defines a virtual team as “A group of individuals who work across time, space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology.”

Powel, Piccoli, and Ives define virtual teams as “groups of geographically, organizationally, and/or time dispersed workers brought together by information and telecommunication technologies to accomplish one or more organizational tasks.” (http://www.managementstudyguide.com/virtual-team.htm)

Virtual teams communicate predominantly by the use of technology and may never meet. In some cases they have cultural, language, time zone, and ethnicity differences also.

Some virtual teams are temporarily formed to accomplish a set or limited task.  Teams aren’t necessarily from the same organization, are frequently topic-specific and dissolved after the completion of the task. Some teams are formed with specialists for the purpose of making recommendations, other teams have more powers to effect change and make decisions. Some virtual teams are set-up to outsource specialist tasks, like software development.

Where do you find them?

“Today it isn't uncommon for companies to have as many as 50% of their employees working on virtual teams” (http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/27807/Virtual-teams-are-different).

You can find them everywhere, from multimillion dollar companies to small business, and even in mission. NASA uses virtual teams to run space missions. Whirlpool developed the chlorofluorocarbon-free refrigerator using a virtual team. You see them in customer service support, consulting firms, management teams in national and international companies, and offshore teams for software development.

OMF International has many virtual teams. For example, the Field Leadership team in Japan—the members live in Tokyo, Tohoku, and Sapporo. One member is currently on home assignment. They sometimes meet in person, but many of their communications are via email, phone, and Skype. Another virtual team on our field this year was the Field Conference planning team. This is an example of a team that came together for a specific purpose for a short period of time.

How do they work?

There are different types of teams. Variables include: purpose of the team, whether members are from the same company or multiple companies, and the length of the project.  Some teams regularly meet, for example, the TED tech team has 29 members spread across several US states and two other countries, they meet via videoconferencing every week, as well as in person every three to four months (http://blog.ted.com/8-tips-for-virtual-collaboration-from-teds-tech-team/). Other teams meet less often or never at all.

A friend of mine in Australia works for a Christian organization called Scripture Union, that especially reaches out to school students. My friend supervises chaplains in schools across a wide geographical region. She periodically drives for several days visiting them at their place of work, and they periodically gather together at conferences. But she told me that the most meaningful thing they do to promote team unity and productivity is meeting weekly via Skype for time of reading the Bible and sharing and praying for one another.

Advantages?

Virtual teams: 

• save money,
• allow people with necessary gifts to contribute regardless of their location,
• can be more efficient,
• are more flexible to meet needs,
• can work at times that suit them best,
• individual team members have more control over where they work,
• they save time wasted on commuting, and
• at times it means that they can make decisions faster.

Disadvantages:

• Essential technology can be expensive and can break down.
• Trust is hard to build and easy to break.
• Collaboration is difficult to manage.
• Conflict can more easily arise from misunderstandings that come with a lack of the non-verbal cues that are part of face to face communication.
• Members may feel isolated and lack the motivation that being physically with a team can provide.
• Self-discipline is a must for a well-functioning team.
• Not being in an office can be less productive.
• Communication in general can be more difficult.

Specific challenges these teams face?

• Building trust.
• Managing collaboration
• Avoiding and resolving conflict.
• Accountability.
• Team spirit and motivation.
• Finding ways to meet.

Are you  a part of a geographically distant team? How do you make it work?

Baking and a new work-station

We're getting back into school-time routine. One was me baking on the weekend. During the summer, with our boys sleeping longer and not doing sports, we discovered they ate less snacks, so less baking was required. However we're back to sports and early rising, so snacks are back. 

Last week I made a recipe called "Spotty Cake" and just saying the title has the power to make my boys go weak at the knees. I don't think it is warranted that kind of honour, but I can't dispute the evidence. (Here's the recipe, I included it in a post a few years ago.)

As you can see, it's nearly finished, so I made Fat Mama Cookies this afternoon (and no, I don't like the name, but they are yummy, basically chocolate chip biscuits with powdered oats included).

Thanks to my wonderful husband, I've also had a work-station change over today.

From this:

To this:

I've worked from the first desk for more than a decade now, but as I've been hoping for a couple of years to find something a bit wider, but not actively looking. It's not easy to find something that fits the space available and yet can accomodate the laptop, printer, and a second screen (the second screen is very handy when I am very often working between two documents at the same time). It just so happened that someone at school heard that someone else was giving away this desk and my husband's ears pricked up.

I've done a bit of work here this afternoon and like the wider desk. But in order for it to work, I think I need a separate keyboard with a touch pad, because sitting on the side at the laptop and twisting my head to the big screen isn't going to work long-term. Does anyone have a good recommendation (for a Mac computer) that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

What's been going on in our house this week?

It's been head-down for me here as I try to get everything vital done in my various roles before we go away on our summer holidays on Friday.

This time last year we'd already begun
our epic camping tour. This year's holiday
will include less camping, but we will,
Lord willing, get three nights under
canvas at a lake up north.

I've been:

• doing final checking of the Summer issue of Japan Harvest magazine
• working on content for the new OMF Japan website (due for launch August 4)
• working on acquiring and producing blog posts that will feed content onto the above website (and you know how addicted I am to blogging—it's been a bit difficult to focus on anything else)
• learning new software: Wordpress.org in order to do the above
• editing articles for my writing critique group, and for the Autumn issue of Japan Harvest
• chasing up articles that are late for the Autumn issue
• editing my own writing for several different sources

So yes, really all text- and computer-based. My dream is that one day I might be able to ease into going away, rather than work to the last minute and pack with my head only half on what's to come, but mostly on what's not quite finished!

David's been at school for part of most days. He's been doing things at his desk, while simultaneously providing access to the robotics room so that some scouts can tidying it up before the new school year, a service project, I'm told.

The boys are all very relaxed, going to bed late and getting up late. Sometimes hanging out with friends, but generally quietly doing things at home. Really very different to when they were younger. This morning both David and I left before anyone got up. I went to a coffee shop to work and David to school. It's very different, this stage of not having to have someone at home to supervise every moment.

Last night we enjoyed hanging out over a BBQ with nearby friends before we each leave town on our respective summer holidays. It's real bliss to have the freedom to do that on a Monday night!

We've also had a heat-wave come through these last couple of days. Up till now the temperatures have been in the mid to high 20s (Celsius) most of the time. But since the weekend it's been low to mid 30s, with high humidity. It was 32C in our bedroom last night when we went to go to bed. I bailed and we slept on our air mattress in the air conditioned lounge (we don't have functional air con in the bedrooms). That was after a bad sleep on Sunday night. The night started out at 30C and was down to only 28C by the morning.

These temperatures this early in the season are unusual, but it won't be long before it gets that hot and stays that hot until late August or mid September. It's a dilemma as to whether I dislike a Tokyo summer or winter more.

Now, though, it's raining. I'm guessing that the heat has broken for the time being.

Job changes

It's unusual for me to spend most of Saturday at the computer, but that's exactly what I've done today. Thankfully we're going out this evening for a BBQ with American/Canadian friends, so I'll get plenty of social interaction there. And some cultural appreciation, apparently, they've been wanting to invite us over for months now, keen to show us how they do BBQs.


One of the things I did this morning was send out our prayer letter. If you'd like a copy, please email me. But here are some snippets from it that talk a little bit about how our jobs are changing (yes, the first section is written in third person, as is most of the newsletter, so that our readers don't think it is just my letter).

Mobilisation in mission

This lady, Heather, is visiting Japan from the UK OMF office.
She has professional experience in website design and using
social media to promote companies. I was at a meeting with
her all day on Wednesday as we sorted out details on this
new website and blog.

One of the jobs of an OMF missionary is mobilisation. All of us are expected to mobilise people to pray for mission (hence our prayer letters and deputation on home assignments), but also to mobilise people to be more involved in mission in other ways, including going as missionaries. OMF Japan has an initiative at present called 200 by 2020. We’re praying for 200 missionaries in Japan by 2020 (a mixture of long-term and medium-term missionaries). That’s about 50 or so more than we currently have, so obviously there’s work to be done.

Wendy has taken on the role of OMF Japan mobilisation content manager. Which means that she’s been acquiring and editing content for the new OMF Japan website (to be launched in mid-August). A big part of the content of the website will be an OMF Japan blog that Wendy is developing, managing, and editing. We’re hoping to have fresh material up at least once a week. Stay tuned for the details. If you’re a Facebook friend of Wendy or David you should see links to the new blog appearing there soon.

Over the past decade or so Wendy’s also produced a small Japan prayer calendar that OMF missionaries have used to mobilise prayer within their own support base. This year it has become cost prohibitive, so Wendy is now developing one or two other publications that missionaries can use for mobilisation.

Our field leader in mobilisation, the wife of our former field director, has been on compassionate leave since early April, so we’ve struggled to keep going, but thankfully we have regained some momentum. 

It’s a lot of work on top of what Wendy’s already doing, pray for wisdom in use of time, especially during these 11 weeks when boys are on holidays (her office is our living area).

Leadership is Learning (CAJ corner by David)

I am always learning something, whether it is a new piece of technology, or a new batch of student names, and all the personalities that go with them. This coming year will be spent learning more about leadership.

My new role at CAJ includes a large percentage of helping others do their jobs well. To do that, I will need to understand my colleagues better: what are their goals, what are their desires, fears, strengths, and shortcomings. 

Leadership in God’s kingdom centres on serving, rather than commanding. I have learnt over the years that this involves listening and seeking to understand. In Jesus’ grace I hope to do that well for the people under my care this year. Thankfully, will have others to help me, including my predecessor in this role.

Pray for the school as there a number of job shuffles. Nearly 20 of us are doing something a little different next year!

  

Share my world #3

Camping and photography combined last summer!
Taken at sunrise at Lake Biwa.

I slipped off the wagon with this one. It's been a month since I last responded to the prompt. Here are this week's questions and answers:

What do you do when you’re not working?

I could write an essay on this, but my simple answer is: Read, watch DVD episodes, play word or card or other simple games on my phone, crafting, coffee with friends, riding my bike, photography, camping.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

I don't play the lottery, but if someone gave me a significant amount of money above and beyond what we needed, I might buy my first house or apartment in Australia. I'd probably also use some to support other missionaries.

What makes you laugh the most?

Yikes, that's hard. Possibly irony?

What is your biggest pet peeve with modern technology?

That I don't understand it well enough to fearlessly fix it myself when things go wrong with something like email that I use on a daily basis for my work.

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I'm grateful that the regular school year has finished for everyone now. 
I'm doing something unusual on Sunday, taking a couple of friends to visit a church plant run by OMF colleagues in Yokohama.

This prompt comes from Cee's Photography blog. 

Summer holidays guidelines (2017 edition)

Last year around this time I posted about our family's "Summer Holiday Guidelines". It worked fairly well last year, so we're doing it again. Hopefully now they're one year older we'll see an even better response.

Here are our revised guidelines:

Working from a home-corner

My home office-corner

I usually work from my desk at home, in the corner of our dining room. There are many things accomplished from the little computer desk in my dining room. 

But it's a question I'm often asked: do you have an office, do you often go down to the JEMA office downtown to work? Well no. The only time I go downtown is like today, when a magazine is ready to post out, and that is only four times a year. 

As I type this on my phone on the way into the office, I'm standing on a crowded train with sniffs and occasional coughs. I am glad that my commuting most days is minimal. Even though my house is chilly, this is a very convenient arrangement and gives me lots of flexibility in how I use my time and allows me to be available for my family when they need me most of the time. It also has a better view than either the JEMA office or the OMF office.

The city office of the organisation that publishes the
magazine. Of course my work from home doesn't
just encompass this editing work, I have a number
of roles, most of the others are related to OMF or CAJ
or are our own news/prayer letter or my own writing.

My boys understand that I work from home, but sometimes I don't think what that means fully registers. Because my computer is in the dining room it is hard for me to work once they're home (although not as hard as it used to be). So the arrangement isn't perfect. School holidays are tricky. So are days when I haven't finished what I wanted or needed to get done before they come home from school. 

Yesterday I wrote about 35 emails during the course of the day. I had not quite finished a couple of important ones when two boys came home. My youngest, who is only just getting used to his own email, watched over my shoulder as I typed. I mentioned to him it had been a high volume email day and he said, "Yeah, while I've been watching you've already written two!"

I never thought I'd work willingly from home  because I grew up in a house that also housed my parents' electrical contracting business. Them working nights and weekends in the office doing paperwork was common, even normal. I never wanted that. 

Yet then I became an aspiring missionary and was working nights and weekends to raise awareness of what we believed God had called us to do. After nearly two years of that we flew to Japan and both began full-time language study while taking full time care of our very active toddler. Guess what? We were working nights and weekends. Then another boy was born while still at language school and the pattern continued.

Life as a stay-at-home mum took up the next few years and I was working at home because that was where my kids needed me. It's how I got into the writing/editing business, because I could do that from my home computer corner.

So, now the boys are all at school and have been for a few years now, I'm still working from home, and liking it. I do, though, have my rules. I generally don't do housework (except for grocery shopping and sometimes putting the slow-cooker on) when they're all at school and I try to confine my computer work to school hours. I also try not to do work in the evenings, if at all possible.

I am an extrovert (or ambivert, explanation here), so I do need my times out of the house with adults. I get that mostly by meeting friends for coffee and going to school and mission prayer meetings. As I wrote earlier, I also get a lot of email interaction (and social media, to tell the truth), that helps tame the extrovert beast in me. I get antsy if I can't spend face-to-face time with one or more adults after a day or two, though.

How about you? Do you have experience at working from home base? How did you like it compared to going to a work-place/s?

Tip toeing through the forest of parenting in an electronic age

Today's the first day of the Christmas/summer holidays for our boys. We're trialling a new strategy. This is what the boys found when they finally got to the breakfast table:

Knowing that our boys can whip up a storm of nitpicking at the words and rules, we've deliberately kept it simple and generous to start with. It's generated some interesting discussion, especially, "We think that unlimited is too much screen time."

I countered with, "I did modify it with 'virtually'! But our goal is to help you do some self-management here." 

We don't want to be spending the holidays with stopwatches in our hands and be fighting constantly over how long they spend on electronic devices. We also want them to begin to self-limit.

Note that as I type at 9.46am, all the above jobs have been done and the boys have gone out for a jog/ride together. No protesting, no problems!

Note also that we'll be taking them to 1 ½ hrs of wrestling training this evening, and insisting on electronic-free reading/rest time after lunch.

We've limited their access to electronic things much more in the past. Usually they get half an hour each on Saturday and Sunday (with only a little more on holidays). And TV is rarely on for more than 45 minutes in a day (except when the cricket is on). 

But with our eldest (15) buying his own tablet three months ago, the balanced has shifted a little. We haven't restricted his time on his own tablet except when homework wasn't getting done, or other important tasks. I'm not sure if we were wise or not. Like all parents of our age, this is new. We're tip toeing through territory that didn't exist when we were young.

But with the younger two having school iPads next year and our oldest having a "Bring your own device", things are about to get more complicated. So, we continue to tip toe.

Christmas in August?

Yesterday it seemed that it was unexpectedly Christmas in August at our house. 

Internet connection
We'd had this "internet connectivity" issue that we'd been waiting to be fixed ever since we arrived in this house six weeks ago. In fact we'd been working on getting connected for some time before that, but it just seemed to be one disappointment after another. So, for the last six weeks we've been functioning with a mobile dongle in an area of poor receptivity. 

Through that, though, we were learning a good deal of patience and adaptability. We were working on nice days outside on our patio, which was the only area near our house where we could get reliable internet. 

The latest as far as we knew, was that we had an appointment on the 17th of September. We'd pretty much resigned ourselves to many more weeks of mobile dongle inconvenience.

Yesterday, though, David unexpectedly had a phone call while I was riding with the boys to school, which went something like this:

"Hi, I'm from NBN. Sorry I've been away on holidays, can I come around and see what needs doing?"

It turns out he and another worker came around and did everything we needed to connect up to the national broadband and hey presto, we've got internet everywhere in our house!

The internet arriving marks the last of our "big" things to do for settling here in Australia, so it is a relief to have that completed. 

New computer
At the same time as they were working on connecting us up to national broadband, David was having a second go at transferring all our data to our new computer that arrived last Thursday afternoon. Our first attempt, on Friday and Saturday, had failed after hours of trying.

Yesterday, though, in under two hours our new computer was up and running and I'm typing on it now. After more than a year of sluggish, sometimes unreliable or quirky computer issues, I now have one that is working fast and reliably. It's delightful!

New book

That's my hand!

During all the above exciting events, I was shopping for weekly groceries. As I loaded supplies into our green van I received an anonymous text:

"The books have arrived."

After a bit of back and fro texting, I figured out that the 31 Days of Prayer for Japan books had finally arrived in Brisbane. Our state director brought 50 copies to our door later that afternoon, so I now have them in my hands! I'm going to have fun promoting these. Message me if you'd like one. They are AUD$4 (plus $1.40 postage within Australia).

Inside the booklet.
I wrote the article on the righthand page and one other page. The rest
of it I edited closely, with the help of other people.

So excited about these, but also so tired. The weekend was big (Sunday we had our first deputation appointment at a church), and Monday's are always big with wrestling/gym/mobile dinner happening after school and into the evening. On top of that we have a family member visiting for a week. It's a joy to have her, but I do admit to being tired.

It's four and a half weeks until we go on two weeks holiday: camping and visiting family. In that time we have quite a bit to do, including a big national conference for our mission next weekend (29-31). We'll be very ready for a rest by time our holidays come.

Life in the Digital Age*

What is "the digital age" and when did it start? 
That is the question that I first wanted to know before writing about this. This is an extract

from Wikipedia (Digital Revolution page):

1980[edit]

• Cell phone subscribers: 11.2 million ^[2]
• Internet users: All Internet users at this time were indexed in a phone book sized directory.

1990[edit]

• Cell phone subscribers: 12.4 million (0.25% of world population in 1990)^[3]
• Internet users: 2.8 million (0.05% of world population in 1990)^[4]

2002[edit]

• Cell phone subscribers: 1,174,000,000 (19% of world population in 2002)^[4]
• Internet users: 631 million (11% of world population in 2002)^[4]

2010[edit]

• Cell phone subscribers: 4 billion (67% of world population in 2010)^[5]
• Internet users: 1.8 billion (26.6% of world population in 2010)^[6

My entry into the digital age
Which makes me rather a late-comer to the digital age. I went to university in the early 1990s. The only reason I used a computer then was as a word processor. There were few computers in our residential college of something like 300 women. So I rarely used the computer, because it was stressful, scheduling-wise.

In my first job, starting 1995, I shared a computer with a colleague from another department. Again, we used the computer for writing reports, and recording work statistics. We had car-phones at work. My electrician dad had a 2-way radio for a long time so that my mum (who worked at the home office) could contact him about jobs while he was out.

The first computer I owned was my new husband's, when we married in 1997. At that time the only email access we had was at his work, so I'd type emails and save them to a disc that he took to work. The first time I saw the internet was in my new job that same year.

Sometime between then and 1999 we got dial-up internet access at home (a slow affair), and a computer that could manage it.

I didn't own a mobile phone until about 2006/7. In 2008 we bought our first iPod. When did we join Facebook? Was that also 2008? And the list goes on: our first digital camera, video camera, DVD player, iPhone, multiple lap-tops at home, etc.

My life now
Now I spend a lot of time on the internet. My job depends on it. I produce a quarterly magazine from my dining room. Email access is compulsory for missionaries. Almost all the communications without the mission are done via email or the internet.

Now we ponder such questions as, "What did we do before Google or YouTube or Skype?" and "How did we find someone in a crowded public space before we had mobiles?"

Just yesterday I wrote here about recruiting editing staff for Japan Harvest, using Facebook. In a Facebook-less world that would never have happened.

Despite having a mobile phone, I don't talk on the phone much anymore. I'd rather email, or text someone. (But I've never been confident with phones, now I'm even more out of practice.)

Pluses and minuses
The digital age has been a definite plus for those of us living overseas, we can keep in touch with those at home much more easily (and cheaply). But it does bring with it the temptation to not live fully where you are. To spend your time engaging in the virtual world of your home country, rather than immersing yourself in your surroundings.

It's brought convenience to our sons in being able to access the same documents at school and work, to be able to submit completed work digitally. But it has also brought many temptations for young ones with it. Temptations they aren't equipped to deal with: prioritising of time (in the face of the very addictive internet), the ease of access to unsuitable material, and the lack of privacy that can come with too much sharing of information.

One of the things I was really looking forward to in our camping trip up north was the absence of internet. I'm rather tied to it in my work. Just keeping up with email is quite a large daily job for me. It was refreshing to be away from it for the most part of a month, and it was hard to get back into it when we returned. But it did mean that I wasn't able to do my job, which was the point of a holiday. So yeah, I'm rather dependent on it now.

*This is in response to a writing prompt from here.

Unplugged parenting

Today I realised again how anti-screen our parenting style is. We actively discourage our boys from spending much time watching TV, or on computers. We don't only have strict guidelines on how much time they can spend on these things every day, we have actively encouraged them over the years to develop interests that don't need to be plugged-in. And we've never bought them toys that are screen-based.

This began quite young, when we restricted TV to only one hour at a time, and only at certain times of day. That's faded out as they've become busy at school. These days they don't usually watch TV during the week and only occasionally on the weekend. As the years have gone on, internet usage has been given rules too.

But I realised today that having more than one child is definitely an advantage in this regard. When a Japanese mum of a young teenager and only child asked (in regards to the upcoming coming three weeks break from school), "What will they do, if they can't be on the internet?" I had lots of answers, but some didn't apply to her.

Our boys will be out getting exercise, playing board games with each other, and playing with their Lego, NInjago, action figures etc. They'll also be reading and perhaps doing crafty things. I'll be asking them to help me cook meals too.

Our teenager has developed a number of non-plugged in hobbies/interests including: Rubics cube, collecting dice and manipulation puzzles, learning various knots, working out (for wrestling), logic puzzles, and he is a voracious reader. He's also recently been creating an Australian version of Risk in his spare time. This boy, of his own volition, has spurned Facebook, which, I believe, is where a lot of his friends (at least the girls) are spending their time.

One of the reasons we steer the boys away from the internet and from TV is that it cripples their creativity. It also produces behaviour that isn't very helpful. A few weeks back they developed an obsession with a internet based game. Their behaviour was disrespectful and they couldn't think about anything else except getting to play that game. I banned it for a week and things improved significantly around here. That obsession has faded, thankfully.

Our guys live life at a pretty high intensity, we don't need anything that will add to that intensity. I guess every parent has to figure out what works best in their family. We've found a pretty good balance for us. We'll see how that progresses as our boys get older.

Pre-holiday finalisation

I've just spent all day finalising things for Japan Harvest, the magazine I edit. It feels like I'm back in my "old" working days as an sole Occupational Therapist, where I had to "finish" things before I left for holidays and would find a mountain of stuff to do when I got back.

Difference here is that I have boys and a husband buzzing around in the background (because my office is our dining room), and that I have team members to whom I can off-load a certain amount of the work in my absence. The other difference is email and the Internet. Most of my work is done on the computer and I'll still be able to do a certain amount when I have Internet access in Australia.

But, the question is, "Will I want to?" Probably not. Especially if it pulls me away from other exciting people-events. Maybe if the people-events are boring . . .

And then there is the 15 days where I'll be driving in the Aussie Outback without much hint of  Internet access. I'm ready for a break. Bring it on!

Back to Japan Harvest, I'm excited about how it's going. I've been with the magazine now almost two years, but we've particularly made a lot of progress in the last six months. The new team that is forming is running well. We've got a Mission Statement and Job Descriptions are being written (the Job Description thing was big, so essential for working in a team and working to not step on other's toes or double up work). Processes that formerly were just in people's heads are getting written down and the editorial process is getting more refined. And so on.

It's been a big challenge, and continues to be a challenge, but one that I've been able to get my teeth into and enjoy. I'm looking forward to seeing our current issue in print. We've made some significant changes in how it looks. Our new production editor/designer has been working hard and it's looking great (at least I think so).

But for now I've spent too long at this here computer. Time to go and make my gluts do more than just sit on this seat. Off to the gym, then to make dinner with almost the last remains in the fridge. I think we'll be eating out tomorrow night, our last night before we fly.

Perspective on computer decisions

The hinge on my PC notebook is broken. But while I lie awake at night wondering whether to replace it with another notebook or a Mac (lying awake is not quite true), there are people who don't even have somewhere to sleep. Have a look here to see where some Tokyo-ites are sleeping these days!