Wood association games

A few months after IBM acquired Rational, in October of 2003, I attended IBM's Basic Blue manager program in Armonk, New York. It was an intense week of training in not only policies and procedures, but also in guidelines for best practices for managers. Prior to the program, the people who worked for me filled out questionnaires about my management style. I don't recall the details of the survey results. Let's just say there was plenty of opportunity for improvement. I'd done good work as an individual contributor and several people on the team valued my leadership, but, well, wouldn't mind a do-over or two.

A couple of months later, I learned that the group I was managing was being disbanded and I needed to find another job. After looking hard and wide, I wasn't able to find anything inside the company. I was laid off in the spring.

The management program had finished up mid-day on Friday so I arrived home in the late afternoon. We'd just had firewood delivered in the back yard, so I spent the hour or so before sunset stacking wood and thinking about what had gone on.

Since then, whenever I stack firewood at home or bring wood in from the back yard, I remember that afternoon in October when my career and I were parting company.