'Tis the Season

We are now into December and I can't believe it. Time flies when you're having fun (a.k.a. working). It seems like just yesterday I was still in college. The best part about December is clearly the delicious food and the holiday parties. The month is quickly getting filled up with travel plans, holiday work happy hours and celebrations. However, work goes on.

The project I am on has been extended until the end of December. I am pretty sure our client just has money to spend by year end so unfortunately I have become somewhat of a loaned staff person. What I am working on right now really isn't rocket science, it's just the there are not enough full time resources at the client site for them to complete the work themselves. It seems quite preposterous to me that a client would pay so much money for consultants for work that isn't very difficult, but desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose.

Another notable observation is the absurd amount of meetings I have to go to every day. Some are actually productive but some are purely status meetings. It is important to have a project plan and track what people are doing, but enough is enough. I spend more time sitting around a conference room table than actually doing work. This leaves me feeling stressed that I won't have enough time to finish what I need to. Not fun.

With everyone taking off a lot of time for the holidays, December is likely to be a pretty unproductive month.