Just like that, a situation changes.

One moment you are unemployed, looking for work and communicating

with an ever widening network. Then you have a job and need to

report to work on Monday. Everything you wanted to do “soon” now

needs to finish by, oh, Sunday evening at the latest.

When I first started my job search, I

performed a little project management exercise using the iron

triangle to do tool selection. At the time it felt like a bit of a

waste; after all, I need to be out there networking more than I

needed to plot out database table structures. It takes a balance of

activity and work to keep moving in most situations, though, and a

bit of early work helped to keep me sane.

Now that work pays off. Over the last

month I’ve collaborated with over one hundred people in this search.

Each provided me with unique insights, opportunities, and assistance.

Each gave freely of their own time in an effort to help me receive

employment. Now I should let them know the fruit of everyone’s

involvement. This communication could have been extremely

complicated, especially if I wanted to customize each message.

Fortunately, though, my tools allow me to track people’s involvement

and the connections they brought to the table. What could have

become a nearly impossible task is instead a pleasure.

My job search was a small project.

However, the same effect manifests in projects large and small.

Small organizational steps early on keep things from falling apart

later on. A few minutes or hours spent on a seemingly trivial bit of

organization allow you to do something unexpected at the end. In

this case, it let me communicate clearly with the people who helped

me. On a project, it can prevent you from missing key elements or

important but quiet events as they occur.

I’ll post more on Monday. Until then,
it’s onward and upward and all that.