Things have moved faster than I anticipated them:
I will be leaving the Institute one week earlier than planned, as the opportunity arose to join a project in its beginning. So from next week on, I won’t be working in Berlin anymore, rather in the greater Frankfurt (Main) area. Greater does mean that I do not simply hop on an airplane and go to Frankfurt, but I then have a one hour trip to the hotel in a rental car…. finishing with another thirty minute commute to the client site from the hotel. In other words: Logistics have just become more challenging.
To start it off, I’ll be attending a client workshop (my first client workshop! Yippieh!) on Monday. Monday morning 8:30. Which means taking the flight on Sunday evening. Which sucks. Fortunately, this is not a regular timeslot for workshops, so that I should be able to leave Monday morning most of the time.
So I will leave the Institute, which makes me a bit sad, I have to admit - because the people here are great, and the general mood is so upbeat, although everybody is working their a** off - I mean, come on, it is past 3am and I am still in the office). Before that, of course, the current assignment has to be completed (this is why I am still awake). Back to work.
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Another two-week assignment delivered to the customer - this is fun! Honestly, although it is tough hours and demanding work, it really makes me happy. A good chunk of it is the environment - the colleagues mostly. Boy, I know that every recruiting website says that their people are the nicest and brightest and ladida… but here, they are not only nice and bright, they are people I like and some of them could well turn into friends over time. That’s a big deal for me, and I really appreciate it.
Adding to the good mood: Yesterday we went on a team event - my five colleagues and the two leads. We did a three hour introduction to improvisational theatre - that was awesome! The course was conducted by a professional actor who is playing impro for years now, and he got us to do all kinds of things - mostly being spontaneous, developing and continuing a train of thought, finding associations… we went through all kinds of exercises, all of them really fun. We worked really well together - the coach did not want to believe that we all know each other just from a few weeks to a few days. I am happy to be in an environment where, when it comes to play, hierachy really is not played, and I had terrible fun with my folks here.
Looking into the weekend: This is gonna be gooood! Tine came back from Marokko yesterday, so there will be lots of stories to tell and pictures to see. Oh, and of course: Serious relaxing to do! Maybe I’ll even get to go for a run - I was a good boy this week and spend the lunch break on Tuesday and Thursday running through the Tiergarten here in Berlin, so this might expand to the weekend 
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On Saturday, the best news reached my: Say hello to Finn, the child of Dani and Felix! He was born on the 12th, and looks as sweet as just a new born can. Congratulations to the parents! Finn is a lucky guy - born into a great family, including an “older” brother who I am sure will be a very proud brother as well!
In the light of these events, my day at work was the most trivial thing of the world - but it was a fun day nontheless, and I got myself a nice Junior Suite in our regular hotel… which has a downside: I cannot see the TV from the shower! I know, I know, first-world problems they are
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What matters right now?
Getting some sleep. Definitely. I am pretty tired, yesterday was long. All in all the week in Berlin was good: Three new people on the team, two new leads (=coaches/bosses), new assignments, lots of fun. But work is work, and work sometimes is quite time consuming
What else matters? The small good moments. Laughing with my colleagues. Receiving a letter from my godfather in the mail when I came home today. Finding great ideas on how to present data (Edward Tufte). Watching the sun set over Berlin from the 10th floor.
As Tine is in Marokko, it is a work/xbox/books weekend for me - I have quite a long list of books to read here, and while I am at it, I could finally finish organizing the library (just in case that boredom REALLY hits)
Hey there!
GTD in consulting - well, doesn’t that sound like an interesting proposition!
Unfortunately, I just had the idea to write such an article. Today, I presented GTD for my colleagues, and they quite liked it (did it old school with a flipchart, that was fun), so I might try and look for specific applications in the consulting life.
Anyhow, this week was crazy, this is why I did not post. I took over part of an existing assignment on Monday night, and since then is has been an intensive ride. I had to get into the topic, up to speed, see what has been done, what needs to be done, and so forth… luckily, both the colleague I worked with and the colleague whose part I took over were very helpful and enabled me to find my place - still, transaction cost was high, and so the hours were long… my toughest week so far, but rewarding as well: Our lead valued our efforts, and today we can deliver a good final result to our customer, which means that I can start the weekend with no open loops and a fresh mind 
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