1:30 AM... Revisited

5:00 PM

Ahh... What a difference 15 hours can make!!!

Big day today in many aspects.
Short Story: I'm going to the Six Sigma training next week!!!

Now the smaller ramifications in list form

1. My Plant Manager: I've been on the fence about my new plant manager in Mobile. At times he's seemed genuinely involved in the plant and the people who run it, while other times he's seemed more concerned with how his bosses view his plant. This is obviously a trade off with all managers, but my plant manager in Blooming Prairie who clearly stood behind his plant at all costs, generally not caring how his own bosses felt. Not to name names, but I've also heard of a manager at another site of our company who blatantly is known to put the safety of his own site second to corporate interests. Like I said, I've always been on the fence as to where Tom sits on the spectrum, but he earned points today... I won't reiterate the discussion about Six Sigma training from my last post, go read it if you need a refresher. Apparently it had an effect on Tom though, because today he came into my office and asked if I'd be capable of making it to the training if he pushed to get me in. I told him I could, and within 90 minutes came the email I couldn't get after a month of trying... I was registered in the training. I'd imagine there was some resistance to expanding the training at the eleventh hour, but it means a lot that someone fought that fight for me.
2. My Project: ...or rather lack thereof. For those unfamiliar with the Six Sigma process, certification requires you to apply Six Sigma methodology to a specific project, and you should have this project begun before starting the training. My boss and I had tentatively looked at a project, but planned to develop it further when I officially had a training time for Six Sigma set up. That meant that the four hours between when I found out I would be going to training and everyone leaving for the weekend became very, very stressful. It gets worse...
3. Goodbye Training Wheels: I didn't know this until today, but my boss took today off. Also, the only Six Sigma Blackbelt (err... in training) left around the same time I got the good news for a two week trip to Europe. This means I had almost none of the support I needed to prepare a project charter, especially assuming my project was nothing more than a vague idea (and after some analysis, a bad, vague idea). Basically I wound up developing a totally new project with the help of another of our engineers. It will be a good project to use for six sigma, though. My boss got a quick phone call with which to OK it.
4. Homework: I need to develop a powerpoint of my project, to be presented on Monday. Better get started...

All said and done, not a bad day. I get to see the Zemans tomorrow.

Life is good

-Mark