The Working Girl: Blog #4 My new reputation as Choco-Monster

I was sorta dreading today, as there might be some fallout from my tough stance in the meeting last Friday.

But I guess it worked. Sort of. But I don't know how to feel about it. Everyone seemed a little over-solicitous. I mean, everyone in the team greeted me Good Morning today - several said "good morning, boss," or chief, or ma'am, or something like that. Well, I guess I had no choice - don't know enough to be the chummy boss, so I guess I had to settle for the by-the-book boss.

I didn't wear a suit today, but I did wear a nice outfit - ivory silk blouse, a brown front-pleated above-the-knee tartan skirt, dark tights and high-heeled pumps. I thought to be a bit dressy today coz it's a Monday (I read that somewhere).

The three team leads made excuses to meet with me individually. I asked them to come back at ten so the four of us could meet together. (Actually, the truth was, I also needed the time to review the customer requirement documents. heehee).

We assigned areas - one of the all-girl teams was gonna be in charge of documentation, testing and QA, the all-guy team (under "Mr. Personality") would be in charge of design and specs writing, and the other all-girl team and mine will be in charge of user interviews and data gathering (I would be calling the client to set up meetings for the whole of this week, and maybe next).

The three of them were full of questions, and though I answered as best I could (good thing I reviewed the requirements...), I couldn't answer most of their questions, and I got real adept at saying "what do you think?" real quick. But I think I fooled them enough coz the meeting went well, and we ended the meeting positively. Looks like I really need to meet with the client.

I also got asked by my boss to meet up because she wanted to ask how my meeting went last week. When I went in, I was a bit shocked because the other unit heads were there, too. Apparently it was the weekly Monday meeting with the boss. I didn't know about these meetings since they were for active projects only, and I only got my project last week.

Anyway, everyone briefed the boss about their projects' status, and when it was my turn...

After I finished my report, I found out that I made a booboo (well, not exactly). In last week's meeting, I had split my group into functional teams and had already assigned work. Usually, the managers would do this only after a week or two after the project's kick-off meeting (my boss assumed that our meeting-slash-lunch-out last Friday was the kick-off meeting, and I didn't dissuade her from that impression). The upshot of it was was that I did a few things a bit prematurely. I mean, no one told me about these things...

Anyway, even so, my booboos seemed to have impressed the boss and my peers, as I got a lot of "good work," as well as hugs and slaps-on-the-back after the meeting. The only downside is that the boss gave my team four months instead of the contracted six. Truth was, my team leads had estimates of four months as well, but maybe we were being overly optimistic.

My boss and us managers went out for lunch, which I learned was what they usually did after every Monday meeting. Since I was new, the boss paid for my lunch, also the usual thing that they did.

When we got back, the boss gave me a little congratulatory hug and a whispered "good work" before she went into her office.

I met with my team leads and told them the news, and for them to break it to their respective teams gently. They were a little disappointed that we weren't gonna get the two-month breathing room, but I said I think we can do it. I was surprised that it actually cheered them up a bit.

I was planning to leave at five today, but most of my guys were still at their terminals doing pre-work. I looked at the terminals of some of the guys, and was happy that they were starting to make workflow templates already, and the girls were already making document templates, as well as chopping up documentation work into functional sets. I heard that it was Mr. Personality's doing - seems he got copies of project templates from some previous projects, and the teams were sorta copy-pasting chunks of them into versions for our project. It wasn't against any company rules or practices, but it seems no one's thought of doing this kind of thing in an organized way. No surprise - our unit's not ISO nor CMMI-certified, and no standard templates were available.

I went to Mr. Personality's desk, and, in front of his team, I said thanks, and told him good work. And I should start calling him something other than Mr. Personality...

Y'know, overall, objectively, being a girl is more fun (just my own point of view, of course), but it's better to be a girl and have authority at the same time. It's true, girls are objectified, get more condescension and are overlooked more (I get touches of that everyday), but if you're the boss, that's not the case - talk about having your cake and eating it, too. And this is very apparent in the fixed hierarchy of an office environment. But then again, there's alway someone higher in the totem pole and they'll let you know it, especially if you're a girl. *sigh*

And, when you're a girl, you always get the creepy so-and-sos that keep staring at you or your legs or or something while they think you're not looking. And it's ten times more awkward in the office because you have to work with these people. Wouldn't mind much if it was a friendly sort, or a cute guy or girl doing the staring...

I decided not to leave the office yet while most of my guys were still working. Hence, I'm still here. One of the girls saw me in my office and came by with a little paper cup of hot chocolate from the vending machines. I was touched. Also, some of the others have been leaving chocolate bars on my desk (I got a Hershey bar, a little bag of Hershey Kisses and a couple of Snickers bars, though I ate one of the Snickers bars already). Don't know how, but seems I've acquired a reputation as a chocolate monster (sort of like Cookie Monster, but with chocolate instead). My boss came by to say goodnight, and to peek into my team. I gave her the Hershey bar.

All in all, I thought it was a good day today. Most of the others have already gone so I'll be leaving for home in a bit. Btw, I got a spanking-new lavender-and-black wheelie backpack-bag which I bought yesterday (as well as some other stuff). Am not really ok carrying a lot of stuff around so I got a new bag with a handle n wheels. And no, Pip, I do not look like a stewardess. ;-)

http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/blog/bobbie-c
http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/14775/roberta-j-cabot