The uncertainties and thrills of new directions

I realised today that I will be finishing up my current work round in just two weeks. Of course I knew this, but it has become real as we tried to squeeze things into this last short period.

I have mentioned before that I have been doing some project work. Back in early July in A blessed sense of relief I said in a post:

Yesterday as I walked through the city crowds I felt a blessed sense of relief. I had had to go into the city for a meeting, and then managed to squeeze in coffee with Noric. As I walked round looking at the people and buildings I gawked, just as I had all those years ago when Sydney was still fresh.

The relief came from the fact that I had resolved some things that had worried me. The renewed interest in things about me was linked to this, giving me a capacity to look at things anew.

The relief came from my decision that some work that I had been doing was at a natural end point. In turn, this gave me the capacity to look at the world afresh.

Since then, things have been a bit of a whirl as I have tried to transfer my knowledge to others.

Six more workshops round the state, writing up technical material, thinking about the next stage of the project so that others can carry it forward. Then in the next two weeks I am doing two more workshops, a train-the trainer session plus a training session for those who will be responsible for managing the help desk.

You will see why the fact that I am finishing has become somewhat submerged in the activity! Those who are interested will get a feeling for all this from posts I wrote while on the road in the first workshop round:

• A tired boy
• Diary of a travelling trainer - day one: Sydney, Tamworth, Grafton
• Diary of a travelling trainer - day two: Grafton, Sydney

This project has certainly brushed up my training skills. Delivering training in a new subject area where you may be the subject expert but still have to write material from scratch is always a challenge, as is the need to make sure as best one can that those you are training can actually do what is required. With two fixed go-live dates in a short time horizon, the project's success depends upon people's ability to do.

In all the activity I have not had time to properly address next steps.

I have been the primary child care for much of the last twelve years. As a consequence, I have chosen to work a lot from home. I mined this experience in another post, Teleworking - a personal perspective.

While there were costs, one was a degree of professional isolation, I gained much in terms of closeness to my daughters. The constant structure of kid's activities and the need to have meals on the table also provided its own structure.

All this has come to a a natural end. As I write my wife is in Melbourne on work, youngest is working. I think eldest will be home for tea after she finishes coaching, but I am not sure. She is home as I write, but not for tea.

After twelve years, I find the withdrawal of the old regime a tad unsettling. I recognise that it is also an opportunity, but I still feel a sense of loss. So I am in fact dealing with two changes, one a change in work direction, a second a change in personal life.

One thing that I am determined to do in this next phase is to maintain my writing, while building on the personal and professional base it has created.

Over the last two years I have been able to use my writing and especially my blogging to generate new ideas, to consolidate my existing thoughts. It has also opened some new worlds for me, new things that I can do.

The exact form of what I might do may still be unclear, but it's actually all very exciting.