Getting stuck on an idea is natural. It happens plenty of times both individually and organizationally. Why is that? I read someone both on this topic (and many more) that it really is a thinking problem; self inflicted. We think either too much or not enough.. You pick.. How do we move forward? How about we rethink how we think? Sounds funny, but really it is as simple as rethinking the usual suspects. Below I will list the ones that I have encountered…

• Scope…Insure that you have defined the problem well. Nothing worse than starting off with a problem statement that is over-defined or under-defined. You may have some ideas that just don’t fix the real problem or issue. Tighten that part up, every time.
• Complexity… I can not tell you how many times I believe that we have over-analzyed the situation or created issues where there were none or forgot our purpose. Time to keep the issues uncluttered and simple as possible. From time to time, have someone not close tho the issue look at it for you. Those different set of eyes could be very helpful. If there is no one, then ask yourself, “Am I making this bigger than it really is?” or ”What am I afraid of?”
• Ego… As the old saying goes, “Check your ego at the door.” We really love what we have done and it gets in the way of doing stuff differently. NIH (Not Invented Here). Too many times we are reworking the old and trying to convince ourselves it is the right thing to do. Still stuck and nothing is flowing.
• Failure… Fear of failure is a dangerous way to step out. That fear will cause you to do nothing. A long time ago, I had a senior manager that used a phrase, “There is Success in Failure.” At first, I thought he was nuts. After thinking about it, he made it clear that in every failure – there is some success. The success may come later – when you apply doing something differently. He said to keep failure in perspective. Is there a perfect person among us? I think not, failure happens – we are not perfect.
• Success… Definitely what true success looks like needs to happen at the beginning. What is it exactly want to end with. Helps to know when you have finally arrived. More importantly, it helps when you have clear expectations. It is that first step in moving forward. Set clear expectations.. Saves lots of time and effort in the beginning.

I believe that everyone can sit back and think of anything that they have worked on that went slowly or no where.. Think of why it was that way… Is there anything that fits in the buckets above? Is there something missing?

This was not an easy decision for many reasons. I have been working for Intel for over 28 years. During that time, I have grown up, learned a lot, raised my family, traveled to places I know I would not have traveled to and have met some amazing people. I have put in 28 years at one company. Something that in today’s world, just does not happen that often. I was 22 years old when I started, just out of college and was looking for some stability for me and my new family. I guess I found it.

For entertainment value, I thought I would put in the stuff that I will not miss…

• Meetings, Meetings, Meetings and more meetings – I hate to count up the hours that were spent in meetings. Sometimes we had meetings to prep for meetings. Sometimes we had post meetings on the meetings. In order to get work done – you had to schedule a meeting with yourself on your calendar.
• Email! I don’t know what has happened over the years, but email had become the number one way to communicate. Yes, it beat out meetings. Why? Because you usually got one to five emails around the meeting. The email’s I will not miss – did you get my voice mail (now our voice mails go to our inbox), those that come from the person that sits in the cube next to me,  reply to all blasts – asking to be removed from the distribution list and my all time favorite ones – an email asking if we can talk!
• Processes… To say that I have seen an increase in processes over the years – that is an understatement. Some are completely necessary, I get that. Others, well let’s say some people have jobs because of them.

I will miss stuff as well, like:

• The people! There are some amazing people that I have met, worked with and helped out over the years. Without them, I know I would not have had as much fun as I had. Would not have gotten much done by myself. Would have hated to sit in my cube – waiting for the next meeting or email.
• Experiences and memories that I have. Even those that are not so good. They shape us into who we are.
• My usual parking spot… I started in 1982 in the Chandler CH2 building.. Looks like I will end my time in Chandler CH2 building (I have had stops almost in every building in Chandler and some in Oregon). I joked when I came back to CH2 about 5 years ago, I started parking in the same spot in 1982. Well, maybe Intel can put up a marker on my parking spot!

I am excited and nervous about the journey that I am about to take. I am not going to stop working.. I just will be doing it somewhere else.

New experiences come everyday. How do you usually handle them? I say, we usually form our opinion rather early on and act on our feelings first. As much as I like to think that I am very deliberate and cautious on these things, I am not. Meeting people for the first time, do you size up the person across from you? Do you draw on your experience with others to help understand this person better? Do you look at the company that this person keeps to help form some understanding? And yet, we have to remember not to judge the book by the cover…

Feelings are real.. If used properly they can help you make decisions or what course of action to take. Those feelings are your experiences and information that you have gathered! Use them wisely.

Decision needs to be made (retire or stay)… Time to put in place my usual way of handling such life changing decisions. Here is what I do…

1. Pull out a tablet of paper – draw a line down the middle of the page. Left hand side – Pro’s (taking early retirement); Right hand side – Con’s.
2. Find a quiet, early morning spot to sit and write down everything that comes to my head for each.
3. After I have exhausted my thoughts. I asked my family to discuss this with me. As much as this is my decision, this is a family decision as well. My family is important to me and they are my number 1 supporters, their input is valuable.
4. Grab some more of that quiet time to reflect on my information, what my heart is saying and what my family has shared with me. A decision needs to be made, and will be made.
5. Communicate my decision to my family!
6. Make my decision completely available to my employer – this has to be done by the end of July.

Many are probably wondering what is going on with this? Well, step one, done and am filling in the Pro’s and Con’s. Is there something that you use differently? Please share…

So simple work reminders:

• Face to face meetings with key teams and programs are a great start to the year. Getting everyone together, especially any new members and building solid relationships help. Setting out to understand the overall objectives and priorities for 2010 – will get everyone on the same page. Look for team building exercises that help to get everyone tighter aligned.
• Document, document and when you think your are done, document some more. Getting everything down in digital paper is key to keeping everyone focused. For me, my teams have their Management by Objectives quarterly to help (we always attempt to list out the very high level stuff by quarter in January) and we use our internal social media group site to keep all stuff in front of us – at all times.
• Develop your teams cadence calendar for the year. Every team has certain deliverable that are due weekly, monthly or quarterly. To help with planning of the team and each individual go ahead and set the calendar up as much as you can.
• Have some fun – get together and do stuff that takes you away from the office (maybe dinner or bowling). Make sure that you have nothing planned around work. Just go out and enjoy each others company.

On a personal note: Last year, I wanted to spend more time writing, set up this blog and give back to the community more. Each one of those, I did a pretty good job of achieving my goals. Not 100% mine you, but better than 80%. I found that if I opened up my goals to more than myself, I achieved better than expected. Like work – documenting and holding regular reviews help to make things go smoother.

This year my three goals are

• March toward my goal weight and maintain throughout the year. The holiday eight hit me! I have to get down to my goal, stick to it and insure I do not deviate to far. As I get older, this is much harder.
• Time for a huge change at work. I have been pretty much doing the same stuff for about 8 years. I enjoy doing it, but I need to actively change the landscape. Many would say, change does a person good or when you feel comfortable – it is time to get uncomfortable. I truly have reached the point, where I am going to do something different.
• Get out more! I stuck my toe in the water with the community activities. For me, I started slowly to see if I could do this. Well, I have time and the passion to do more. Time to add 1 or 2 more to my list. I have plenty to give – time to give it away…

What are some of your professional and personal goals for 2010?