Hi. I'm Scott

MN State Fair Fine Arts Project During my annual trip to the Minnesota State Fair, I walked through the Fine Arts building and stumbled across this piece located opposite the information desk. At first, I chuckled. After all, the purpose of working together should be towards a common goal, not conflict. I was so enthralled by this piece, I took a picture (was I supposed to do that?) and made it the background image on my iPhone. Since then, I've had more time to reflect and I've come to this piece with a renewed perspective. When we work together, we create conflict.  The inverse of this statement could be "When we work alone, we create agreement." This is also a true statement because working alone only creates harmony with the individual doing the work. So, if we accept proof by inverse, then this statement must be true. But why do we create conflict? Conflict can arise from a number of different areas: ideological, procedural, political, and/or knowledge...

Since I last wrote about this, I've been working remotely on a more regular basis. Working remotely has some clear advantages, including a freedom of interruptions and distractions associated with working in a traditional office setting. I've found that through working at home, I have a whole new set of distractions that can creep in and kill productivity. Instead of walk-up traffic to my desk, I now have social media, TV, dishes, laundry and a fridge full of snacks at my disposal. It became clear that it would be a spectacular failure, working remotely, if I didn't change something. So, I did what I always do in these cases, I defined my success criteria and put together a plan to work towards those criteria. Why do I want to work from home? More time for family Fewer distractions from work Better coffee Be more physically active  What is expected of me from my current role:  Meeting attendance and participation Timely response to emails Satisfactory work ...