Circling Back

It has been way too long since I have posted here. If anyone is left reading or following, thank you. I can't guarantee that I'll be more diligent in posting, but I promise to do better.

Over the last couple of months things have really exploded here, the level of work here has gone into the stratosphere. I find myself constantly moving from project to project, meeting to meeting. I rotate through things and then it will be a number weeks before getting back to the beginning.

This week I was tasked with creating a proposal for a new project.* It was critical to get the proposal out by then end of the week so the funder could act on it before their fiscal year ended. This meant that I had to put all other work on hold to get things done. We did get the proposal finished and I was pleased with the results.

* It actually started last week and ran through most of this week. The project is securing and implementing a Pharmacy Information Management System (PIMS). Common sense told me some basic feature of a PIMS, but it took some research to really identify the key features and functions of a PIMS. We have a basic system at AMPATH, but as we move in to primary health care, we need something more robust. The proposal was a request for funding to help us identify and plan the optimal solution for our environment.

With this out of the way, I can return to another project next week and when I catch up with work on that, I'll move to the next and then the next. Eventually, I'll return to back the beginning and start over again, two months later.  

Always circling back.  The cycle approach is I think unavoidable, life and work are rarely linear. The troubling aspect is the two months it takes to get back.* We need to really reduce this time period.  I would argue that this is not a good way to run things. So how to manage this situation.**

* I haven't actually measured the cycle, but I think two months is not an exaggeration, if anything it maybe a bit optimistic.

** I am a manager after all, I need to "manage". 

One of the first things to address is increasing our staffing in strategic ways. The staffing should address current and future needs. We are understaffed in about every area in ISC, so additional staff will certainly help.* 

* We also need more admin staff (sys-admin, network admin, etc), developers, and helpdesk support. All must be addressed and will be in 2011.

I am keen to hire a project manager (PM) or two to help us manage the growing list of projects. Bringing on a PM means more time away from running projects, potentially putting us farther behind schedule or increasing everyone's stress level. But at a certain point, we need to address the problem, make time to fix things, even if this means adding on more stress.* A little pain now is worth it if the results are better delivery. 

* A critical management task is to keep everyone informed during this process and manage expectations. Our colleagues are pretty forgiving if they know what we are up to. They will accept a bit of delay if that means their needs are better address in the near future. We need to manage expectations, this won't fix things overnight.

In addition to hiring more staff, we will look into other ways to better operate and manage our projects. More as that happens.  Thanks for being patient with the slow output.