Jesse's Introduction - November 2008

Dear Fissure Friends,
Some great news!  Fissure is now in the Match Making game.  We had two students take a workshop together in March who ended up dating and then getting married in September.  We invited them to our summer Minnetonka cruise and they invited their Fissure workshop guides to the wedding.

 

Three things you’ll want to checkout in the Fissure News:

• Our brand new web site – be sure to check out our offer to win $50!
• Our approval as an IIBA Endorsed Education Provider
• Our new centrally located public workshop location

We didn’t do very well getting the quarterly newsletter out this year.  Just too busy!  Busy can be bad and busy can be good, I suppose it is like everything else, it is best when it is in balance.  And you determine your correct balance based on what is important to you!  It is OK to be busy today as long as you don’t completely forget what is really important to you in the long-term.  It reminds me of the famous non-quote from the person on their deathbed, “I sure wish I had worked more”.  The idea is that supposedly no one has, or ever will say they wish they had worked more at the very end of their life.  My own adaptation has something to do with not wishing I had played more golf.  But I don’t want to get off track, so let’s get back to the importance of balance (not that golf isn’t important).
Achieving balance before it is too late reminds me of the movie that came out this year, “The Bucket List”.  If you haven’t watched it, the title is pretty accurate.  It is about two men at the end of their lives identifying and trying to “check off” things they had always wanted to do, places they had always wanted to visit, and people they wanted to meet or resolve issues with before they “kick the bucket”.  Besides being a very good movie, it is an important message about maintaining balance between day-to-day busy and making sure you are accomplishing the important things in your life.
So here is a gentle reminder to all of you to think about items you have on your bucket list and to take some time and think about items you might want to add to your bucket list.  Document your list (WRITE IT DOWN!), prioritize it, and put a plan together (as any good project manager would do).  The plan doesn’t need to meet all the items on the list, just the ones you want to accomplish in the next five to ten years.  As any project plan, keep it flexible and up-to-date and make sure you execute that plan.  
I crossed a number of items off of my bucket list this summer with an exceptional vacation to the jungle and Incan ruins of Peru.  PICTURE?  Machu Picchu is the famous Incan ruin in Peru and you can take a train and bus to the top or walk for 4 days like the Incans did.  We took the train and bus, but on a recent flight we sat next to this very little 90 year young woman who proudly proclaimed that only 10 years earlier she had walked the trip to the top (we’re talking about an almost 14,000 foot pass at one point).  And now she was on her way to hike with her grandkids on the east side of the Grand Canyon.  Even at 80 and 90 she was still adding and “checking” things off of her bucket list.  She can be an inspiration to us all.
Ed Tilford, Sr., one of the founders of Fissure, has contributed an article on project recovery through self directed teams.  I know you’ll find Ed’s recovery description of a very large and very complex project filled with “nuggets” you can apply on your own projects and in creating your own self-directed, high-performing teams.
Sandy Kimmer, M.D., Lt. Commander, U.S. Navy, provides another letter she wrote describing her personal experiences with the wonderful people she was working with and met during her assignment in Iraq.  There are several photos to go along with the description of her life as a doctor in Iraq.  Sandy is the daughter of Fissure Board member and bookkeeper, Brian Toren.
With Thanksgiving coming up soon Geof has contributed a great article on the use of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in planning for a successful Thanksgiving meal.  Of course he uses his family experience and some humor to share the benefits of a WBS in successful project planning.
Visit the web site for upcoming public workshops in Minneapolis, Denver, Milwaukee and Chicago - our computer simulation powered workshops are an effective and fun way to learn AND EARN PDUs.  Make sure you also check out what’s happening at Fissure (Fissure News).  
Thanks for reading and take some time to consider your bucket list.

 

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Fissure.