The mornings
I work as an IT Delivery Lead for an MNC in Florida. My day usually begins at 6:30 am after snubbing the alarm two times. The first thing I do is some pelvic core exercises for 15 min before I participate in calls with my team in India. They are a bunch of smart developers from .Net, salesforce, and mainframe technological backgrounds. We discuss progress of tasks, team bandwidth and plan future deliveries. This team is the backbone of our client engagement, so its important that we keep the team engaged, enthused and collaborative. This goes on for 45 min, after which I brush my teeth and wake up the husband.
Its 8:00 and the mad rush begins. I am peeling potatoes and cooking masala rice, while the husband is coercing Siddu to brush his teeth. Having clear cut roles helps streamline our mornings. I take care of Siddu’s breakfast, lunch box, our breakfast, which is mostly cereals, bread-avocado or juice. The husband takes care of Siddu – changing his diaper, helping him brush, putting on school dress and shoes, packing his bag, and finally dropping him at day care.
At work
Commute to work is 25-40 min depending on traffic. I either talk to family or listen to podcasts on my way to work. I used to listen to the ‘Daily Boost’ to get that energy to start off my day, but lately, I have been listening to ‘Women at Work’ by HBR. I find the topics intriguing and relevant.
I reach office by 9:30.
How much ever I plan my day, unexpected meetings crop up on my calendar. The to-do list keeps growing. I work in the automotive domain, so when things go wrong or anomalies are detected, it directly impacts end customers. We are constantly putting out fires. We drop everything we are doing and tend to it.
Productivity strategy at work
To deal with chaotic days, @shailajaV’s tips on productivity, especially time-boxing, has helped me be more organized with my work. A typical workday consists of checking and responding to emails, research, completing planned focused work, responding to adhoc requests from clients for important business needs, resolving unexpected issues etc. Blocking time to complete similar tasks, and focusing on one item at a time has boosted my completion rate.
What drives me as Delivery Lead
As a Delivery lead, my primary responsibility includes making sure our team is producing quality deliverables, fully understand client’s needs and expectations, keep work moving, ensure optimum performance, take charge when issues arise, and build and maintain trust with clients. Its challenging, puts you in uncomfortable zones, requires you to assert yourself from time-to-time, deal with people different than you, think on your feet and lead wherever you can. And being in IT, complacency is a silent killer. There are always new things to learn and I find myself gasping for breath trying to catch up 😛
The people aspect of my job is what drives me. There is constant evolution of your personality, which I am passionate about. It helps me grow personally, and shapes me into a better leader.
My role puts me in close proximity with the managers and directors and I get to see what makes them who they are today. I see women leaders challenging authority, using their voice, lead men, take on unconventional roles and breaking stereotypes, inspiring people like me.
After work
I leave work these days at 4:30 PM because my priority is to pick up Siddu by 5:15 (the mom guilt). I give him a snack on the way and reach home by 5:30. I freshen him up, give him more food to eat, spend some time with him while relaxing myself.
At 7, I start cooking dinner, and prep for tomorrow’s lunchbox.
Its 9:30 by the time we have dinner, clean up the kitchen and Siddu is put to bed. I finish up any pending work and hit the pillow by 10:30.
As a working mom, the chores seem endless, battle with perfection relentless. I am exhausted by the end of the day. But there are tips that help. I can talk about this for pages and pages, so some other time!
Tomorrow is another day!