In full cowardly retreat…

If you’re waiting on stuff from me, please be advised I have spent three of my last four working days involved with a planning retreat process that’s been pretty much my sole focus during that time. As a bit of context, my original office at UBC has merged with a much bigger and more established unit — and now we need to forge a cohesive identity, develop our structures and procedures, and map out our objectives for the next two years. We didn’t get there in three days of talking and slapping post-it notes on the wall, but it was a start.

I think this round of planning has gone well, but the effects on my own workload are dire. It’s the beginning of semester, and the number of courses, instructors and students using our weblogs and wikis continues to grow, so there’s no shortage of delinquent deliverables. Needless to say, my new determination to get things done hasn’t panned out so far. Apparently there’s more to time management than saying you want it.