Commitment to Organize

Tom says:
Today may have been my first full day to focus on Z, but a lot of the people I needed to talk to weren’t in the office. I spent my time setting up my own office in our waiting-to-be-refitted space. When that was done, I started in on my first to-do list. One item on that list was to create a system. A system to manage the information I need at my fingertips, the tasks I need to complete and the progress we’re making in relation to budget and timeline.

Anyone who knows me is familiar with my own brand of organization: what’s not in my head is scribbled, illegibly, on random scraps of paper scattered far and wide. Just in getting this deal done I began to understand that this haphazard system that’s served me in the past isn’t going to cut it from here on out. For the sake of my sanity and for the good of Z, I hereby commit to getting and staying organized.

Other items on the list? Telephone calls. Emails. Printer paper. Sketching floor plans. Without ordering food, writing inventory sheets and actual cooking on that list, this doesn't feel like opening a restaurant.

Maureen says:
Did I read that right? Tom's committed, in front of Internet, to get and stay organized? Be still my beating heart. Nine years of project management and coordinating two cross-country moves more than qualifies me to pitch in here, but I confess, it’s also for my own sanity. The less I hear, “Honey, do you know where I left the fill-in-the-blank?” the more harmony there’ll be at home.

So off we went to procure all manner of things necessary to support the way Tom naturally works with organizational methods that still make sense. While I do believe that we’re all infinitely capable of learning new ways to do familiar things, I also believe that to some extent we are who we are as people. Tom is never going to clap his hands with glee at the sight of my label maker and I’m never going to put anything I can’t afford not to remember on a Post-It note.

My goals for the week include signing up with the web host recommended to me by Indiana Michael who shan’t be confused with Boston Michael, though they are both v. v. talented web developers and designers. I’ve also committed to defining the site architecture and generating first drafts of site copy so that once we’ve finalized the logo, Boston Michael can start on the site design. I worked for three Internet startups in three consecutive years doing site implementation—crazy, yes?—and I’ve published various personal Web sites over the years (back in the olden days when they were called online journals instead of blogs), but this, this is different. I have personal and professional stakes in all matters. Yes, there’s revenue to generate and success to achieve, but there’s also the care and feeding of someone else's DREAM. Someone with whom I happen to share a home and life. It's been said that love means never having to say you're sorry, but in this case I hope it means I never have to say, "Honey? I deleted the Web site."