Currently reading: Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout 📚
Finished reading: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney 📚Worth reading.
Finished reading: Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay 📚Kinda fun, slightly romantic novel. You learn a lot about dancing at the Bolshoi and the jewelry auction business.
What’s the best thing I can make today with a head of cauliflower?
Currently reading: Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay 📚
Finished reading: Turning to Stone by Marcia Bjornerud 📚I really enjoyed this non-fiction book about a woman’s life as a geologist. Lots of great geologic insights in addition to some good life lessons.
Currently reading: The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates 📚 Our April Library book club read.
Finished reading: Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny 📚A pretty good read about two botanists who rafted the Colorado River through the Glen and Grand Canyons before the dams were built.
Finished reading: Swordheart by T. Kingfisher 📚 Annoying but also very readable, to the point where I stayed up until 3 AM finishing it (ugh). Way too much “I love them but they couldn’t possibly care for me.” I guess this is a Rom-antasy? Some very fun characters, interesting world.
Musk's DoGE and Project Management
Did you know that Elon Musk’s DoGE first took over an important project management office within the Federal Government?
Per the Washington Post, “DOGE’s grab of personal data stokes privacy and security fears” Gift Link https://wapo.st/3QzOnj5
Let me first quote a portion of that article:
On Tuesday, 21 staffers of the U.S. DoGE Service, the entity formed as the U.S. Digital Service under President Barack Obama and renamed in Trump’s Day 1 executive order establishing DoGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, announced their resignations in protest. The group — consisting of engineers, designers, product managers, and IT and operations staff — said they had been subjected to questions about “political loyalty” as part of a DoGE interview process that introduced “significant security risks.” DoGE’s actions, they wrote, have included “mishandling sensitive data” and “breaking critical systems” in ways that are incompatible with the original USDS mission.
I have done quite a bit of project management training for the Federal Government. In that role, I am familiar with the U.S. Digital Service (https://www.usds.gov/), which is the group that DoGE and Musk took over to have some legitimacy.
Per its mission statement, which is still available on the Internet as of 02/26/25, the USDS strives “To deliver better government services to the American people through technology and design.”
One of the ways they achieved that mission was through promoting excellence in project management. In my teaching, I always pointed out the Digital Services Playbook (https://playbook.usds.gov). The Playbook encourages good project management, and enumerates a set of best practices including “Understand what people need” and “Use data to drive decisions.”
For the 21 employees who resigned, these past weeks must have been a nightmare. They understand the importance of planning and risk management, yet they have been asked to work in a completely ad hoc way that is the opposite of good project management practices. I salute their bravery in standing up to the chaos and resigning rather than compromising their integrity.
✅ NEXT STEP If you don’t want to be running your projects like DoGE, message me here on LinkedIn. Let’s set up a Discovery Call to explore how I can help you achieve your project goals.
All of my Federal project management work has dried up, no surprise there. I’m looking forward to a gig in Portsmouth, NH, in May.
Currently reading: Swordheart by T. Kingfisher 📚
Currently reading: Turning to Stone by Marcia Bjornerud 📚
Finished reading: An Equal Music by Vikram Seth 📚 This is one of my favorite authors and this novel did not disappoint, even though I did not trust the narrator. It was interesting to learn quite a bit about chamber music, interesting to consider as I begin my second year of fiddle lessons.
Finished reading: 142 Ostriches by April Davila 📚Fun novel, sort of a coming-of-age story. Good characters, and you learn a lot about ostriches. The end is a bit of a muddle but I’m willing to forgive because it was a good ride.
Currently reading: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney 📚
Currently reading: 142 Ostriches by April Davila 📚
Currently reading: Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny 📚This month’s book group read.
Finished reading: The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich 📚Mixed feelings. Overall, I liked it a lot. Some great characters. But there’s a terrible scene of horror where several teens die, too memorable. And the poor men in this book! So many die, or are emotionally wounded, or get sick.
Currently reading: The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich 📚
Finished reading: Playground: A Novel by Richard Powers 📚I know people love it but I found it tedious.
Currently reading: An Equal Music by Vikram Seth 📚
Our beautiful mountain with our ski tracks
Currently reading: Playground: A Novel by Richard Powers 📚
Currently reading: Reading the Rocks by Marcia Bjornerud 📚