NKOTB

I’ve been here a week. I’m like an old pro.

It is cubicle land to the extreme. This is a huge 3-story building and all the windows are pretty much taken up by all the offices for the big wigs – of which there are plenty at headquarters. I think there may be a conspiracy against me being near a window as a government employee. This is the kinda of place that makes Dilbert no longer funny because it hits too close to home. All the conference rooms are in the center of the building making them the coolest, quietest, darkest (with the lights off) rooms - great for meetings and presentations.

Hearing lots of interesting stuff over cubicle walls. I can’t share most of it, I don’t think. All the press releases and media contacts for all the are within earshot. I am working with the web team responsible for the content/design of public websites. Outside of this new building, the working environment at my regular job is much better overall.

Much of the site I’m working on hasn’t been updated in a few years. Many of the contact info is out date, even listing phone numbers from two buildings ago. The organization I’m working with is fairly young by gov’t standards and the structure of the organization still seems to be changing rapidly. There is constant talk about restructuring. Because of this, the website is poorly constructed to reflect the current organization. A big part of my job right now is to track down a point of contact for each major area that will be responsible for their section’s web content.

This is kind of a pain because no one really wants to raise their hand and volunteer. But, it’s mostly a good thing because I am working through the entire headquarters. I had a meeting with some people on Thursday to discuss their portion of the website. Friday I met with an executive officer. Previously I met with civilians, officers, and embedded contractors. I hope to have a professional contact with someone in all the major offices by the end my assignment. That’s a primary goal of mine.

Until next week!