This coffee date is long overdue. I can’t remember when we last had one – work intruded; sometimes travel did too. And this year with Covid lockdowns and stay-at-home orders I had little cognitive space for blogging and coffee sharing. So, we have lots to catch up on. Let me begin with this past week – I’ll write a 2020 review post a bit later in the month.

The week began with me delivering training to a private class. The problem with private classes (aside from the lack of richness that comes from diverse cultures and backgrounds) is that the same dysfunctions that are inherent in the organisation’s culture carry across to the training. I’m on the lookout for these which is why I started the training by being clear about the attendance requirements. I do certification training and there are minimum attendance requirements by the Scrum Alliance. This led to a couple of people dropping off because they had more important things to take care of on their projects.

This is a bad time of year for banks to send their people on training – and this was a bank – because many people are pushing to get the last software releases done before the middle of the month when the code freeze kicks in. The class shrunk by four – from ten to six people. After the class ended for the day more people dropped off which led to their manager postponing the whole training. This left me with some free time which I haven’t had much of this year. So, I ended up co-training with my colleague on training in the EST time zone – my day started at 5 pm and ended at 11 pm CAT. The last hour of the night – from 10 pm to 11 pm – was the worst. I was fine until 10 pm, but that last hour …

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Thursday was our South African coach camp, virtual of course. Working virtual is great. I love it! For me, Zoom feels like face-to-face. The camera has to be on for that and I can count on the fingers of one hand the times that I had the camera off. Friday was our company fun day. Unlike previous years when the Joburg peeps met with the Cape Town peeps in Cape Town, this year we remained in our cities and celebrated separately. I didn’t feel comfortable getting on a plane for a two-day trip. Too risky. So, us here in Joburg played a virtual escape room game (this was so much fun!) and then headed out to a country-side hotel for a picnic. It was the first time, we, the three Joburg peeps and our husbands met in person since January. The food was delicious; the venue so pretty and the conversation eclectic.

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I did all my Christmas shopping online this year and I’m still waiting for some packages. I was surprised to receive one yesterday because I didn’t think the delivery people worked on weekends. This was a Takealot delivery – I am so impressed with them this year. They’ve exceeded my expectations so far.

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It’s a lovely sunny day today, and I need to hang out the comforter in the sun to dry before the afternoon showers arrive. It’s been great catching up.

Ciao for now.

Regina

Part of Weekend Coffee Share.