As I search for jobs in another city, I am finding distance job hunting is much more challenging than it used to be. I am looking to move back to Boston from Phoenix, and am ready to move except for a job. I know companies like local candidates, as it's easier to coordinate interviews, and potentially less risky than an out of state candidate. So I battle with the notion of moving without a job, and taking my chances on the ground in Boston. Getting my "boots" on the ground so to speak may benefit me in my search. I entertain this idea in my head and try to assess the risks of being there without a job, or being here without a job. What is higher risk? What has the biggest opportunity costs, what has the biggest return on investment? Interestingly this decision is very much like a decision made to change a project scope, or add requirements. You assess the why and how, and who and determine how it may impact your quality, budget and time, and you make a decision that suffices the sponsors and stakeholders, or customer needs.
The difficult part about this decision is logistical. Boston means a 1 year lease, an apartment in area where I may not even have a job. It means fronting costs to move, relocating my life all without the security of a job. Moving is stressful in itself, to fracture your world and detach from a location to start new in another. I've moved many times in my life, and moving doesn't scare me, or worry me, I know I can get through it and get settled quickly. My concern is what if I don't have a job to turn to for stability and that sense of routine? It is very important for human beings to create a routine in there life. All types of earths creatures have routines, and I think it comforts us to know what our week will be like if all goes well. We get up, go to work, do our jobs, come home, and do it all the next day. I guess routine is very important to sanity, and without it a person really questions who they are and what they are doing with their newly found free time.
So as I ponder what to do next, I realize that the decision to move is looming over me, and it may require me to make a complete leap of faith and challenge my natural instincts to Project Manage my life. Perhaps this is the life lesson the universe is throwing at me, to completely let go of the schedule, and plan, and to approach my life in a AGILE sense not a WATERFALL style.
As I read more about AGILE project management and relate it back to my experiences, as I pondering my training and my newly acquired PMP certification, I am learning new ways to approach project management and life.
Perhaps we don't need to have it all figured out up front. We don't need clearly defined requirements all nailed down. We don't have to move sluggishly through a waterfall life, we can become AGILE and run life in iterations, from Analysis to Design, Development, Testing, Deployment. Doing all of these activities at once, with a close knit team can accomplish your goals much faster than the sluggish waterfall approach, where Task A must be done by the start of Task B, and Task D must start after Task C. Sometimes the schedule can freeze you into in-action, the schedule can inhibit you with it's rigidness. At this point I don't want to be frozen by my schedule and I must remain AGILE.
