Scoping our deliverables & settling into a routine

We have started to settle into a bit of a routine and make ourselves at home in our hotel.  The facilities here are decent and provide us everything we need - especially internet access!  My husband & I have been able to Skype every night (well night for me, morning for him) and our connections have been pretty decent.

Yesterday & today my team progressed on narrowing down our scope of work and defining what our key deliverables will be both throughout and at the end of our project.  After meeting with our client yesterday we came back to the hotel to have a team meeting to continue working on our plans.  There was a big conference going on in the hotel that took up most of the available free meeting spaces, but we improvised and found a great workspace in the library room - complete with a table, the internet, and a copy machine.  The only thing it was missing was chairs.  We worked into the evening preparing a brief presentation for our clients so we could gain agreement on our final statement of work and to set expectations of what types of outputs we will be providing.  I should clarify what I mean by "presentation."  We are learning to quickly adapt to the environment we're in and to make the most of the resources we have at our disposal.  Internet connectivity is almost non-existent in the office we've been working in, and there are no printer facilities or computer projectors.  Computers are also pretty rare.  We decided it would be best to hand write our one page project plan/SOW and photocopy it for our clients for today's meeting.  My team voted me as having the best handwriting of the group so I suspect I will be the scribe for such types of presentations in the coming weeks.  Our clients were very pleased with our format and it seemed to work well to enable communication.

Our team working in the library of our hotel to put together a client presentation. 

A key element of our output is going to be skill-building - so that the recommendations of our project have a better chance for sustainability & success well after we leave Jogja.   This morning was a key milestone for us as we and our clients settled on our plans and we left our meeting feeling very positive about our direction and the steps that lay ahead.  We have settled on our main goal of making recommendations that will lead to increased international tourism in Jogja.  This is no small feat but we have identified several subtasks that will be achievable in the time we have remaining.

Our team waiting for our driver outside of our client office

It's amazing what difference a day can make.  Each day we return from our client office with so much more information and each day our project's form takes better and better shape.  One day's uncertainties turn into more concrete plans and positive feelings the next day.  I'm sure it will be a roller coaster ride for the next few weeks with the ebbs and flows of successes and additional challenges. 

As our team designed our end-to-end project schedule yesterday, we realized that our "four weeks of work on assignment" really boils down to only 10 days to do the main work!  This first week we had several days of kickoffs and community service and a few partial days to start forming our project and getting to know our clients.  The last week of February will be filled with presentations to our clients and a big press conference to present to a much broader audience and perhaps even to the Sultan.  The two week in between are the crunch weeks that we will be starting on Monday.

It's so critical that we got to spend the amount of time we needed to formulate our plans rather than jumping right in.  The execution stage will be much more successful when it's linked in to thoughtful planning upfront.  I learned this once years ago and have to remind myself of this lesson often as I love jumping right in.  They always say that you "need to know the depth of the water you are diving into" - this is so true in our case.  The planning is even more important on an assignment like this one as the added intricacy of not being familiar with the culture or the "between the lines" norms could derail us if we don't spend the time we need up front.

We have the distinct advantage of working for the tourism board, so we're also benefiting from the wonderful tourism materials they have been providing to us about the city of Jogja.  I am sure they will come in handy as we plan our upcoming weekend sightseeing trips.  This afternoon my team spent some time at the Tourist Information Center (a branch of the Tourism Authority), interviewing some of their workers to learn about the different services they offer to tourists.  We left with a backpack full of brochures and books and will be sharing them with our broader team in the coming days.

Daniel & I in front of the Tourist Information Center

Nicole, Yuan Yuan, and Daniel having lunch at the food court of the mall.  Notice our team's Batik clothes!

The many motorbikes that line the sidewalks of Malioboro Street

The mall decorated for the Chinese New Year celebration

On Fridays, work usually ends in the early afternoon as the men prepare for prayer.  We came back to the hotel after lunch and spent an hour or so swimming in the pool.  It's beautifully landscaped with lush vegetation and waterfalls.  We claim this was our "working meeting."  It was a nice way to wrap up the afternoon as we really have not had ANY downtime since our arrival in Jakarta late last week.  I foresee many more "working meetings" in the days ahead when we need a bit of a mental break from our intense work.  When it started to pour we got cold and headed inside for the rest of the afternoon. 

Yuan Yuan and I swimming in the pouring rain