To be honest, the hardest part of the PDP was finding time to do it. More specifically, finding ‘uninterrupted’ time to focus on it. Everyone is pulled in multiple directions in a given day or week, but I often find myself at the end of the day thinking, “What did I actually accomplish today?”
I start my day as most professionals probably do: I get through my emails, review my to-do items, and plan out my tasks and timeline for the day. These aren’t long-term projects, just daily or weekly tasks like website edits, ordering parts, grading, class planning, general tech maintenance, etc. The goal for each day is always to get through the tasks I’ve set out. How often does this happen? Very rarely.
Today is a great example. I started a bit earlier than usual, up with our puppy at around 5 am. While I’m not a fan of early wakeups, today was good because I knew I had a lot of PDP stuff to do. By the time I arrived on campus, I had already cleared my inbox and created my task list for the day, primarily focused on my PDP, with a few class-related tasks and items for Ellie.
I arrived at my desk with the Tech phone ringing. Randie was proctoring an AP exam and one of the laptops wasn’t working. So, a quick trip to TALI 404 to assist. As I walked back to my desk, my phone buzzed with a new email for a web update, a Teams chat with a video to upload, and a meeting invite with a student.
By 9:30, I finally sat down to write. Unfortunately, the interruptions didn’t stop. While at my desk, writing this post, I was interrupted about a dozen times: questions from coworkers, a 3D printer on the fritz, a team chat blowing up, a kid needing a loaner, an IP student needing a part ordered, and it goes on. I found myself whispering to Jack, “I’ll be in the server closet if you need me.” Why the server closet? It’s the only place on campus where I can get ‘uninterrupted’ time.
I’m now just back from EV, and although it’s only noon, I need to move on. Rather than waiting to recap the rest of the day, I think an observation I have is more important to share. This is my job. It is not simple. I don’t sit behind a desk and have the luxury (outside of summer) of huge blocks of time devoted to a project. The community of EPS and the needs of the school always outweigh anything I need to get done on a particular day, and that’s okay. It is more important to be helpful and available to the EPS community than to hide away to complete tasks. The tasks will get done; they always do.