This is a digitization effort to preserve a 22-week physical record of my Industry Based Learning (IBL) journal. The original content was part of one of my first website efforts – hosted on the now defunct DezzaNet ISPs personal home page platform. View the journal index on my main Coles Myer (IBL) page.
Monday 13 August, 2001
Today, with key persons from my team away, I progressed on my own in obtaining data for the Coles CTA project. Consequently, the morning session was filled with numerous phone calls to various Coles persons Australia-wide. Eventually, I was able to complete obtaining one aspect of the required data. The afternoon session was dedicated to preparing a spreadsheet for the evaluation of RFP responses.
Tuesday 14 August, 2001
Meeting at 8:30am at Myer – Lonsdale St with three other team members, the four of us proceeded to the seventh floor (above the retail departments to the MGB Head Office) where we unloaded our “crate” of response material. The whole day was spent tabulating the responses of compliance with our CML requirements. Overall, it was a very productive day.
2017 reflection: The old corporate offices that were the Myer Grace Brothers headquarters are now a memory of an era passed. Similar in corporate opulence to the HQ floors at Tooronga, these offices reflected an era of past glory and decadence. The old stairwell and lifts are all part of this recollection; all of which was demolished when Myer sold off the Lonsdale St building and has subsequently been replaced by the Emporium shopping complex.
Wednesday 15 August, 2001
Returning to Hoddle St, today’s events began with a meeting at 8:30am, where the team reviewed the financials of the RFP responses. My continued involvement with the project would focus on assisting the financial modelling and comparison between each company/respondent. The afternoon was spent reading up on project material and following up on work relating to incoming and outgoing call volumes.
Thursday 16 August, 2001
Thursday, according to my calendar, is a day of meetings – today’s was no exception – with two two-hour presentations. The morning one (10am) was held at Telstra HQ in the CBD, with the afternoon session hosted by NEC in Mulgrave. In between the meetings, at Hoddle, I had lunch and also checked up on emails. The presentations have been very educational and informative in nature and the four (two held last Thursday) have assisted in providing me with a more complete understanding of the overall project and its requirements.
2017 reflection: Arguably this was my first visit to the Telstra headquarters. At the time, I was soaking in all the first impressions of the different corporate offices and the environments. Nowadays, particularly since I have spent so many years at Telstra with frequent periods spent at the same 242 Exhibition St building, the same experiences are far and few. Perhaps a visit to Docklands and experiencing the cutting edge trendy offices down that end of town may provide a modern day equivalent…
Friday 17 August, 2001
The first major event of the day was a review meeting held at 10am. Progressing for some two hours, I spent some time after lunch working on material which resulted from the meeting. The rest of the afternoon was spent updating my IBL logbook and time-sheets – administrative stuff, including work on this journal!
2017 reflection: Having the time and space to journal and reflect on work is an important rhythm to develop. When work gets too stressful and busy, the lack of having this head space can affect long-term productivity.
