Work - Life Balance

Now that we’ve figured out banking and the grocery store, it’s time to figure out the consulting world. This update is on what our work life is like and what we’re working on.

First of all, Hitachi Consulting hired a few people in London to start an office about a month before we arrived. There are currently three VPs in London driving work in the Public sector (government – big here) and financial services. These three VPs and one senior manager were most recently with Unisys in London. In addition to these three VPs, the COO of Hitachi Consulting Europe and the director of Operations are also based in London. Then there are the three of us from Seattle.

Now that you know the players, the ballfield is another story. According to Charles, the managing VP, most people in London work from home. Since office space is so expensive, we don’t have a big space to house everybody. We do, however, have an office in “The City” which is the financial district of London. Since we are very much in start-up mode, we are renting what used to be a library for a law firm. Inside this library, there are shelves on all the walls but with no books anymore. In the middle is one big conference room table. Since the general theory remains that you can work at home when necessary, it’s hard to predict how many people will be in the office. Some days there are two of us. Other days it’s 12 and no one can concentrate. It’s fun listening to the different types of conversations people are having about their particular problem. Not often do you get the chance to hear the COO talk to the CFO about their meeting with the CEO. That is A.OK.

The other reason that there is a loose office policy is that most people live outside of London because it is too expensive. One of the people in our office lives near Bath, which is about a 2-3 hour train ride away. He makes the commute a few days a week. The real kicker for him is the fact that the fare is about $125 a day. Must be a good deal on rent out there to justify it.

As for work, Erin and I are primarily focused on Microsoft. Thankfully for me, we are also trying to expand the Business Intelligence practice here, which is my specialty. I’ve been lending a hand where I can. My two recent interesting activities were to help complete some due diligence on a potential acquisition and help on a proposal for the government of Northern Ireland.

All of the logistics aside, while it is fun to be in London, it is stressful being in more of a pure business development role. There is certainly far more pressure on making sure we make a sale. While the job is similar to what we would be doing in Seattle, all of the Seattle support systems are around the world. While people there help all they can, we still need to figure it out, have the conversations and close the deals. Erin and I firmly believe we are doing all of the right things, and know that it will take time, but we’re still nervous because of the trust that people in Seattle have put in us, not to mention the expense of letting us be here. It will be a lot better when we can report more on the money coming in than the money going out. It will also be a lot easier to enjoy the experience.

Thank goodness for quiz night at the pub to relax and forget for a little while. We’re also looking forward to the summer tourist season. We’re taking Monday off and going to Wimbledon with David Han from Seattle. Nothing more relaxing than strawberries and cream on the grass of the All England Lawn and Tennis Club (or something like that).