Day 9: All work and no play
Posted by Carlton Bale on July 20th, 2004
Day 9: Tuesday the 20th
Where did the day go? I spent the entire day analyzing data and making the actual first presentation. This presentation barely followed the outline that was presented the day before because the data was showing a much more clear direction. I switched frequently between the spreadsheet and the presentation, trying to form a strong strategy to go about identifying specific recommendations. I became one-with-the-chair in the team room. I barely left it for a couple of meals and stayed there until almost midnight, when Brian kicked me out.
We were very thankful to have our own dedicated room. First of all, it was much cooler that the war room and the 8th floor — the heat was unbearable in there with 25+ people and the inadequate air conditioning system. An assistant manager of the hotel was confronted about the heat situation during one of the question and answer session. The explanation was rather humorous: the low pressure of the air outside the hotel pulls out all of the cool, conditioned air. A more accurate explanation would have been that the electricity supply infrastructure is over-taxed and that the hotel has to limit energy usage (this is what we learned from the paper). It interesting that such and advanced city still has such basic problem as energy supply and potable water. Regardless, the team room allowed us to work together, briefly joke around when we needed to do so, and strengthen the bond between team members that was first apparent after the "change of direction" meeting the day before.
