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Thursday, November 23, 2017

Big Problems. And Thanks Giving.

Every day, I tilt at windmills. It is my job.

Deep in the heart of a very bureaucratic institution, I fight to get the projects I shepherd - I think of them as 'my projects' - through an arcane process.  I write memos using inscrutable acronyms, I call people, I prepare briefings, and I review documents to ensure that they are complete, reasonable, legal, and policy compliant.

And often I come home frustrated and angry because I did not make progress.  The wheels of the burrocrazy grind slowly, and they grind everything to the finest dust.  My job is a part of this process:  Big Problems become small problems; small problems get broken apart into tasks that comply with policy, and the tasks are all verified against checklists.

Endless checklists.

Today, I am working on something different.



Here in Puerto Rico, following Hurricane Maria, for large areas of the island, the power lines are down, the substations are down, and the poles are broken.  And in many areas, there is no means of access to get to where the problems are.  And where that happens, we can't fix the lines, and people in that area don't get electricity.

Today's task is to figure out how to get a helicopter to do the work that the truck crews usually do.

The normal process is that the truck takes a crew in to the site of a broken power pole, they take down the old pole, put up a new pole, and connect the lines.  In areas where the roads aren't cleared, or where the roads do not go, you can't just take the truck there.  So instead...

Now, the truck carries the poles in as far as it can, and a helicopter takes the crew to the site, where they prep the site (clearing debris and a clean line for the helicopter), then cut off the broken pole, and hook up the base of the pole to the helicopter, which pulls out the old, broken pole.

The helicopter then places the new pole in the spot vacated by the previous, and the crew tamps the area down, and leaves to go to the next one.

Once we get this line electrified, six substations go back on line.  Hundreds of people get power turned back on.  A large section of the red lines (areas where the power distribution lines are down) turn green (areas where the power distribution lines are energized).






Suddenly, there is a sense of urgency associated with the work I am doing.  I have a LOT of incentive to figure out which contracting mechanism serves to get the helicopter in the air.  Suddenly, the difference between a Mission Assignment Task Order and a Resource Request Form is not just an exercise in learning and using acronyms.

Today, I am thankful to have a meaningful part in important work.  To be a small part in the solution of a Big Problem.  In about six weeks, I will go back to being part of the checklist-and-small-task world.  But for today, I get to do something immediate.  And helpful.

Estamos aqui.


UPDATE:







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