Monday was a very full day of meetings at the Prague office. I began by walking the 10 minutes from the hotel to the office, thinking “Oh good – this is going to be convenient!”, and then getting a presentation from the site director on how they’re about to start moving everyone to a new – much larger – facility! Next time I visit, I’ll have to learn a new pattern.
Next I met with some of the managers at the site, which really brought home to me the growing diversity of our operations in Prague. This isn’t just NetBeans any more. After lunch, I addressed an all-hands meeting. As in Hyderabad, I finished with Q&A, and initially no-one spoke. After I’d worked the crowd for a while, someone piped up hesitantly, and within a few minutes we were discussing some interesting topics. I wish I knew the trick to short-circuiting that initial silent period, if there is one.
Because it’s not as if this group is shy. After the all-hands I had four more meetings with various groups and individuals, and then I went out to dinner with a bunch of the participants in the SEED program. On each occasion, everyone was talkative, forthright, and not afraid of controversial topics. I had a really great time. At the restaurant/bar, the beer was first-rate, and to ensure we had our priorities straight the entire ceiling was covered in bottles, as shown here….
So here I am at the office. It’s 7:53am on Tuesday morning: the security guard looked surprised to see me, and I doubt that anyone else is in the office yet. I expect that many people here start late and end late, to maximize overlap with colleagues in the USA. Never mind: it’s a good opportunity to catch up with my email (127 unread) and blog, before my meetings begin.