Weeks 2 and 3 - Lessons in Time Management

We're now 3 weeks into the LGO program and I think it's safe to say that we've all been getting some hands-on lessons in time management (hence no blog post last week!).  After easing us back into the program with the "Universe Within" during the first week, the training wheels came off and we've been racing full-speed into the summer term.  Somehow my calendar has gone from "work-play-sleep" to something a little more complicated...

LGO Summer Calendar

The nice part about the summer session is that all 48 of us are in the same classes, so it makes scheduling a much easier task!  The general cadence is that we have class from 8am - 12:30ish and then have the afternoons open for recitations / group work / reading / committee meetings / local plant treks.  It has definitely taken some adjustment to get back into the pace of school; not so much for the quantity of work as the type of work.  As an undergrad, I was used to cranking through problem sets that were very mechanical: read the book, do the problems, hand them in, case closed.  Here we have a mix of what I would classify as "technical" and "soft" (by that I don't mean squishy or easy by any means, just that they focus on the "soft" skills of management rather than the technical).  The split this summer is 2 technical (Probability & Statistics, and Systems Optimization) and 3 "soft" (Operations Management, Leadership, and High Velocity Systems.  All of the latter 3 rely heavily on case studies and a lot of THINKING and REFLECTION (both of which I realize I didn't do much in undergrad!).  It has been a great experience so far (other than staying up till 1am to read cases a few times), and the classroom discussions have been phenomenal with so many great inputs from my amazing classmates.

Now just because classes have ramped up doesn't mean the fun outside adventures stop.  Quite the contrary actually; we're definitely embracing the "work hard, play hard" mantra!  Some highlights from the last two weeks have been:

• Hiking to the top of Mt. Moosilauke in the White Mountains of New Hampshire
• Learning to sail on the Charles River and taking boats out after class to relax
• Partying it up with LGOers, SDMers, and Sloanies at various locations around Boston (it doesn't take much to get us out; NBA Playoffs, Stanley Cup Finals, the fact that it's Thursday...you name it, we're there!).
• Eating some great food with teammates
• Inaugurating the Foosball table at my apartment
• Fitting in some great workouts around Boston (i.e. November Project)
• Taking our "unoffical" B-school class photo shortly after the "official" photo last week

I have been slacking off on my photo-taking recently, so I'll defer to my good friend Ammar Asfour who has become our official class photographer with his photo-a-day blog: http://likethegreatoz.blogspot.com.  Keep up the great work Ammar!

On the Summit of Mt. Moosilauke in NH

Learning to Sail on the Charles

The "Unofficial" B-School Class Photo :-)

Week 1: The Universe Within

Day 1 at Sloan

Wow, time has just flown by!  We have just wrapped up the first week of LGO, which is dedicated to a special course called "The Universe Within".  Without getting into too many details of the class itself, I'll just say that it was an absolutely fantastic week of team building with my 47 incredible classmates.  We spent the week getting to know each other and exploring aspects of our own leadership capabilities as well as those of the entire group.  Day 1 started with the assignment of our summer teams; the group of 6 students who will work together for the rest of the summer to tackle all of our class assignments.  I'm definitely blown away by the experience, knowledge, and diversity that our team possesses and am really looking forward to working with everyone throughout the summer (Shoutout to "Team 5 Alive").

Climbing Structure on Thompson Island

One of the big highlights of the week was the all-day outing to Thompson Island in Boston Harbor to participate in their Outward Bound program.  It was a quick ferry ride from downtown, but it felt worlds away from the hustle and bustle of Boston.  We really lucked out this year and had fantastic weather for the outing (the LGO class last year ended up with torrential rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon).  We spent the day working with our teams to tackle challenges such as navigating the forest while blindfolded and traversing a challenging "spider web".  The main attraction was the climbing challenge in the afternoon in which we individually scaled a 62' climbing structure while being supported and encouraged by our whole team.  I'm happy to report that every one of our teammates made it to the top!  Overall, the day gave us a fantastic opportunity to step outside the classroom and further develop our teams and friendships in a really fun and challenging environment.  I would highly recommend Outward Bound for anyone looking for a fantastic experience.

Class Picture on Thompson Island

Outside of class, we've spent the evenings exploring the restaurants and bars around Cambridge and Boston.  Out of the 8 evenings that I've been here so far, I've eaten out for 6 of them.  I imagine that it will settle down a little bit once classes start in full swing next week, but for now I'm enjoying the opportunity to get to know the other LGOers and do a little exploring in Boston.  So far we've spent evenings in South Boston, Chinatown, Harvard Square, Kendall Square, and Central Square.  The picture at right was our Malaysian-themed meal in Chinatown with resident expert Weng Hong.

MIT Track

This week has also been great for exploring the athletic facilities on campus.  One of the many perks of being a student here at MIT is that there is free access to all the workout facilities.  A few of us went out on Tuesday evening and did a workout on the huge track that is next to the rec center.  Compared to the 3-lane track at a community center in Seattle that I was used to, the 8-lanes here felt like a wide-open freeway in Los Angeles!  There is also a full indoor Olympic-sized swimming pool that will be great for swim

Fantastic On-Campus Swim Center

workouts throughout the year.  And of course the running path along the Charles River is great at any time, and I've found routes ranging from 4 all the way up to 10 miles without having to backtrack at all.  And tomorrow, about 10 of us are taking an introductory sailing course on the Charles River that is being run by one of our classmates.  It looks like I'll definitely be able to keep in shape out here!

Running Trail on the Charles River

Next week the whole class will be participating in a 3-day "Lean Tools" workshop to explore some of the fundamental concepts Lean manufacturing.  Then on Thursday we start into the regular summer
courses that will keep us busy until mid-August.  I can sense that the pace of work will definitely be accelerating soon, but for now I am enjoying the luxury of time to get to know my classmates and this amazing city.