Today I am working on a puzzle. At least, that's how it presents itself to my brain.

I am going to tear apart my section of the company I work for (metaphorically speaking, of course), and then, after removing one supervisor in the north and another supervisor in the south, put it back together again.

The first step will be to confirm counts as they stand right now. Have to start with clean, accurate data.

Then I will set up the chart and the map in front of me, find a marker to draw with, and start doing "what if" scenarios.

At the end of the day, all subsections have to be accounted for, and the numbers add up.

I really love puzzles.

What I don't like are the consequences in the future following from the decisions I make today: disruption, reorganization, conflicting desires and complaints. I really hate causing other people pain. I have had to re-organize every single year (and this year it will be twice, if we put this in place in February) and every single year my decisions cause other people grief.

I've been on the receiving end of this kind of disruption and I know how hard it can be on everyone. (Batty, I'm sure you remember).

I realize that I am "just following orders" when I do this reorganization, but still it stresses me, because I empathize with the people I work with and with our customers, who are also impacted.

Then take into account that all this is happening just two months after laying off over 900 people. I want to say, "Give us a break!"