It's All A Blur

I don't know where to start! Has it really been a month? OH geez. My official P&D (planning & distribution) training hasn't even begun yet. I started work off cycle and has been in unofficial training since May 30th. My boss set a schedule for me to follow the first three weeks. It's been a mish mash of the following:

- self studies of handouts on retail math, GAP 101, overviews of the business and a zillion others
- watching how my co workers do their work or as they call it, "shadowing"
- learning the zillion tools and systems that manage, allocate inventory
- tagging along meetings
- meeting cross-functional teams
- store trips (it's good to see style numbers come alive!)
- generating reports
- sales reviews

and OODLES more.

Now it's week 4. It's s-l-o-w-l-y (hopefully) coming together. It's tough putting the pieces of the puzzle together. They've told us that the learning curve is at least 6-8 months and that I shouldn't get frustrated if I find myself not knowing what to do. I'd have to make mistakes and see a few seasons go by to see the whole picture and get the hang of things. It's THAT crazy. It's scary too. Handling two departments (that's relatively small thank goodness!) for a brand with 800+ stores. Scary sh*t. I can't wait to start my official training even if I won't go to all the classes anymore. I can't wait to get into the groove of things. I can't wait to actually know what the hell I'm doing. I want things to start clicking!!! It'll be nice to not have to have your brain hurt whenever you try to comprehend things.

We had the quarterly business review conference with Old Navy's president this morning. We got direction as to what the goals and strategies for the relaunch in Fall '06 will be. The best part was getting a sneak peek of the Fall line and marketing. It's looking really good and promising!

That's the work 'blur' chunk of my life lately. I'll talk about the other 'blur' chunks of things later on.

Today I am thankful for:
- a very, very patient team
- not having a work dress code at all
- the weekend!!!