By Erika 　http://www.xune.net/archives/67

I spent most of the week conducting research on various projects. I was able to use the research skills I learned from my Rutgers courses to search for key information.. Akin to writing a paper for Rutgers, I had to research my topic, but in this case, I couldn’t “change my topic” if I didn’t find the right information. An important aspect of doing research when information is unavailable is being able to find information that will lead someone in the right direction (on a project). For example, even though I wasn’t able to find specific answers to key research questions for particular topics, I was able to pinpoint information that will give J&J insight into business issues.

On Wednesday the air conditioning unit on my floor stopped working. On Thursday the air conditioning unit still was not fixed, and because I was still conducting research for various projects, Mark let me take my work home because of the heat. While it might seem like a minuscule feature of completing my work, I was ecstatic that I was trusted to finish my work at home.

I noticed that taking work on the road and completing work at home is a trend among people at J&J (and probably many other organizations as well). I like the idea of being able to complete work at another location when unexpected things occur like air conditioners breaking, but I also wonder about the implications of taking work off-site to complete elsewhere. How will this blurring of work and home life change the way we think about and compartmentalize life in our mind? (For example, how will we make distinctions between work tasks and home tasks? How will tasks be restructured to accommodate project deadlines around home life? What tasks will be given presidence and which ones will be forgotten?)

In the long run, the balance between work and home life will be a big issue, personally as I search for a career, and as I grapple with new technologies that bring me closer to my work and farther from other aspects of my life.