I've pretty much thrown the diet in the can for the next week. I've decided that when April arrives, I'm going back on strict induction, for two weeks or until I've lost 10 pounds, whichever takes longer. I have got to get off this plateau, and I have got to get out of the lazy snacky habits I've gotten into lately. (Say, you don't suppose they might have something to do with each other, do you...?)

But there's not much point in even trying this week. I've got a celebration thing today (about which more later), and then Sunday is Easter. Mmm, chocolate.

I'm not going to deliberately pig out for the next week, but with induction on the horizon and approaching rapidly, I'm not going to be too horribly strict, either.

Not that most of you care, but when next week's weight status shows negative progress, you'll know why.

So, the celebration thing.

Yesterday we got the preliminary findings from the SCAMPI. The preliminary findings session talks only about the bad stuff. Each one is given one of three ratings: "Improvement Activity" (very minor), "Implementation Gap" (minor, unless there are a lot of them), or "Significant Weakness" (major).

As those are presented, the projects being audited have the opportunity to disagree with the negative assessment. If there's a disagreement, then there will be a follow-up interview scheduled to discuss it, and the project may submit more documents to support their claim.

So. Of the five projects being audited (and the parent organization, which is also being evaluated for certain things) there were no significant weaknesses. Not one.

There were maybe ten implementation gaps - a couple of them belonged to my project. One of them was something we knew was coming, and didn't have an argument with. The other was something that made sense once they explained it to us, so we didn't argue with that, either (though I did make sure to jump in with some extenuating circumstances that I thought should go on the record).

And there were a handful of improvement activities, most of which we already knew about.

Nothing they showed was important enough to shift our rating. So after the meeting, I emailed my boss and said, "Looks like about a 95% probability that we'll get to keep our rating. Can I do something celebratory for the team?"

And he wrote back in about five minutes with an affirmative and a small budget. So after work yesterday I drove over to the store and picked up a cake, and a "5" candle (because our rating is Level 5, see) and some ice cream. After the official Final Findings meeting this morning (at which we'll find out not only our weaknesses, but also our strengths) I'll haul it all out.

I also spent yesterday fielding a lot of calls and email to do with rewards and recognition for everyone who participated. "Please confirm that this is the list of everyone in your project who participated in any way." "Who helped you the most with the preparation?" "Please confirm that X is a good day for your project to receive a congratulatory visit from the sector president." Like that.

But honestly, though I believe I certainly deserve recognition for the work I've done, here, I don't care all that much about the reward. I'm just excited to have done it. To be done with it.

Which is not to say I'm going to turn down the reward, whatever it turns out to be, mind you.

Karen asked me yesterday if I was going to miss working on the SCAMPI. I think she was teasing.

But you know... I sort of am, Spreadsheet of Hate and all.

(But not too much. We have to do this again in two years, which means I'll get the next incarnation of the Spreadsheet of Hate sometime in the first quarter of 2006.)

--Liz