Reesa Abrams

Name: Reesa Abrams
Title: Techno-Coach / Technology Transfer / Training
Company: Wellspring Associates

How I arrived at my present job (academic and other influences): I have a 35 year old network and got here through one of my friends whom I work for. She is the Sales person and I am the technical person. Together we run an online training system with many technical challenges.

How I organize my day: There is the crisis of the day which must be solved.
There are outstanding ongoing projects with milestones which must be met.
There are the serendipity opportunities that occur that must be persued.

Amount of time spent working daily (at home and office): I work a 40 hour week - 5 days a week - the actual hours vary.

What I do to get myself thinking creatively: I do that normally. Thinking like others is my issue. Also I find that is the issue with most techies, male and female. Thinking like the users and normal folks is the problem. Also not thinking a few hours in the daily 24 is also an issue for us intellectuals. The other weakness I and most of my peers have is that many of us do not invest much in emotional sophistocation (the current in word is emotional maturity).

My problem-solving strategy: Polya: How to Solve It : read the inside cover
(He is famous - Stanford math dept resides in Polya Hall)

What he said is:

• Figure out what you need
  
• Then break it down into
  
  • what you know
    
    • what you have and can reuse
      
    • what you must create
      
  • what you don't know
    
    • what you can find out from others or research or delegate
      
    • what is hidden
      
  • how you can measure success
    
    • for you
      
    • for the customer
      

What I do to relieve stress:
1. hot tub daily
2. daily hypnosis personal tape 20 minutes
3. no caffeine / limited chocolate / limited sugar / balanced meals / no alcohol
4. breathe in anger / dissappointment change it to love and breathe it out
5. open my heart / only fight the battles I choose
6. practice aikido 3 times a week
7. discipline myself and carefully bound my work and out of work time very carefully including friendships - "High walls make good neighbors" Robert Frost
8. in addition to family - dogs and cats - unconditional love

My hero, mentor, or person I most admire and why: I have had some amazing mentors. - They all listened to me, pushed me, helped me to grow, nutured my 'core competencies'. I got started in computers because in the Fall of 1963 I was in the Applied Math department at UT Austin and Roger Osburn, an instructor, came up to me and said, "Dr. WT Guy (head of the math department and my faculty advisor) said that you like magic - let me show you some" . He showed me an IBM 650 and taught me FORTRAN IV the next semester from McCracken's book. He mentored me all through my undergranduate years and helped me understand that I needed to go into industry and work with IBM at NASA instead of getting an advanced degree. He was right. I liked the drama and was hooked. I still am. I eventually got to host Dan McCracken in Albuqueque when I was the head of the local SIGBDP group and he visited. I got to thank him for his contributions to the field. Later when I was sent to Stanford in 1987 by Digital as an industial visitor I also got to thank Terry Winograd for all his contributions to the issues of carbon based humans and their offspring silicon basedlife and finding a peaceful way to integrate the two.

What I do to mentor those who work for me: I take jobs where mentoring is a component of the work. Currently I am the oldest in the group in all measures: age, technology experience, marriage length, ages of children. I did a project at Stanford on mentoring women. I am a member of Systers. I was a founding mentor for the San Jose State University Center to Develop Women Entrepreneurs.

How a negative event changed my life in a positive way: My dad is still ashamed of me. I am not a good 'girl'. I like taking things apart - I am independent, I like working. For years we fought. I used that anger to leave his negative abusive control over me and find love and a good professional life for myself.

One event or decision in my life I wish I could go back and change: Everything is a lesson. Sometimes I was less than graceful. I have gone back to most folks and apologized. Learning that I need to meet my own measures for integrity has been my lesson - the past is done - I can only move forward.

What values are the most important to me and what I value in others: Integrity, competence, maturity, valuing diversity, valuing intelligence, valuing respect for others no matter what.

What inspires, motivates, or gets me excited about my job on a daily basis: Life is a gift. I lost mine in 1995. I was lucky to be sent back by the angels. I now live mine in service to that gift.

Biography: Reesa Abrams received her M.A. Education, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1977 and her B.A. Mathematics/Computer Science, University of Texas, Austin Texas, 1967. She has numerous honors, presentations, publications and certifications. Some of her major achievements include:

• Professional Training Management / Course Developer / Trainer 1995 - present.
• Bay Area Manager, UC California Space Institute, NASA Space Grant Program
• Senior Manufacturing / Engineering Manager for Digital Equipment Corporation
• Manager Information Technology, Falcon Research and Development Corporation
• Senior Analyst, Public Service Company of New Mexico

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Location: www.acm.org/crossroads/dayinlife/bios/reesa_abrams.html