Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1180920
ORGANIZATION (continued on page 13) Recently I took a class in square dancing. In a mainstream (interme- diate) class there are over 60 calls/coordinated moves to learn to keep the square moving without it becoming chaotic. Those doing the calling are usually male. Most people are familiar with a few square dance calls because we learned them in our school physical education curriculum. ("Everybody do-si-do!") When we follow the caller's cues, the dance moves the square successfully and everyone has fun. After 16 weeks of class, I have not yet mastered all the calls so I can translate and perform them fluently. I will need continued practice to be a quality participant in the square. Many dance events are comprised of people with differing experience levels. If the dancers are not experienced or fluent in the calls, the square may break down if the calls are not adequate to guide them. In general, the calls are directed to the male, because men "lead" in all types of structured dance. However, there are times when a female will guide the less fluent participants to make sure the square is successful. The ICT industry is much the same because fluency in terminology is required to translate information to create a successful integration between infrastructure and communications. The terminology includes business, construction, networking, cable plant, security, planning and more. Sitting in these design sessions, subject matter experts (SMEs)/silos will talk past one another, not understanding their peers' language context—but understanding is necessary for an integrated design. In some of these cases, a translator emerges to clarify for the groups, but not always. Starting out as a network engineer for the railroad, I had mostly male peers and assisted with many migration deployments. Just like train conductors with their schedules, railroad processes had a level of structure and stringency. I was quickly introduced to "compliance," where written standards and policies must translate into solutions from the start of the design. During this time of growth in communi- cations, there was a gap from technical to business language, largely due to terminology. The need to translate the steps and dependencies of a project to create a tangible plan by a project manager was obvious. If project plans could not be documented, then time, resources and funding were not allocated or given priority due to a lack of understanding of the benefits to the business. I became this "translator" of requirements, a dual role between a network designer and technical project manager. Two data center migrations later, I landed a job moving a state's data center, where cable plant and network teams were siloed. The cable plant team was guided by TIA/EIA and BICSI standards. At the time I was the only female network engineer working with RCDDs and my suggestions on the cable plant were not heard with high regard. I was consoled by being told that the design sugges- More than Words from Women in BICSI Being the Translator By Cyndi Garrison, RCDD, Five Points Infrastructure Services, LLC Page 12