SEED Program Odds and Ends (SEED-2, 4-Site Term, etc.)

The SEED Engineering mentoring program has been working through old and new
business the last few weeks. We have been matching the last few participants
in the 2007 Established Staff term, rematching a participant from the 2006-2007
Established Staff term whose mentor left Sun, accepting applications
for the SEED-2 alumni term (which runs March-September 2007), and preparing for a
new term which will open for applications in March 2007.

SEED-2 is an experimental term (pilot) to see how it would benefit SEED participants
who entered the program some time ago to be matched with a subsequent official SEED
mentor. SEED was asked to run such a term many times over the years. However, when
we opened the term, we were surprised when only ten people applied. We had been
prepared to accept up to 25 participants but, after verifying application information with HR, we accepted all 10 alumni participants. This group is remarkable for its
accomplishments (7 of them got two or three perfect annual perfomance ratings in
the last three years) and seniority. 4 of them have already served as SEED
mentors. It will be a pleasure to work with them. The SEED-2 group is putting
together their Mentor Wish Lists now (due on 5 February). Here are some of their diversity patterns:

• Location of Participants
  • Central USA: 1 [ 10% ]
  • Eastern USA: 1 [ 10% ]
  • India: 2 [ 20% ]
  • Western USA: 6 [ 60% ]
• Division of Participants
  • CTO/Sun Labs: 2 [ 20% ]
  • Software Group: 6 [ 60% ]
  • Sun Services: 1 [ 10% ]
  • Worldwide Operations: 1 [ 10% ]
• Gender of Participants
  • female: 2 [ 20% ]
  • male: 8 [ 80% ]

We have also been preparing for SEED’s next international term. The “SEED 4-Site
Term” will benefit four Sun Engineering sites outside the United States: Bangalore, Beijing, Prague, & St. Petersburg. This is the 6th pilot term SEED has offered.
The SEED program from time to time creates one or more pilot terms for which the
rules and process are somewhat different from the regular worldwide all-Engineering
program. These pilot terms serve two functions:

1. Test a new rule or process to see if it
   should be rolled into the regular program.
   (This is how the Established
   Staff part of SEED was created in 2002.)

2. Focus on a particular group in which we want
   to build a critical mass (or supportive network) of
   SEED participants.

In order to run a SEED pilot, we need an Engineering base population of at least
300 to pull from. Experience has shown that a group smaller than 300 will not
have enough rising stars and superstars to make up a SEED term. The six pilots
so far have been:

1. The India Engineering Center (IEC): 2005
2. The Sun China Engineering & Research Institute (SCERI): 2005
3. Europe and the Middle East (EMEA) two groups: 2006
   
   Dublin-Grenoble-Hamburg-Prague, and St.Petersburg-Tel Aviv

4. Legacy StorageTek: 2006
   
   for Former StorageTek Engineering staff acquired by Sun

5. SEED-2 Worldwide Program (for SEED Alumni): 2007
6. 4-Site Term: Bangalore, Beijing, Prague, St. Petersburg: 2007

I have visited most of the target sites during the application period when SEED
has run a term focussed on Engineering staff outside of the USA. In 2004, I
visited Bangalore, India. In 2005, I visited Beijing (China), Prague (Czech Republic),
and Hamburg (Germany). Tanya Jankot also visited Dublin (Ireland) and Grenoble
(France) on behalf of SEED in 2005. In 2006, I visited St. Petersburg (Russia) and
Tel Aviv (Israel). In March 2007, I will be in Bangalore again during the 4-Site
application period. I am looking forward to talking with as many of the Engineering
staff in Bangalore as I can fit in.

My husband, John Plocher, who manages the process and tools for Sun’s
Architectural Review Committees
will be able to travel with me again. John was also able to work from the Engineering
sites at Beijing, St. Petersburg, and Tel Aviv when I was there on SEED business.
We also hope to be able to do some weekend travelling in India.