IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2011 - 28

perfect house with a pool, and to maintain good health.
-Nancy Salim

Pulling Back a Layer
Rand reengineers a career at HP

p

People working in information technology have long used science training, but
information technology giant HewlettPackard's (HP's) long-time employee
Michelle Rand is using it to work with
people. Trained in biochemistry, Rand
has always been interested in learning
about humans-not just the body, but
what she calls "pulling back a layer" and
looking at how chemicals combine and
what it means when you put them into
the body. She spent years doing research
in immunology and neurobiology and
some time with a biotech startup before
moving from Massachusetts to California
with her husband and deciding that, for
lifestyle reasons, she wasn't going to get
her Ph.D.
Once in California, Rand applied
for a job at Hewlett-Packard, where her
husband was working. "I was really
impressed with how they treated employees," she says. The job she took was in
process reengineering; in fact, Rand credits her science training with helping her
bridge the gap between research and the
computer industry. "Two key skills for
making the move were the engineering
process way of thinking and the ability to
manage large-scale projects and responsibilities."
But the move to industry came with
big changes, literally. "On my first day,
my boss got reassigned," recalls Rand.
"For two weeks I didn't know who I
would work for or what I was going to do.
There's a lot more organizational change
at HP than I ever saw in the science
community, so managing through that
change has been the hardest part."
When she eventually settled in, Rand
was tasked with driving change to how HP
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MWIE.2011.942424
Date of publication: 14 October 2011

28

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

got work done. The process reengineering group understands current processes
and then redesigns them, determining
how the process should look in the future
and what people or technology might be
needed to get to that new point. "It is a bit
like science," she explains, "in that, first
you observe what is happening, next you
decide how you want to change things,
and then you start making those changes.
That's been most of my career. Getting HP
to be better, faster, and cheaper in how we
get work done."

tively and efficiently as possible. Rand
is adding to her education by pursuing
a master's degree in human resources
development, which is aligned with her
desire to work with people and help them
evolve. Yet, she recognizes that her past
science and engineering training has
helped her get to this point.
"I think what engineering gave me
is the ability to walk into a situation
with an unbiased view and observe
what is going on," she explains. "You
don't jump to conclusions, but instead
gather all the data and make an
gath
informed decision about the
in
Managing to Get Ahead
right course of action to
After a couple of years, Rand
take." In one example of how
decided she wanted to learn
her methodical approach
what it means to manage
has helped her, she cites her
people and moved into a
first management role where
management role in the cusshe used to get a lot of escatomer service group. Though
Michelle Rand
lations from customers and
she had no experience to set
would analyze what the root cause issue
her up for that job, she latched onto
was and how HP could solve the probHP's management style, called "the HP
lem, as opposed to jumping straight
way," to prepare. "The culture at HP
into solution mode and potentially fixis that managers aren't expected to do
ing the wrong problem.
the jobs of the team," she explains. "It's
Recognizing the value of her training
more about playing the role of service
to the many roles she's taken on in her
provider and removing road blocks so
career, Rand encourages anyone interestthat everyone else can do their jobs."
ed in science and engineering to explore
While books have been written about
those fields. "Stay focused on your pasthe HP way, Rand supplemented these
sion," she says, "If you run into people
new lessons with her own active listenthat discourage you, just get those toxic
ing and people skills to create a collabrelationships out of your life."
orative environment for her new group.
She offers similar counsel to women
Two years later she moved back to
struggling to balance a career with home
process reengineering in a management
life. As a mother of two, she knows how
capacity, marrying her previous conimportant it is to figure out who your
tent experience with her new functional
lifelines are and to cut out those who
management skills. Since then, Rand has
won't support you. Rand advocates this
moved around a bit content-wise, with
approach at work as well, where, as a
roles in e-business, working with the facmanager to women who have children,
tories, and managing process reengineershe strives to remind her team to look
ing at the worldwide level for exposure to
at the big picture-for example, even if
changing customer needs across cultures.
someone has to leave early one day, she
In the last year, Rand has shifted her
is still committed and will make it up
focus and she currently serves as direcanother way. "In an industry where men
tor of organizational efficiency where she
are dominating women in sheer nummanages HP's workforce strategy and
bers, we need to do a better job providpersonnel development. "The way work is
ing support," she says. Wise words from
getting done these days is totally different
someone who has made a career out of
and the types of skills people need to do
supporting processes and people.
that work is changing," she says. Thus,
her job is to figure out how to organize
-Leslie Prives
a company to get the work done as effec-

DECEMBER 2011



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