Vindication?

The meeting with the critical manager went well. In fact I spent most of my time at their office yesterday. I was consulted on a few areas particularly on Logistics and Accounting. I think it is a good sign. I also learned that the proposal I made on a meeting a few months back is being done which is to study the effect of a major program change. I was called a dangerous thinker for making that suggestion. Now it may be the direction, which the headquarters may eventually decide on. The boss man is making a presentation next week and was asking his people to prepare some materials. So maybe I am getting vindication at last.

I started using the journal feature of my email program to note down my meeting notes. It is a good habit to do the meeting minutes via this feature during the meeting. It was great and I am getting more organized. The U project, another one I am doing with my countryman, is going well. In fact my focus and attention on this project caused me to neglect my other work – the S project which caused the anger of the boss man last year. The manager of the U project is one of our best staff and I learned a lot from him. It is actually a fun project and I get to learn about his habits and the way he works.

I attended a seminar on project management last night. The speaker was very good and entertaining from Texas, USA. The key point I learned was projects are decentralized structures and if one attempts to enforce control then the effectiveness is affected and lowers productivity. Applying this lesson to the S project, I should allow the discourse between the developers and Philippe to continue, as he is the functional analyst. I should concentrate more on managing the process. I think this perspective allows me greater freedom and control. It also gives mere a better understanding of my role and allows me to work better from this perspective. Hence, I am working from a different level now than before.

Previously, I wanted to control the flow of information by being the middleman. But I realize that this is the old reaction done by most people in the past because they are unaware of their true role. It is the instinctive reaction to maintain power and control. In fact, trying to control the flow of information is counter productive and will reduce the growth of the staff because it does not allow empowerment. The change of perception to manager and removing the instinct to control is probably the best insight that I have had in years. This insight suddenly allows me to maneuver at a different playing field than in the past.