Ides of March

The dust has finally settled with my debacle with the boss man. I am out. Well not really as I am still helping in the operational side. But it's all for the best. My detractors have been taken out of the project and a new team is in place. I am now helping the new team though in a diminished role. Good for me as I can focus on the projects within my domain. But as I am still involved by a thread so to speak and I can still be called to help out in the project if things do not turn out well. In summary, the result after the dust has settled: my detractors are out, I am still in though barely and I can focus on my 'real' projects. More importantly, I am not held fully responsible for the issues (although I should be) as there is now a recognition I believe that internal politics was the real cause of the debacle.

But despite the final settling of accounts, a larger concern looms in the horizon. The company has finally moved forward toward 'co-sourcing' our jobs. Well, not exactly, as more like a relocation towards the countries were business resides in. The role of a regional head office, away from business is not realistic. So the likely options are: transfer to China or Thailand, move to another department, get absorbed by the outsource company (based in India) or leave the company with a (hopefully) generous package while looking for a new job. Our fate will be known by end-March when personnel will meet each of us to discuss the future. So the end of life as we know it for the past 6 years is likely to end soon. Possible by the end of 2008 as the final cogs are put into place.

I have a feeling that it's time to move on. I have spent a lot of time already in the office and recent events like the debacle with the boss man has tired me out. It has removed whatever excitement and foolish naivete that I still had. In fact, even my horoscope seems to portend my future. The prediction for the year of the rat for my specific birth year tells of a change of house and /or change of job. There is a prediction of big changes. In some cases, it predicts a change for the good. But let us see and wait for the play. Some accounts have said to wait patiently and see how the event reveal themselves. Very well. We will know soon. In the meantime, I have been trying to 'sharpen the saw' following S.Covey's works. I just read his latest book, 'The 8th Habit' and it is a good road map for the future. S.Covey works like 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' have been helpful to me in certain periods of my life. Now my future seems to be proceeding like in the past.