Redemption

Last week our project went live after being transitioned to me just a little more than a month ago. The project was complex and entailed the participation of about 4 separate teams. The project was in good hands before being handed over but I contributed more rigor and leadership as needed. The email I sent announcing the success and the response from leadership was vindication to me after the change of roles and transition to a new department that occurred this year. Finally, I felt I had proven myself to the people who doubted me due to their incompetence and unfairness.

I cannot help but feel good after those past months of trauma and doubt about my abilities. Last week was when I proved my worth though I did not really need to since I have been doing this type of work for decades in different zones starting from Asia-Pacific. But working with people who are ignorant and just looking to assign blame can cause you grief and stress unless one has to keep proving yourself. I have learned a lot in this journey and for sure I also needed to step up and thrive given the right help and support which I did not have. But all this pain went away with last week's success.

A friend of mine often remarked on my resilience and I have done it again though I was just using my wits to survive. I kept my nose to the grindstone and kept working until an opportunity came by with the departure of the former leader who was let go to cut costs. I had always thought that giving work to contractors despite the talent within the organization was not good business sense. This was proven again with the recent changes that all businesses had to go through due to the economic situation.

It is a new world now, especially after the election where a change of the guard is needed like a breath of fresh air with new leadership. Comets have been viewed photographed and posted in our user group and comets often are a portent of great change. In my small way, I am riding this wave of redemption, to return to courtesy and respect for one's abilities instead of fault-finding and pointing blame. I will continue to excel by working hard, being diligent, and being responsible. I did check my horoscope for the coming Year of the Snake and forecast seems promising. We shall see.

Scandinavian Treat

I just returned from a 9-day trip to Sweden and Denmark; four days in Malmo and another 4 days in Denmark. A short reprieve from the grind of work recently turned over to me. I had planned this vacation many weeks before the change in personnel was announced and all the tickets and bookings were already bought. The trip just came at the right time taking advantage of the Thanksgiving holidays so the departure was not really missed although I had to work remotely, attending meetings writing emails, and posting chat comments. In fact, it was a welcome return to my life in Asia; traveling and doing projects in Thailand, Japan China, Singapore, and the Philippines.

The life of a project manager is often an itinerant life;  of working with your laptop or phone in hotels, airports, or any place you happen to be where there is a WiFi connection. I joined a remote meeting in the new Library in Malmo near the castle circled by a moat, the library had a wall of glass where one could see across the street to the park. I had a chance to walk the streets of the old town and visit museums and art galleries. Denmark was a more spectacular and beautiful place, with its waterfront, elegant shopping lanes, Christmas markets, and palaces like Christianborg.

Despite watching Nordic shows like 'Borgen', 'The Bridge', 'The Killing'  and Wallenberg detective shows, being in the actual locale was exhilarating; eating the food, watching how the locals live, and learning their culture, especially the Viking phase was illuminating. Interesting lifestyle practices like 'fika' - short snacks with coffee and pastries; or 'hygge' roughly translated as cozy living or happy way of life is a different take on how one lives and enjoys his life. Far from the hustle and bustle of American life with its college sports and car racing. However, one does see some laidback values here in the deep South.

We enjoyed several trips this year: Prague in the Czech Republic, Boston in Massachusetts, St Agustin in Florida, and now Malmo in Sweden, and Copenhagen in Denmark. These trips were done during significant changes at the workplace: moving to a new department, working with new colleagues, assigned new projects and ways of working, and now a transfer of several difficult and complex projects in the last month due to the departure of key personnel. These trips have helped me expand my viewpoints and accept new challenges with an open attitude.

I have this insatiable urge to learn everything about Scandinavia, borrowing DVDs, books, and music and searching the internet. Soon my Nordic urge will go down after I have satiated my curiosity and I will go off to another interest. But the Scandinavian and Prague trips will have made me a different person as good trips often do when one goes beyond one's familiar comfort zones. This 'new' mindset is what  I need to tackle the new projects that I am working on: migrating from obsolete software and hardware assets; into the virtual cloud and operating systems; planning for Doomsday events and ensuring continuity of services.