New Journey

Last week was the first week I actively took over several projects transitioned to me by a highly competent Indian project manager who was let go. Several contractors, knowledgeable and technically competent, were let go, and sad to see them leave as news came trickling of their departure. I worked with a few of them though I felt no emotion as I was a direct recipient of their departure; to get their load of work that will keep me busy for the next few months. The pendulum has swung and the leviathan is achieving a new equilibrium.

The work is of a technical nature that I don't usually engage in but that is the card dealt me that I have to play them. Such are the events when one must adjust to circumstances as the economy turns to a direction in which the ship must change course. A lot has happened since the election that one must prepare for the new. A fresh wind has blown in and the portent of great change was seen in several photos of comets posted on the photography channel; an extraordinary number that one can feel a great change coming.

I worry about the workload but it is a welcome change where one is again on the grindstone fighting in the arena using one wits to succeed. But I have prepared for this event for a while now; attending seminars, trying new things with my devices, and reflecting on new knowledge such as Artificial Intelligence, Co-Pilot, and new ways of working. It is as if I am atop another wave, one among many that I have ridden and survived all these years in my long career.

The amount of workload is such that it is necessary to use the latest tools to keep the mind focused; to use visual management techniques like Kanban, Microsoft tools like Teams, Planner, and To DO list as well as meditation and mindfulness, vitamin supplements, and exercise. Not only is experience the key advantage, it is also one's physical and mental health, stamina, and interpersonal skills like communication, leadership, and empathy are all important as well. 

New information keeps coming up, software glitches occur, miscommunication happens, people don't understand what's being asked, cognition problems, decision paralysis, sleepless nights, insomnia, fatigue, and exhaustion both mentally and physically; all swirl around the project work with drop-dead deadlines. Indeed, one is back in the arena with new conditions and challenges one must stay calm with a quiet mind to succeed.

Working on PDUs

Last Tuesday I attended a day long symposium on project management. About 120 to 150 people attended the event. There were interesting speakers and the event was a welcome break from work. The event was held in a convention center in downtown, about 35 minutes from home. I had a chance to network and meet new people as well as banter with my office mates who attended. There were a lot of interesting lectures and I remember 2 exceptional ones. Looking back at the symposiums I attended in Singapore, I could not recall a specific outstanding lecture though I am sure there where exceptional ones there too. The speakers where well prepared and some had excellent visual aids. I recalled how terrible I was when I presented at the Singapore symposium; I had written a good paper (I felt) for the presentation but got nervous and flustered when I stood in the podium to deliver my talk. I had been attending Toastmaster for some time when I volunteered to present but all went to naught when I stood in front of the audience. I was given a plaque of appreciation and had dinner with the team but felt I did not deserve the gratitude.  I guess I did not do badly when one is less emotional thinking about it.

My speaking event was the most memorable episode that I can recall among my many memories of attending the Singapore symposiums. These event had about 1000 people or more attending, where dinners where held in large ballrooms, and stretched to 2 -3 days. It was a huge occasion and I can recall lining up for food, reserving seats in the meeting rooms, going home or drinking with GK - my colleague who I usually go with at these events – a fellow project manager struggling to earn the expected PDUs. I guess it was the drinking session at the bars we frequented was the highlight for me, eating good food like crispy pork belly, hot Indian samosa and cold beer, looking out into the night, telling stories and trying to guess what would happen to our lives if the company closed. I guess it was a stressful time because our future was uncertain, the company restructuring while we were still installing and deploying systems around Asia while training the outsource people who will be replacing us. Thank God the future turned out well for me, moving here to the South and continuing my career. But I lost many good friends and a great country to live in with only the memories of those pleasant lunches with my friends and the bar hopping at night.

The next day, Wednesday, was our usual Toastmaster meeting day where I evaluated a speech and served as table topics master, speaking several times.  I felt more confident now after spending 6 years in Toastmaster. It was a strange feeling that moment when I talked in front of the audience, after recalling my near speaking disaster in the Singapore symposium years ago, a memory brought back by the Tuesday event.  Somehow I felt that I turned a corner, especially since I crossed the last project milestone for the small project I was working on, an endeavor estimated to cost about USD$ 75k. Now I am heading towards a new assignment where I will be working as a project manager like in the days in Singapore. In the last 4 years I have been here, I worked more as an analyst, an interesting job because it allows one to learn about the business. The new assignment is more management; it entails working with people and doing administrative work. So now I have to make sure I keep my certification up to date.

Planning for X1

This week is the kick-off meeting for the steering committee. On Thursday, the China project is expected to cross the so-called X1 milestone. Afterwards, the project team can proceed to solution development. I plan to travel to the northeastern plant to kick-off and meet the local team. I hope it will go well. The phone conference meeting yesterday with the head office team and the Thailand business owner did not go well. It was a bit aggressive and tiresome. I guess I should get used to this kind of situation. No sense of working in harmony as one gets involved with people on a higher level. The teeth and knives come out and often seems to be a free-for-all brawl.

The other upstream project that I am working is on now has some troubles. I getting tired of receiving the issues from the users. We had given them enough time for testing a few months back and it is only now that we are getting feedback. It is very sad and sometimes I feel that I should leave. It is difficult because the support team is not turning over their work to the new outsource company. Their development servers have been shut down already and they will try to work on their local computers. So it will take some time before we can reply to them in detail. I sometime think that I should forget my troubles in the office when I leave for home and I am getting to be good at this trick.

We met this morning with the project office staff as well as my new boss. I liked the meeting because I was able to express my self. This is my main challenge to find my voice which is the 8th Habit of Steven Covey. I feel that I should have contributed more in the discussion yesterday. But I have some time to offer my thoughts. So I think I should try to offer my comments via e-mail but in a more politically acceptable manner. I did not have this problem in the past and used to rely more on my own reasonable arguments. But as one grows older one realizes that my voice is only one point of view and that I should learn to accept other's point of view. It is not really about accepting other's views but more on working on a plan of action or work towards another plan against my inner wishes.

Transition Begins

This week 2 resources from the outsource company have started work in the office. They will be here until November. We presented the overview of the software applications to them. They are charming young team from Hyderabad, India. Some of my resources in the former company in the Philippines have also said their goodbyes. Of few of them have begun to work in the new company that bought them. So times are a changing. The transition has begun.

The target is to move all maintenance and development support by the end of the year. The support staff will be coming over in the coming weeks from the Philippines to orient the team from India. They will be discussing the details of each application that they support. It will be like a revolving wheel where the former resources will return back to a new job once the transition of their particular application is completed. The outsource team will be getting the responsibility of support little by little as the transition move along like an unstoppable train.

Our infrastructure team will outsource their work by the end of the year to the giant American company. I heard that the infrastruture team will be absorbed and move over to the American company as well. So it has been a good transition for both the Philippine company as well as the local infrastructure team. They will have a nice package plus a new job. For those of us remaining, I hope the story will also end well. I think we may stay for a few more months until the situation is stabilized.

Within our team, there are news already on our respective fates. One will be re-trenched, another will move to China while another is being offered to work with the outsource company. My boss has also moved to another job within the company. As for myself, I was advised to keep doing my project until further notice. Hence, my situation is still status quo although I have heard from another source that plans are a foot to move me overseas to another assignment. In fact the assignment seems to good to be true.

So I am left now with the task or continuing working with my current project and training the outsource agents on the other applications that will move to them. The next place for deployment is China after completing the pilot in Thailand. So my attention remains in my current work while pondering my future. I still have time to plan for the next project using the enterprise project management tool. I hope to do good this time around as the first pilot was not done well. So I have a chance to redeem my reputation and I am working the new staff from the project office.

It feels like I am consolidating my experience for my next assignment or transfer. I just completed my 60 PDUs to extend my PMP certifcation and I am working on completing the next level of my Toastmaster's course. So it feels like I am bidding my time for the next big change in my life and I hope that my training and experiences will have prepared me for it.

Hanging On

I attended a short talk on Project Management Under Uncertainty yesterday evening. The talk was delivered by a professor from INSEAD and it was well done. Introduced some good techniques called critical chain management. It was a good way to spend the evening. I also attended a series of talks from writers during the weekend. The most significant by the author Jodi Picoult. A good series to seminars that are free and easy to attend. A good way to use one's free time.

I attended the talk last night with my friend in the office. Seems there are some rumours that a few key people are leaving. If true, this opens some doors for me if I stay on I think. But should I stay on. Sometimes it feels like this is a contest of survival of the fittest. There are so many things to do that these circumstances are not helpful. So I struggle along but the decision or options should be known soon. I seem to have lost the feeling of anxiety. Maybe it's because I have been preparing myself for some time already or maybe my subconscious has detected some sign that I will be spared.

But consciously I have prepared my mind to start looking for work soon. I think the option of getting the package and starting new seems to be a good alternative as well. Something like a rebirth. Maybe this is the best option after all even if the road will be difficult for me. I am still reluctant to decide and prefer to wait for the options to be presented to me. I can't help but think that there is some sort of insidious trap being prepared for me but maybe too much thinking in my part. I think it will be couple of weeks more before the options will be presented. Really, the talk last night was a good metaphor for our present conditions.

Back from business trip

I just returned from a trip to Manila, visiting our developer with the business leader. We conducted a series of workshops for the next release of the software even if the first release has not been done yet. Not really a good way to go. Something like rapid prototyping. But it was the only alternative left with the series of delays. The business leader was not happy and he sent out his main concerns to my boss. On the last day of the workshops, we reviewed the concerns and met with the head of the development team. We discussed the action plan and the meeting went well. The coming weeks will be very tight.

On top of this project is the ongoing S project. We met yesterday with the head of the contributors. It was a preparatory meeting for another one scheduled on Thursday. It was actually the first time we have sat together to discuss the details. As usual there was a source of contention with the princess but we managed to keep it civilized. I am glad we involved my former boss who has moved on and is now the boss of the princess. He is very useful in guiding the princess. Of course her views are legitimate and it will take some give and take from both sides. It will be a struggle in the coming weeks especially with my other projects.

I am in a classic bind where I am multitasking between several projects. I am also playing numerous roles in each project which is a bit taxing. For instance, the most urgent task at hand is to finish the solution requirements specification which is a task done by a functional analyst. Now I have to play this role again and still be the project manager. I am concerned also on my other project which need attention in terms of monitoring the deliverables from the developer. I also have to complete another specification once we get the business requirements for the next release.

The advise the business leader gave me when he assessed the situation last week was for me to step up and and start leading. He felt that I have more experience on managing the developers and I should work and guide them directly, spending more time in the developer's premises if needed. I think that was good advise and I need to lead more despite my workload. I attach a mind map on leadership with some good tips.

Get the work done

We will meet the boss man at late afternoon. Sp and the princess are not available because of their meetings. I realize Sp is not a bad guy after all. Involving him in the meetings of the S projects has made him happy now that he is involved. I think he can help me manage the princess as well. I think bringing him into the loop is good overall as the boss man will also know the problems we face especially with their team.

Managing contributors is getting to be a crucial part. Often people think that writing emails and making long PowerPoint presentations show the project is moving. To a certain extent it may be true but it is also important to have face to face working meetings and interactions. One important element is to determine what is the next step as explained in D. Allen's book Getting Things Done.

I think this is a key skill which I think E.de Bono talks about known as 'operacy'. It is more like the ability to get the work done. We are all good at some skill like writing emails or making presentations but the core skill of moving a project forward or 'operacy' may be missing. This is the key point that I believe is lost in the company. But the project management methodology is a step in this direction by providing a structured methodology to use.

I have to finish the project plan for the meeting today so I have to go to work early. We hope to have cleared the budget mess last Friday with the phone conferences and meetings. We agreed to reduce the budget at our end to account for the needed work until June. Hopefully our counterpart at head office will take up the slack and put the amount needed from July to December in his budget.

I think our accountant committed the mistake by not having the account created in our system. But I guess the issue is bigger than that because it's more a governance issue which is tied to managing work and its corresponding costs. But at the end of the day the customer should not suffer which is what will happen if this mess is not cleared. Now I understand the frustrations of the boss man with our department.

Ready for the battle

I woke early today to download a software for the boss man. It concerns a request from the one of his critical managers. The download is blocked in the office so need to do it at home. I tend to do more work for the office during my free time at home. Maybe a sign that I am getting more responsible. It's just that we promised to deliver this request at the end of the month and nothings seems t be moving so need to step in. I like to be actively engaged in the day to day running of things though I often step back and let the experts do their work.

The meeting with the boss man will start in a few hours at 9am. I spoke with his manager who were invited by Philip. Seems that none of them are keen to attend because they are quite busy. It is good that I meet with almost all of them yesterday to review the presentation I will show in case they attend. It is more effective to join their managers meeting instead of them joining the our meeting. I guess Philip is grandstanding again following some advise from his local mafia (snake + rival + former supervisor + other local people with their agenda).

I don't feel nervous or anxious unlike before because I have done my home work. Besides the boss man has a meeting at 10 am so it will be short. I think that he wants to get it done with. I have sent him the minutes of my meeting with his managers and I think he already appreciates this work. I think they are very sensible and protective of their time so meeting them very briefly yesterday was good and showed me that they value their working time. The bottom line is that they would like to avoid meeting with the boss man himself as his mood may turn ugly.

The turning point for this year with the boss man is the S project which will tied to my variable pay. I get nothing if I don't deliver. I spoke with the princess on the project and she seems to be over our stressful exchange before the Easter holiday. So I sent her the materials from the managers and she did not panic. We get to have more conversation on this project and I need to give them some time especially with her key staff leaving in a few days. I guess it is back to the basics of project management again. This is the key point that Philip misses which is to give attention to the details instead of sending out emails.

Budget problems

I may be heading towards a potential big issue today. Last Thursday before the Easter holidays, I had a discussion with the snake's replacement about the budget for the boss man's systems. Seems that no budget has been allocated. I remember that I did not look into this area because I thought the my rival and Philip would be in charge. The new French man who handles accounting was suppose to help as well. It seems that nothing happened as the actual man hours have gone beyond the group budget.

Now all hell can break lose if no solution to this can be found. Last year I was handling the budget for the boss man for our particular work and I worked with our counterpart in the head office who placed this under his budget in the office. We were trying to call him last week to work out this issue but he seemed to have gone out early for his holidays. I hope this has been budgeted under his overall account or we will be in a lot of trouble.

I should have placed more attention on this area. Ideally I am not responsible for this area and it is really my rival's work but this mess will really result in unplanned transitions. I should have followed-up on this point but perhaps my mind in it's wisdom prevented me from getting a more responsible role because I thought I should be minding my own business. It is now a big mess that I hope to solve today.

My next big concern is the coming meeting with the boss man. I have to finish the minutes today and place them into the work sheet. I also have the assess the time line for the S project as well. So it will be a lot of work this coming days and I need to thresh out the support concerns with the princess. I think I should prepare a lot and frame the correct questions with the princess because she is reacting emotionally.

Conflict with the princess

I had a particularly stressful session with the princess supervisor. I use that name because she has this attitude that she is the best around. She is quite hardworking and good at her job but her attitude of being the best blinds her on her mistakes and prevents her from moving forward. She is actually a good friend of mine and I have worked with a lot of projects with her and have helped her in a past project which was in trouble. She has also helped me in my projects as well.

But I guess her recent challenges have prevented her from seeing the correct perspective. Admittedly she is still very young and it's part of her age that she is still emotional, reactive and a bit immature from my perspective. So I have to try to find a formula to help her even though she thinks I am not helping her. At the end of the day, she and her team will be the main actors in the S project. Her main problem is that her key people are leaving her team and we are faced with scant resources.

I think I have the same problem with the boss man and the princess. Both are highly intelligent with strong views. So it is a question of trying to communicate properly the ideas that I feel strongly about and to persuade and lead them to the direction I want them to. For the princess supervisor, there are larger political issues at work with involves the old outfit. I think the snake is working with her as well to try to move the work away from the old outfit into his outsource partner in India. The princess supervisor has also a strong group of friends particularly my immediate boss so I have to tread carefully.

I think the main source of conflict is to determine how the project should advance. I have asked my own team at the old outfit to help the princess staff due to the their turnover. But the princess supervisor may think it's a power grab. So I have to seek some allies with the boss man and perhaps the new customer head who has replaced the snake in his job. The bottom line is to get the project back on track and complete the deliverable as planned.

Day's clashes

I was in a lot of unpleasant episodes yesterday. I did not arrive for an early morning meeting with the boss man. I did not think her secretary would inform him of the early morning appointment. I saw him in the elevator when I arrived and he joked about waking up late. But I was able to meet him again late in the morning and I updated him with the feedback I got from meeting his managers. I explained that I wanted to meet him after talking to the final manager that I have not met with yet and I only had this meeting with the quality team in that morning. So I tried to recover from this minor faux paus by writing the minutes and sending them out to all managers before the end of the day with a copy to him.

The quality team focused on the S project and I tried my best to explain the delays, which had to do with the boss man as well. I admit that I had some fault myself and I did not grasp it properly as it is in an area where I have only few experiences. I think this will be the deciding factor in my performance with the boss man this year. The other difficult episode yesterday was when I spoke the supervisor who is helping me in this project. I tired to explain the concerns but she became defensive and emotional in my view. She is a good worker but she is still immature and and tends to take things personally. This will be one of the major areas of personal disagreement in the coming months.

Today is a holiday and I get to relax and to take stock. I have not been swimming lately. My work will now be scrutinized more closely and I have to step up the mark. Yesterday there was a problem on the booking of expenses for work done for the boss man’s company. Some misunderstanding with the customer support manager in the head office and I could not reach him as he may be on holiday. So I talked with our second in command head of the department who raised this issue. A good guy actually. I explained to him the situation and he was pleasant and we will need to work on it next week when we get to the office after the holidays.

Snake in the grass

My suspicions was proven right. My old bosses are maneuvering behind my back. They scheduled a lunch meeting with the boss man and another supplier. The old snake has struck. I think he will try to entice the boss man in outsourcing the project to his preferred supplier instead of the old outfit where the snake man no longer has influence.

I had mistakenly thought that the boss man will remain loyal to me and the old outfit. But god knows what sort of lies the snake and his associates have spread about me and the old outfit. Many possibilities come to mind. For instance, I will be retrenched soon or I am corrupt and earned some kickbacks in some outsource contracts or the outfit is closing soon and work will move to India.

But my recent performance is not helping much. I am just starting to get back into my groove and a few good reviews. I just need to be consistent. Admittedly the outfit is having some trouble with some recent turnover of staff. The remaining resources for the project is inexperienced. I am trying to get some external resources to help the internal team. At least it wont be the snake man's resources.

Hopefully, the boss man will see through the maneuvering of the snake man. But he is a hard business man and will go to the person who can deliver the goods Even to the snake man. So I think I have to make the case that the old outfit can do the better job at reasonable cost. I think that I have to speak to him frankly in the morning.

I think I am second guessing myself that I am unable to respond in the proper way. For instance, I think the snake man and his associates are talking behind my back because they know something about me that I don't know like I am in the list of people about to be retrenched. This is the reason my paranoid mind think why these fools have the confidence of doing these back room dealings. But I am just sinking into self pity and playing the victim or martyr.

This is not true and I should fight back. My mind is so open that I prepare for anything and everything. In other words, I think to much. I made a map of all the possible options or plan of actions I will undertake in case I lose my job, transferred abroad as an expatriate, returned to my homeland, etc. In the end, nothing will happen after all.

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.