Ok, quick work update. Mid-project presentation this morning with about a million people from the client and no shortage of people from our place, including the CEO and assorted senior chaps. This is basically the point in the seven week process where we say where we've got to, describe the approach we're taking and open it all to debate.
Now this might sound all huggy and friendly, but realistically this is crunch time. We are presenting everything from the commercial model to the processes and people involved in operating what we're implementing. We're talking about a business which will need to turn over hundreds of millions of pounds in a few years' time. It's worth a fair bit to my company so if this meeting goes well, we're half way there.
It went well. The client engaged with us enough to show they were listening and taking us seriously, we got plenty of interaction and some very positive comments, and to top it off, the main sponsor of the project made it abundantly clear at the end that he was very happy with what he'd seen.
Marvellous. Much thanks from internal people (including the CEO, who's ace, btw) and the sheer relief of a job well done. This far, at least. We do have three weeks to go and a whole lot of work to be done and difficult questions to be answered in that time. Nonetheless I'm happy with the result of my first presentation - by my reckoning, I and the project manager did very well indeed.
So a moment's relaxation is called for. Tomorrow will be a bit of regrouping, one or two catch up meetings, lunch from Borough Market (I'm heading for the cassoulet myself), perhaps a pint or two in the Market Porter and then home for a quiet one with the Kiwi before she jollies off to New York for a week to do massively important stuff with really important people. Dead proud of her I am: my girlfriend's going to New York on a business trip. That's how important she is.
And the rest of the marigolds are flowering.
Showing posts with label responsibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label responsibility. Show all posts
Thursday, 14 June 2007
Monday, 28 May 2007
Week Two...
... and it's a four-day week, how wonderful. Very chilled weekend, finishing up on the sofa with a light dinner - the Kiwi's made some world-beating potato salad with some chives we've been coaxing into life over the past few weeks. Having never successfully grown anything in my life this is a momentous occasion. The other day I used some thyme which has been growing on my windowsill - can't tell you how proud I was. God I'm getting old.
Actually it's more like a three-day week, as Friday is one of the six-weekly 'community days' that my new employer likes to throw. I'm quite looking forwards to it - it's an opportunity to get involved in seminars and discussion groups with the rest of the consultants, basically a way of ensuring that the wealth of knowledge in the business is distributed as evenly as possible. Consultants rarely socialise when not on the same project, as we tend to be onsite with clients most of the time, so this seems like a pretty good idea I reckon.
As the new boy I need all the help I can get, so I'll be there all eager-eyed, notebook in hand and pencil poised to capture all the words of wisdom I can.
However, before you start thinking I'm strolling down easy street in this new role, my colleague and I have to write up a reasonably detailed ecommerce plan for one of the UK's biggest news corps by Thursday night, which although I'm reasonably confident about it at this stage, is no small ask as there are potentially millions of quid at stake one way or another. No pressure, then... fortunately we're talking about the nuts and bolts of retail here so I'm more or less in my comfort zone.
Less so with the nuts and bolts of consulting. In my previous lives, an hour spent slacking off a bit yielded nothing more serious than a bit more work to do later in the week; a few days extra on a project meant annoying someone more senior but could usually be explained away and forgotten about. Things are different now - slipping a day can add several grand to a project; that extra hour spent MSNing someone is an hour the client's paying for... and if you come off your billable project to give some time to someone else as a favour, your bonus will be directly affected. This is all very new to me and initially a bit freaky and all so very growed up.
So how does all this feel? Brilliant, is the honest answer. Like the way you ache slightly when leaving the gym for the first time in too long, I'm exhausted. The sheer mental effort of being on form for 8 hours a day is something I'm (slightly shamefully) just not used to, but I'm loving it all the same. I'm being made to feel like the experience of working in retail for the past 15 years is finally worth something to somebody.
Along with all this, I'm slowly realising, an old thing is raising its ugly head again. I can't cruise in this job. I can't drift or tread water. I need to be responsible for myself, and in control of what goes on. Self-responsibility, eh? Let's see if I can get this one cracked whilst still in my twenties... now that would be an achievement.
Actually it's more like a three-day week, as Friday is one of the six-weekly 'community days' that my new employer likes to throw. I'm quite looking forwards to it - it's an opportunity to get involved in seminars and discussion groups with the rest of the consultants, basically a way of ensuring that the wealth of knowledge in the business is distributed as evenly as possible. Consultants rarely socialise when not on the same project, as we tend to be onsite with clients most of the time, so this seems like a pretty good idea I reckon.
As the new boy I need all the help I can get, so I'll be there all eager-eyed, notebook in hand and pencil poised to capture all the words of wisdom I can.
However, before you start thinking I'm strolling down easy street in this new role, my colleague and I have to write up a reasonably detailed ecommerce plan for one of the UK's biggest news corps by Thursday night, which although I'm reasonably confident about it at this stage, is no small ask as there are potentially millions of quid at stake one way or another. No pressure, then... fortunately we're talking about the nuts and bolts of retail here so I'm more or less in my comfort zone.
Less so with the nuts and bolts of consulting. In my previous lives, an hour spent slacking off a bit yielded nothing more serious than a bit more work to do later in the week; a few days extra on a project meant annoying someone more senior but could usually be explained away and forgotten about. Things are different now - slipping a day can add several grand to a project; that extra hour spent MSNing someone is an hour the client's paying for... and if you come off your billable project to give some time to someone else as a favour, your bonus will be directly affected. This is all very new to me and initially a bit freaky and all so very growed up.
So how does all this feel? Brilliant, is the honest answer. Like the way you ache slightly when leaving the gym for the first time in too long, I'm exhausted. The sheer mental effort of being on form for 8 hours a day is something I'm (slightly shamefully) just not used to, but I'm loving it all the same. I'm being made to feel like the experience of working in retail for the past 15 years is finally worth something to somebody.
Along with all this, I'm slowly realising, an old thing is raising its ugly head again. I can't cruise in this job. I can't drift or tread water. I need to be responsible for myself, and in control of what goes on. Self-responsibility, eh? Let's see if I can get this one cracked whilst still in my twenties... now that would be an achievement.
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