Project Manager
So I got 'promoted' (without the extra pay, only the extra responsibilities and opportunities!) to be a project manager for (arguably) the most important project for my institute. It's our first flagship project, and I'm now assisting the Executive Director (who's personally overseeing the entire thing) in managing the project.
Given that I've only been at my job for 2 months, it's a tremendous opportunity (even though I'm not getting paid any more) which I'm grabbing by the horns. Already, on my first day, I've been elbow-deep in the internal politics, personal dynamics and the inter-organization rivalries that are typical of important projects.
And whereas I was complaining just one-and-a-half months ago of being bored and not having enough to do (which was true: I created a new blog and filled it up at that time), today I had half an hour for lunch, and maybe another half hour (in total) of personal-email-and-some-websurfing time. And I worked overtime as well.
I know, it's not as hectic as some other people working in private industry. But it's quite a few degrees more intense than previously, and for that, I am grateful and happy.
The ED is a very nice man to work for as well. There is an almost boyish enthusiasm for this project that he has, and he is a very remarkable person: within the past 24 hours, I've learned to see things in quite a different perspective. It's remarkable how much people-skills and technical knowledge is stored in his brain; that's only slightly less remarkable than the sheer speed with which he recalls all those skills and details.
As you can imagine, he makes for a pretty intimidating and tough task master. But the harder the challenge, the more fun it is for me. For me, I thrive under stress, as otherwise, I'm just so damned lazy...
It's challenging and interesting to deal with a team of academic researchers. I had thought it was an outdated stereotype that academicians and technologists tend to have a very microscopic and narrow view of their problems. Surely this cannot be the case in our era, especially given the buzzing enterprise creation that I had seen in my uni days at Rice and the ambition of a lot of academics?
That view went out of the window after we had our first discussion, and I witnessed how some people sometimes went deep into the details of certain technical problems or issues which had very little relevance to the project at hand at all. There are some people, I guess, who develop more in some ways than in other ways.
I'm also learning (at a fast pace) the technical skills involved in project management: Gantt charts, rosters, time-tables, task lists, etc. I might get sent for a quick and short course on project management, but in the meantime, things are ok.
Thank goodness that I had read the Dave Allen book way beforehand!
Given that I've only been at my job for 2 months, it's a tremendous opportunity (even though I'm not getting paid any more) which I'm grabbing by the horns. Already, on my first day, I've been elbow-deep in the internal politics, personal dynamics and the inter-organization rivalries that are typical of important projects.
And whereas I was complaining just one-and-a-half months ago of being bored and not having enough to do (which was true: I created a new blog and filled it up at that time), today I had half an hour for lunch, and maybe another half hour (in total) of personal-email-and-some-websurfing time. And I worked overtime as well.
I know, it's not as hectic as some other people working in private industry. But it's quite a few degrees more intense than previously, and for that, I am grateful and happy.
The ED is a very nice man to work for as well. There is an almost boyish enthusiasm for this project that he has, and he is a very remarkable person: within the past 24 hours, I've learned to see things in quite a different perspective. It's remarkable how much people-skills and technical knowledge is stored in his brain; that's only slightly less remarkable than the sheer speed with which he recalls all those skills and details.
As you can imagine, he makes for a pretty intimidating and tough task master. But the harder the challenge, the more fun it is for me. For me, I thrive under stress, as otherwise, I'm just so damned lazy...
It's challenging and interesting to deal with a team of academic researchers. I had thought it was an outdated stereotype that academicians and technologists tend to have a very microscopic and narrow view of their problems. Surely this cannot be the case in our era, especially given the buzzing enterprise creation that I had seen in my uni days at Rice and the ambition of a lot of academics?
That view went out of the window after we had our first discussion, and I witnessed how some people sometimes went deep into the details of certain technical problems or issues which had very little relevance to the project at hand at all. There are some people, I guess, who develop more in some ways than in other ways.
I'm also learning (at a fast pace) the technical skills involved in project management: Gantt charts, rosters, time-tables, task lists, etc. I might get sent for a quick and short course on project management, but in the meantime, things are ok.
Thank goodness that I had read the Dave Allen book way beforehand!
posted by PJ at 9:03 PM
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