Getting the job done
Wanted to talk with you about learning something that didn’t come naturally, a memory line if you will.
This time I got a new job as a manager for a pretty big client’s tech project. The company had to let the previous manager go because of the performance issues and, needless to say, he wasn’t keen on properly passing on the client to me. And this all has happened just couple of months before an important deadline for the project.
Thankfully, the project team has been with the client for a few years, so they knew what to do operationally. I, on the other hand, had to do the contract compliance documentation for that milestone. I had to come up with a checklist for: a) all the work that has been done according to the contract, b) provide the supporting documentation signed by the client, and c) do that by a certain date or we were not going to be paid. The problems were that: a) the previous manager didn’t leave any documents, b) the contract was a few hundred pages long, and c) those signatures had to be physically (!) collected from all the client’s branches in the country.
Looking back at that experience I probably should’ve quit right away, because the company didn’t handle this whole situation the way they should’ve, to say the least. They should’ve timed the management change better, not around the milestone. They should’ve worked with the manager…
