Filling in the Gaps

Project Managers must do more than set and monitor the schedule. A lot of times a PM must step in and fill in the gaps in a project to make sure things stay on course. Such was the case yesterday although I didn't think I would be filling that role when the day started.

It actually all began on Monday when I arrived at work early (yeah I know, who shows up to work early on a Monday after a long weekend?). But I'm walking in and there is a sign posted on the door telling people not to turn on anything because of the flood. So there I was on Monday, pitching in by pulling desktop computers (why are they called desktop computers when they are always on the floor?) out of 2 inches of water. That was the obvious work, duh, let's try to keep the electronics out of the water. The less obvious thing to many people was to try to save the paper files. A lot of people have paper files in boxes under their desks. I saved many, but I know that a lot of paper was lost that way too. But this is not part of the story, just the set-up.

But I needed these people, my stakeholders, to be up and running as quickly as possible. The reason for this is essentially Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I need them to do project work, but they can't perform project work unless they have a computer and all the stuff that goes along with it. As such the more basic needs must be met before they can even consider addressing my needs.

The Technology Division worked through the night to prepare a bunch of hardware and get a bunch of mobile offices set-up in areas that were dry. They probably established about 100 new workstations in one night, which is awesome. So when everyone showed up on Tuesday there was a space and computer for almost everyone. The problem though, was that setting up that many workstations creates a lot of trash. Think about how many boxes are involved with setting up just 1 workstation including a computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, cords, docking stations etc. Now multiply that by 100. So there was a mass of trash just in the hallway.

And that is how we Project Managers contributed to getting through this crisis. We broke down the boxes, carted them out to the trash compactor and made them go away so that everyone can continue to get the critical work done and Technology didn't have to divert resources away from helping people working in a sub-optimal situation. Yes, I became a trash man for a day, and I enjoyed the work. It is good to feel like I did something to help during a crisis. And it was super cool to run the trash compactor. Every time I ran it I thought about Star Wars and that Luke, Han, Chewbacca and Leia were in there trying to brace the walls.

Anyway, it was the most rewarding work I've done all year. Of course it was only January 5. I have some time to try to top it.