Am I Doing My Job or Not?

Well, it has been quite a week. I went to work every day, and I think they are still paying me for it. Pretty cool, huh?

OK, on Tuesday, I found an email from the IT VP saying that we had a project in crisis (coincidentally, the project is the Crisis Management System). We needed to react quickly, so could Paul, my boss, put Randy on it. Sure, he knows me, but I didn't know he really knew what I do. So, as you can imagine, I spent a good part of that day researching and trying to coordinate an IT strategy.

Wednesday morning, I am still feeling pretty good about this implied pat on the back. There was an email in my box asking Paul to replace the current project manager of the GoldenGate project as the project was out of control and no one was leading it. He complained that there was too little communication. Who was the PM? Me. OK, wait a minute, am I someone he wants to turn toward or away from? OK, I talked to my boss, we got called into a meeting about the project. We carried in all my documentation and emails. After all, I was holding daily conference calls and publishing the minutes every day. How much communication is required? Do I need to sit in his office and let him read each email over my shoulder? Anyway, we went into the meeting and he said, "Randy, I need you to send out twice-daily updates, and really get this done. I think you are the right man to lead it." Hmm. He's not upset with me? Paul stepped up and said that I was always the PM, but I did not include high-level management on a daily status report. One of their staff who has been on vacation for 10 days or so is on the distribution list and maybe that was where the disconnect came from.

Thursday morning, another email waiting for me. The VP said that my Wed afternoon communication was excellent and concise and he expects everyone copied to give me whatever support I need.

Friday, we finally got the Crisis Management system up and running, with one minor problem. Luckily (is that an appropriate word for a problem?), the customer's server has an error, so we cannot resolve that piece.

Maybe I should go up and add something for Monday so you won't think I wasn't at work that day. No, this is fine.

What happened with GoldenGate? We moved the whole team into a conference room together at my building so I can get more frequent updates and be involved in more meetings. We've got until next Friday to get this work done.

Any photos today? Not right now. I am still doing some LP ripping. Right now, Loggins and Messina Sittin' In and Chicago 13.