God Bless Home Project Managers

We have been working with a tough client for more than two years now. We have been abused, penalized and battered by this client for a long time. In spite of all the trauma, the team stuck on, determined to make it work. Today, as we went in for one of the few final sign off meetings with the client, we managed to delight him beyond his expectations. He was so happy, he invited us for lunch to show his appreciation for all our hard work. The drive back to office, was as expected, very very peaceful and happy. In my mind, I was glad it worked out and I was patting myself and the team for a job well done. Days like this, I really feel on top of the world. I seriously believe that given time, hard work and planning, you can make anything work (of course with due credit to the team behind the success!)

Alas, the happiness was short lived. As soon as I stepped back into office, I got a call from home. Yog had cut his finger, he was extremely cranky, and I was asked to rush home. I sighed, packed my bag and left to meet him. A couple of tricks, some singing, dancing, rocking, phone pictures later, he was calmer. I left him  out to play with his nanny and other kids on the road. I came back to office and opened my laptop to catch on my emails. I was two emails down when my phone rang again. Toyna was on the other line crying her heart out. The reason being – her stomach was hurting. My hunch told me that she was fine and cooking up a story not to go to Taekwondo class, but how do you tell a 9 year old that? I asked her to sleep for a while and see if it gets better. Five minutes later, she called up again, still crying and complaining of stomach pain. At this point, I gave up trying to be in control. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and told her to go watch some TV, and yes, forget about Taekwondo class. It’s been 30 minutes since we last spoke, so I am guessing the TV did the trick.

As I type this post, I am still wondering, how could we achieve such a dramatic turnaround with such a difficult client; when on a daily basis, I fail to get my kids to complete even a days’ worth of simple activities . I once recommended to Pavan, that we should hire full time mothers as Project Managers in our organization. I honestly believe, they know much more about Project Management, Stakeholder Management, than I can ever hope to learn through any number of certifications out there. The peace and success behind each home out there, is because of that one highly skilled Project Manager. My salute to all of them!!!