![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Firmly back on the wagon!
Mar. 21st, 2025 10:43 pm Last year I was looking forward to a nice break (slightly longer than this year because it included the Easter weekend), getting to grips with technology, making Plans for the PMs, and feeling the benefit of better sleep.
Today, I had two project boards and wrote them both up. One of them included someone asking (not for the first time), 'Do we know what we're doing?', which had a few jaws dropping. Well, we're about to start developing something according to the solution design based on the requirements we gathered way back when from YOU that you signed off on. Where is the mystery?! Turned out it wasn't the solution they were confused about, but what happens to the data once it's been gathered. Well, er... that's YOUR problem. We're just IT. We build what you want us to build; the rest is up to you.
The PM for that project is currently on leave, so the update was given by my former LM. I asked if they could chat to the PM next week to bring them up to speed and they said they'd try. Then I explained that I'm off next week and the PM is doing interviews on 31 March, and the next PB is on 1 April, so I basically have zero opportunity to speak to them. I thought I'd mentioned being off to the former LM but apparently not - or the information hadn't sunk in. Anyway, the penny then dropped and they said they would catch up with the PM.
Then they asked what the role was that the PM was interviewing for and I said the BCM for another project, and they asked if I'd applied. It never even occurred to me, TBH. Change management is one of the things the PMO COULD do - but isn't really something I do do, because we're in IT. I would have felt completely out of my depth, and not in a way that was stretching! Also, there's only me - take me out and a LOT of plates stop spinning. Now, that wouldn't be my problem (and would reveal the vulnerability of only having one of me), but it would bother me.
They also said I should look at things like that as an opportunity and... they're right. I mean, I didn't even LOOK at the person spec. I maintain it wouldn't have been a good fit, and I'm probably not in the right place at the moment but... it wouldn't have hurt to look. It's only temporary but it's a grade higher than my current one, and my existing post would have to be kept for me to come back to. So, if another BCM role emerges, I shall at least look at it :)
In a world where the PMO was not based in IT but was attached to, say, the Strategy Office, change management, benefits realisation, strategy delivery - they would all be things we would be all over. IT would be a service we made use of, and it would be more obvious that technical solutions are (quite often) only a small part of a project. The REAL work is everything else. But, we're not in that world. Strangely enough, though, I've had variants of that conversation twice this week.
After tea (which was at a much more reasonable time than yesterday), I did the washing up and then cleaned the cupboard with all the electric kitchen gadget in - a number of which I have removed to the Great Storage Area because we never use them. Hopefully, there's someone out there that wants an ice cream maker, or sandwich toaster, or food processor. And now there is enough room for my bread maker, slow cooker and coffee grinder. So, I'm back on that particular wagon!
Then I decided I really should make my farewells to a particular character in God of War: Ragnarok. Before I could play, I got an update, which gave me a set of Dark Odyssey armour and weapons - very nice. I've changed the appearances because the stats are quite low on the new stuff. We did the sad thing... oh, Sindri... I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying... *sniffles* Then took care of a rift and a piece of Asgard. I visited Sindri's house which was eerily quiet, and then found I can visit Jotunheim! So, that's where I've left Kratos for the time being.
Tomorrow, I start Coffee Talk 2 :)
I also watched a couple of videos about abandoned cities, in the name of research. Can never have too many ideas for places for my characters to visit!
And that will do for today.
Today, I had two project boards and wrote them both up. One of them included someone asking (not for the first time), 'Do we know what we're doing?', which had a few jaws dropping. Well, we're about to start developing something according to the solution design based on the requirements we gathered way back when from YOU that you signed off on. Where is the mystery?! Turned out it wasn't the solution they were confused about, but what happens to the data once it's been gathered. Well, er... that's YOUR problem. We're just IT. We build what you want us to build; the rest is up to you.
The PM for that project is currently on leave, so the update was given by my former LM. I asked if they could chat to the PM next week to bring them up to speed and they said they'd try. Then I explained that I'm off next week and the PM is doing interviews on 31 March, and the next PB is on 1 April, so I basically have zero opportunity to speak to them. I thought I'd mentioned being off to the former LM but apparently not - or the information hadn't sunk in. Anyway, the penny then dropped and they said they would catch up with the PM.
Then they asked what the role was that the PM was interviewing for and I said the BCM for another project, and they asked if I'd applied. It never even occurred to me, TBH. Change management is one of the things the PMO COULD do - but isn't really something I do do, because we're in IT. I would have felt completely out of my depth, and not in a way that was stretching! Also, there's only me - take me out and a LOT of plates stop spinning. Now, that wouldn't be my problem (and would reveal the vulnerability of only having one of me), but it would bother me.
They also said I should look at things like that as an opportunity and... they're right. I mean, I didn't even LOOK at the person spec. I maintain it wouldn't have been a good fit, and I'm probably not in the right place at the moment but... it wouldn't have hurt to look. It's only temporary but it's a grade higher than my current one, and my existing post would have to be kept for me to come back to. So, if another BCM role emerges, I shall at least look at it :)
In a world where the PMO was not based in IT but was attached to, say, the Strategy Office, change management, benefits realisation, strategy delivery - they would all be things we would be all over. IT would be a service we made use of, and it would be more obvious that technical solutions are (quite often) only a small part of a project. The REAL work is everything else. But, we're not in that world. Strangely enough, though, I've had variants of that conversation twice this week.
After tea (which was at a much more reasonable time than yesterday), I did the washing up and then cleaned the cupboard with all the electric kitchen gadget in - a number of which I have removed to the Great Storage Area because we never use them. Hopefully, there's someone out there that wants an ice cream maker, or sandwich toaster, or food processor. And now there is enough room for my bread maker, slow cooker and coffee grinder. So, I'm back on that particular wagon!
Then I decided I really should make my farewells to a particular character in God of War: Ragnarok. Before I could play, I got an update, which gave me a set of Dark Odyssey armour and weapons - very nice. I've changed the appearances because the stats are quite low on the new stuff. We did the sad thing... oh, Sindri... I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying... *sniffles* Then took care of a rift and a piece of Asgard. I visited Sindri's house which was eerily quiet, and then found I can visit Jotunheim! So, that's where I've left Kratos for the time being.
Tomorrow, I start Coffee Talk 2 :)
I also watched a couple of videos about abandoned cities, in the name of research. Can never have too many ideas for places for my characters to visit!
And that will do for today.
