November 2008

Some ramblings about the economy crisis.

1) My colleague who used to complain that he has no time, and very busy, suddenly requested that the company do not employ any more staff, and instead he will take on any of the tasks that are planned. I mean, should not he be actually having this kind of attitude from the very beginning and not just wait till there is a threat of retrenchment before adopting this kind of positive attitude?

2) I was remarking to my friend who worked in the public sector about how I am worried about my job due to this economy crisis. His response was, ‘Yah. I wonder if my bonus will be affected.’ I mean here I am worrying about whether I will still have a job and he is there worrying about his bonuses. Main difference between working in the public sector and private sector I guess. And yes, he is still going ahead on getting a new car.

So he did keep his promise. Now I just need to cross my fingers and hope they do not reject it again. The 2 reasons given last year will not be valid this year.

I hope.

So the new Project Manager came in like 2 weeks ago.

The previous one did not do himself any favours by immediately emailing all the stakeholders about the new guy taking over him. Granted that he was asked to take over the position temporary, granted he was feeling unhappy doing something that was not part of his KPI, but the least he could do was to wait for a few days. Besides, I have been helping him out, taking a lot of burden off his shoulders, things were easier for him. If it was not the fact that I willing helped him because I wanted to gain project management experience, I would have kicked up a storm over it.

I heard that there was a big hoo-ha as the client was firmly against the idea of introducing a new major risk at this critical point in the project. So I guess in the end, it did reflect very badly on him.

So far the new PM is doing pretty well, but I have the feeling he was just testing water, slowly probing, slowly learning. Which is not a bad thing actually when it comes to managing a project.

The plan for me next year seems to be 2 months in Malaysia, and at least another 2 months in Thailand. If everything goes according to plan, which I have learned that it is never so. So far, the short trips to Thailand are bearable, but I am not too sure how I should feel after learning that I will be there for at least 2 months. One thing is for sure, I can never get used to the hot and humid weather there, and this is coming from me being in Singapore.

I am also very concerned regarding the economy crisis gripping the world now. I am pretty sure there will be a few rounds of retrenchments, so yes, I am worried, enough to keep me thinking about it pretty often. Sure hope this crisis ends soon.