Becoming an accidental project manager  (Page 3/5)

Until now, all of his experience at BizNex Inc. had been quite friendly, this was a side of the business he had not seen before. As he got back to his office, he didn't have any time to consider the implications because Doug Black knocked on his door.

“Listen John,” Doug said rather sheepishly. “As you know, I have just under two months until I am out of here. I’d like to help you on this project of yours, really I would. I am sure it is important. But let me say I really don’t know much about computers and think order processing is horridly dull. I don't see why I should put too much effort into something that won't effect me. So while I'll work with you, you won't expect too much will you?”

All of this happened on the Thursday, just three days into the project. To get the project moving, John tried to arrange a kick-off meeting of all project staff at nine o’clock the following Monday. Since Sam Nelson’s office (IT) had not assigned a representative, it would not be represented. The finance division representative said he thought it was a great idea, but he would be out of town throughout the week so could not attend. The other project staff members said they would attend the meeting, but John got the impression they were not happy about it. Only Sara Stone, the internet expert, sounded interested. John wasn’t sure what he would do about getting the e-commerce expert. He would have to talk to Mike Johnson about it.

All through the weekend, John prepared for the meeting. He put together a five page preliminary position paper, identified milestones the team members would have to meet, created guidelines for the activities to be undertaken and read several journal articles on Internet Technology and online order processing. On Monday at nine o’clock, John arrived in the conference room and found it empty. By nine-thirty, only two other project team members had shown up. Conspicuously absent were Doug Black and Sara Stone, both of whom had assured him they would be there.

Without accomplishing anything, John closed the meeting and returned to his office. On his voicemail he found a message from Sara Stone saying that she was sorry to have missed the meeting, but her boss in the information resources management department (part of the IT division) had told her that he was pulling her off the project.

About an hour later, Mike Johnson called John into his office to tell him that he was putting the order processing automation project on hold. He said, “Sam went to the CEO and complained that you and I are a couple of cowboys, and were running around doing things we had no business doing." Mike seemed resigned, and continued, "Sorry John. You win some and lose some. Next time we’ll do better right?”

John mumbled assent then went back to his own office. Closing the door he sat at his desk and stared out of the window. What had he done wrong, and why had someone told the company CEO that he was some kind of amateur. As the implications of this last week settled in, John wondered about his future with BizNex Inc.