"Flight attendants, prepare for landing."
Maggie shuts down and powers off her computer at the announcement. Almost got the e-mail cleaned up, she congratulates herself. Those power plugs in the seats are a blessing and a curse. Now there is no rest for the road weary. Reminding herself that now she can dig into those proposals as soon as she gets to the office, without worrying about e-mail, she finishes packing up her computer.
The plane rolls to the gate and is rocked side to side by the jetway operator.
"I guess we're here!" Maggie quips to the gentleman sitting next to her.
She walks quickly off the plane to her waiting driver. "How's the traffic on four-o-five this afternoon, Steve? Think we can make it to the office in under an hour?"
Steve nods, and replies, "It looked good on the way in but you know how fast it can change. I put some mineral water in the back for you. No bubbles, right?"
"That's right. Thanks, I really appreciate that. The air on the plane was so dry," Maggie says as she slides into the car. She turns on her cell phone to see what voice mail has shown up while she was in the air. There is an urgent message from the main office. What could happen in just a few hours, she wonders as she dials the familiar number.
"Oh, that's great!" Maggie exclaims, listening to a message. "That is just great." The project sure needed that boost.
She dials again. "Patrick," she says, "what happened with Sheila? I thought she was happy here."
Patrick answers, "I think the travelling was getting to her. SBL consulting made her an offer that she said she couldn't refuse. Less money but she gets to work locally. She did give us two weeks notice though."
"Big deal," Maggie retorts quickly, then repeats more quietly, "big deal. The Dubro project is only six weeks from going live, and the project manager leaves now? Getting a new project manager up to speed will take more than two short weeks!"
Patrick responds, "I know, and we don't have any project managers on the bench right now to fill in. Dubro is a big project and we need someone of the right caliber to head it. The problem is that anyone who might be appropriate is already heading a project that is no less important."
"Are you sure?"
"Maggie, I went over it very carefully, and I'm telling you, that in my opinion, we don't have anyone of the right caliber who we can afford to pull off their current assignment. Just in case, I put in a call to Lela to see if any of new hires will work."
"With only six weeks from go-live, we are not going to assign a new hire," Maggie snaps.
"I know. So it looks like there's no choice but to pull a good person from another project."
Maggie reserves decisions such as these for herself. It is a delicate matter. One of the prime considerations is to minimize the amount of damage to whatever project that person gets pulled from. There's no point in trading one potential fiasco for another.
"For starters, get me a status on the D&K project," she says. "If I remember right, they're in playback stage, so we can spring Mark for Dubro, and what's his name can cover at D&K for a while."
At the same time, a nagging feeling hits Maggie in the gut. She suspects that Sheila would not be leaving if everything was going well at Dubro. Through the years, she has learned to listen to that intuition.
In a softer tone she continues, "Also, please send me, to our LA office, a copy of the last Dubro steering committee report, and the internal audit file. I want to see exactly where we are."
"You got it," Patrick answers. "Anything else?"
"Not right now," Maggie responds.
"Doing the project manager shuffle like I have nothing better to think about," she mutters to herself. Still, she learned early on that being directly involved with project manager assignments is of key importance to her operation. The right project manager means early warning about potential problems. Early warning means early resolution, and early resolution means happy customers. Happy customers mean good references, and good references mean more business. That's what it all boils down to, she reminds herself.
Since the early days, supervising the implementation jobs has been the hard part. KPI has grown by leaps and bounds in six short years. And so it should! KPI Solutions delivers successful projects. Maggie has made her reputation in the implementation business by using only experienced people. No kids straight out of college for her company—no sir! Experience has taught her that—the hard way.
The college kids are cheap, and some of them are bright. They make your hourly rate look great in the bid, but the customers get really upset when they realize the incredible price they are paying for someone with no experience. Successful real-world experience is worth paying for, but damn hard to find. Supervising the projects and the search for people to do the projects—these are the constants in her life these days.
She dials again. "Good morning, Lela. How is everything there? Did you finish the preliminary interviews for that last batch of resumes that came over the Internet?"
It wasn't so long ago that Maggie herself did the last interview for every person that joined her company. It is her reputation, after all, that each employee must work to maintain. At this point, it is simply too much. Still, she does her best to personally interview anyone who is destined for a project-manager slot. "How many got through Bill for me to talk to?" she asks.
"He wants what!" Maggie exclaims after Lela informs her of a requested starting salary. "And a signing bonus, too? One thing for sure, he has the nerve we're looking for." Then she adds, "If he turns out to be half as good as he says he is, he'll be worth it! Confirm his background, and if he checks out, put him on my calendar for an appointment in thirty minutes."
The salaries for these people have grown fast—even faster than KPI's phenomenal growth. Maggie smiles. KP1 has grown even bigger than BGSoft—as measured in people anyway, she reminds herself. It would be fun to pass Scott in revenues, too. Who says the student can't outgrow the teacher? she chuckles to herself.
Still, salaries are not the most important things to these people. The money is more than just money. The salaries are the recognition, the validation, the confirmation of their success. That is what's important to these folks. Her people thrive on the challenge and thrill of overcoming each obstacle that stands in their way.
That kind of internal drive is not something you can teach. You either have it or you don't, and those that have it are rare indeed. When I see it, I hire the person, even if there isn't a project for them immediately. Keeps me one step ahead of the competition. They don't have the balls to take that risk. They try to staff up after winning a project, and fall flat on their face.
Be paranoid. Scott has taught her well. Don't ever assume that the best price or best proposal will win. People who assume can still lose. Make sure the deck is stacked in your favor, and then keep pushing.
The competition has a hard time keeping their footing when Maggie's Marines go on a mission. Customers just love meeting the project team that will work with them even before they sign. Creating the right chemistry from the beginning makes for a successful sale and a successful implementation. Planting that seed early in the sell cycle grows into a key point when the final decision is made. And just call me the happy harvester, she giggles to herself.
Just then her cell phone rings. "Good afternoon, this is Maggie," she says brightly.
"Sorry to bother you again, but Mr. Cane just called and he refused to talk to me. He insists on talking to you directly," Patrick explains.
"Did Bob say what it's about?" Maggie asks.
"He really didn't say. But as I already warned you, there are some problems there. 1 will send the full report to your office."
"Why can't they call me when they're happy? Fine, I'll call him as soon as I have reviewed your report."
Knowing Bob Cane, this call will not be as pleasant as seeing Craig this morning had been. So much for getting on those proposals right away. She sighs, and thinks about the duck picture on the wall of her personal office. Scott gave it to her as a reminder of how to get through situations just like these. Stay calm on the surface, but paddle like crazy underneath.
Maggie hardly slows her stride as she moves through the front lobby She calls out to Dorothy, the LA office manager. "Did you get some reports from Patrick for me? Please bring them into my office. Also, please run the latest staffing assignments and bring those too."
Before her laptop has had time to boot up, Dorothy is at the door. "Here are the reports you asked for."
"Will everybody arrive for our four o'clock briefing?"
"Everyone was notified, and they're already here, except for Larry of course." "What about Larry?"
Dorothy hesitates. "He said that you approved his absence."
"Yes, I did," Maggie recalls. Larry has to give his briefing to his client's steering committee. It will require a real tap dance on his part since the project is almost a year behind schedule. Everything that can go wrong, did, and then some. Poor Larry. But he's good. He will pull it through.
"Do you need anything else?" Dorothy inquires.
"Not right now," Maggie replies. All the reports she asked for are here already. Patrick is up to his normal efficiency. Turning first to Bob Cane's report, she begins to read. In a few minutes, she hits the button on the intercom.
"Dorothy, get Patrick on the phone. Tell him I want more details on the delayed software changes that he says are holding up the Cane project."
Before she calls Bob back, she needs to fully understand both sides of the story. Why can't anyone ever really implement the 'vanilla' version like they say they will at the beginning of the project, she wonders.
Trying to figure out how much leeway to add into the schedule to cover for things like this is a real art. She is sure that Bob is calling her to complain about when this project will really finish, and how much it will really cost. According to the initial schedule, it was supposed to be complete four months ago. Of course, he conveniently forgets that he demanded that all the software changes be done before they went live, rather than listening to the project manager's advice.
Learn how to do business with the new system first, and only then can you ask for changes. That is Maggie's first law of implementation. And she's sure her people conveyed this to Bob.
Too much money is wasted on changes that make the new software look like the previous version. When will they realize that if the new system looks exactly like the old system, then change is unnecessary? Shaking her head, Maggie reminds herself of rule two: the customers are riot always right, but they are always the customers.
It looks like she will be talking to Lenny again soon. Why can't they just get this stuff done when they promise it? She shakes her head. It's five minutes to four, time to head to the conference room.
Two hours later she returns to her office. Thank God, no new crises were revealed. As a matter of fact, the LA team is doing quite well. All things considered, of course. She looks at the two pages of notes she scribbled during the meeting. Nothing is urgent, except for ... She circles three items, and picks up the phone.
Too late, she realizes, it's way after office hours on the East Coast. She pages Dorothy again on the intercom.
"Dorothy, before you leave, could you order me some dinner from that little Italian place I like?"
After Dorothy expresses her parental concern, Maggie replies in a cold tone, "I appreciate your concern, but I want to get these proposals done before I leave for Dallas tomorrow morning. Just get me some pasta primavera and a salad. Thanks.
"Just what I need—another mother," Maggie mutters.
While marking the proposals, Maggie starts to think about the meeting with Craig this morning. With a sigh, she realizes that she still needs to assign a team to that project, too. With all the fuss this afternoon, it just slipped her mind. She will also have to find the time to coach this team. Scott is right, if the team uses the standard templates there is no way that they will satisfy Craig's needs. She shudders to think what would happen if Craig doesn't have enough to take to his board.
Back to work, she chides herself. Have to get these proposals finished so that Gail's people can get the deals closed.
"One guy by the tie." The customers sure like that saying. "One guy by the tie." No finger pointing between the software company and the implementation team allowed—those are the new rules of the game. Providing one integrated proposal to the customer reduces the fear factor inherent in a project like this, and helps finish business.
But, Maggie wonders, where does Craig's bottom-line discussion come in here? Will all clients start to demand real bottom line justifications? Does this mean the rules are changing again?
Back to work, she tells herself sharply. If I don't take care of the present, I won't have a future to worry about.