"when one door closes, another one opens..."

I'm four days away from leaving a job I started four years and five bosses ago...it's a bittersweet thing, this departing of mine.  Dare I say that I'm feeling a little sentimental about it?  I've got a nice office with two windows, I park right in front, and have the run of the place more or less.  The down side of the whole thing is that the company still hasn't figured out what it's trying to accomplish with its very existence.  It struggles in self-defeating politics and indecision.  The owners sit, 5,000 miles away, in Germany and make armchair decisions about the future of a company they know nothing about beyond the balance sheet and income statement.

They chose a new ERP without soliciting any feedback from those who would use it.  The system was never tested to ensure it would meet the needs of the business.  The data format was never questioned to establish the amount of work required to transition from the old system to the new system.  No one asked about the massive number of customizations to the old system and how or if they could be replicated in the new system.  So, after spending six months forcing people to use a terrible GUI, making many sacrifices with regard to data integrity, the ERP migration has been put on hold until the company moves 50 miles North.  It's more wasted money and time by most of the people in the company because there's a fundamental lack of support for all of the work that's required to get the data moved.  What company, with 12 employees inside, attempts to move 50 miles away AND implement a new product hierarchy AND new discount structure AND implement a new ERP at the SAME time?  One that doesn't solicit input from its 12 employees...or have enough common sense to realize that they're not all possible at the same time.  It's also tied up in a failing 'shared services' model that had no goals, no outline and no real agenda.  Tough to know if it's achieving anything when no one knows what it's supposed to grow into and control.

I will miss the title, the office, and the simple liberties that I've earned over four years...and some of the people.  I won't miss spending more time debating the politics of why something exists than actually doing anything about it.  I won't miss the epic meetings about the meeting we just had or the meeting we're about to have.  They never end, never provide a starting point, an ending point, a goal or a direction 90% of the time.

I'm leaving a company that's privately owned, bogged down in its own politics and agendas...one that doesn't realize the value of its people or their contributions to making it more functional, more productive and more efficient...to join a company that knows its people are important, knows where it wants to go, what it wants to accomplish and how it's going to get there.  I'm going to go from working 60+ hours per week to 35 hours per week with greater benefits and a brighter future...I was hesitant at first but I think this is a good move for me.

I hope I don't get bored with a lack of crisis situations.

Background Tune: "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell