“Never confuse movement with action.”

It's been awhile, hasn't it?

The house is coming along, the deck stairs and the rear concrete pad have not.  I've made a couple of calls to the contractor responsible and he's now not returning calls as promised.  It might be time to write this guy off and go on a campaign of 'reality' for his organization.  He's getting one more shot before names are published with reviews that will not delight his co-owner.

Work is plodding along slowly.  We are in the midst of another attempt at moving to a larger facility-this move is being motivated by another business unit that's not developed but promises grand business returns-like a winning slot machine that refuses to disappoint.  There was a political appointment of project manager and the guy who has the 'title' hasn't a clue what he's doing, although he will openly claim the contrary.

It was frustrating to watch because I attempt to do things as quickly and professionally as possible and he claims to know it all but heads in the wrong direction every opportunity he's set in motion.  Now, I just sit back and watch the show (it's highly entertaining) and vocalize corrections when things are very wrong.  One such example is the use of floor load calculations to determine the requirements of a new construction building.  The parent company is in Japan and uses the 'long' ton, while the US still uses the 'short' ton - a minor difference until the end of the specification window is reached and 11 tons winds up being a 'big deal'.

I don't get excited, I just point out the error or omission and move on like nothing has happened.  They're facts that no one can argue and the realization of the necessity for the details has kept me on a project team for a project from which I wish to be disassociated.  I won't escape the project so I just watch the show from the sidelines.

My real project involves replacing an ERP system-a large enough project-and it was all smooth sailing until one of the most ignorant people in the organization decided he was interested at the 11th hour and has since stopped all productive activities on the process.  The material now needs to be broken down Barney-style so he can understand it because he's never worked anywhere else and the world outside flies by without his awareness.

Educating the ignorant is a thankless job that has no ROI.

The upside is that I was able to find comprehensive data today that will squash reservation about the system and its capabilities MUCH faster than anticipated.  I need to save time on this since we've already spent money and it's not being put to good use.  Ironic since the guy holding things up is also the guy who complains about how we waste money as a company.