I am currently working on a pretty important piece of work for a key client at my employer. Essentially it is a very simple project to upgrade from one version of software to another. Sounds simple, is simple, however maligned and poorly communicated processes are causing inefficiencies in delivery.
The dilemma is when it involves interfacing with the client, third party service providers and other teams to get a number of trivial jobs done that could/should be done in one hit. I am continually finding road blocks, many are obstructions for the sake of obstruction, others are due to the numerous service providers who each have distinct processes. It is proving extremely frustrating and inefficient for the client.
Frustration
Anyway, today I have hit one such road block where one of the third parties (a major Australia TelCo) has performed work in a manner contrary to previous practices that have been in place for some time. I have now moved to their suggestion whilst clarifying if indeed that was the correct position internally. I have now been advised of their faux pas and hence will, no doubt, perform more rework backing those changes out. This of course costs the project more time, and places the pressure on the central project figures (the project manager and I).
The delays caused by these issues are exacerbated as I have had eight of the past ten days off due to illness or injury. As a result I am naturally behind the eight ball on other project tasks and trying to catch up, a task made near on impossible whilst navigating a myriad of processes discovered on a case by case basis. This is not the way a simple project should run, and I can only hope the discoveries we are making will make further works all the easier.
All this ball juggling has made me a very tired boy today. My 3 hour commute home will, with luck, not be challenged by a CityRail FAIL for a change.
