I’ve just finished my latest work assignment – three years doing the documentation, training, change management and knowledge management for an implementation of SAP Retail. It was a really interesting project, and I’ve learnt more about retail operations than any sensible person would want to know. Being a contractor, it’s inevitable that at the end of the project I would be ‘dispensed with’. This is my fourth large SAP implementation, so the fourth time I’ve been let go. It’s always difficult (I suffer separation anxiety), but you get used to it.
One of the activities I always go through is a handover or knowledge transfer to the people (typically, permanent – i.e. cheaper – employees). Because we’re a global organization, and my work is being distributed amongst a number of people (I see this as a compliment – it takes multiple employees to replace just one of me!), this meant some last business trips.
Last month I was back in Manchester (England) to train a number of people on OnDemand (a software application I’ve been using to create training simulations). That turned out to be a total waste of time. I was supposed to train five people over three days, but one of them had the week off so I was down to four before I even started. Two of the remaining attendees were puled out of the course for a day to attend to ‘more important’ matters, which left me with only two people who attended the full course. And since then (all of a month ago) both of them have now been promoted into new positions and won’t be using what I trained them in at all! Still, at least it gave me the opportunity to say goodbye to some of the people I’ve been working with over the past few years.
This week I was in Guatemala, to do the same thing. This time there was only one trainee, and thankfully she was committed to the training for the full three days. I’m still not convinced that she will personally be using OnDemand, but at least she now has the knowledge to pass on to other developers, if necessary.
In addition to the chance to spend three days with the lovely Ana Lucia, I like going down to Guatemala. It’s an interesting place (plus, I think it does us in the ‘modern world’ good to visit what is effectively a third-world country for a reality-check every so often). Guatemala City (where I was) is apparently very violent and crime-ridden, but I’ve never had any problems (probably because I get chauffered about everywhere…).  That said, there were plenty of armed private security guards around everywhere, mostly toting pump-action shotguns. I also saw a shop that would bulletproof your car. The sign in the shop window advertised the various grades of bulletproofing you could get via pictures of the weapons that each grade could withstand – everything from assault rifles to hand-held rocket-launchers. Very comforting.
On the last day of the course we finished early (4pm vs. the 8 or 9pm on the previous days) and went off to Antigua. We also went there on my last visit to Guatemala, but it rained the whole time, so Ana Lucia was determined to take me back there now that the weather was better. Which it was. Clear blue skies and plenty of sunshine. This time I could see the volcano clearly, although still no molten lava or anything else a lifetime of watching disaster movies has led me to expect. Still, it was nice to sit there in the square, watching the world go by, gently wafting away the many locals who wanted paying to clean my shoes (despite them being sparkling already thanks to an conditioned ability to do my ‘sweats’ so I could burst a zit in them, courtesy of seven years in a military boarding school…
Anyway, that was my last trip to Guatemala. In fact, probably my last trip anywhere for a while. I’m joining a project that is famously over-budget already, so the chance of traveling further than the cafateria and back is extremely slim. Still, it’s been a fun project, so I can’t complain. Three years, a dozen trips to various countries, and some new lifelong friends. Can’t ask for more from a project than that.
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