Mostly I just need to let off some steam but sympathy and advice are welcome.
My project went to hell this weekend. I am hired as a project manager to manage 2 projects with the same due date. Big projects, unmovable deadline. Worked 12+ hour days for two weeks and lost a weekend to them. One of my projects was stopped at 10pm the night before it was due because a partner from another company refused to give final approval. The night before. Crikies. Not my fault but incredibly stressful. My other project seemed to go smoother but still, came in under the wire because the marketing agency I'd hired found problems with several of the materials they'd delivered. But, it was caught and fixed. Today I find out that there were some extra files included in some .zip files that contained the final materials. Slide decks in with print ads. Strange strange strange. I'd validated each of those before submitting them but once they left my hands I had no control over them. So, who knows what happened but now they are wrong and I can't fix it before they are released.
While all of this sucks my manager has been a big dodohead. We were supposed to go through each deliverable and validate them before he signed off on them being complete. He went out drinking the night before that signoff and canceled it because he was too hung over. That was Thursday. That night is when the one project came to a screeching halt. He and I talked at 11:30pm and decided to do a concall with that partner at 8:30 am. I was up to 1:30 in the morning to troubleshoot and try and save it.
I'm up at 8:00 for my coffee and con call. My manager slept through it. I'm on the phone with the partner like a dope. I'm project manager, I don't determine strategy so all I could do was say how I could get the marketing company to fix it. Not overly helpful. I tried calling my manager's cell 3 times while the partner was on hold but my manager never answered. So, manager calls partner, manager calls me and tells me that the project is officially pulled 2 hours before the big manager's signoff. And, after I'd marshalled the forces to make some last minute fixes to try and get it out the door. We'd had a temporary extension that was withdrawn while my manager was gone so I officially called the project off. Partner's annoyed, big boss annoyed, marketing agency rushing to fix it are annoyed. And I have chest pains.
Manager's responsible for signing off on the handoff on materials and final approval of all materials. He sends mail saying he'd done his process after sleeping through the concall but I know he didn't. He was too tired and it is total bullshit that he did what we was supposed to do. He then takes off for a 3 day weekend. After all this shit has hit the fan. Sends an email that all is good then goes dark.
In bed Friday night at 1:00 am. Before I nod off I realize the photography on the one project that went through is wrong. It went through 5 reviewers, including my manager, and no one caught it. What to do...do I not say anything because everyone had signed off or do I fix it? I elect to fix it, marshall the forces and they are now fixed. But, too late to hit the release.
So, part my fault, part vendor fault for using the wrong photography, part manager's fault for checking out. I'm responsible for the projects executions so the shit will roll down hill and land at my feet. I know my manager is getting his ass handed to him for taking off on vacation on the critical signoff day, for effing up the entire partner relationship and project and his manager doesn't even know he slept through a critical con call. But, he'll come after me for it.
Since I am a vendor and not a regular employee I might take a bigger hit on this than I want to think about. Like, canceling my contract. Not what I need just before Christmas when it will be impossible to find anything else until after the holiday.
Tonight will be another sleepless night with chest pains wondering if I still have a job in the morning.
This actually has made me feel much better. Even if no one replies or everyone tells me I should be fired, I feel much better.
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Jen
"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce
My project went to hell this weekend. I am hired as a project manager to manage 2 projects with the same due date. Big projects, unmovable deadline. Worked 12+ hour days for two weeks and lost a weekend to them. One of my projects was stopped at 10pm the night before it was due because a partner from another company refused to give final approval. The night before. Crikies. Not my fault but incredibly stressful. My other project seemed to go smoother but still, came in under the wire because the marketing agency I'd hired found problems with several of the materials they'd delivered. But, it was caught and fixed. Today I find out that there were some extra files included in some .zip files that contained the final materials. Slide decks in with print ads. Strange strange strange. I'd validated each of those before submitting them but once they left my hands I had no control over them. So, who knows what happened but now they are wrong and I can't fix it before they are released.
While all of this sucks my manager has been a big dodohead. We were supposed to go through each deliverable and validate them before he signed off on them being complete. He went out drinking the night before that signoff and canceled it because he was too hung over. That was Thursday. That night is when the one project came to a screeching halt. He and I talked at 11:30pm and decided to do a concall with that partner at 8:30 am. I was up to 1:30 in the morning to troubleshoot and try and save it.
I'm up at 8:00 for my coffee and con call. My manager slept through it. I'm on the phone with the partner like a dope. I'm project manager, I don't determine strategy so all I could do was say how I could get the marketing company to fix it. Not overly helpful. I tried calling my manager's cell 3 times while the partner was on hold but my manager never answered. So, manager calls partner, manager calls me and tells me that the project is officially pulled 2 hours before the big manager's signoff. And, after I'd marshalled the forces to make some last minute fixes to try and get it out the door. We'd had a temporary extension that was withdrawn while my manager was gone so I officially called the project off. Partner's annoyed, big boss annoyed, marketing agency rushing to fix it are annoyed. And I have chest pains.
Manager's responsible for signing off on the handoff on materials and final approval of all materials. He sends mail saying he'd done his process after sleeping through the concall but I know he didn't. He was too tired and it is total bullshit that he did what we was supposed to do. He then takes off for a 3 day weekend. After all this shit has hit the fan. Sends an email that all is good then goes dark.
In bed Friday night at 1:00 am. Before I nod off I realize the photography on the one project that went through is wrong. It went through 5 reviewers, including my manager, and no one caught it. What to do...do I not say anything because everyone had signed off or do I fix it? I elect to fix it, marshall the forces and they are now fixed. But, too late to hit the release.
So, part my fault, part vendor fault for using the wrong photography, part manager's fault for checking out. I'm responsible for the projects executions so the shit will roll down hill and land at my feet. I know my manager is getting his ass handed to him for taking off on vacation on the critical signoff day, for effing up the entire partner relationship and project and his manager doesn't even know he slept through a critical con call. But, he'll come after me for it.
Since I am a vendor and not a regular employee I might take a bigger hit on this than I want to think about. Like, canceling my contract. Not what I need just before Christmas when it will be impossible to find anything else until after the holiday.
Tonight will be another sleepless night with chest pains wondering if I still have a job in the morning.
This actually has made me feel much better. Even if no one replies or everyone tells me I should be fired, I feel much better.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jen
"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce