A Day in the Life

Rachel, the project manager of a large information systems project, arrives at her

office early to get caught up with work before her co-workers and project team arrive.

However, as she enters the office she meets Neil, one of her fellow project managers,

who also wants to get an early start on the day. Neil has just completed a project

overseas.

They spend 10 minutes socializing and catching up on personal news.

It takes Rachel 10 minutes to get to her office and settle in. She then checks her

voice mail and turns on her computer. She was at her clients site the day before until

7:30 p.m. and has not checked her e-mail or voice mail since 3:30 p.m. the previous

day. There are 7 phone messages, 16 e-mails, and 4 notes left on her desk. She

spends

15 minutes reviewing her schedule and to do lists for the day before responding to

messages that require immediate attention.

Rachel spends the next 25 minutes going over project reports and preparing for the

weekly status meeting. Her boss, who just arrived at the office, interrupts her. They

spend 20 minutes discussing the project. He shares a rumor that a team member is

using stimulants on the job. She tells him that she has not seen anything suspicious but

will keep an eye on the team member.

The 9:00 a.m. project status meeting starts 15 minutes late because two of the team

members have to finish a job for a client. Several people go to the cafeteria to get coffee

and doughnuts while others discuss last nights baseball game. The team members

arrive, and the remaining 45 minutes of the progress review meeting surface project

issues that have to be addressed and assigned for action.

After the meeting Rachel goes down the hallway to meet with Victoria, another IS

project manager. They spend 30 minutes reviewing project assignments since the two

of them share personnel. Victorias project is behind schedule and in need of help.

They broker a deal that should get Victorias project back on track.

She returns to her office and makes several phone calls and returns several e-mails

before walking downstairs to visit with members of her project team. Her intent is to

follow

up on an issue that had surfaced in the status report meeting. However, her simple, Hi

guys, how are things going? elicits a stream of disgruntled responses from the troops.

After listening patiently for over 20 minutes, she realizes that among other things

several of

the clients managers are beginning to request features that were not in the original

project

scope statement. She tells her people that she will get on this right away.

Returning to her office she tries to call her counterpart John at the client firm but is

told that he is not expected back from lunch for another hour. At this time, Eddie drops

by and says, How about lunch? Eddie works in the finance office and they spend the

next half hour in the company cafeteria gossiping about internal politics. She is

surprised

to hear that Jonah Johnson, the director of systems projects, may join another

firm. Jonah has always been a powerful ally.

She returns to her office, answers a few more e-mails, and finally gets through to

John. They spend 30 minutes going over the problem. The conversation ends with

John promising to do some investigating and to get back to her as soon as possible.

Rachel puts a Do not disturb sign on her door, and lies down in her office. She

listens to the third and fourth movement of Ravels string quartet in F on headphones.

Rachel then takes the elevator down to the third floor and talks to the purchasing

agent assigned to her project. They spend the next 30 minutes exploring ways of getting

necessary equipment to the project site earlier than planned. She finally authorizes

express delivery.

When she returns to her office, her calendar reminds her that she is scheduled to

participate in a conference call at 2:30. It takes 15 minutes for everyone to get online.

During this time, Rachel catches up on some e-mail. The next hour is spent exchanging

information about the technical requirements associated with a new version of a

software package they are using on systems projects like hers.

Rachel decides to stretch her legs and goes on a walk down the hallway where she

engages in brief conversations with various co-workers. She goes out of her way to

thank Chandra for his thoughtful analysis at the status report meeting. She returns to

find that

John has left a message for her to call him back ASAP. She contacts John, who informs

her

that, according to his people, her firms marketing rep had made certain promises about

specific features her system would provide. He doesnt know how this communication

breakdown occurred, but his people are pretty upset over the situation. Rachel thanks

John

for the information and immediately takes the stairs to where the marketing group

resides.

She asks to see Mary, a senior marketing manager. She waits 10 minutes before being

invited into her office. After a heated discussion, she leaves 40 minutes later with Mary

agreeing to talk to her people about what was promised and what was not promised.

She goes downstairs to her people to give them an update on what is happening.

They spend 30 minutes reviewing the impact the clients requests could have on the

project schedule. She also shares with them the schedule changes she and Victoria had

agreed to. After she says good night to her team, she heads upstairs to her bosss office

and spends 20 minutes updating him on key events of the day. She returns to her office

and spends 30 minutes reviewing e-mails and project documents. She logs on to the

MS project schedule of her project and spends the next 30 minutes working with

what-if scenarios. She reviews tomorrows schedule and writes some personal

reminders before starting off on her 30-minute commute home.

After reading the article A Day in the Life, answer the following questions:

Do you suggest any modifications as to how Rachel spent her day?

What does the story tell you about what is like to be a manager?

Is a problem in the story? If yes, what is/are the problems? If there is none, justify your answer.