Getting Things Done

My picture today is a representation of a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle. I have to admit, I have never been interested in jigsaw puzzles per se, but I do believe that the person who completes this particular example would feel a great sense of accomplishment. My problem is, then what?

What I do has a great deal in common with completing puzzles of all sorts. There's a beginning, a process to finish, and the completion of the job itself. Every day brings something new that must be figured out. As nerdy as that sounds, I love it! Depending on the "puzzle" it make just take a few days or it may take months. But the true sense of pride for me comes when the job has been completed. This is a bittersweet time for me usually, because most of my projects last several months and I've been working hard on them from start to finish. But there are two reasons I love the completion. For one, I get to deliver what I promised I and secondly it will be something that will be of valuable use to many people for a long time.

I have a colleague who told me he was paid $35,000.00 for something he worked hard on and the client scrapped the project before it could be completed. It was not my colleague's fault — the head of the company simply decided they wanted to go in another direction. My colleague told me he learned a lot and was happy to be paid for his time. I would have had a totally different reaction. I thrive on projects that I work on getting put to good use by as many people as possible. To spend that much time on something that would end up in the trash would be devastating for me.

I shudder when I hear some of the horror stories out there related to software development. I recently met a gentleman who had spend $500,000.00 (yes, half a million dollars!) and realized the development company was having severe issues with it and was much further behind that he had thought. That must be such a sinking feeling. I offered my services, even if only to act as a communication go-between, but my calls ended up going unanswered. How can I blame him — he doesn't know me. (However, we did connect on LinkedIn so if by chance you are reading this, Greg, I am still here!!) I always put all my cards on the table to make my clients feel at ease. But in the end, I will either get it done or I will not take the job in the first place if it's not right for me.

I'd love to hear stories of accomplishment from you all. Let's inspire each other!