Project manager

1990 to 1995

Resolving conflict: One morning I walked into a shit-storm. The CFO had suspended the project and his Attorney was in my boss’ office shouting at me, going: “You CANNOT allocate costs like that. What were you thinking..?” I told her I thought it would be hard NOT to. When you've got several people working on several orders at the same time, the best you can do is allocate. “That’s UNACCEPTABLE..!!” she screamed “ ..either you find some way for them to charge direct or this project is canceled” and she stormed out of the office. My boss and I were stunned. She told me not to waste my time trying to figure out a way to do this. Instead, she said “Go to the beach and think of a way to respond to this.” Apparently she’d found out where I did my best work. I knew that whatever I came up with had to sound official, like it was coming from someone other than myself. That way it wasn’t me they were disagreeing with but with sensible advice. So, I went to the university library, looked up ‘Generally Accepted Accounting Principles’ (GAAP), read some case studies and called my dad. They all said the same thing: “Allocation is perfectly acceptable when the alternatives are too costly.” I wrote a single-page reply, citing my distinguished references, and handed it to my boss, who immediately submitted it to the General Manager, fiendishly going “Lets see what happens next”. Frankly, I was afraid of what was going to happen next and imagined myself being eaten alive by the CFO, his attorney and a mythical wildebeest. The next day my boss comes running in, pumping her fist, going “Eureka, they bought it ..!!” And I’ m like “Yeeahh..!” I felt like I still needed ERP experience as well as more time on the beach. I was feeling like a kid at summer camp again.