01 September, 2005

One, two, Freddy's coming for you...

Our business analyst, trapped in the Project Office to stop him talking to stakeholders, heard a rumour that one of the senior project managers conducted regular headcounts throughout the day to keep track of the contractors making up the majority of the Project Office staff (one of the quirks of the Project Office is that they advertise for and hire large numbers of contractors with specific fields of expertise ... and then assign them to projects outside of their skill set. The Project Office Manager takes the Dodgeball approach - "If you can manage a project, you can manage anything").

He didn't believe the stories.

Until yesterday, that is, when he noticed the project manager in question slip out of his office and move quietly about the Project Office checking cubicles and counting heads, before returning to the Great Whiteboard and making notes on the "Naughty" and "Nice" list. He repeats the exercise two more times that day, and carries out all the checks again today - once at 8.30am to make sure everyone's in, again shortly after morning tea to make sure that everyone's come back, and then again after lunch.

"I kept my head down and pretended I didn't notice him. I was afraid of what would happen if he saw me watching."

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