Working for the State of Michigan has given me a good perspective on Dilbert’s pointie haired boss.  They really do exist and a whole lot of them work for the State.

Several years ago, we were going to upgrade one of our telephone systems.  And, in keeping with past trends, this process takes 9 months from start to finish.  Designs had to be made, quotes had to be given and reviewed, paper work had to be filled out and submitted, time lines needed to be constructed and meetings after meetings were conducted.  Since this was my project, I took the lead and began the 9 month process.

Every two weeks, I conducted meetings with the staff that would be involved with the project as well as the vendor and their project manager.  I reviewed the design, filled out the paper work, and coordinated the time frame for the upgrade.

Every thing was set to go and it appeared that all known issues had been addressed.  And in 4 weeks, it would be completed.  It was at this point time that the director came up to me and announced that I wasn’t really the project manager for this project.  He told me that Pat was the project manager.

I was quite surprised to hear that Pat was the project manager.  And since Pat had not been involved with this project at all, I had to wonder if Pat even knew that she was the project manager.  When I asked the Director this question he responded that he was going to tell Pat about it this afternoon.

I then asked the Director if I was the assistant project manager.  He said no.  He said that Dan was the assistant project manager.   And again, I asked him if Dan knew and he said no but he was going to talk to Dan right after he talked to Pat.

Now, please understand that being the project manager required extra work but no extra pay.  So, I wasn’t loosing anything if Pat was the project manager.  And wishing to be that ever constant team player, I graciously volunteered to step down and let Pat take over.  That is when the director told me to keep doing what I have been doing.

It seems that while Pat was the project manager and Dan was the assistant project, I was the acting project manager.  What ever. It all pays the same.