Happy Path

Presto Chango

In early June, Richard sent me his usual "do you have a minute?" Lync message. I seldom knew why Richard summoned me so I had no expectations, good or bad. I headed for his office, pen and pad in hand.

"Hi, Molly. Come on in," said Richard. "Shut the door." Dennis and Charles were already in the room. Still no alarm bells since we often talked about upcoming projects or budgets that ran into the high six figures—things that needed some privacy. Anyway, both Charles and Dennis worked under Richard and I supported both teams.

"What's up?" I asked, sitting down.

"I got an email this morning about some changes that are coming to the PMO," he began. I looked to Charles, but he was busy scrolling through his phone. "As you know, there have been a lot of changes in The Bank lately." It was true. Richard had laid off a long-time staffer just two days earlier in the midst of cutbacks. "The objective is to streamline everywhere." I was still unsure where this was going, but nothing he was saying caused me to panic. "Next week, your position, all PCOs in fact, will become part of the PMO." Huh. That was new. He had my attention.

"So what does that mean for me?" There was no reaction from Charles, who was still on his phone.

"I'm not sure, exactly." Richard was looking over a printout. "All project management staff across BTO will also join the PMO effective June 13 and will report up through their respective portfolio director," he read.

"I'm getting a new boss?"

"You're getting another boss," Richard corrected with a laugh. He looked back to the paper. "This says you'll remain on your current project for now, and you won't change seats. For now. Your salary won't be affected, and your contract length won't be affected."

"For the most part, sounds like not much will change," Charles said, finally joining the conversation. "But they could pull you into new projects." New projects? Whoa, whoa, whoa. I had not come to work for The Bank. I'd come to work for this group. I was there to work for Charles.

"Does that mean I get thrown into the PCO pool and I could end up anywhere?" I asked. This was bad. My mind immediately went to the worst-case scenario. I'd get assigned to an asshole boss who exposed all my PCO shortcomings and that boss would be heading up a project to increase Excel spreadsheet use across The Bank!

"This is just The Bank's attempt to standardize the PCO position," offered Richard, the voice of reason. Did he see the uncomfortable way I was shifting in my chair? "The PCO designation is meant to be project-specific and project-funded. But a long time ago, groups started hiring their own PCOs and PMs."

"Instead of working on a specific project, they were able to juggle a number of projects for a team." Charles nodded at Richard for confirmation.

"But can you imagine how ridiculous it would be for us to hire a PCO for every project we have on the go?" asked Richard. At the time, our group was actively involved in seventeen projects. "No one project takes up your entire day. And charging forty-five minutes here and two hours there wouldn't make any sense. That's why you have a steady state contract. You're paid out of our pool of money so that you can support the team in a variety of capacities and work on a number of projects without having to dole out time for each task." The Bank had gotten increasingly concerned about kiting since I'd started. Not that I was to blame! They wanted their books to be crisp. There was a directive from above to charge every hour worked to the correct funding source. Actually, they went so far as to break the charge time into 15 minute increments. It even affected Directors; I'd helped Richard set up his new weekly reporting system the month before. It was the ultimate in micro-management and accountability, and it was coming for me.