#3 | 2022 Review｜Failures, Surprises & New Beginnings

failed project manager

Ever since I gritted my teeth and passed the PMP exam two years ago, I always feel that there should be at least one qualified project manager who has passed the exam, right? As naive as I am, I joined a local company two years ago and worked day and night on IT projects related to banks and the government. Because the budget is not small, the implementation of the project will give me a sense of superiority, "Ah! This is what it feels like to work on a big case!", work has always been the center of my life, and even on weekends I would automatically go to the company to work overtime and treat the office as my second home.

Accompanied by the vanity of executing large projects, the other side is the huge pressure that I did not show. Because of the pursuit of perfection and performance, I almost pushed myself to the edge. Except for working overtime on holidays, I report to the client almost every day. I kept track of the manufacturer's progress and customer feedback every second, so I went to the physical and mental outpatient clinic for the first time in my life and had consultations. After several courses of treatment, my condition stabilized a bit, and then the project came to an end. (It was only after having a meal with the former boss that I realized that I was really a money-making tool, and actually helped the company earn more than 100 million in other cases XD 🤪)

Later, he was poached to a new company. The challenge this time was to execute a foreign project. This was a salmon project that lost money the moment the contract was signed. It was considered a hot potato for the company. , I decided to accept this challenge. During the process, I kept telling my team and myself that for a project destined to fail, as long as I let the company have an order and not lose money, it should be a success. But what I didn’t expect was that after the training of the previous PM, The team still hasn’t learned the lesson, and is still carrying out the daily affairs of the project with a heavy pace. This also frustrates me, who demands perfection. Without the support of the team, the PM will still be caught by the customer for any coordination problems. I had a stomachache for a while. He is really a good friend of mine, reporting in every now and then.

From a realistic point of view, the failure of the project means that I am also a failed project manager. While pursuing the goal, I completely forget that the core of the project is people! My ability is not enough to convince the team to change and move in a consistent direction, Lesson learned...  

unexpected new york trip

In addition to the salmon project, I also took another hot potato in my former company, an IT architecture project for a New York start-up company. I originally wanted to record all kinds of stupid things that happened in the middle, but I don’t think it’s important to worry about bad things. It’s all practice. This unexpected trip to New York not only gave me the opportunity to visit the Big Apple for the second time, but also let me know the potential investors of Hepta. This is a great affirmation for me. Too much happened today. Things made me question my ability more and more, but the investor said that he offered to invest in us because he felt that during the six months I worked with me, I was a relatively neutral person who continued to solve problems. I put forward the offer because I believed in my ability. This was really a shot in the arm, and it also made me return to Taiwan with full confidence to resign🥳.

After going through six companies, I finally have my own company

After returning to Taiwan at the end of July, I was hesitant to leave my job because I was finally promoted to the club with an annual salary of one million after working for four years. I also got the opportunity to be promoted to a supervisor and stationed overseas, but these seemingly shining opportunities All made my physical and mental condition extremely bad. I need to cooperate with homework in three time zones. I have to be on call for meetings when I go out for dinner on weekdays. Once I even put on the earphones in an izakaya and went straight to the meeting. I am very disrespectful to my colleagues😖, evaluation After looking at my own situation, I decided to take a gamble with fate and start a business! With such a young age and no family, he has nothing to lose. Instead of earning a lot of money for a boss he doesn't appreciate and having a good reputation, why not try to help himself? Of course, this is not the main reason for starting a business. Upward mobility has always been something I want to achieve. This is also the reason why I have been so devoted to work these years. But after reading a demon book this year, I found that life can be done on my own. Created without having to rely on external factors to make my life better.

Speaking of upward mobility, Inequality is a problem that has existed in the world economy for a long time. 22% of the world's wealth is concentrated in the hands of the top 1% of people. This is the tenth item in the SDGs of the United Nations, and it is also the goal that many international organizations have been committed to for many years. Direction, 2023 will bring out more achievements to share with you!

Finally, share some unforgettable memories in New York (photo-dumping alert)