Friday, May 18, 2007

New company, new people, new projects, everything is new....

I changed jobs recently. Joined a new company about 4 weeks ago. This company is much larger in size than my previous company. Lot more process driven and everything is kind of organised here.

Today I was pondering, its been 4 weeks and I'm still struggling to adjust here. Somehow it still doesn't feel like "my office". I wonder if any of you felt like that in any of your jobs ever even after being there for this long. And the worst part is that I don't know what should I do and what should I not do to make it more of "my office".

I've already been working on a project. On Monday i.e. May 21 have one of the delivery as well. So I've a project that's going full time, I've been interacting with all the people here, tech, creative, PM level, accounts ,admin, IT... you name it but still I don't feel part of it. Why? Why? Why? This question has been bothering me for sooooo long.

The funny thing is that I don't feel well settled here and I have already started to dislike someone. Ironical..ehh? Well this person (TP from now on) took the initial brief from the client and then passed it on to me soon after I joined here. TP is at the same level as I'm. Post wise. TP has been in the company since past 4-5 years. TP helped me a lot in handing over the project and telling me the workings of the company and what all I'm supposed to do in a project and how. That really was very nice of TP. But somehow I feel TP is not ready to let go.

Since this was my first project in this company, it was decided mutually that I would keep TP also in the loop in all project communications for a fortnight or so. This was fine with me since TP was interacting with the client so far and some transition period is required.

But today is the day when I started getting this "I don't like TP". Today morning TP comes to my room and tells me "I don't know whats the status of the project. I don't know anything that's going on." I got irritated by it since TP has been in loop in all the mails whether internal or external and I had met TP in person yesterday late evening giving all the details. At that time I said writing a mail to the client in which TP was CCed too, so I told TP that you will know soon since I'm composing a mail to the client. So TP goes away.

Later out of courtesy, I went to TP's workstation to give a detailed status. TP starts saying the mail doesn't give a clear status to which I said yes that's why I've come here personally to update you. Then TP starts asking tons of questions as to which resource is working on what task, what is left, when will each task be over, why is this not on the VSS etc. etc. I answered very politely despite getting irritated inside giving the resource and task details and when told that its not on the VSS since the network problem our company is facing. TP is well aware of the problem that the company network is having for the past 3 days now. Still TP says no, it still should be there. I got angry at this and flatly said that things would have been more organised had the network problem not been there. And don't worry I will have them added in the VSS myself by 4 PM.

I don't know if I should not get too irritated by such interventions of TP or not. Is TP actually trying to help me or is TP in a phase of not letting go and just trying to keep holding the reins in its own hands?

3 comments:

  1. Hmm..I guess thats pretty natural..when we move to new places ..that happens and since this company is comparitively larger than your previous set ups and more organized ,so you will take more time.
    As you develop a personal repo with people and know the ins and outs , you will feel a part of the place.It took me a looong time to adjust in this company.Its way too large than my previous one.

    About TP , you may be correct. He may not want to let go. As soon as you start feeling confident about the transition and process , you will have to start ignoring him. You will have to see that he does not get to know all.
    So that you have a hold on your project. But it has to be slow.So that he does not get to know , when was he thrown out :D

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  2. ha!ha!ha! swati bhabhi has the perfect solution to this and such problem(s)

    from my understanding, i guess TP is worried how you will assert ur independence after he is gone probably 'coz he is still in love with the job... thats my theory... when people 'love' their jobs, they have difficulty leaving and when they 'love' the company instead, they cant stop complaining how bad their job is while still making excuses to stay on...

    or maybe he was given a flak by his boss for not "knowing-it-all"

    either way, here is something for you........ a :-)

    manasi

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  3. I guess we all have faced such a situation or related situations, at one point of time with the change of workplace. Most of the people (especially men) at my new workplace would behave patronisingly even while they know that I came with a long experience.

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