11 Oct 2010
It has been an interesting weekend.
Spoke to Tracy on Friday arvo and was told that the project in Brisbane didn’t make it through the final budget proposal and was cut at the end. What that meant was that I no longer had a project to work to from the 18th of October.
I hate to admit it but I was disappointed. I was mentally prepared to say goodbye to NZ Mags and Auckland this weekend and had readied myself for the new challenges ahead and this was a sucker punch that I had not even though of.
Tracy was nice to have told me this on the Friday rather than today and she even managed to get hold of Sarah to inform her of the same.
Sarah was very kind and sent me a lovely text on Friday night saying that she was jubilant that I was going to be here longer and not to be too crestfallen. The weekend gave me time to re-evaluate and get my thoughts sorted to the coming weeks here with all the uncertainty.
No one said this was going to be easy and I am very determined to take on anything that is chucked at me.
Caught up with Sarah in the morning and she has asked me to assist Jo Elwin (Custom Publishing Manager) with a new project. That will be me for the next 2-3 weeks depending on when I get word on what happens with me next.
Showing posts with label sarah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sarah. Show all posts
Monday, October 11, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Project Rook continues…
14 Sep 2010
The last fortnight has been a bit of a blur. Once the announcement took place, there has been discussion all around with almost everyone taking their own view of what lies ahead. We had gone through and created a FAQ document before the announcement to anticipate questions that people might have from all departments and try and answer those. This was a great help and definitely assisted all of the management team to give correct answers when asked.
I asked Andrew if I could sit in when the announcement was made to his team and was glad that he agreed. It gave me an opportunity to see first hand, the reaction of the team and the kind of questions that people asked and whether our FAQ was adequate or not. It felt great to see that almost all the questions that were asked were ones that we had covered! The team were quite positive and looking forward to having Pac Mags on board.
So what has been happening in the last fortnight? We have had our weekly project meeting which I chair and involves all stakeholders right across the project (from facilities through to IT; advertising through to finance and everything in between). The main thought process behind this was to make sure that people understand the impact their task has on the next area and the flow on effect it creates if not done.
Happy to say that everyone has been quite positive although I can imagine it would be a bit ‘boring’ for people who have nothing to do with another area to sit and listen. I am hoping that this will create a better understanding of what each department does and also how to work better in a collaborative way to be successful. It amazes me to think that these meetings might be the first time that these key people in the business had a chance to get together in a room!
The NZ Mags move has also happened with the new floor layout and desks and people being shifted. As is to be expected, some people are openly unhappy with their new surroundings, the way their desk is facing and I even got one complaint about the colour of the desk not being right!
Things coming up next….
My next project block seems to be pointing to Brisbane but will require a few more finishing touches before its ready to go. Once I get that sorted, I am planning to make a trip to Tauranga and Whangarei to get an understanding of the operations there and build some relationships with some key people there too.
I have just received a meeting invite along with Sarah to give an update on the project to Martin Simons (Group Publishing Chief Executive) and Phil Eustace (Finance Director - NZ) on Monday 20 Sep. Looking forward to it!
The last fortnight has been a bit of a blur. Once the announcement took place, there has been discussion all around with almost everyone taking their own view of what lies ahead. We had gone through and created a FAQ document before the announcement to anticipate questions that people might have from all departments and try and answer those. This was a great help and definitely assisted all of the management team to give correct answers when asked.
I asked Andrew if I could sit in when the announcement was made to his team and was glad that he agreed. It gave me an opportunity to see first hand, the reaction of the team and the kind of questions that people asked and whether our FAQ was adequate or not. It felt great to see that almost all the questions that were asked were ones that we had covered! The team were quite positive and looking forward to having Pac Mags on board.
So what has been happening in the last fortnight? We have had our weekly project meeting which I chair and involves all stakeholders right across the project (from facilities through to IT; advertising through to finance and everything in between). The main thought process behind this was to make sure that people understand the impact their task has on the next area and the flow on effect it creates if not done.
Happy to say that everyone has been quite positive although I can imagine it would be a bit ‘boring’ for people who have nothing to do with another area to sit and listen. I am hoping that this will create a better understanding of what each department does and also how to work better in a collaborative way to be successful. It amazes me to think that these meetings might be the first time that these key people in the business had a chance to get together in a room!
The NZ Mags move has also happened with the new floor layout and desks and people being shifted. As is to be expected, some people are openly unhappy with their new surroundings, the way their desk is facing and I even got one complaint about the colour of the desk not being right!
Things coming up next….
My next project block seems to be pointing to Brisbane but will require a few more finishing touches before its ready to go. Once I get that sorted, I am planning to make a trip to Tauranga and Whangarei to get an understanding of the operations there and build some relationships with some key people there too.
I have just received a meeting invite along with Sarah to give an update on the project to Martin Simons (Group Publishing Chief Executive) and Phil Eustace (Finance Director - NZ) on Monday 20 Sep. Looking forward to it!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Quick update
03/08/2010
The last fortnight has zipped by very quickly as I get more and more involved in Project Rook.
Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to divulge details about this project yet but safe to say, this is the biggest thing I have ever been involved in and every day I am learning many new things. Thank you Sarah!
My thoughts do go out to where my next placement will be and what I will be doing next.... will it be as challenging as this current project?
In the capacity of Project Manager I have had to interact with many different parts of the business, dealing with some very high level execs along the way.
The next couple of weeks are looking to be crucial with a lot going to happen at the same time. I envisage quite a few late days at the office making sure everything goes through smoothly.
I have a catch up with Tim Catley (CIO & Head of Group Services) today and it would be good to meet with him and introduce myself.
Time for a coffee... Flat white.. no sugar. thanks!
The last fortnight has zipped by very quickly as I get more and more involved in Project Rook.
Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to divulge details about this project yet but safe to say, this is the biggest thing I have ever been involved in and every day I am learning many new things. Thank you Sarah!
My thoughts do go out to where my next placement will be and what I will be doing next.... will it be as challenging as this current project?
In the capacity of Project Manager I have had to interact with many different parts of the business, dealing with some very high level execs along the way.
The next couple of weeks are looking to be crucial with a lot going to happen at the same time. I envisage quite a few late days at the office making sure everything goes through smoothly.
I have a catch up with Tim Catley (CIO & Head of Group Services) today and it would be good to meet with him and introduce myself.
Time for a coffee... Flat white.. no sugar. thanks!
Monday, May 17, 2010
New start to new week
17/05/2010
Its getting very close to D-day as Tristan is now working on using MaaX to generate the leads for the telemarketing campaign.
I am still in two minds about going in-house or external. Will probably sound this out with Chris or Sarah and see what their take on this is.
Today was spent chasing up the loose ends and pretty much everything is on hold until the leads are ready to go. The Women's Weekly side of this will not happen until c.o.b Wednesday and the Listener will probably take another day or two.
Based on this run rate, we are still more than a week away before the first call is made to a lead.
Over and out!
Its getting very close to D-day as Tristan is now working on using MaaX to generate the leads for the telemarketing campaign.
I am still in two minds about going in-house or external. Will probably sound this out with Chris or Sarah and see what their take on this is.
Today was spent chasing up the loose ends and pretty much everything is on hold until the leads are ready to go. The Women's Weekly side of this will not happen until c.o.b Wednesday and the Listener will probably take another day or two.
Based on this run rate, we are still more than a week away before the first call is made to a lead.
Over and out!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Outbound project continues....
04/05/2010
Went and met with Brad and Nicki Steers (Research Manager) and discussed with them my reasons for meeting with them, starting with the background of my role, the project that I am doing and how they fit into the scheme of things (Tip: Always try and give a big picture view to people so that they can come on the journey with you rather than just provide a task).
They will get back to me by the end of the week with the reader profile that I am after so I can use Tristan’s expertise in MaaX and hopefully come up with proper leads for Chris.
As of right now, the project is well on track (fingers crossed) but the hard part is yet to come when we start getting into the actual deployment of the project.
Also met up with Sarah today who briefed me on a new project that she would like me to manage. This is going to be a biggie and is very exciting as I have never done anything of this magnitude ever. It is an achievement of this program that Sarah is showing this level of faith in my abilities.
To get some tips, Sarah has put me in touch with Angela Blair (Advertising Strategy Manager with NZH) who will spend some time with me next week. I am looking forward to picking her brains on this upcoming project.
Got an email from Bosco Tan (my co intern) today saying that he will be in town for a day as part of his project with APN Digital. It would be great to catch up with him and hopefully, have some time to show him around too.
Went and met with Brad and Nicki Steers (Research Manager) and discussed with them my reasons for meeting with them, starting with the background of my role, the project that I am doing and how they fit into the scheme of things (Tip: Always try and give a big picture view to people so that they can come on the journey with you rather than just provide a task).
They will get back to me by the end of the week with the reader profile that I am after so I can use Tristan’s expertise in MaaX and hopefully come up with proper leads for Chris.
As of right now, the project is well on track (fingers crossed) but the hard part is yet to come when we start getting into the actual deployment of the project.
Also met up with Sarah today who briefed me on a new project that she would like me to manage. This is going to be a biggie and is very exciting as I have never done anything of this magnitude ever. It is an achievement of this program that Sarah is showing this level of faith in my abilities.
To get some tips, Sarah has put me in touch with Angela Blair (Advertising Strategy Manager with NZH) who will spend some time with me next week. I am looking forward to picking her brains on this upcoming project.
Got an email from Bosco Tan (my co intern) today saying that he will be in town for a day as part of his project with APN Digital. It would be great to catch up with him and hopefully, have some time to show him around too.
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