I changed my mind

6 months ago, I finished my last project management assignment at GSK in Ware. I planned to take some time off and dreamed of spending the days in the garden, or with sewing and getting creative with oil paints. Truth is… the initial excitement faded and by June I was bored.  

I missed the challenge of ‘sorting things out’ and I missed people.

It spurred me to think about what I have enjoyed most during my professional life:

• Creating products. I have always loved working with physical products, products you can prototype and test, design them for production and one day be amazed when hundreds rolls of a production line.

• People. The motivated ones, the challenging ones, the diligent workers, the team players, and the ones who loved chatting. They all taught me something and made the days colourful.

• Projects. Managing a project is focusing everyone on the result and creating the environment for a team to deliver. Plus as a project manager, you need to know everything, communicate, and stay in control. It suits me and I love it.

• Small and medium-sized companies. I have always enjoyed the speed of making decisions in companies where you know everyone, the sense of ownership, and the drive to make things happen.

So I have changed my mind.

I don’t want to pursue a creative life; I will keep that for my spare time.

I want to continue supporting companies to manage projects in new product development, help their teams to manage their project more efficiently, streamline how they develop their products and help them cope with changes in their project management environment and model.

The first half of 2020 tells me there is more change to come.