“I think we’ve got an enormous jump on it from our preliminary analysis. We need to refine what we have and verify our numbers are solid. Where I’m concerned is that our original projections assumed we would start with existing projects our team is working on and the four of us would form the foundation for the PMO. We used our GFS salary projections as a basis.”
The team nodded and Natalie asked, “But?”
“But our assumption was we’d do this in the middle of a year and slowly transfer existing budget resources as needed from other departments to the new PMO department. If we are raising it from scratch at the beginning of the year, shouldn’t we plan for more people? Doing so means those numbers would change.”
Sam nodded. “Yeah, I get you. This is an opportunity to do it right rather than piecemeal it together. I think we need to present two options, the first based on the number of upcoming projects with a fully fleshed-out team, and the second option being to transfer team members in phases.”
Grace cleared her throat. “The other item we need to talk about is that our primary function is support for the financial department. With our previous plan, we would have time to plan and develop the support structure. If the PMO launches at the first of the year, how do we make that transition? If we’re all focusing on projects, how will we support the existing applications and our users? Going live with the PMO in January means we don’t get the transition time we need. I mean, it’s already October. And the holidays are coming up, which means even less time.”
There it was. That something that had niggled at the back of her head, but never evolved into a full-blown thought. Trust Grace to nail it down so succinctly.
Alex blew out a breath and leaned back. “You’re right, Grace. As usual, you’re able to spot the weak spots we need to focus on. At the end of the day, the PMO will be a separate department working with our GFS team. We’re a unique group already, so we need to decide where this team will land in the grand scheme of things.”
They kicked around other changes and concerns to consider with the accelerated timeline while Alex made notes. She sensed both anticipation and trepidation from her team, similar to her own emotions. The issues Grace and Sam raised suggested some reluctance on their part that she needed to get to the bottom of. And for the first time, Alex and Natalie seemed to be on the same page. They were both excited at the prospect of getting this in place earlier than expected.
As the discussion wound down, she stood and gathered her things. “Okay, I’m meeting with Frank tomorrow at ten to go over these points, so if you have any other thoughts before then, shoot them over in an email. Sam, with me focusing on the PMO, I’ll need you to take over leading the planning system project. Does that work for you?”
“Yeah, we’re at the point where I’d be more involved anyway. I’d have balked if you hadn’t already done the schmoozing the big guys part.” He chuckled.
“What, you don’t like sweet-talking the bosses and convincing them to part with their budget money?” Alex grinned at him before dismissing the group. “Thanks, guys.”
As the group dispersed, Alex captured her thoughts on her laptop on what to discuss with Frank before she forgot. First among those was what happened to her current team if the new department was pushed forward now.
Chapter7
Tuesday
Man,what a start to this week,Alex thought while typing her notes Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday had been a typical Monday, with issues creeping up all over the place. She hadn’t gotten home until late last night. This morning, she’d come to work thinking today would be lighter, but that concept flew out the window early. One of their reporting systems went down and her team spent all day in crisis mode working with IT to get it back up. Thankfully, this last meeting had adjourned with no actions for her, leaving a smile on her face as she shut down her laptop.
With today’s trials behind her, Alex was ready to hit the courts and spike some balls. She was packing up her things when her phone pinged, notifying her she had a message from Fin.
Alex smirked when she saw the image of a cloak-and-dagger cartoon character looking sneaky, followed by Fin’s cryptic message.“Location: Side door, north side, towards the back. What time should I be there?”
She typed in“30 minutes”and hit send. In reality, his hotel was only five minutes away, but based on prior experience, Alex rarely left the building without someone stopping her. People always seemed to come up with “a quick question before you go” right as she was leaving. She looked forward to the evening with Fin, which led her to tell everyone to email her or call her tomorrow when she typically would have stopped and chatted.
When Alex finally pulled her car around the corner of the hotel, twenty-nine minutes had passed since her last text. She eased the Juke forward, looking for the side door when a resounding thump reverberated through her car. Startled, she braked and looked around. She almost didn’t recognize him, which she supposed was the point. He wore black jeans and a long-sleeved denim shirt, unbuttoned down the front, exposing a crisp white t-shirt underneath. A black fedora reminiscent of Dave Navarro covered his ebony curls, and dark sunglasses hid the top half of his face. He carried a gym bag slung over his shoulder.
Alex unlocked her car, and he slipped in, throwing his bag in the backseat. “How are ye?” he asked as he closed the door and buckled in. She grinned and told him again how much she loved his Scottish accent.
He checked out her car as she put it into gear and drove forward. “Cool car,” he told her. “You don’t see many manual gearboxes here in America. I’m impressed you drive one.”
“Well… farm girl here, so it shouldn’t be a surprise, but yeah, The Jukester is a wonderful car and lots of fun to drive. She’s peppy. Nice hat, by the way.”
“You don’t like it?”
“I do like it. It works well on you. Not something I would expect to see on any of my colleagues or teammates, so it’s unusual.”
“I was trying to blend in and not draw attention. Sounds like I only stood out more.”
Alex smiled and asked, “Did anyone recognize you?”
“No.”
“Then it worked. No problem.” She laughed, and he flashed a grin at her before asking where they were going.
“It’s a place in the northwest part of Houston called Rally Up Sports,” she told him as she maneuvered around an irritated driver. “Any other time, I would take the freeway. But rush hour would add at least half an hour if we went that way. So, we’re taking the back way.” Alex shrugged. “It’s a much more pleasant drive, anyway.”
“Nice. Most of my trips with Blake are more in the downtown area, so I haven’t been out this way yet.”
