Running in circles????

Looking back at my 6 ½ years in the working world, I realize that I have added slim to no value to most of my clients/employers. Here is a quick synopsis

First at Anderson Consulting/Accenture I worked on 4 projects in my 4 years there.

Large billing replacement for Telco
The project was cancelled as the company was bought by another company that didn’t think billing was important. I think this should have been a little red flag as the CEO of this company is most likely headed to prison for insider trading

Siebel Implementation for a start-up SAN
The project was completed; however the company went out of business within 6 months of the go live. This company received 20 million in capital investment and blew it all on expensive consultants, high salaries and hot, new hardware and software. The problem was they didn’t have a clear business plan or a defined customer base.

Siebel Implementation for a subsidiary of a Telco
The project was cancelled as the subsidiary we were working for was shut down due to lack of market share. Again, lots of cash with no business plan or analysis of a customer base.

Siebel Implementation for a satellite television company
Worked on 2 systems, one of which went live and is still in production, the second was cancelled after the prototype phase.

Value Added: 9 months


Then I moved on to Level 3; for 10 months of the 18 months I worked at Level 3, I worked on an OE Entry system. It was, of course, cancelled.

Value Added: 8 months


Then I went to my current company. Everything started off well and I was able to design, develop and implement enhancements for 4 months. Great start right……..For the last 7 months though, our leadership has changed their minds 3 times and have shelved everything my whole team has done 3 different times.

Value Added: 4 months


So basically, over the last 6 years, I have added value for 21 months. That is crazy! I have learned a bunch and have been able to teach and mentor others, so I don’t consider the time wasted, but it just shows a good picture of how wasteful large corporate America is.

Who’s ready to open up that tiki bar in Tahiti with me?