Tania.co.za

A short story on the whole power-dressing thing

This story is about a rough a conversation between me and Marius (my 61-year-old business partner) yesterday. I'll have to paraphrase, because I can't remember exactly how he expressed himself.

The context is this: Tomorrow from 09:00 to 11:00 we have an extreeeeemely important meeting with the CEO and CFO of an organisation with which we wish to enter into a formal relationship. My collagues and I spent about 65 man-hours writing the summary of our proposal. Whichever way the meeting goes will change the nature of our business.

Now, my outfits usually range between those of a pink fairy and a soldier of fortune, and on some fine days, large paneled silver rings and twisted bracelets to make me look like a Borg drone. Nevertheless, I do dress in a respectable, businesslike manner when the occasion demands it. When I lecture, for example, I have adopted a "uniform" of understated black so that the students will focus on the subject at hand, rather than on the person who is facilitating the learning.

My male colleagues dress... well, like normal people.

"So what do you think we should wear?" I asked, since the three of us would be going to the meeting together, and I thought we should reach consensus on the look demanded by the gravity of the occasion.
"You should paint your nails black and wear all your jewellery," he replied.
I laughed, but then I realised: "You're actually serious, aren't you? Don't you think I should dress more... professionally?"
"No," he replied, "that wouldn't reinforce the brand."
OK, I was surprised. The brand is ProjectManagement.co.za. My business card says I am the Director. And Project Management is not exactly a frivolous discipline. Even the Web site is completely understated in its design, to underscore its serious-business-ness.
"Businesspeople all wear such similar clothes that you can't tell their services apart from one another," he continued. "What you wear differentiates us."
"You know, you're right," I laughed. "When I see a smart-suited consultant with a smart car, I usually think: someone who wants to get away with doing as little as possible for a huge amount of money. I suppose I at least look like someone who is prepared to work hard!"

So tomorrow we will put Marius' theory to the test. If it works, we may be able to start a new trend, so that by 2015, the head of ABSA will be a Goth with multiple piercings in her lip, while the superintendant of Grootte Schuur will be a Rasta with dreads down to his bum.

Thank-you, Microsoft!

So I install Microsoft Project 2007 Trial, but naturally I don't uninstall my working, registered 2002 version, in case I choose not to upgrade.
Ah, I notice save is disabled in the Trial version. Pity. Because I need to save my model answer to distribute it to my students when daylight comes.
Never mind, I will just use the 2002 version then, unfortunately without the benefit of the Cost Items feature.
What's this? Now I can't save using my registered installation either?!
OK, let's uninstall the trial and restart the computer.
Tried that. Great. 2007 version gone from my computer, and 2002 version rendered absolutely unusable. Will have to get to the office before dawn now to reinstall.
And I remember now that this same thing happened to me on Michaelo's computer about a year ago...

Funny thing is, I have never met anyone else who trains students on Microsoft Project and feels all warm and fuzzy about this stuff. And it's not like some of these are little bugs either. You should see what happens with Project Standard 2003 via a Citrix client (not a rare installation, FWIW, seen it in two huge organisations). And you should see the what happens with the Calendar in the 2007 version, just arbitrarily on numerous computers. Yes, you can climb the Alps with only one leg and one arm. Yes, you can use Microsoft Project to plan and control your projects. I just think that any course in the hands-on use of Microsoft Project should actually be called How to use workarounds to manage a project using software from Microsoft. It's not like there aren't other scheduling tools in the world, you know.