The Big Project Walkthrough

Now that I have this massive project assigned to me, it was time to get started. Last week was supposed to be full of research, questions and analysis. Unfortunately, there were a ton of meetings and bunch of other smaller but more urgent tasks that cut into the time I had allotted to researching this project. Furthermore, a walkthrough meeting was scheduled for the following Monday that required me to explain the whole project from beginning to end.

Where do I start? I have not had any experience with this process flow and I’m supposed to explain how it works? Again, fear and doubt started to creep in. I realized I had to focus on one small thing at a time or become overwhelmed. So I decided to research. Luckily, I found a very helpful powerpoint presentation on the stock, unaltered flow and how to customize it. Thank God! It was here that I had most of my questions answered. It was chock full of definitions and diagrams–almost everything I needed to fully understand the flow. I quickly jotted down some notes and felt confident that although I had plenty of questions, I had some direction.

Next, I scheduled an analysis prep meeting with my Systems Analyst to solidify my understanding and clear up as many questions before the meeting Monday. The meeting went really smoothly; I asked plenty of questions, I got plenty of answers, and together we hashed out a rough plan for the project. Finally, after 1 1/2 weeks of stress and anxiety, I could see the pieces coming together to form the project. On Monday, I wasn’t nervous at all prior to the meeting. I was feeling something I hadn’t felt since before the project was assigned to me: comfortable. I went in there, was able to explain myself, and provided input and answers to my managers on any tweaks to the process flow.

Lessons learned thus far:

1. If you take a massive project or obstacle and focus on the doing rather than the thinking, you’ll get a ton more done. Once I calmed down and stopped looking at the project as a whole, I felt ten times more confident.
2. Research, Research, Research! If you don’t know something, take the time to investigate. The answer may present itself to you, just like how the presentation seemingly fell into my lap.
3. Time Management is key. Researching and organizing a project takes time. In order for this project to be a success, I will have to budget my time a lot better, eliminate distractions, and alleviate my fears.

If I can get these three things down, combined with the lessons I will learn by the end of this project, I foresee  many more successful projects in my future. More to come on this project!