Group Efforts 21

Group Efforts
The Diary of a Workgroup Manager

Episode 18 (1995)

Is our hero for the chop? Does George know more than he's saying? Will Costello find out what's going on?

Monday 29th
Grim Times. Andy Miller and I agree that I.T.'s machinations point directly to a merger of the Planning and Contracts departments, with the inevitable shedding of staff - including, of course, one less manager. The worst thing is the humiliation of having I.T. rebuilding our network for one less server before we've even been officially informed, and the likes of Amrat knowing more about our futures than we do. We decide to pump Llewellyn, but find that he's away for two weeks, supposedly on a management course. We consider a direct approach to Costello, but he's away too, allegedly eyeing up an acquisition prospect with the Old Man. Clearly both are cover stories for a secret rationalisation workshop, to which we aren't invited. We decide to stay calm, and bide our time.

Friday 1st
The loneliness of command is hard to bear, and although I'm determined to keep a brave face and not let team morale suffer, the waiting is getting to me. George, in contrast, seems remarkably cheerful these days, and Andy and I both wonder what he knows that we don't. Despite our long friendship, I can't help resenting the way George's star is rising on the basis of so recent a conversion to I.T. After all, I was the one who pioneered peer-to-peer networking, CD-ROM and electronic scheduling. Cathy asks about her Visual Basic course, and I almost give the game away by telling her there's no point. She replies that, yes, it's an ugly, Mickey-Mouse language that should never have escaped from Bill Gates' garage, but with Microsoft behind it it's bound to be significant whichever suite we choose. I recover my poise and agree, knowing that she may never have a chance to use her new-found skills.

Wednesday 7th
Llewellyn returns for the management meeting, where he affects an air of total innocence. At any other business Andy cracks, and demands to know what Llewellyn and Costello are cooking up that can't be discussed openly in front of the whole management team. Both look at him as if he's mildly insane. In the spirit of solidarity I say how unhappy I am that I.T. is implementing organisational policy before it has been discussed with the people it affects. They now look at me as if I, too, have flipped. Costello says he wants to see both of us to sort whatever it is out, but that it'll have to wait because he's flying to Paris this afternoon. We leave with joint grimaces at Llewellyn, who maintains his choir-boy facade.

Monday 12th
Cool as the proverbial cucumber, Costello calls Andy and me in, and asks what the problem is. Andy says he knows full well, and Costello calmly replies that he doesn't, but is becoming rather keen to find out. We tell him we're wise to the departmental merger, and he says there isn't going to be one. We ask him what all the I.T. business is about then, and he asks Llewellyn, over the phone, to come over straight away and explain. We ask Llewellyn why he's refused my replacement server and implemented an inter-department workgroup, and he denies all knowledge of both. At this point it dawns on both of us that we may just be in an incorrect tree upwards barking situation. Llewellyn is actioned to investigate, and we slip hurriedly back to our offices.

Wednesday 14th
Called to the meeting room, I find Andy, Llewellyn and Amrat already there. With just a slight smirk, Llewellyn says that Amrat can explain everything, and hands over to him. Not smirking at all, the lad says that his reluctance to recommend a replacement server was indeed due to budget constraints, namely that he was trying to save enough to get a Dell Dual Pentium for the I.T. development network. As for the dual-department workgroup, that was his idea and slightly unofficial, which was why he'd done it in his own time, although he did think it was a major breakthrough in peer-sharing effectiveness. Now openly grinning, Llewellyn asks if that clears everything up. Openly glaring at Amrat, we say that it does. Later in Peg's, George tells us his son's been picked for the County Colts, that he was tipped off by the Chairman of Selectors some time ago but couldn't say anything until it became official, and that he's tickled pink about it. Relieved and deeply embarrassed, I buy him a celebratory pint.