The Parent Project: Month 10

ByElizabeth Harrin Last updated: Research & Case Studies

Photo of bunnyI can do my project communications work for The Otobos Group from anywhere but when I work for my employer I sometimes need to travel. Nap time is about 9am and it feels weird to be north of Coventry before my son is due for a sleep. We don’t often have meetings in Birmingham and what with maternity leave, it’s been a while since I’ve been to the city.

When I leave the station it’s all different. The concourse is shiny and new, the escalators have moved. I don’t know how to find the right exist. So I guess.

Once outside, the city looks familiar but different. Yay for urban regeneration. There are roadworks, and my normal landmarks for navigating to the venue (which is only a short walk away) have gone. I have a legendary sense of direction – my team knows I have none at all.

There are 60 people attending the meeting and as I get closer to where I think the venue is I expect to recognise people on the street. I don’t see anyone, and I think I’ve made a wrong turn, but I’m only just going to make it so I don’t want to stop and fire up slow 3G maps on my phone. To make it worse I can’t remember the name of the street anyway.

Just when I start to panic I recognise the street sign. I’m on the right road and I’ve spotted someone I know ahead of me. I arrive at the venue with 5 minutes to spare.

It’s a good meeting. It’s energising to be in a room bouncing around ideas and to hear people say nice things about my projects and my team. I use the lunch break to catch up with people I haven’t seen for ages and resolve a couple of project issues that are much faster to deal with face to face compared to on email. As the meeting draws to a close it doesn’t even feel like I was rocking my son for an hour as he sobbed through the pain of teething before I even left the house just after 6am. I make a list of things to do on the train home to carry on the buzz from the day.

But before the train has reached Coventry again, I’m asleep.

Elizabeth Harrin wearing a pink scarf

Project manager, author, mentor

Elizabeth Harrin is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management in the UK. She holds degrees from the University of York and Roehampton University, and several project management certifications including APM PMQ. She first took her PRINCE2 Practitioner exam in 2004 and has worked extensively in project delivery for over 20 years.
Elizabeth is also the founder of the Project Management Rebels community, a mentoring group for professionals. She's written several books for project managers including Managing Multiple Projects.