(Photo: My introduction slide to the clients along with Zum)On September 21st, the much awaited kick-off and introduction to the clients started on a silent note. None of us had interacted with the clients except maybe a "Hi" over email. Don't remember if any of us got a response. The clients were accompanied by a Senior Official from Labour Ministry, who was also the director of a local orphanage (separate entry about the Orphanage visit follows). Apparently Mark informed that there was some issues with the projects short listed and he was there to help us out. The presentation started with an introduction of ABV and its work in Vietnam. Also included was a brief talk about this program. Then my team member John started off with the introduction of IBM and this team, end with a personal introduction of himself. One by one we shared a few minutes about us. The earlier day, when the "musical chair" with translators happened, Mark has analysed the translators and sort of paired us in his mind :-) So Zum was assigned to me to handle my intro - went of very well, I must say. I kept my lines short so that she can translated and she prompted me when there were doubts. The initial apprehension about the translation died off and we were curious to know who our clients were.
(Photo: Clients at the presentation, with Mark and Sarah from ABV in the background)All formalities completed and the meeting ended with each of identifying our clients. As with the previous days, I was in for a surprise :-). Apparently when Mark mentioned that there were some issues with the projects, he meant that my client dropped off from the program!!! I was like, excellent! The orphanage director was there to see if he can use one or two volunteers to help him out with the orphanage projects. This was to offset the dropped clients. Once the meeting was over, the Director was not interested in any of us for his projects and hence his response didn't change things :-)
Mark immediately assigned me to a Project that one of my team members was handling. This is for a boat company looking to improve its business. I was assigned to his project so that he can get a translator - there were ten of us with 9 translators. Jan was the team member and he did not have one. Looking back, I think that was one the best decisions Mark took because I enjoyed Jan's company so much. Jan had close to 15 years of experience with 8 years in IT. He is from Denmark and manages large projects. We hit it off really when the second we knew Mark's decision. The funny part was his client also was not there :-D
The joy of getting assigned to a project sort of went away since we didn't know if the client would show up. Mark asked Zum to handle this and follow up with the client. After some anxious moments, we did get a confirmation from the client that they are picking us up at the hotel in 30 minutes.
In hindsight, I guess Mark did not keep us informed about the dropped clients so that the enthusiasm is preserved. I am sure if I had know that my client was not there, I would have done a namesake job, maybe.
A seperate post will follow, all about the client, their business, what we did etc. Watch out!!! :-)
Until then, Xin Chao & Cam On for reading my blog.
Mark immediately assigned me to a Project that one of my team members was handling. This is for a boat company looking to improve its business. I was assigned to his project so that he can get a translator - there were ten of us with 9 translators. Jan was the team member and he did not have one. Looking back, I think that was one the best decisions Mark took because I enjoyed Jan's company so much. Jan had close to 15 years of experience with 8 years in IT. He is from Denmark and manages large projects. We hit it off really when the second we knew Mark's decision. The funny part was his client also was not there :-D
The joy of getting assigned to a project sort of went away since we didn't know if the client would show up. Mark asked Zum to handle this and follow up with the client. After some anxious moments, we did get a confirmation from the client that they are picking us up at the hotel in 30 minutes.
It was a morning of ups and downs, I must say! And as informed, exactly in 30 minutes, two people from our client walked in - Mr. Vinh (pronounced Mr. Ving) and Ms. Oanh (Pronounced Ms. "Why"ng) walked in, smiling and nervous (we were also nervous :-)). Perfect start to the assignment - introductions were quick, hand shakes exchanged and within minutes we were seated in their car heading to the client office.
(Photo: Like me, Jan was trying to impress the audience, without realising that his client was missing :-D ).
In hindsight, I guess Mark did not keep us informed about the dropped clients so that the enthusiasm is preserved. I am sure if I had know that my client was not there, I would have done a namesake job, maybe.
A seperate post will follow, all about the client, their business, what we did etc. Watch out!!! :-)
Until then, Xin Chao & Cam On for reading my blog.
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