Bittersweet

Today was my last full day at the old client. Yes, the upgrade did in fact go VERY VERY well: We reverted to standard support by Tuesday evening. We ended daily status meetings Wednesday AM. We had no help desk calls Wednesday night... there were no major bugs that didn't have workarounds. We really nailed this upgrade: The hospital didn't lose a minute of work, and we were all walking around wondering if we were about to wake up and realize it was all a dream. But it really worked, and we kept today as my last day. (The CIO noted that only I could get away with picking Friday the 13th as my exit date - it's just too JimB-style)

I scrambled all week to make sure that the five people they're replacing me with were all comfortable with their new roles. And we had some good tests - some tricky situations that I usually handled, my new people took on and muddled through... learning how it all works. And I actually feel pretty confident that things won't fall apart Monday.

I was going to make this farewell, but the client wanted to fete me, so I'm coming back for 2 hours on Tuesday for a farewell pizza party. In a semireluctant move, my old consulting firm (who I'm also breaking with) grudgingly decided to pay for HALF of the pizza party. They'll pay half? Crazy. But Monday, I get to move in to the new client full time... and hopefully sit in on a few more procedures....

I had a parade of well wishers today, which got me misty eyed. Some people took me to Crazy Buffet (see earlier blog postings, late 2006), which was "wonderful" as always. There are a lot of people who are very sad to be seeing me go, and I am sad to not be working with them. I am GLAD that I have done good work and am REALLY psyched to be going to the new gig full time, but there are people who I have really liked working with who I will miss. Some of the comments I have got have truly made me blush... one said "you're one who shines bright in the world, and we'll be a darker place without you".

One person who I will not miss was something of a manager-nemesis: He was really good at not taking on responsibility for his team, and his team left my project high and dry a few times, undermining me in meetings, etc... well, yesterday he got demoted - I mean "decided to take another position under his existing one in the same department". So that was a nice going away gift. I don't celebrate the misfortunes of others, but I do appreciate a nice comeuppance now and again.

As it was a day of passages, Paul and I came to an agreement to part ways on our Brain Stuff today. We had never been able to really gel on a way to make it profitable, and it was stuck at the "hobby" level for too long. We also had different ideas on how to take it forward. So we agreed to disagree. I'm taking my books, and he's keeping the website and the podcasts, and we're keeping it friendly. And I'll figure out if the books are something to push further out into the world. In truth, I haven't heard much real feedback about the books from anyone, so I'm curious if I should just walk away from them. If any of you have read them and found them valuable, please do let me know... I could use the feedback!

And just yesterday, I had lunch with another Paul, and started talking about a business idea we had a couple of years back... and I was thinking that it might be a workable idea. So perhaps there will be another thing born of this time of flux.

I'm out on the front porch typing this. A blueish small bird with a small crest and a big orange beak is watching me blog and is making lazer gun blips and whistles. It's a beautiful night, and things are good in my world.