I suppose at this point, I'd better make some comments about the wife and kids. They have been really great putting up with all sorts of issues. I sometime get home late and in a foul mood; they have put up with an awful lot and deserve to have that recognised. I'm not the only one -the company held a party before Christmas and the wife and me went along. She got talking to a couple of other wifes (don't they always!) who have also had to put with stressed out husbands.
She told me after that 2 of the other managers are heading for divorce - although they may not know it yet. The wives have had enough of late nights, weekend working, cancelled holidays. I've spoken to one of the guys - he missed his son's first game of the season last year, which was the first time the kid had actually played. He was really angry, and I think that if it continues as it is, he will just quit. In the current economic conditions, that's not a good idea - but he said privately that he would rather take a 50% paycut than continue as they are. (Although I'm not sure he really would).
The family got away on holiday last year without me - I have the use of a condo on the coast for a couple of weeks. My eldest girl thought that was OK as it turned into a girl's holiday with my son away at camp. She made a point of telling me that my wife had gone out dancing with them and had had a great time. I wish I had been there, but they deserve the break.
Basically, the consultants are really arrogant - they arrive and expect everyone else to be immediately available. It doesn't matter that we have a business to run, or that they haven't arrange the meetting; we have to be there. If we ask them to do something tho it's a different matter. They can take as long as they like, and if we dare to question why it takes so long, it becomes a real issue.
One of my guys has been involved in loading data from the other systems. He took a day off to take his little girl to hospital as she had taken a fall and needed some attention (she was OK later, but stayed in the hospital for a couple of days). The consultant project manager actually phond him on his cell phone and demanded that he come back to work as they were trying to resolve an issue with purchasing records. He wasn't happy when I explained to him that if he ever does that again, he will have the cell phone lodged in his lower colon.
A short one today; I'm tired and need to rest up.
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That's a great blog! Your experience seems a litlle bit extreme with so many ingredients of a set-up-to fail project(my god, where did you find these consultants? are they real SAP employees or do they come from some House of Hell company). After I read your post, I will never hear the word "partner" again without laughing wildly. Your blog is refreshing. On the other side, it's difficult not to feel the pain and despair. That must be hard for you. But keep posting, it will probably help other companies to think twice before hiring a software "partner".
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