Missing my old job...

Sunset on Friday evening

Imagine my surprise last Friday.  I was having lunch in downtown Indianapolis with a friend, and I was feeling quite proud of myself for my first drive downtown BY MYSELF.  

My friend is a project manager for a large company in town, and we began to talk about her latest project.  Wow!  It was like finding someone who speaks your native language after spending a long time in a foreign country.  In my own world of engineers, scientists and professors, I finally found someone who could speak project management.



As my friend described her current project,  I mentally travelled back to my job as a Project and Program Manager.  I remembered all the activities she discussed: meeting with sponsors and key stakeholders, managing project scope, holding project kickoff meetings, deciding when to push an issue when the team is in a "group think" mode, and learning whom you can trust.    

We talked about how to deliver tough messages, how to handle the people who try to derail a project, and when you demonstrate strong leadership vs. blending into the team.  My friend talked about the challenges and rewards of this role, and I realized I missed Project Management.

Holy cow!  Who saw that coming?  I was shocked to say the least.  Here I am enjoying my third year of retirement and my total freedom from a work schedule, when I started wistfully thinking about finding a project manager job.  And in the very next second I realized an intervention was necessary to help me escape that notion of joining the working world.

Ok, I haven't dusted off my resume or applied for any jobs.  But I've been giving more thought to working again as a project manager.  I don't know if that makes sense for me or not, but I'm no longer saying "I don't miss working at all"...

Diane