With the project taking me into UAE for October, it became quite interesting.
After travelling to Germany, Egypt, Jordan, Korea, Morocco & Tunisia, UAE was a good time to be close the family as well as get the work done.
There was travel involved but only just like it everyday. Travelling from my Sharjah home to Sheikh Zayed Road. That's right. There was no air-travel involved in October. Somebody had to implement UAE also right, so I was the chosen one.
However, it was not boring at all. Implementing the hub of the organization was the biggest challenge to date. There was extreme pressure of enormous volumes of transactions, multiple office locations, sales locations etc. Needless to say, it was majorly tiring mentally trying to manage expectations of some really senior people in the organization.
This month was also the implementation for Pakistan for which another team was chosen. I had been slightly surprised why I wasn't chosen for that as I was the only Pakistani in the team but obviously that could have been one of the reasons.
Anyway, things dont always go as planned. One of the team members going to Pakistan had visa issues and an ad-hoc decision was taken for me to move out from UAE implementation and go to Pakistan. I didn't mind that at all. 2 big stations in one month, just the challenge I needed. First 10 days of UAE implementation and then a switch to do last ten days in Pakistan.
My family accompanied me for a short vacation home while I maintained my project mode. But it was good as I got to meet family and relatives in Karachi while getting the opportunity to go to Lahore & Islamabad as well to train some staff there.
A very eventful month to say the least where it really stretched me. We had a workshop in UAE as well which required some time dedication for a few days. Tight schedule, on-time delivery expectations has defined this project from day 1. This has however also given opportunity to explore and prove some time management skills.
The good thing about this month was, even with the ad-hoc change in plan, it was still home both ways for me. Pakistan which is home and UAE, home away from home.
