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"Is this a conflict of interest? Should I not be telling you this?" she teased.
"No, smarty-pants. Regional sales managers get the official project updates, but I like poking at you." He paused on the other end to take a drink. "I'm glad you're settling in. Will you travel?"
"Yes. They asked about my passport when I filled out all the HR stuff and I know the team moves around to different locations." The timer on her watch vibrated. "Hey, my food's ready. Let me go eat while it's hot, yeah?"
"Sounds good. Talk to you later. Love you, kitten."
"Love you too, Dad. Bye."
Claire divvied up the dish, plating one for tonight's supper and setting the rest aside in plastic containers: one for Brinnie and the gang and another for her lunch tomorrow. Talking to her dad and preparing the meal had eased the tension she'd felt earlier. She mentally ticked fried pies off the to do list. No need to make her favorite stress-relieving recipe tonight.
She poured a glass of iced tea and set it next to her plate on the island bar before grabbing her laptop from the bedroom. She'd had an idea earlier while talking to Rick about the data retrieval, and she wanted to research the viability of it. If it worked, she may have a way to make refreshing data more efficient for everyone. As the new girl on the block, she could use some brownie points with the team.
The steady drone of rain pummeling the windows distracted Noah from Cheryl's explanation over the conference phone parked in the middle of the large table. Rain wasn't unusual this time of year, but today's heavy downpour felt like an ominous way to start the week. Perhaps the distraction was because he was nervous at the crowd gathered for this call. His fellow ops managers and their boss, Mitch, sat around the conference table, while their counterparts from around the world had dialed in to the call. Cheryl, the global sales coordinator, and her team were also on the line.
"And that's when Noah brought it to my attention."
His focus snapped back to the meeting at the mention of his name. As one, everyone in the room looked at him. Apparently, Cheryl was finished describing the cock-up Keith ran into last week.
"Thanks, Cheryl. It was actually Keith who caught the problem. Because I could only see one side of it, I wanted to bring it to someone who could see all sides. This kind of miscommunication is what we're trying to eliminate with the MADS update project. However, until we implement that solution, we need to find a way to avoid these misunderstandings."
"Noah, before you go on, can you explain how the new system will fix problems like this?"
"Er, sure." Noah clasped his hands together to keep from wiping them on his trousers. Mitch was usually the face of their plant during company-wide meetings like this. But because of his project work, he was getting more and more practice addressing managers above his level. "It's all in how we handle the intercompany transactions."
He summarized how the proposed customizations would handle sales from the manufacturing plant to the distribution centers, and how real-time visibility of the inventory and the production schedules would be company-wide in the future and not limited to only employees at the producing plant.
"Basically, we'll be able to log into the MADS application and see the inventory at other locations, eliminating duplicate orders like the one we just dealt with." Noah looked around the room to make sure everyone understood.
"I'm glad you're on the project. Can you imagine how those pencil pushers would screw this up if we didn't have our inside man keeping them straight?"
The attendees either chuckled or nodded in agreement. The vote of confidence in his abilities gave Noah a boost he needed, and he relaxed and leaned back as the conversation flowed around him.
Mitch listened to the commentary from around the table before addressing Noah. "I know it's a multi-year project, but I also remember hearing we'd see some benefits early with the improvements rolling out in phases. Any update on that?"
Noah hesitated before answering. The whole Weaselgate episode had delayed the project by months. He needed to be careful with his reply, so he didn't give the wrong impression or relay false information.
"We spent most of last year stripping out customizations, cleansing the data, and getting everyone around the world using the same product codes and chart of accounts. We successfully completed this phase because the people on this call spent a few extra hours putting in the work." He waited a beat for the wry comment to land.
"Just a few hours," Cheryl said, and chuckles sounded throughout the room.
"Once we got everything standardized, we had a clean slate to work with. We've already synchronized most processes between the plants producing the same bit types. And we're now looking at the repair centers. In addition, the development team—the programmers who will be changing what the system does—has started cataloging and breaking down the different screens we use and what happens behind the scenes. And yes, some changes have already been made."
Cheryl spoke again from the conference phone. "Yep, we've already eliminated some steps in our processes. Our data entry already seems faster. Noah's been key in helping us test it out."
"Right." Noah, unsure what to do with the compliment, continued, "But the major changes—the automation of the intercompany transactions—we won't see those going into production until late next year."
Noah answered a few more questions, then sat quietly while the managers debated the best rollout approach. When the discussion died down, someone asked, "What do you think, Noah? You've seen all sides now and have a global view like Cheryl's at this point. What's your gut say about all this?"
Again, Noah weighed his words carefully. He wanted what was best for the company, but he was also part of the project team and knew the challenges facing them. "I've learned a ton about how the system works behind the scenes. But I've also learned how company preferences drive many of our decisions, regardless of technology… or even logic, in some cases." Again, chuckles broke out as he'd intended. "I think we have a good plan and we need to keep doing the work. And until we have the changes in place, it's imperative that we talk to each other on these production runs, so we can avoid the problem we ran into last week."
Mitch nodded at him and took his lead to steer the discussion back to brainstorming communication efforts to keep everyone on the same page. Noah relaxed and breathed easier. While he appreciated the group's trust in his knowledge, he was still new to calling the shots at a global level. And he wasn't a technology expert. He could only explain what made sense to him. At least he'd been able to get these guys focused on working with the other departments.
His phone lit up on the table next to him and he glanced at the screen. Claire Broussard. Again. That made three calls today. Likely, a long email awaited him back at his desk asking another dozen questions. He'd just met the woman on Thursday and by Monday morning, he already had six voicemails and three emails full of questions. Noah rubbed his neck. He really should book a meeting to follow up. For now, he let the call go to voicemail. He'd get to it as soon as he finished the half a dozen other urgent things requiring his attention.
"Nope, my test data still hasn't been refreshed," Del groused.
Noah sat in his England office with a headset on. The development team held weekly coding sessions and had asked him to be available to answer questions on the fly. This gave Noah the perfect opportunity to catch up on paperwork and his regular menial tasks, like entering physical inventory counts. Occasionally, they'd ask him a question or two, but mostly everyone worked in silence with sporadic discussion among team members. Today, however, the atmosphere felt sharp and impatient.
