Project end

It was November of 2009. We were enjoying our time off because we did not have any workload. Our clients were on Thanksgiving leave, hence we did not have much work. All of us had been chatting with each other on general topics. Suddenly our team lead Amit made an announcement, "guys please gather in the training room. Our project manager is here to address all of you. The meeting would begin exactly in 10 minutes".

We all rolled our eyes in unison. We knew what this meeting was going to be about. I really disliked attending meetings where management would tell us to spend more time in doing something productive. I completely hated when they said that instead of speaking with friends it is better to spend more time in training. I was generally their target because I would chat with everyone. So I was antsy to go to the meeting room and to hear the same lessons again.

We had no option but to go. Our project manager Ravi was already there. He looked worried. My intuitions were you telling me that something had gone wrong and that was not a regular meeting.

We quickly settled down and Ravi began, "guys thank you so much for gathering here. I want to keep it brief and direct. First of all I want to congratulation all of you. We have completed 2 years with this project. The client is delighted with our work. Last week we had a meeting with our stakeholders and they had appreciated the work you had put together. This meeting was attended by the higher management as well and they were happy to hear that we have performed so well," Ravi paused for a few seconds. He tried to smile but it was not a successful attempt.

Yet we were happy to hear the praises. We started clapping. After a few seconds we decided to stop and let Ravi continue, "despite the best work there is a bad news". Ravi looked down and paused for another few seconds. The happiness suddenly faded. We started looking at each other and we could feel the tension in the room. My instincts were right after all. Something was wrong.

Ravi continued, "our client has made a difficult business decision. They have found a local vendor who is going to provide the same services that we had been providing. Despite us convincing them they have concluded that the new vendor is more profitable to them then us. This is the last month when we are going to deliver our services to them. Next week onwards we would not receive much work. But don't worry we are actively looking for opportunities for all of you within our company. None of you would lose your job and I promise you within a few days all of you would be placed in a new project. I would like to end by saying how grateful I am to have worked in a team of professionals who were full of energy". Ravi stopped and left the training room.

To me it was both shocking and sadning. I had been with this project right from the beginning and I had seen it grow. I had never expected that the project would come to a sudden halt. Yet this was a business decision and we had nothing in our hands. I left the training room with heavy heart and tear in my eyes.

So many years have passed, this experience still makes me sad even today.