A SMALL THOUGHT WITH A BIG DOT
Awake!
It’s still quite dark and the feel of chill air gave me a sudden rush of adrenaline. I quickly woke up. This is not my room for sure. Oh God! I am probably still in Tarun’s place. My wife will kill me. I quickly moved towards the door following the only source of light. I opened the door slowly and whispered “Tarun, where are you?” Continuing to move through the corridor, following the light I now heard noises coming from a room ahead. Oh! I probably fell asleep for some time; the party is still on. But I must leave now. God knows what the time is! even my mobile battery has drained out.
Where Am I?
As I entered the room things appeared to be quite different. In the middle of the room there is a nice big round dinner table with 6 people sitting around. A beautiful lady with long hair and blue specs, was busy writing something on a big white board in front of the table. “Hey, come quickly” she says without even looking at me. I somehow followed her words and placed myself quickly on the empty chair. Who is that big fat guy in black suit? He is sitting on a giant sofa just beside the white board. Why is he wearing sunglasses at night? His bald head, sunglasses, a witty smile playing hide and seek on his lips, is making me quite uncomfortable.
I am guessing!
Before I could say anything, the lady said, “John you learnt quite well from the past, but you can improve on the prioritization. Anyways your office already found your replacement within two days, but your family is still having a hard time to figure out the details that you should have shared well ahead. You ignored the daily collaboration with them.” John is probably the person who is standing beside me and staring at her. Suddenly the sunglasses of the big guy started to work like a projector. I can now see clips of John appearing on a screen on the other side of the room.
Aha!!
“Can we deploy him to the next Iteration?” the lady asks, and the big guy gives a thumbs up. The projector vanished and the lights went out. It’s completely dark and a pin drop silence. Now I started feeling really scared. Probably a few seconds passed, and I got shaken by a loud metallic robotic voice “Deployment Confirmed & Initiated”. The lights re-appeared but John is not here anymore. I got freaked out. I tried to jump out of the chair but could not move. “No need to hurry, it’s your turn now” says the lady looking at me. “Ma’am I really think there is some confusion, I am not sure what’s happening here, but I need to go back home” But even before I can complete, she says “Oh dear! you messed up this time also.” I interrupted her “But where am I, this is not my office.” She smiles “Yes you are right, this is my office, and your Retrospection is in progress.”
Realization!
“What retrospection, what iteration, I already completed retrospection of my current iteration today, I have a planning meeting tomorrow. She smiles and says, “This is the retrospection of your life dear; two weeks of our iteration is a lifetime for you, and you messed it completely again.” I started to shiver, I can’t be dead, I have a huge backlog of committed things, this cannot be the end of my life. “I always tried to do everything I was told, I am always committed to my work, I always tried to address all the risks by myself, then how can I be in a mess.” I yelled. The lady replies “That’s the reason for the mess I guess, you should only commit to what is possible. By taking all the risks on yourselves and by making unrealistic commitments, you have made not only yours but also others’ lives miserable. You simply never realized your goal.”
“What goal !?” Before I could say anything, the big guy again stood up from the sofa and switched on his glass-projector. I can see reels of my life, small clippings of all important incidents and commitments I made to my daughter, friends, family, colleagues. After a few seconds, a loud voice echoed all over “He spoiled his own iteration and messed up with others’. We have to cancel his sprint, redeploy him, set a new goal and have him go through the Agile certification immediately”. The lights went off. With an apprehension of something scary that will vanish me in the dark, I closed my eyes and shouted my heart out “Noooooo !!!”
The awakening!
“Why are you shouting?” Hearing my wife’s voice, I opened my eyes. “What happened?” She was shocked and irritated. Her raised eyebrows and annoying look somehow appeared much soothing now. I took some time to get back to my senses. Was it a dream or something else! But I really need to take a step back and plan my journey ahead.
Retrospection:
· “You might not always get a second chance to re-define your Iteration Goal”
· “Life is always about the Journey and never about the Destination.”
Disclaimer: The story shared is completely a work of fiction and the opinions expressed in this profile are personal and those of my responsibility. They do not reflect the company’s opinions.
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Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.