News from the BIM-Team: Energy and a Smooth Project Flow with “QQ” and “666”
April 8–12, 2019
When we leave for the office on Monday, impressions from our Hongkong weekend trip are still on our minds: our hotel in the Chungking Mansions building (a truly unique experience! 😊), Temple Street market bargaining, views from Victoria Harbour, Victoria Peak and the Tian Tan Buddha.
While sharing weekend memories, we realize how quickly routines come up. Our daily way to the office, switching metro lines, greeting the CANYOU receptionist… what was new in week 1, is a given in week 2. Back in the impressive leather chairs of our windowless meeting room, we continue working on the project deliverables we agreed on in the week before:
1. A standardized project plan to serve as a template for new projects
2. A system for performance management reviews
3. A proposal for a motivating reward system
4. A list of training options per career stage
Eager to implement sustainable measures, which the CANYOU staff can continuously improve, we are glad that the management team agree on our first proposals on Tuesday. We continue working with the project director and the project managers to refine our project plan template and the project management structure, and we add details to our proposed HR cycle. Our goal is to have the teams working with the first deliverables in week 3, so we can ask for feedback and further refine them in week 4.
Over tea and coffee breaks, we learn about different energy sources in different cultures. While Carolina, Christopher and I are longing for our afternoon coffee and still hesitate to try the purple potato latte or the red bean barista selection, our Chinese friends will always go for bubble milk tea, with chewy balls made of tapioca. The chewy texture of these bubbles is simply named “q”. So try to imagine the ultimate experience of chewiness we experience when we are offered gums called ”qq” during a work break. A real energizer for finalizing our project plan template 😊
A culinary highlight of the week is Tuesday’s Chinese hotpot. After our weekly group team meeting with Pyxera, we cook our veggies, meat, fish and tofu on our own table in a pot of hot soup. Delicious!
On Thursday evening, we are invited to the office space of the Shenzhen Open Innovation Lab (SZOIL), where three of our fellow SAP colleagues spend their work days. Over drinks and finger food, we are inspired by a speaker from the XPRIZE nonprofit organization, presenting their latest competition to us and encouraging us to contribute with ideas how avatars can benefit humanity. On the way home, we are quickly back in reality: heavy rainfalls have turned busy Shenzhen into a quiet city from one moment to the next. No taxis are available, and we seem to be the only persons on the street wading through the water on our way to the metro station.
The week closes with some final meetings with the CANYOU project managers, and a lot of questions how our proposed deliverables will help them in tracking projects and motivating employees. So the goal for week 3 is clear: let’s involve them with hands-on experience. We are looking forward to the challenge! Wish us luck… or “666”, the Chinese way to wish good fortune!
