Ang isang grupo ng mga taon na nakalipas, my boss asked me to train some users on a product called Results. Results is an end user reporting tool. It’s roughly analogous to SQL Server Reporting Service or Crystal. Sa oras, ito ay dinisenyo upang tumakbo sa mga berdeng tubes (e.g. Wyse 50 hantungan) connected to a Unix box via telnet.

My default answer to any question that starts with "Can you … " is "Yes" at na kung saan ang lahat ng mga problema sa magsimula.

Ang client ay isang kemikal kumpanya out sa southern California at si lamang tungkol sa balot up ng isang pangunahing pagpapatupad ng ERP batay sa QAD ni MFG/PRO. The implementation plan now called for training power end users on the Results product.

I wasn’t a big user of this tool and had certainly never trained anyone before. Gayunman, Ako ay isinasagawa ng isang bilang ng iba pang mga klase sa pagsasanay at naging mabilis sa aking mga paa, so I was not too worried. Dennis, ang tunay na full-time na magtuturo Resulta, had given me his training material. Looking back on it now, it’s really quite absurd. I didn’t know the product well, had never been formally trained on it and had certainly never taught it. What business did I have training anyone on it?

Upang makapagpalubha bagay logistically, I was asked to go and meet someone in Chicago as part of a pre-sales engagement along the way. The plan was to fly out of New Jersey, pumunta sa Chicago, meet for an hour with prospect and then continue on to California.

Mahusay, I got to Chicago and the sales guy on my team had made some mistake and never confirmed the meeting. Kaya, I showed up and the prospect wasn’t there. Awesome. I pack up and leave and continue on to CA. Somewhere during this process, Tingin ko out na ang kliyente ay pag-aaral ng mas mababa sa 24 hours before my arrival that "Paul Galvin" ay nagtuturo ng klase, not Dennis. The client loves Dennis. They want to know "who is this Paul Galvin person?" "Why should we trust him?" "Why should we pay for him?" Dennis obviously didn’t subscribe to my "magbigay ng masamang balita maaga" philosophy. Awesome.

Dumating ako sa airport at para sa ilang mga hindi kapani-paniwalang nakababagod dahilan, I had checked my luggage. I made it to LAX but my luggage did not. Sa akin, nawawala ang luggage ay isang maraming tulad ng pagpunta sa pamamagitan ng pitong yugto ng kalungkutan. Eventually I make it to the hotel, na walang luggage, pagod, gutom at suot ang aking (sa ngayon, napaka bayuot) business suit. It takes a long time to travel from Newark — to O’Hare — sa isang client — pabalik sa O'Hare — at sa wakas sa LAX.

Ako sa wakas mahanap ang aking sarili upo sa kuwarto hotel, munching sa isang bar paggalikgik, exhausted and trying to drum up the energy to scan through the training material again so that I won’t look like a complete ass in front of the class. This was a bit of a low point for me at the time.

Ako woke up sa susunod na araw, did my best to smooth out my suit so that I didn’t look like Willy Loman on a bad day and headed on over to the client. As is so often the case, sa tao siya ay magaling, polite and very pleasant. This stood in stark contrast to her extremely angry emails/voicemails from the previous day. She leads me about 3 miles through building after building to a sectioned off area in a giant chemical warehouse where we will conduct the class for the next three days. The 15 o 20 mga mag-aaral mabagal mag-ipon, most them still expecting Dennis.

Ako palaging simulan-off ang aking mga klase sa pagsasanay sa pamamagitan ng pagpapakilala ng aking sarili, giving some background and writing my contact information on the white board. As I’m saying, "Good morning, my name is Paul Galvin", Isulat ko ang aking pangalan, email and phone number up on the white board in big letters so that everyone can see it clearly. I address the fact that I’m replacing Dennis and I assure them that I am a suitable replacement, at iba pa. I have everyone briefly tell me their name and what they want to achieve out of the class so that I can tailor things to their specific requirements as I go along. The usual stuff.

We wrap that up and fire up the projector. I go to erase my contact info and … I had written it in permanent marker. I was so embarrassed. In my mind’s eye, ito ay mukhang ganito: There is this "Paul Galvin" tao, last minute replacement for our beloved Dennis. He’s wearing a crumpled up business suit and unshaven. He has just written his name huge letters on our white board in permanent marker. What a sight!

Ito ang lahat ng natapos na maligaya, gayunman. This was a chemical company, sa wakas. A grizzled veteran employee pulled something off the shelf and, malamang na lumalabag sa mga regulasyon EPA, cleared the board. I managed to stay 1/2 day ahead of the class throughout the course and they gave me a good review in the end. This cemented my "pinch hitter" reputation at my company. My luggage arrived the first day, kaya ako ay higit na mas maganda araw ng dalawa at tatlong.

Habang ako ay paglalaan ng red eye kamalig, I was contemplating "lessons learned". There was plenty to contemplate. Communication is key. Tell clients about changes in plan. Don’t ever check your luggage at the airport if you can possibly avoid it. Bring spare "stuff" in case you do check your luggage and it doens’t make it. I think the most important lesson I learned, gayunman, noon ito: laging subukan ang isang marker sa ibabang kaliwang sulok ng isang puting board bago magsulat, sa malaking titik, "Paul Galvin".

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