Projects from hell?

Mine began in 2011 and is finally ending this year.

Wrote proposals for a major new research infrastructure. I got six million euros spread over six years for building a national research infrastructure at a remote site, which was still under physical construction at the time. I was the sole project member, got practically no support from my workplace, and - since the project was stripped of all the salary funding when it was granted (total gov idiocy) - I had to do my normal job (to justify my salary) while running the multimillion euro project on the side.

Design took years and I was the sole person working on it. The site requirements kept changing and getting stricter. It took far too long, but couldn't be helped.

Learnt that the public procurement process is hell. Had to go through it three times. It gets easier, but it's still hell.

Learnt a lot about shipping delicate and expensive scientific gear safely. Fortunately I had past experience in seeing shipping companies drive trucklift forks through crates, so I knew how to deal with them.

Went through project auditing a couple of times. Learnt a lot about how to justify expenses to the beancounters.

Learnt that managing a project with five consortium members and hard deadlines for annual spending (can't carry any funding over to the next fiscal year) is hell. Balancing the different requirements in a diplomatic way, managing the procurement and delivery deadlines to fit the idiotic spending deadlines so that all money is used, and writing the reports... I don't know how I managed it.

I came this close to losing it both physically and mentally, but failure just wasn't an option. In hindsight, I regret putting my family through it, too, as I wasn't really a good father or a husband at times.

Last Edited by Tainted Meat on 03/11/2019 06:20 AM