lunacat

As a project manager for a technology company, my job is to oversee the implementation of software designed to run an entire company . . . inventory and production planning, general ledger, sales, puchasing and so forth. Everything a company needs in order to perform business operations.

As we approach the point of actually turning it on for daily transactions, we enter into a test phase where all the key functional players are sequestered in a single large room and we simulate true business operations.

Traditionally, this space has been refered to as the war room. It's just a macho hairy chested thing because men who run businesses think they have to fight these things into submission. There is generally very little sense of finesse. I prefer to call it the peace room because we are truly trying to find a peaceful solution to a business environment whose procedures and job identities are about to undergo significant change. The advent of a wholly new business system is generally a pretty charged experience for the people who work there. But one of my consulting team members came up with the best moniker of all this week. He called it the Fucking Nuthouse. That, in fact, is the most apt description.