Heidelberg is not in China, and neither am I
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| Shanghai. From words-chinese.com |
I don't have a visa.
And, thankfully, I don't need to go. Not yet, anyway.
The main justification of sending me to China this week was to pacify the customer and to show that we have people who know what they're talking about, technically. However, I am present in nearly all of the meetings via telecon, so they know who I am and that my company has me on board.
The benefits of standing back a little and waiting to do things better are now clear. Firstly, somebody realised that by the time I arrived in Chongqing early next week, the people I'd need to talk to would be on holiday, leaving me with not much to do other than some sightseeing. And parts that were sent to me from China have just arrived today, so I'll be testing them in our labs, too, rather than watching films on a plane.
But more importantly we can now think about how best to move things forward so the issue that we're having doesn't happen again. So we're going to design a training programme, of which I'll be part of, with measurables to assess progress (a little test afterwards, some practical lab experience, for example) throughout China - and probably Asia Pacific. Once that's in place, there's nothing to stop me (hahaha!) going on to conquer the world - well, my little company world, anyway, and making sure that we level up our skill-set.
(Recruiters - see those buzzwords fly!)
But, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I'm still at home, in Heidelberg. My wife's out saying farewell to some friends going to Berlin, the children are asleep upstairs. I'm eating a steak sandwich and my Rothaus Pils is beside me as I type.
Ah, this is the life, visa or no.