I think I've mentioned that I like to play Celtic and Maritime music as well as do Canadian step-dancing.
Well recently the band I am in (Get Reel) had two gigs scheduled, one at a church hall on Saturday and one Wednesday evening at a senior's residence with our step dancing class as well. We currently have three members in our band (Greg Black, Deborah Mandzuk and myself).
We worked up a really nice set with all of us playing our multiple roles.
Just before the weekend, Greg called up and told us that because of a tear in his retina and his laser surgery scheduled for Saturday he would be unable to make both gigs. Now our primary concern was that Greg gets his eye healed up, vision is not something to mess with.
Deborah and I made some last minute changes to our set list for Saturday, enlisted a little help from another musician (Dave Fisher) who was going to be at the church hall, and carried on with our set.
Then Sunday, Greg called us to tell us the eye doctor said he could play. Back on for Wednesday.
Then Tuesday we got a call that he had developed some complications and would be unable to make it. Tuesday evening we talked to another musician friend of ours, Chris Gregg and got him to fill in last minute. We even scheduled an extra practice so Chris would not be hitting the performance cold. Chris also brought another musician into the performance (Paddy).
At the last minute, Greg, our regular band member called us having just finished with the eye doctor. He was back on for the performance and rather than cancelling our substitutes, we kept them in the show.
So instead of having our regular 3 member band, we ended up with 5 musicians. Add to that our step dancing classes and the show ended up being spectacular.
We had a lot of fun and the senior's residence had a wonderful show.
Had we cancelled the show when the first problems occurred, none of this would have happened.
Life, business and software development are like that.
Problems come up and you deal with them. Sometimes the setbacks are quite major and involve key resources. People with good coping skills, good managers and great project managers will roll with the punches and keep things moving. Sometimes things even turn out better because of or in spite of the difficulties. Perseverance is the key.
After all… the show must go on.
P.S. Look like Chris Gregg, who also tunes pianos, got some work to tune the piano at the senior's residence.
