Not sure which category to place this under ... as it is definitely light-hearted ... but -- I have written a murder mystery about a Project Controls Director who kills his superior, the Vice President of Operations. It takes place in a construction company in the United States.
Those of you who know me, know that I am a very seriosu guy, who has devoted his entire career to the advancement of Project Time Management. I head up the International Center for Scheduling, Inc. (ICS-Global), and have written two best-selling books on the Critical Path Method (CPM Mechanics; and, Faster Construction Projects with CPM Scheduling).
But recently I took some time off to have some fun -- to polish off a manuscript I had written back in 1995, and get it ready for bringing to press. I have always felt that Construction is a very dramatic venue for a storyline. And those of us who have worked in Project Controls know, first-hand, just how stressful and challening our professional lives can be.
First, we are grossly under-appreciated. Those who use our work products rarely realize just how much work is required to produce a quality product. Nor do they care to hear about it.
Second, we are always working under intense deadliness ... usually made worse by those who procrastinate until the last possible moment to ask us to help them.
Third, our morals and principles are often compromised. Many times we are asked to do things (in and to the schedule or budget) that we KNOW to be unethical, immoral, or just plain illegal. And the threat to us, whether subtle or direct, is often to whether we will keep our job.
I could go on but you get the point. Over time, the job becomes less fullfilling and more harrowing. At some point, you just want to scream. And if you have a boss like my book's main character did, you want to KILL him.
Harry Dorfman was a Project Controls Director for an international construction company based out of Tampa, Floroda (USA). His company, Threshold, had regional offices in Taipai, London, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Tampa. Each regional office was headed by a Vice President of Operations.
Harry worked out of Tampa, and had an asshole of a boss right there in Tampa, the VP of Operations for the Southeast, one William Duvall. Harry wanted to kill Duvall. But he managed to contain his anger. What drove him "over the edge" (the name of the book, incidentally), was the VP out of St. Louis, Nicholas Jablonski.
It wasn't just that Jablonski was having an affair with Harry's wife; no, it was something much worse than that. Quite by accident, Harry found out that Jablonski was planning to kill the president of the company (Paul Stafford) and frame (blame it on) Jablonksi and Harry for the murder. Plus, Jablonski had already started embezzling $4,000,000 from the company, and was putting some of that money in Swiss bank accounts in the name of Jablonksi and Dorfman.
Harry had to "get even." What happens next is the story of the book. Harry conceives the "perfect crime." He kills TWO people, 1000 miles apart -- AT THE SAME TIME. Impossible? Yes. But Harry pulls it off nonetheless. The book recounts how the Tampa Police Department struggles to figure out how a seemingly boring Project Controls Director has pulled off the impossible.
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If you like what you have read, then treat yourself to a few minutes break. Watch the YouTube videos I have posted for your entertainment. Go to: https//www.youtube.com/user/HarryDorfman/videos and enjoy!
HELP BRING HARRY DORFMAN TO JUSTICE
I could use you help, my friends. As I said aove, the book is still a rough manuscript. It will take about six months to get it onto bookshelves. I need to raise money to fund this effort. I am using KickStarter as a way to raise those funds.
If you are unfamiliar with KickStarter, it is what is called a "crowd-funding" website. There "creators" match up wiith "backers." As a author, I qualify as a "creator," since I am creating a book. If you pledge some money -- even a single dollar -- you are a "backer."
Backers receive a "reward" for their pledge. The more you pledge, the greater the reward. My KickStarter Project is already underway, and only has 22 days left. If i do meet the goal by July 14th, the project ends in failure.
YOU CAN HELP
You can help by contributing a dollar or two, whatever suits your budget. And if money is really tight right now (I understand), you can still help by telling friends and family about this project, and sharing with them the link to the KickStarter page, which is: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/murraywoolf/over-the-edge-0. [1]
You can also find out more about the book at its website: www.OverTheEdge-TheBook.com [2] or on Harry's facebook page, at https://www.facebook.com/harry.dorfman.5 [3]
APOLOGY
Finally, please allow me to apologize to anyone who feels that this use of the Forum at Planning Planet is inappropriate. I can understand why some may feel that way. But I ask you: if YOU wrote a fiction book about a Project Controls person, and wanted to share that news with the very group of people who would most likely be interested in such a book )other Project Controls people), what better place could you think of to find Project Controls people .. than Planning Planet???
I hope you will support my project. Yes, this is NOT a serious discussion -- but it IS for real. That is, for once in my 36-year professional career, I am letting my hair down and just having a little light-hearted fun. I hope you can do the same.
We all have our Day Jobs. But just for a few minutes we can "lighten up" and not take life so seriously. Please back my KickStarter project. Thanks! -- Murray Woolf
Author, "Faster Construction Projects with CPM Scheduling"
Author, "CPM Mechanics"
Founder/Owner, ICS-Global (The International Center for Scheduiing) www.ics-global.com [4]