Mister Bump UK

Work

AI art by Midjourney. Caught the bug!

Last March, I took a job with a consultancy. They got me on board specifically because a client was just about to sign off on a big project, they earmarked me to work on it.

The client/project is interesting, that was why I got involved. You know someone will make a tv show? And years later, some far-flung tv station will re-run it? Well, that far-flung tv station still has to pay a small amount of royalties for broadcasting it. And people like the authors of the show will get a fraction of those royalties. This client administers all that. Authors pay a subscription to join, and in return these people keep track of the royalties they are due. It appears to be a UK operation, but you can imagine, this must happen worldwide.

The obvious example here is tv shows, but it applies to any kind of royalties. Books, for example. Lending libraries are one of the income sources. All the kinds of things you never really think about.

What they wanted was a (replacement) system to do the administration for them.

So, that was March. Signing was imminent. And now it is July, and… still imminent! I’ve been in limbo, brought on board to work on this specific project, which couldn’t start until they put pen to paper.

Sure, I’ve ticked over. I’ve used the time to increase my knowledge. Getting to know the kinds of technologies that we’ll probably use. But I haven’t really been productive. And, what if they don’t sign? That’s become less likely over time, but until they actually made the committment… What did my future look like if it fell through?

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to. And relievedly, they signed yesterday.

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Published by Mister Bump UK

Divorced, grown/flown daughter. In life, I designed IT systems, taking a career break as a bicycle mechanic, until interrupted by a stroke in 2016, aged 48. As I convalesced, I combined the development of health-related apps with voluntary work, and began writing. After a stint working again in IT, I now write full-time, and use my blog space to let my hair down.

19 comments

  4. Very glad that they signed. I’ve been in that position as a consultant and it’s not fun being unproductive; especially if the project is interesting. I hope you have great fortune with this.

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