So, it's almost New Year, and all the hype is in the air. It's time to work myself to death. Yeah, I was assigned tons of tasks, all squeezed into 3 to 4 hours the responsible staff members can spare to even think about them. Mistakes can and will happen. Some cost nothing, some cost a small fortune...

One of the tasks I was assigned was to create a magazine ad that with our company's best wishes to our readers and sponsors. The task seemed easy enough, but not when two people are sitting next to you with ever so smart suggestions and you have at least 3 more tasks waiting for you, all to be finished in next, say, 10 milliseconds.

I wrote "Srecna Nova godina" which means "Happy New Year". However, when they looked it over, they found a typo. I had written "Srecna Noga godina", which means "Happy Leg Year". Yeah, it sounded funny when we found it, but it wasn't so funny the next day, when we all found out I forgot to fix it. It was a total disaster. The entire print run was already done, and the only way we could fix it was to rerun. That is exactly what happened, and what cost the company approximately €11,000.

I wasn't really happy. I wasn't happy at all. I was on the verge of nervous breakdown. I was tired and sick of the disorganized way in which we work. Others were not impressed either. I can only imagine the look on our Director's face, when he first heard of the leg situation.

But what's done was done, and no theory about project management, no statistics, no advice could fix the 11k damage I have caused. The fact is, it wasn't really my fault. The QC was poor, and we were all tired.

But still... how would you feel if you just did 2-years-income-worth of damage to your own company?