Kada sam postao menadžer projekata u prevodilačkoj agenciji imao sam 40 godina i 15 godina staža u dnevnim novinama kao korektor, kolumnista o jeziku, sportski novinar i izveštač. Kao sportski novinar radio sam najduže za magazin koji organizuju srpski košarkaški treneri. Nisam ni sanjao da će mi ono što sam tamo čitao pomoći u novom životu (da ne ispadne da se samo posao promenio). Veoma brzo našao sam se u vrtlogu projekta s više od 20 prevodilaca i klijentom koji se držao na distanci. No to je bio samo početak, shvatio sam brzo da mi ideje vrhunskih košarkaških trenera mogu pomoći da se snađem. Ovde ću izdvojiti tri najvažnije po mome mišljenju.
Trener je sluga tima – Greg Popovič
Sentenca trenera s najviše pobeda u istoriji NBA lakonski je jasna. S njom na umu, znao sam da nijedno objašnjenje ne sme da izostane, da moram biti spreman na svaku vrstu angažovanja oko tima s kojim radim, da im se mora omogućiti da razumeju zadatak da bi mogli da ga urade kako valja. Makar to značilo i odgovaranje na pitanja koja su daleko od bitnih i dugačak razgovor o situaciji u njihovom životu dok Thunderbird daje znak da stižu novi zahtevi.
Tim nastaje kada igrač vidi da je saigrač pogrešio, čak i iz sebičnih razloga, ali odluči da sam ispravi tu grešku bez kritike, kao da je njegova – Duško Vujošević
Ova izjava Duška Vujoševića ima nastavak po kojem je pamte navijači (Tada se pali mašina), ali je prvi deo ono što nosi životnu važnost. Ne može se sarađivati s onim ko je iznad svih i ne poštuje svoje kolege. Za pravi uspeh tima na nekom projektu potrebni su požrtvovanje i poverenje, i to ono istinsko, ne samo dok smo obavezni da se dopisujemo ili se čujemo putem telefona. Ovo recimo znači u praktičnom smislu da jedan redaktor treba svoj deo posla da uradi poptuno posvećeno, čak iako je prevodilac grešio više nego što redaktor misli da je prirodno. Same ispravke reći će svima sve, više nego protesti, a projekat neće izgubiti na kvalitetu.
Autoritet se stiče tako što kada te igrači pogledaju u poslednjem minutu uvek imaš odgovor – Željko Obradović
Ovaj kratki triptih završićemo rečenicom najboljeg trenera svih vremena u FIBA košarci, koji je veliki uticaj imao i na NBA trenere. Iz ove izjave sam izvukao da se mora posvetiti pažnja koncentraciji i da se mora stalno učiti. Može se desiti da nove tehnologije unesu nemir kod prevodioca ili da banalni problem s internetom dovede u pitanje poštovanje rokova. Menadžer projekata je tu da smisli kako približiti tehnologiju, kako premostiti tehnički problem i kako smiriti klijenta.
Ovo sam ukratko ja.
Sad vas molim da mi javite u kojoj meri vi na poslu koristite znanje koje stičete prateći svoje vanposlovne strasti?
Studio…
A project manager is a servant
When I took a job as a project manager at a translation agency I was 40 years old. I had 15 years’ experience with a daily newspaper as a proofreader, language columnist, sports journalist and reporter. As a sports journalist, my longest employment had been for a magazine organized by Serbian basketball coaches.
I never dreamt that what I read there would help me in my new life (it was not only the job that had changed). I suddenly found myself in a whirlwind of a project with more than 20 translators and a client who kept their distance. But that was only the beginning; I quickly realized that the ideas of top basketball coaches could help me find my feet. Here are the three most important ones.
The coach is the team’s servant – Greg Popovich
The maxim of the coach with the most wins in NBA history is laconic and clear. With this in mind, I knew that no explanation could be left out, that I had to be ready for any kind of engagement with my team, that it was up to me to help them fully understand the task so they could carry it out properly, even if this meant answering questions that were far from essential and having long conversations about their lives while Thunderbird pinged with new demands coming in.
A team is formed when a player sees that a teammate has made a mistake, even for selfish reasons, but decides to correct that mistake himself without criticism, as if it were his own – Dusko Vujošević
This statement by Duško Vujošević has a follow-up that fans remember (That’s when the machine starts up), but it’s the first part that is vitally important. You can’t collaborate with someone who is above the others and doesn’t respect colleagues. For a team to truly succeed on a project, it needs sacrifice and genuine trust, not just the kind you have when you have to write mails or speak on the phone. In practice this means an editor has to do his job with complete dedication, even if the translator has made more mistakes than the editor thinks is normal. The corrections themselves will say it all, more than protests ever could, and the project will not lose quality.
Authority is earned when, at the last minute, you always have an answer – Željko Obradović
We’ll conclude this short triptych with a quote from the greatest coach in the history of FIBA basketball, who also had a great influence on NBA coaches. What I’ve taken away from this statement is that you have to concentrate and constantly learn. New technologies can make a translator uneasy, or a trivial internet problem can threaten deadlines. The project manager is there to figure out how to bring the technology closer, how to bridge the technical gap, how to reassure the client.
This is me in a nutshell.
Now, please let me know: how much do you use in your work the knowledge you get by pursuing your passions outside of work?
Back to the studio…
Credit: Petar Milošević under creative commons license