Passion...

Passion...

today, I witnessed it... and I felt sad that it may not come to fruition. For someone like me, who believes with a passion, it was heartwrenching.

(no lah.. not that kinda love passion... it's passion for life/work/etc)

I have been privy to some vendor presentations, where each group proposed solutions which suited our needs (ie. my company) and each presentation is a full day event mind you.. from 9-5...

and... I have seen some vendor's presentation... and especially so in the case of the chief technical officer or CIO or whatever they're called, essentially, these are the people who live, breath their product. You can see the passion in their eyes, when they present their work, and today, although it's my guess, I witnessed an old man (ok lah, not that old, mebbe nearing 50) presenting what is probably his pride and joy.

His product was quite good, lacking in some areas, but good. However, his delivery was something that still had a lot to improve on. It made his product lacklustre... and seemingly too technical. And yet, it was a good product.

I felt bad that I yawned.. a lot.. and that I lacked the patience to sit through his very thorough explanation. Simply cuz, I lacked the technical know-how. And yet, he should have realised that he was presenting to some IT "know a bit, but not experts" people.

My heart went out to him, when he seemed to realise that our attention was wandering, and we were all doing all we can to hurry things along. He really was trying his best. He seemed almost disappointed that we were not as excited about the product as he was...

AND... these past two weeks, I can see how badly some of the vendors want the project... and how committed they are to it. The efforts they have put into it. Still, I feel bad that we can only select one vendor. I feel also somewhat disappointed that my cute, vendor, the one that I blogged about previously, was in the company that shot itself in the foot. Which means, I will probably never meet him again. That's sad...

but I know, that the people who didn't get the project... they're going have to answer to management about why they failed. and once again, I feel really sad and bad for them.

What is it like, to be really passionate, true and confident about your product? I wonder. I used to love the things I produce, and frankly, I still do. I take a lot of ownership in the things I produce, and I believe that only with passion, can you produce something you can be proud of.

But even then, I know, they could have been better. Something always needs to be improved upon. There're always processes that could have been handled better, presentation that should have been better, content that should have seen more research, and of course, more time so that it could have realised its potential and been better. But more time is for the faint of heart. We stout hearted people work towards deadlines, and within budget.

I wonder if I will ever be like that old man... so proud of the product that he produced. It was like his baby...