Thirty One Days of Blogging - Day 14

I will resume talking at a high level about my career at Mutual as a BA. I was on the team that handled creating new Life and Annuity Products. Our primary stakeholders were New Business Underwriting and Life Actuarial Area. I was involved in projects from all product lines, but mainly I handled Universal Life Products. I had previously been on the Policyowner Service team, which was a customer for this team. The team was a great fit, and we had quite a bit of fun.

Fast forward to December 2012, a few days before I was going to be off for two weeks. I remember there were only two of us in the office. We were doing peer appraisals, doing some lean training, and trying to keep each other alert. My manager called me to his desk. He told me that the Strategic Project area had requested me for an upcoming project. The project needed a person with Life Insurance knowledge. They were going to build a UI from the Life and Annuity system. I turned a shade of white that wasn’t invented yet because, typically, people didn’t return to the team from projects. I asked him if I could think about it over the weekend.

I said yes because when you are specifically asked for, that is the only correct answer. I never returned to the product team, and it was the best decision I ever made. Working on an internet tool was so different, and I learned so much. That project lasted four years and was successful. Both the original product system and the UI are still in use today. That takes me up to January 2017, which I will finish tomorrow. Until then, please keep your glass at least half full.