Taxi picks me up to go to the airport where I join up with the rest of the team to catch our flight to a nearby city in the Middle East.

PREPARE FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Check emails over coffee in the departure lounge, and start updating task lists with the priority action items for the week ahead. Send out lists to project leaders to follow up.

ARRIVE AT THE CLIENT - ACTION TIME

I begin the week by meeting with project leaders one-on-one to get the latest updates on project progress. We go over tasks for the week, divide responsibilities, and strategize over any issues that need resolving. I start analyzing the KPIs for the different work streams to understand the impact of the previous week's work.

1^ST PROJECT WAR ROOM

The War Room is essentially a big meeting, where all key stakeholders responsible for critical areas of a project rollout will go through their updates and outstanding tasks in front of the group. This meeting brings coordination among the various departments (IT, Sales, Marketing, etc.) to ensure a successful project implementation. 

GYM AND A LIGHT DINNER

Return to the hotel in time to work out for a half hour before the gym closes. Then a light dinner with some others from the team usually at the garden buffet from the hotel. There you can enjoy tasty grilled meats and unlimited ice cream for dessert if you have the space. 

DAY TWO

DAY BEGINS 

The day usually begins to brainstorm the layout and content of the slides I have been assigned to create for the week. These slides will typically include project progress updates, results of any analysis conducted, new proposals based on our analysis, and KPI reporting. Slides will be sent to respective managers for comments and approval. 

ATTACK PROJECT TASKS

I will start addressing the project tasks assigned to me. For instance, I will document a new order process for electronic airtime for a specific Partner of the client, and send an email to key stakeholders from Finance and Network to request their input to ensure there is alignment among the departments. Later I will follow up on their response to finalize the process and close the task. 

TEAM LUNCH

There are a couple of hotels nearby that serve a nice "all you can eat" spread. Usually we go in groups by taxi or walk to the few hotels that are nearby. 

MEETING WITH DEVELOPMENT TEAM 

I meet with the development team charged with the task of creating an SMS-enabled system allowing POS outlets to register sales. My job is to ensure the tasks assigned are being accomplished according to plan. 

SALES MONITORING

Compile and analyze the sales over the previous week for all product lines and make a short report to the rest of the team so everyone is briefed on the most recent performance of the client from a pure sales perspective. 

DINNER

Usually we are working late on the 2nd day, so dinner is usually a light meal taken in the room. You can pretty much get a wide range of meals from the hotel's 24-hrs-a-day room service. 

DAY THREE

2ND PROJECT WAR ROOM

Another war room for another project. This one involves the upcoming launch of a new product. In this meeting I take on a passive role. I am the consultant representative from the Sales department, and I help to follow up the sales team members on their assignments and deliverables such as definition of sales targets, product delivery and channel preparation. 

MEETING WITH DISTRIBUTION PARTNER

We have weekly scheduled meetings at this time between the Sales Support Team and our distribution partners for electronic vouchers. In the meeting we discuss system requirements, pending development tasks, new business rules, and deployment and sales progress. 

TEAM LUNCH

Today usually we order-in from one of the many delivery places nearby. It's very convenient and fast. Perfect for a busy day! 

ALTERNATIVE CHANNELS REVAMP

The alternative channel is one of the key sales channels for the client to reach segmented groups in the market. I am meeting with the Channel Manager to revamp the value proposition, the account acquisition process, and I am devising a new commission scheme. We are also working on a reporting structure to improve the client's visibility over the performance of the channel. 

 TEAM DINNER

Since lunch is usually a rush, we try to have Dinner together as a team at one of the many nice restaurants nearby the hotel. We laugh and joke a lot as we try to put a humorous spin on the events of the week.

DAY FOUR

ORDERS REVIEW

I will meet with the Key Account Manager for one of our big distributors to review the orders for the week. There was a major problem with the balance of supply and demand of scratch cards to the trade, resulting in many overstocked and out-of-stock occurrences. We are now using a forecasting tool we developed for the client to bring more consistency to the ordering process and I am assessing its effectiveness since implementation. We will use the results to define and recommend new inventory management policies for the distributors. 

QUICK LUNCH

Today we typically do not go out for lunch since we have to leave the client's office by 16:30 for the airport. Usually we grab a sandwich or snack from the snackbar in the building. 

WRAP-UP WITH THE CLIENT

In the few hours I have left, I will try to make the rounds with all of my contact points in the client to go over the week's achievements, close outstanding issues or tasks, and try to assess the gaps that we need to cover next week. I will also ensure that I have collected all the data I will need in order to prepare any analyses agreed for next week. 

BACK TO DUBAI

We leave the client's office around this time to catch the return flight back to Dubai. Another tough week behind us! 

DAY FIVE

TRAINING

Thursday is when many consultants are back in the office in Dubai and usually there is a training session or two covering new concepts in the telecoms sphere or new frameworks /methodologies for solving problems that clients will typically seek our advice on. 

EMAIL CLEAN-UP

I will typically spend some time cleaning up and organizing my emails from the week. It's a good review of the week's events and I can start to formulate a to-do list for the following week. 

LUNCH WITH COLLEAGUES

During lunch we will catch up with other colleagues who are also returning from other projects around the Mid East and Africa region. 

CLOSE OUTSTANDING SLIDES

In the afternoon I will help the team to close any outstanding presentations to be delivered to the client at the start of the following week. After completing the slides, I will send them to the DTP department to check for consistency and to ensure that it conforms to the Delta Partners format.

DRINKS

A busy week comes to a conclusion chatting with friends over a few drinks. Recently we have been patronizing a new trendy bar and lounge just opened right here in our office building. Can't beat that for convenience!