Thread: Management

"Naturally I will need more staff if you want me to do this" is a good starting point, plus there is an honourable tradition of scope reduction and slippage... You'll be OK with the 8 weeks I'm sure

Wongo, just ask what they would like to fall off the desk, give them a realistic time line and stick to it. Keep reminding them that you are running on their time line, not on theirs (in writing).

And don't get caught reading the WW forum at work.

Whenever we looked like falling behind, the first thing the pencil necks wanted to do was throw more staff at it. "Let's hire more programmers". Yeah, great idea, and so who is going to bring them up to speed and answer all their questions and check their work? I used to say "one woman can give birth to one baby in 9 months but 9 women cannot do the same thing in 1 month".

Pencil necks

Similar....

http://www.doodie.com/whack.php

back to work Wongo, you have a deadline to meet

The button is new. Try the wall to the left. This is new too.

D

stop yer bleedin' moanin'!!! yer sound like a pack of purse carrying poms.


blah blah blah .... whinge... blah blah blah... moan... blah blah blah.... I only got 8 weeks...boo-hoo....

cry babies!



its a luxury to have a job, not a right! be grateful you've got one...

Hey Wongo,

Sounds like you need to read this book - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/013...Fencoding=UTF8

I found that I was relating to it a little too well

Cheers,
Krunchy

G'day Scott,

Haven't you ever been "McKinsey'd" or "Accenture'd" - makes life a lot of fun, especially as most of these "consultants" haven't ever been in the business at hand, or even have the vaguest clue about the business model at hand.

Sounds like you need to instigate a Friday arvo drinks session.

Besides making people think that the bosses actually give a stuff about them at a personal level, it allows you to lean over and say to the owners/CFO/senior management "So, you're stuffed... how are you going to manage that 8 week deadline that we are going to miss because old mate spanker has his head up his fundamental? Thats going to make you look like a complete tosser/Cost you a packet."

Backdoor, gutter and "old boy" politics - kept my ass out a sling many, many times.

You can do it by the book and put it in writing.... but its easier just to scare the bejesus out of the person with the most to lose.

Originally Posted by silentC

Whenever we looked like falling behind, the first thing the pencil necks wanted to do was throw more staff at it. "Let's hire more programmers".

Oh I thought I was the only one who has heard that line before. It is just so logical isn’t it? 1 person 5 day, 5 people 1 day.

The thing about my boss is she isn’t really a technical person, she is a salesperson. Sometimes she just doesn’t know what she is talking about. Whenever she picks up a clever IT word or technical term, she will remember it and without knowing what it really means she will use it in other conversations. It works for her because she deals with HR people most of the time.

This morning we had our first teleconference with our IT folks in the US and she went “We’ve been telling our clients the app will be ready in 8 weeks and it doesn’t look professional if now we go back and say it can’t be done”. O-boy-a-boy I really felt embarrassed to be on her side. Maybe she shouldn’t have made the promise in the first place. Realistically we will lucky to start coding in 8 weeks and it is a hell of a program which will take a while to complete.

Why do we always go out and make unnecessary empty promises? We do we always create pressure for ourselves?

:mad: :mad: :mad:

Two quotes spring to mind (from the construction world):

"Underpromise, then overdeliver - never the opposite."

"Overconfidence and enthusiasm may impress one's clients, but they will have no effect on the great forces of nature"

Scott,

Clearly management were wasting their time when they sent you to that seminar in Noosa not long ago. You were supposed to develop a can-do attitude there, and to eliminate the sort of negativity you are displaying now. After all, if management, who didn't get where they are today by negativity, say the job can be done in 8 weeks, who are you to be white-anting their professional judgement? Enough of this defeatism; get to work; and, if necessary, stay late at the office for the next few weeks. You don't want to show your incompetence by being unable to fulfil this task on time, do you?

Seriously, I think the best you can do is to try your best in the situation without going too far beyond the call of duty. If your company ends up with egg on its face, hopefully you can avoid the blame.

Rocker