Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Single Digits
Counting the days ....... My last day of work here in Winnipeg is in 9 days. Not 9 working days, 9 calendar days, woohoo! My motivation is waning as I try to clean a few things up, back off the level of support to one group that has started relying on my too heavily, and transition a project to a new project manager. The catch, I still don't know who this other project manager is, so in 9 days the project will just sit on the floor for a while, then start to move a little while someone new tries to get up to speed, and finally get moving again. They will have to go through getting a contract together and paying my company if they want real support from me on it from afar. Me thinks they need to get on the ball and assign someone the project if they want any of my time to transition. No real vesting in the project for me once I leave, it either completes or it doesn't, thus is the life of a contractor at the end of his contract.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Endless Cycle of Enabling
Oh dear readers, I try to find happy subjects to write about, but alas, my mind needs to be cleared, and this is a good method for me to spew this out so I can move on.
For the last four to five weeks I have been performing an experiment at work, aside from my normal duties and assignments. Let me set the stage by saying that for a company to succeed in the satellite business it needs to be process driven, and the processes need to be established such that they work and can be trusted. For example, a process here is that when hardware arrives from wherever it needs to come from, it has to go through the inspection team before it is officially received and placed in stock to then be issued out for use. This, among other things, ensures we can trace the heritage of the hardware all the way back from piece parts to sub assemblies to full on systems.
So, on to my experiment. A variety of items I need for my project have been shipped from the suppliers and sub-contractors and are waiting for inspection per the above process. I decide to see if the process actually works and go completely hands off. I don't call the inspectors' boss, I don't go down and talk to them, etc. I let the process work. Or, to my dismay, not work. All of these items are still sitting and waiting. The paperwork is there, clean, and ready. The hardware is sitting within view of the inspectors and where they do all their inspections. But at least one item has been there for over five weeks now. The process is broken.....period. What it takes to get anything through this process is someone to go tell the inspectors that item 1, 17 and 23 are a priority and get them moved ahead of any others in the queue. But, then, engineer 2 has different priorities and says items 3, 26 and 49 are the priority. Then engineer 3 does the same. Hmmmmmm, no wonder my stuff can't get through.
The same goes for other items of work at this place. The managers of each project have daily standup meetings to assign daily priorities to each person. Yes, you read right, DAILY priorities, the essence of micromanaging in its worst form. So I am managing a project, and the way I manage is to set expectations (here is the schedule, here is what I need you to do, meet the deadline). But, since everyone is working on at least 2 different projects, and the other managers are giving them daily priorities, my stuff falls by the wayside. By micromanaging to this level, the expectations of each team member are lowered, and they are then enabled in an attitude of no one told me I had to do it so I won't. I'd rather see them striving to meet high expectations because they will be held accountable to them. But, alas, the culture of the company does not allow for it.
So, my experiment was a success in that it has laid open a giant flaw in the system, but it has also failed in that my project is behind schedule and I still don't have the hardware in hand. Go figure.
For the last four to five weeks I have been performing an experiment at work, aside from my normal duties and assignments. Let me set the stage by saying that for a company to succeed in the satellite business it needs to be process driven, and the processes need to be established such that they work and can be trusted. For example, a process here is that when hardware arrives from wherever it needs to come from, it has to go through the inspection team before it is officially received and placed in stock to then be issued out for use. This, among other things, ensures we can trace the heritage of the hardware all the way back from piece parts to sub assemblies to full on systems.
So, on to my experiment. A variety of items I need for my project have been shipped from the suppliers and sub-contractors and are waiting for inspection per the above process. I decide to see if the process actually works and go completely hands off. I don't call the inspectors' boss, I don't go down and talk to them, etc. I let the process work. Or, to my dismay, not work. All of these items are still sitting and waiting. The paperwork is there, clean, and ready. The hardware is sitting within view of the inspectors and where they do all their inspections. But at least one item has been there for over five weeks now. The process is broken.....period. What it takes to get anything through this process is someone to go tell the inspectors that item 1, 17 and 23 are a priority and get them moved ahead of any others in the queue. But, then, engineer 2 has different priorities and says items 3, 26 and 49 are the priority. Then engineer 3 does the same. Hmmmmmm, no wonder my stuff can't get through.
The same goes for other items of work at this place. The managers of each project have daily standup meetings to assign daily priorities to each person. Yes, you read right, DAILY priorities, the essence of micromanaging in its worst form. So I am managing a project, and the way I manage is to set expectations (here is the schedule, here is what I need you to do, meet the deadline). But, since everyone is working on at least 2 different projects, and the other managers are giving them daily priorities, my stuff falls by the wayside. By micromanaging to this level, the expectations of each team member are lowered, and they are then enabled in an attitude of no one told me I had to do it so I won't. I'd rather see them striving to meet high expectations because they will be held accountable to them. But, alas, the culture of the company does not allow for it.
So, my experiment was a success in that it has laid open a giant flaw in the system, but it has also failed in that my project is behind schedule and I still don't have the hardware in hand. Go figure.
Monday, August 04, 2014
Time for a Rant
As my dear readers know, I am a very patient person and beyond tolerant, but occasionally one thing or another can set me off, the biggest of which is someone not doing their job well.
Sunday around 12:30 pm, nice day, food stuffs running low in the ole fridgeroonie so I head to my local grocery store that shall remain nameless (rhymes with Schmafeway). I do my thing, fill my cart, and head to checkstand number 1. All good so far. Now as a customer, I expect the person running the checkstand to actually know how to do her job (scan-beep, scan-beep, not so hard).
Then we throw her the curve ball. An item that is on sale (regularly $17.99, now $12.99). Scan-boop, Hmmmmm, that didn't sound right, she hits her cancel button and tries again. Scan-boop. I can see, right there on the screen that it is in the system, has calculated the sale, etc. all good, let's move on. But, noooooooo! Next thing I know she's got the microphone in hand, "Price check on one please." Thank goodness she kept scanning the next items while we waited the 30 seconds or so for dude number 1 to twaddle by. She shows his the item, he twaddles off to aisle 14, at least he is going to the right aisle right away, good sign. This aisle is literally 15 feet away (sorry, 5 meters away, we are in Canada after all). Five minutes later he comes twaddling back, she has finished scanning everything else, he says "twelve-ninety-nine" She puts that in, then can't decide if there is tax on it or not.
Microphone in hand, "Manager to checkstand 1 please." The line has built up behind me and I just stand there with a look of "are you f--ing kidding me?" on my face. a minute later, she wanders off to another checkstand to ask another checker. Once she's back I ask her to please check BEFORE she hits total, to ensure I am not charged twice for the item (since I did see it earlier in the day, but it has been hours since she started, and I am trying to not make her feel too bad.
"Your total is $139.56." She says
I repeat, "Did you check to make sure it is not on their twice?"
Three minutes later she has finally figured out how to scroll up and low and behold, lookie there, the item in question, normal price $17.99, sale price $12.99. But now we've done it, she has to void the item and has already hit total. "Manager to checkstand one please." Oh dear GOD! At this point I am beyond livid at her lack of skills, but I REFUSE to pay for the item twice.
Finally, about 2 minutes later dude number 2 twaddles up, he must be the manager, swipes his card, listens to her long winded explanation of what went wrong, and finally a new total.
Not once did she actually check to see if the item had scanned correctly, she just heard a different tone and dove down the rabbit hole. WOW! If she had taken literally 2 seconds to LOOK at the screen all the rest would have been moot, and I would still be mute on my blog. Food prices in Canada are already so crappy that I truly hate shopping, add ineptitude and I am just done.
Sunday around 12:30 pm, nice day, food stuffs running low in the ole fridgeroonie so I head to my local grocery store that shall remain nameless (rhymes with Schmafeway). I do my thing, fill my cart, and head to checkstand number 1. All good so far. Now as a customer, I expect the person running the checkstand to actually know how to do her job (scan-beep, scan-beep, not so hard).
Then we throw her the curve ball. An item that is on sale (regularly $17.99, now $12.99). Scan-boop, Hmmmmm, that didn't sound right, she hits her cancel button and tries again. Scan-boop. I can see, right there on the screen that it is in the system, has calculated the sale, etc. all good, let's move on. But, noooooooo! Next thing I know she's got the microphone in hand, "Price check on one please." Thank goodness she kept scanning the next items while we waited the 30 seconds or so for dude number 1 to twaddle by. She shows his the item, he twaddles off to aisle 14, at least he is going to the right aisle right away, good sign. This aisle is literally 15 feet away (sorry, 5 meters away, we are in Canada after all). Five minutes later he comes twaddling back, she has finished scanning everything else, he says "twelve-ninety-nine" She puts that in, then can't decide if there is tax on it or not.
Microphone in hand, "Manager to checkstand 1 please." The line has built up behind me and I just stand there with a look of "are you f--ing kidding me?" on my face. a minute later, she wanders off to another checkstand to ask another checker. Once she's back I ask her to please check BEFORE she hits total, to ensure I am not charged twice for the item (since I did see it earlier in the day, but it has been hours since she started, and I am trying to not make her feel too bad.
"Your total is $139.56." She says
I repeat, "Did you check to make sure it is not on their twice?"
Three minutes later she has finally figured out how to scroll up and low and behold, lookie there, the item in question, normal price $17.99, sale price $12.99. But now we've done it, she has to void the item and has already hit total. "Manager to checkstand one please." Oh dear GOD! At this point I am beyond livid at her lack of skills, but I REFUSE to pay for the item twice.
Finally, about 2 minutes later dude number 2 twaddles up, he must be the manager, swipes his card, listens to her long winded explanation of what went wrong, and finally a new total.
Not once did she actually check to see if the item had scanned correctly, she just heard a different tone and dove down the rabbit hole. WOW! If she had taken literally 2 seconds to LOOK at the screen all the rest would have been moot, and I would still be mute on my blog. Food prices in Canada are already so crappy that I truly hate shopping, add ineptitude and I am just done.
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