8 ms·

I was sitting in yet another meeting the other day and started thinking... We have two of our managers on this call, one of their managers, three of their engi

I was sitting in yet another meeting the other day and started thinking... We have two of our managers on this call, one of their managers, three of their engineers, and me. But I'm only there for some vague technical guidance. I don't even know the system/language they're working in. That's 3 managers for 4 technical people, 1 of which is simply babysitting. So really that's 4 people making sure 3 people do the work right. Everything takes months.

crispyambulance 9y ago
Yup, at one place I worked, I got the epiphany that everything was going straight to hell when I realized during the hazy stupor of an interminable conference call that I was the only non-PM. There were 6 people on the call. I got out of there shortly thereafter.
maxxxxx 9y ago
That's actually a quite good ratio:). When I deal with our IT, it's usually 1 or 2 line managers, 1 business analyst, 1 or 2 project managers and 2 architects. Double this up if two groups are involved. None of them is involved in doing the work. The work goes to India and then if you want to get the work done right you try to schedule night late meetings with the one or two people there and explain everything from scratch. From the outside it looks like they have a rigorous process of estimating, evaluating, writing requirements and stuff but it's almost pure overhead.
- nulagrithom 9y ago
  Ugh, pure overhead, exactly... Apparently someone produces some technical looking but actually vague document every week as a result of these meetings. Some date is thrown out, and _something_ is always deployed by that date, albiet buggy and destined to get rolled back. Eventually, someone figures out that the implementation doesn't actually work at all, and we go back to the weekly meeting with the "new requirements", and repeat until the thing actually works in some semblance of the manner that we need -- or run out of time, scrap it, and move on to more pressing things. Maybe I should try scheduling some late-night meetings with the senior guy... He's sharp as hell, but we never get too technical during the meetings because that would just confuse people.
imroot 9y ago
I've been on projects where between the project managers, technical managers, and other managers... there are 9 people in the room...and I'm the only technical resource -- on the project. Fortunately for me, those projects are few and far between these days, but, earlier on in my career, they were common and frequent.

crispyambulance 9y ago

Yup, at one place I worked, I got the epiphany that everything was going straight to hell when I realized during the hazy stupor of an interminable conference call that I was the only non-PM. There were 6 people on the call. I got out of there shortly thereafter.

maxxxxx 9y ago

That's actually a quite good ratio:). When I deal with our IT, it's usually 1 or 2 line managers, 1 business analyst, 1 or 2 project managers and 2 architects. Double this up if two groups are involved. None of them is involved in doing the work. The work goes to India and then if you want to get the work done right you try to schedule night late meetings with the one or two people there and explain everything from scratch. From the outside it looks like they have a rigorous process of estimating, evaluating, writing requirements and stuff but it's almost pure overhead.

nulagrithom 9y ago
Ugh, pure overhead, exactly... Apparently someone produces some technical looking but actually vague document every week as a result of these meetings. Some date is thrown out, and _something_ is always deployed by that date, albiet buggy and destined to get rolled back. Eventually, someone figures out that the implementation doesn't actually work at all, and we go back to the weekly meeting with the "new requirements", and repeat until the thing actually works in some semblance of the manner that we need -- or run out of time, scrap it, and move on to more pressing things. Maybe I should try scheduling some late-night meetings with the senior guy... He's sharp as hell, but we never get too technical during the meetings because that would just confuse people.

imroot 9y ago

I've been on projects where between the project managers, technical managers, and other managers... there are 9 people in the room...and I'm the only technical resource -- on the project. Fortunately for me, those projects are few and far between these days, but, earlier on in my career, they were common and frequent.