3 ms·

I have trouble understanding how a 6 month investigation into anything could yield nothing but a 1 page summary. Something doesn't line up. If what you were doi

I have trouble understanding how a 6 month investigation into anything could yield nothing but a 1 page summary. Something doesn't line up. If what you were doing was actually of value, there would be many more artifacts. If it wasn't, then at some point in those 6 months you should have figured that out.

watwut 9y ago
It sound like he did multiple investigations, each producing one page long summary. A detailed investigation can easily take a month and then you just make summary of why you rejected it - brevity is often advantage.
- falcolas 9y ago
  Yup, pretty much this. There's only so many ways to say "this doesn't fit the business case we want it for". Especially when talking to non-tech managers and executives.
  - solipsism 9y ago
    It's still hard to imagine. At the point where the investigation was scoped ("looks like this is going to take months"), and the risk assessed ("there's a nonzero chance this will yield nothing except a rejection with justification"), did you decide "yes, this is something I choose to work on."? These things don't just sneak up on you, at least not if you are planning and scoping your work ahead of time. If your workplace culture doesn't compel you to do that, you should do it anyway, so you don't get into situations like the one you're in.
    - watwut 9y ago
      I don't get what you want to say or ask. What does not sneak up?
    - falcolas 9y ago
      > did you decide "yes, this is something I choose to work on."? That's the thing about being an employee at a company: the director says "look into FooBarTech", and so you look into FooBarTech. Ultimately, I agreed that the reasoning behind the investigation - all of the investigations - was sound. Our stack is big enough that any serious attempt to swap out low level technologies is going to take a decent amount of time, and the number of people who understand the whole system to the point where they can even attempt such swaps is small. So, no, it didn't sneak up - but it still needed to be done, and I was one of three people who could do them without doubling or tripling the required time. Each time I accurately predicted the output, but executives looking to open up new multi-million dollar sales opportunities or to increase their bargaining positions with Cloud Provider X can't rely on predictions. That said, none of this ameliorates the fact that I effectively have 6 "unproductive" months on my record; that I'm bored to tears of doing work just to throw it away.

watwut 9y ago

It sound like he did multiple investigations, each producing one page long summary. A detailed investigation can easily take a month and then you just make summary of why you rejected it - brevity is often advantage.

falcolas 9y ago
Yup, pretty much this. There's only so many ways to say "this doesn't fit the business case we want it for". Especially when talking to non-tech managers and executives.
- solipsism 9y ago
  It's still hard to imagine. At the point where the investigation was scoped ("looks like this is going to take months"), and the risk assessed ("there's a nonzero chance this will yield nothing except a rejection with justification"), did you decide "yes, this is something I choose to work on."? These things don't just sneak up on you, at least not if you are planning and scoping your work ahead of time. If your workplace culture doesn't compel you to do that, you should do it anyway, so you don't get into situations like the one you're in.
  - watwut 9y ago
    I don't get what you want to say or ask. What does not sneak up?
  - falcolas 9y ago
    > did you decide "yes, this is something I choose to work on."? That's the thing about being an employee at a company: the director says "look into FooBarTech", and so you look into FooBarTech. Ultimately, I agreed that the reasoning behind the investigation - all of the investigations - was sound. Our stack is big enough that any serious attempt to swap out low level technologies is going to take a decent amount of time, and the number of people who understand the whole system to the point where they can even attempt such swaps is small. So, no, it didn't sneak up - but it still needed to be done, and I was one of three people who could do them without doubling or tripling the required time. Each time I accurately predicted the output, but executives looking to open up new multi-million dollar sales opportunities or to increase their bargaining positions with Cloud Provider X can't rely on predictions. That said, none of this ameliorates the fact that I effectively have 6 "unproductive" months on my record; that I'm bored to tears of doing work just to throw it away.