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Sometimes it feels like the managers have to flex just to show that they’re not losing control. We had an extra project to do during lockdown on Covid modeling

Sometimes it feels like the managers have to flex just to show that they’re not losing control. We had an extra project to do during lockdown on Covid modeling, on top of everything else, as if we weren’t tired enough.

loopz 6y ago
Let them do the work then!
CraigJPerry 6y ago
Chapter 2 of “The Clean Coder” is about 4 minutes read and is the best answer i know of to this common dilemma.
cube00 6y ago
Too many companies are using Covid as excuse to do what they've always wanted to do and not get scrutinised for it. I'll bet your company won't stop running some kind of extra project or workload even after all this is over, it'll just become the new normal. For us, we're on "50%" across two projects (some on "33%" across three projects) which all have full time loads, expectations and deadlines.
- Viliam1234 6y ago
  > For us, we're on "50%" across two projects (some on "33%" across three projects) which all have full time loads, expectations and deadlines. This. Not only the number of developers on our project was halved, but also all who remained are now expected to work 50% on another project. Sometimes the other project is a small one, but it still distracts a lot to have two Jiras to follow, two daily standups, two sets of planning meetings, etc. Twice the number of managers, but half of teammates. Agile be praised! Seems to me that a frequent reason to start new projects is a change in management. Essentially, a new manager gets more credit for starting a new project than for maintaining the old one. So a new project is started, even if it does more or less the same thing as the old one. But the old project also must be maintained, because it is necessary to keep the company running, and it will take a few months, maybe years, until the new project can reliably replace its entire functionality. Plus there is the third project, because you sometimes also need to actually create something new. Many decisions in corporations start making sense when you ask yourself "how would this be described on my manager's CV". Then you realize that the actually useful work would sound completely boring. But those things that drive you crazy, the change for change's sake, they usually can be described as "brave technological leadership" or whatever are the right buzzwords. And this is once-in-a-lifetime chance to get the "brave technological leadership in the middle of COVID-19 pandemic" achievement, so everyone runs like crazy to grab it. Most of us already recognize it when developers try to do something in order to boost their CVs. "Let's (re)write this in the Newest Framework, preferably also in the Newest Programming language! There is no business reason to do that, and maybe the newest technologies are still full of bugs and miss many important features, but hey, a year or two later when the technology matures enough and the market is full of well-paying jobs, I will be the one who has a year or two of experience in my CV." The secret is, successful IT managers have been already playing this game for a long time.

loopz 6y ago

Let them do the work then!

CraigJPerry 6y ago

Chapter 2 of “The Clean Coder” is about 4 minutes read and is the best answer i know of to this common dilemma.

cube00 6y ago

Too many companies are using Covid as excuse to do what they've always wanted to do and not get scrutinised for it. I'll bet your company won't stop running some kind of extra project or workload even after all this is over, it'll just become the new normal. For us, we're on "50%" across two projects (some on "33%" across three projects) which all have full time loads, expectations and deadlines.

Viliam1234 6y ago
> For us, we're on "50%" across two projects (some on "33%" across three projects) which all have full time loads, expectations and deadlines. This. Not only the number of developers on our project was halved, but also all who remained are now expected to work 50% on another project. Sometimes the other project is a small one, but it still distracts a lot to have two Jiras to follow, two daily standups, two sets of planning meetings, etc. Twice the number of managers, but half of teammates. Agile be praised! Seems to me that a frequent reason to start new projects is a change in management. Essentially, a new manager gets more credit for starting a new project than for maintaining the old one. So a new project is started, even if it does more or less the same thing as the old one. But the old project also must be maintained, because it is necessary to keep the company running, and it will take a few months, maybe years, until the new project can reliably replace its entire functionality. Plus there is the third project, because you sometimes also need to actually create something new. Many decisions in corporations start making sense when you ask yourself "how would this be described on my manager's CV". Then you realize that the actually useful work would sound completely boring. But those things that drive you crazy, the change for change's sake, they usually can be described as "brave technological leadership" or whatever are the right buzzwords. And this is once-in-a-lifetime chance to get the "brave technological leadership in the middle of COVID-19 pandemic" achievement, so everyone runs like crazy to grab it. Most of us already recognize it when developers try to do something in order to boost their CVs. "Let's (re)write this in the Newest Framework, preferably also in the Newest Programming language! There is no business reason to do that, and maybe the newest technologies are still full of bugs and miss many important features, but hey, a year or two later when the technology matures enough and the market is full of well-paying jobs, I will be the one who has a year or two of experience in my CV." The secret is, successful IT managers have been already playing this game for a long time.