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The first person who needs to know, and approve, is your manager. Don't blindside them. Managers do not like that, and your manager is definitely going to find

The first person who needs to know, and approve, is your manager. Don't blindside them. Managers do not like that, and your manager is definitely going to find out if anyone else does. After you tell your manager, you won't be in control of what happens next. Consider whether or not you should just keep this to yourself and treat this as a fun learning experience. Perhaps you can gauge their potential reaction by asking, hypothetically, whether or not they think working on automation might be a good idea. I've done something like this before, but with the knowledge of the other people on the team, because we didn't like the manual work we were doing and felt that it was taking time away from other things we needed to do. Hopefully that is the case for your colleagues, or this will not be well received.

bityard 4y ago
So far, this is the only sensible answer I've read here. This is the kind of thing you bring to your manager and let them decide whether it's worth pursuing further. If you frame it as, "hey, I did this thing that I think might solve a problem and here's a demo," it might work out, or it might not. You could get a promotion out of it, or maybe not. If it's a good idea and the company doesn't want to do it, or doesn't recognize you for it, then you don't want to work there in the long term anyway. Some of the comments are basically advising not to rock the boat. Anyone in 2022 who thinks their current computer-related job will not become automated or obsolete at some point in the near or distant future is living in a dream world. Nobody is entitled to a job doing tedious work.
- meetingthrower 4y ago
  Couching it as a "demo" is such a good suggestion! It implies you haven't wasted too much time on it, demonstrates that you are trying to creatively problem solve for the good of the company, and brings your manager in the loop to help promote it or head off any political faux pas. Do THIS! (Quick edit: trying hard to leverage this to get any special credit or $$ or other goodness out of it is a non-starter. You did this with company data probably on company time with company tooling. It's for them - and that's ok! You are demonstrating that you are there for the good of the team on this one. Many points awarded.)
hamburglar 4y ago
Your approach also depends on whether the person whose job you are automating has (or can take on) other duties they can do. If you can present this as “this frees up more of Fred’s time to work on x, y, and z,” this goes down a lot better.
henryhutcheson 4y ago
Sounds like awesome energy and hustle on your part.... If you work somewhere especially good, you will get recognized and rewarded for it. If you work somewhere especially bad you'll somehow get punished for helping. Telling your manager feels like the right first move and will likely help make it the best it can be, but the biggest thing is going to be the culture of your team/company. (p.s. If it doesn't work out and you like working with data...I am hiring https://jobs.lever.co/bateau https://jobs.lever.co/bateau).

bityard 4y ago

So far, this is the only sensible answer I've read here. This is the kind of thing you bring to your manager and let them decide whether it's worth pursuing further. If you frame it as, "hey, I did this thing that I think might solve a problem and here's a demo," it might work out, or it might not. You could get a promotion out of it, or maybe not. If it's a good idea and the company doesn't want to do it, or doesn't recognize you for it, then you don't want to work there in the long term anyway. Some of the comments are basically advising not to rock the boat. Anyone in 2022 who thinks their current computer-related job will not become automated or obsolete at some point in the near or distant future is living in a dream world. Nobody is entitled to a job doing tedious work.

meetingthrower 4y ago
Couching it as a "demo" is such a good suggestion! It implies you haven't wasted too much time on it, demonstrates that you are trying to creatively problem solve for the good of the company, and brings your manager in the loop to help promote it or head off any political faux pas. Do THIS! (Quick edit: trying hard to leverage this to get any special credit or $$ or other goodness out of it is a non-starter. You did this with company data probably on company time with company tooling. It's for them - and that's ok! You are demonstrating that you are there for the good of the team on this one. Many points awarded.)

hamburglar 4y ago

Your approach also depends on whether the person whose job you are automating has (or can take on) other duties they can do. If you can present this as “this frees up more of Fred’s time to work on x, y, and z,” this goes down a lot better.

henryhutcheson 4y ago

Sounds like awesome energy and hustle on your part.... If you work somewhere especially good, you will get recognized and rewarded for it. If you work somewhere especially bad you'll somehow get punished for helping. Telling your manager feels like the right first move and will likely help make it the best it can be, but the biggest thing is going to be the culture of your team/company. (p.s. If it doesn't work out and you like working with data...I am hiring https://jobs.lever.co/bateau https://jobs.lever.co/bateau).