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Phase 0 (Big Corporate IT): PM is given deadline by business, goes through song and dance of negotiating deliverables (without any analysis being performed or
by lusr 15y ago
Phase 0 (Big Corporate IT): PM is given deadline by business, goes through song and dance of negotiating deliverables (without any analysis being performed or developers consulted for estimates), is forced to start work with a small team of internal people outside of the business area not resourced to any projects currently, but who've coded a few lines of VB so can probably do a web application scaling for 5,000 users. PM then hires outside contractors (probably with even less knowledge of the business) to fill in the resourcing gaps as the deadline looms and the demo still doesn't work.
No real objective measurements for project success are defined or put into place, but at least the executives can say they're "embarking on a technology-driven initiative to improve [area of the business they're responsible for]" and so they meet their bonus criteria for the year, and if they've done everything correctly, the executive's contract will end before the project goes red.
If all doesn't go well, well, that's why you have PMs! They're the "responsibility buffer" - the guys you get to blame and fire rather than the actual executive who initiated the project and failed to provide real support and leadership.
- kamaal 15y agoThey're the "responsibility buffer" - the guys you get to blame and fire rather than the actual executive who initiated the project and failed to provide real support and leadership. Sorry I disagree with this. I haven't seen Senior Execs getting fired. In fact its almost always the other way round. The Execs take credit for nearly all success even if they don't move a finger to make it happen. It happens so often Excellence awards and cash rewards go to executives 'for showing leadership and successfully leading team to success'. If things go wrong its always 'Programmers didn't do their job properly so what can one exec do?'
- doktrin 15y agoI think you may have misread the parent. The "responsibility buffer" he was referring to are PMs (Project Managers), who are not senior execs. Edited : PMs, by nature of their (typically) limited skill-set and solidly middle-managerial roles are highly expendable.
- mattmanser 15y agoJust to note, proper PMs are rarely without a job, they're pretty hard to find. A good PM is paid more than a good developer, usually silly money, because true project management is a pretty large skill-set. What you're describing is the enterprise habit of giving a generic middle manager the PM role and expecting them to have all the skills and then firing them when said project implodes.
- brudgers 15y ago"they meet their bonus criteria for the year," Management gets started so quickly to meet their quarterly bonus - not that they don't get an annual one. The quarterly bonus allows them to synchronize the announcement of initiatives with Wall Street.