Management wars
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From: Pete Dashwood on 16 Sep 2005 19:08 <docdwarf(a)panix.com> wrote in message news:dgeo3m$566$1(a)reader1.panix.com... > > In article <NKsWe.57045$4i6.12135(a)tornado.tampabay.rr.com>, > jce <defaultuser(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >><docdwarf(a)panix.com> wrote in message >>news:dg97us$km9$1(a)reader1.panix.com... >>> In article <oNUVe.485$jS.483(a)newssvr30.news.prodigy.com>, >>> Michael Mattias <michael.mattias(a)gte.net> wrote: > > [snip] > >>>>And just like being a programmer, the more of the required skills one >>>>has >>>>in >>>>his chosen discipline, the better that person will be at that task. >>> >>> Here I must disagree, having seen too much 'Look, Ma, I'm a Programmer!' >>> code. There are cases where the newbie, who does not know anything >>> else, >>> will generate a solution similar to that of the oldbie, who has seen >>> more >>> of the mistakes and knows to simplify; the journeyman... >>> journeyperson... >>> mid-level skilled folks can, at times, induce unnecessary complexity. >> >>Actually - this is my complaint of the young people now [this is a huge >>generalization utilizing the 80-20 rule]. It's like they've been >>misguided >>into the belief that everything has a standard "pattern". > > ... and don't git me started on what they're callin' 'music', neither!... > buncha durned noise, if ya ask me... mutter mutter mutter... > > ... ahhhhhhh, for the Oldene Dayse! > > [snip] > >>>>Of course the 'value' of judgments will be seen differently by the >>>>manager >>>>and the technical professional.. the technical person's perspective is >>>>limited to the technical, whereas the manager's valuation is made >>>>considering the perspectives of sales, administration, finance, >>>>production >>>>and all the other functional areas of a company's business. >>> >>> ... and completely ignores who is getting the corner office, the company >>> car, the heavy-chested secretary and the bigger budget... and I am the >>> King of England, as well. >> >>Can I be honorary chair of Northern Ireland given that they have a better >>football team? > > We don't know if We would be best serving Our loyal subjects by starting > one off as a full chair... perhaps a period of apprenticeship might be > served as a three-legged milking-stool. > Of course a milking stool only has three legs because the cow has the udder... Pete.
From: James Johnson on 16 Sep 2005 20:59 On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 02:52:09 +1200, "Pete Dashwood" <dashwood(a)enternet.co.nz> wrote: > >OK, here's some thoughts and comments on the thread and, specifically, >points raised by various posters (I haven't named and quoted as I want to >keep this response general...) > >In two weeks time I will be taking on the management of a very large, and >business-critical project for a corporation in Auckland. I believe this may >be the last significant job I do in my career. As such, it has caused me to >pause and reflect on many things. > >In the negotiations for it, I had to contact people who have managed me, >people who have worked with me and people whom I have managed, and there was >required to be a mixture of males and females. They are scattered around >the world and it was quite a job. I have never asked any of these people to >act as referees before, so I had no idea what they might say about me... :-) >They would be contacted by phone, so I had no input or comment on what was >discussed. (Fortunately, they were all very supportive, and positive, but >it made me >think about what I've done right, what I could've done better, and what sort >of approaches are most likely to be effective in the upcoming project.) > >I 'm going to start off with some principles which I believe are important, >and then move to some specific responses made in this thread. Obviously, >because this is a public forum, I am quite happy to comment further, debate, >defend or agree with any comments on the post you care to make. > >I could write a chapter on every one of the principles expressed below, and >these are by no means all the things pertaining to the workplace, which I >have learned over the years. > >The objective is to try and get some essential insights into how things >could be better... > >SECTION 1. > >Here are some principles that are often overlooked, but which I think ANYONE >WHO WORKS FOR A LIVING should consider. This applies at ANY level in the >organisation, and irrespective of whether you are a contractor or permanent >staff. > >1. Do I agree at a personal level with the products of this company, and >consider them useful or, at the very least, not harmful to the populace, or >am I working here simply because I need to make a living, or because it is >handy to home, or whatever...? > (Applying this principle may have saved my life once... I turned down a >very lucrative contract to work on a particular database design, when I >found out the purpose of it. I won't give details here, but it involved the >Shah of Iran's secret police (SAVAK) and when the Ayotollah Khomeini came to >power a few months later, they were the first ones against the wall...) > > If you cannot agree at a fundamental level with the goals and products >of the organisation you are working for, you are never likely to do your >best work, or feel happy in your job. > Set aside the organisational goal of 'profit' when you consider this; >everyone you will work for has to make a profit or they can't employ you. >Don't consider profit to be a shallow, bad thing. Profit to the exclusion of >all else, is a bad thing. > >2. How will working here improve my personal growth? I need to grow my >career and I need to grow as a person. A good job can help both of these >areas. > > When I look back over the years, I am well aware that the employee and >the person I was 20 years ago, 30 years ago, is considerably different from >the person and employee I am today. > >Challenges help us grow. > >Both professionally and personally. If you have a manager who is 'on your >case' >and makes life difficult, consider your options. You could quit or get moved >to another department, but what happens when the next guy is just as bad? At >some stage you are going to need to deal with 'bad' management. I have >quite a bit to offer on this, so I can't really post it all here. Here are >some very quick, basic rules: > > 1. Never lose your temper in the workplace. If you feel anger rising, >walk away. Calm down, then try again. > 2. Raise issues privately with the person concerned, never in public. > 3. Don't engage in petty wars (a devastating nuclear attack is OK as >long as it is decisive and over quickly :-)). > 4. Listen to what is being said and what isn't being said. Think about >it before you act. > > If you are in a job where your manager is making your life a misery, >contact me privately and I'll try and help. IT (particularly, but business >in general) will cause conflict. How you deal with it is entirely within >your own power, even if, organisationally, you have none... > >3. Set yourself daily personal goals. What do I intend to achieve today? >Don't go home until you do them, or are satisfied that they are totally >outside >your power to do (dependency on others who are not present, for example). >If you do this, it makes you feel good when you achieve them, and >consequently makes going to work a more enjoyable experience. > >4. If you get up in the morning and dread going to work, try and isolate why >you feel that way, decide if there is anything you can do about it. (If you >really can't, and all attempts at discussion have failed, consider other >employment. No one >should be 'sentenced' to a working life of misery and >unhappiness...Besides, you'll just drag others down around you... :-)) > >5. Decide that you will do the very best you are capable of. It isn't about >rewards or status, or acknowledgement (although all of these are nice to >have); it is about applying your skill as a professional, to the best of >your ability. Knowing you gave it your best shot, no matter what anyone else >may think. This is the secret of job satisfaction; recognising that you did >something as well as you know how, even though it may never be recognised by >anyone else. Take responsibility for what you do. (Except when the Nuremburg >rule applies.... see below). > >6. Seek to extend your knowledge. Learn from yourself and others (to this >day, every time I write program code and it goes live, I review it - trying >to look at it as if I had never seen it before - and look at how I might >have improved it. Seek to make every program you write better than the last >one) and share what you know with them. Don't ever believe there is only one >right way, and accept the right of others to reject your advice. > >7. Separate work from person. If someone is critical of your work, or >doesn't take your advice, don't take it personally. You are no less of a >person because someone didn't like something you did. > >SECTION 2 > >Here are some principles that I think ANYONE WHO MANAGES PEOPLE should >consider: > >1. The most valuable asset that any company has, is the people who work for >it. Without them, there is no company. Now, some of them are more valuable >(to the company - not as people; everyone has value as people...) than >others :-), but it should be the function of management to extend the very >capable ones and to grow the less valuable ones. The company should invest >in its people. That means delivering promised training, encouraging people >to do extra curricular studies, and generally supporting and helping people >who are trying to improve their skill base, and/or their personal growth. > >2. Don't play favorites. (That doesn't mean "Treat them all with the same >contempt", either... :-)) > >3. Show respect and courtesy, if you would like to have it returned. > >4. Show loyalty and support to your people if you would like that returned >also. > >5. Communicate. When there are problems examine them openly and encourage >contributions from all. ('Communication' does not mean wasting everybody's >time with pointless talkfests or regularly scheduled meetings, so you can be >seen to be 'communicating'. Agree with the team when there is a need to >discuss something, and allow brainstorming and discussion for a fixed >period. >Meetings should have a pre-circulated agenda and (unlike some newsgroups >:-)) >should not be allowed to stray off topic. > >6. Do not be a 'control freak' requiring every minute of people's time to be >accounted for. Instead, set them clear, attainable, goals (rather than >tasks; a subtle but >vital difference) and help them to achieve the goals you have set. Clock >watching doesn't achieve anything except a prison camp mentality. Sometimes >people need to be 'off-site' (for reasonable periods... not hours at a time >unless by prior arrangement) to attend to personal business. As long as >goals are achieved, this should not be problematic. Courtesy requires that >absences are notified to somebody, so that everyone is accounted for. > >7. Assume your people are responsible, trustworthy, adults and treat them >accordingly. If they fail at this, deal with it. Do not penalise the group >because >one person is inadequate. > >8. 'Teambuilding' is an important management function and should not be >overlooked. If the company won't pay for pizza or a night out, do it >yourself. > >9. Never ask anyone to do things you wouldn't do, and never do things that >they are not allowed to do. > >10. Look for growth opportunities amongst your staff and make sure that each >individual knows >where they're going and is happy to be going there. > >11. Give credit to people when they deserve it. Never allow anyone to take >credit for someone else's work or ideas, and don't ever present someone >else's work or ideas as your own. > >12. Encourage people to come clean when they screw up. Foster a 'blame free' >culture. (This is predicated on everyone doing their best, as mentioned >elsewhere). Help them to recover. If you don't do this, you will foster an >environment where imagination is stifled and risks will not be taken. People >will work to the 'letter of the law' or policy, or spec. and never question >or think about it. While policies and specs. may be necessary, they need to >be understood, rather than followed by rote. And everybody needs to >recognise that the need to deliver a quality product, transcends a policy >written by someone some years ago, who was not privy to the current >situation, and could not have foreseen it. (If you authorise departure from >policy, make sure your manager knows what you are doing and understands why >it is necessary.) > >13. Once you are confident that your team are responsible professionals, >delegate to them. Set the higher level goals and let them work out the lower >level ones. (provide input when needed, and monitor the deliverables.) Don't >'interfere' (unless you see a major problem with what they are doing), just >encourage and support them. > >14. Minimise admin., paperwork and reporting. I like a weekly set of >oneliners under the headings: THIS WEEK (which goals were achieved and >deliverables are available), NEXT WEEK (what is planned for >delivery next week), and PROBLEMS. This last will usually say 'none' but >where they need help from me to get something approved or moved, or need >expert help, or people from the Business, or whatever, it will be stated >there. The manager's role is to facilitate and support; it isn't all about >control. > >Here are some principles that I think ANYONE WHO IS BEING MANAGED should >consider... > >SECTION 3. > >(the pronouns 'him', 'he', and 'his' in the following, are intended to >represent 'Man' as Humankind, and not the masculine gender. Please read >'him/her', 'he/she' and 'his/her' if you are sensitive to such issues...) > >1. Don't be judgemental about your manager. Treat him the way you would like >to be treated if you were doing his job. One day, you may be...(even if you >currently have no plans to... Fate (or maybe just the random nature of the >universe) has a way of landing us in situations we cannot always predict.) > >2. Accept that your manager is not infallible, but grant him the right to >manage. If you seriously disagree with policies he is laying down, tell him >in private, explain why you think it is wrong, and suggest an alternative. >(See point 4 below). DON'T feel aggrieved if he doesn't take your advice. > >3. Understand that he is being measured just as you are, and he may have >more to lose than you do... > >4. Don't do things you know to be stupid. It conflicts with doing the best >you know how, and is unprofessional. I call this the 'Nuremburg' rule... If >he insists you do it, ask him politely for an email or memo requesting it, >and make it clear that, while you will do it because you have been told to, >you will take no responsibility for the outcome. File the paper and keep it. >Don't be afraid to do this. You have a right to protect your own integrity. >You may find that even though your manager doesn't like your resistance, he >will at least respect you for being up front... > >5. Never brown nose your manager and never do things just to buy him off. >Both of these actions will lead to loss of respect and a bad outcome for all >concerned. > >6. Do not denigrate your colleagues or your manager to anyone. Don't say >anything about anyone who is not present, that you would not be prepared to >say if they were present. Gossip is unprofessional, and best left to people >who have sad, empty, lives. > >There is much more, but this post is already long enough... > >I'll deal with specific responses in a separate post. > >Pete. > > Some things not mentioned is that sometimes managers are "bad" because their bosses force them to be the way they are. The level of management incompetence may start fairly high up and be forced downward. I once worked for an electric utility (on the Fortune 500 list) and found myself transferred to an IT group at corporate headquarters whose management team in general violated almost every item in Section 2 on a regular basis. Not surprisingly, the turnover among programmers was on the order of 60% a year and this was the group that did the coding for accts payable, accts receivables, billing, finance, service order. In other words the core functions for the corporation. Management's whole take on the situation was "There's something wrong with our programmers, they all keep quitting." The senior corporate leaders and board were pretty foolish themselves. The proposed a merger with a neighboring utility. Since that utility had a newer data center it was decided that would be the data center for the combined companies. Before the merger even happened they closed down our data center and moved all functions to the other utility's data center. Since many of the staff were unwilling to commute across 2 large cities to get to their jobs, and staffing was to be reduced after the merger anyway, about 1/2 of the staff quit after the move. Then the merger couldn't gain regulatory approval. The data centers had to be split, new mainframes and support equipment etc purchased and installed at the tune of 400 million in "unanticipated costs". Since this occurred when the industry was being deregulated the entire corporate billing and financial IS system also needed a complete rewrite ASAP. I was drafted from one of the power stations and told you are now a COBOL programmer, we'll tell you when you get your life back (we were all salaried, not hourly). I stayed for 18 months, through 5 work leaders, 3 supervisors, and 4 directors. The only reason I stayed for so long is that I had 10 years with the corporation and didn't want to give up my pension. Of the 13 of us who were pulled from various parts of the corporation to fill the vacancies, I was the 11th to leave. The VP of IT was the soul mate to Dilbert's boss. We had bumper stickers made up that said "Dilbert, it's not a cartoon. It's a documentary." His decisions and policies drove everyone below him half insane and set the management tone. What surprised me at the time, this was pre Enron/WorldCom scandal, was why the board let such a dysfunctional management team in place for many years. It was only when record fines and record low stock prices continued did the board kick the CEO and his cronies out 4 years later. JJ James Johnson remove the "dot" from after sail in email address to reply
From: on 17 Sep 2005 07:25 In article <3p04h4F82qb5U1(a)individual.net>, Pete Dashwood <dashwood(a)enternet.co.nz> wrote: [snip] >In the negotiations for it, I had to contact people who have managed me, >people who have worked with me and people whom I have managed, and there was >required to be a mixture of males and females. They are scattered around >the world and it was quite a job. Quite a job, indeed... I'm usually lucky if the folks on my contract-before-last are still at the desks at which I last saw them; I'd have no idea how to get in touch with folks. [snip] >(Fortunately, they were all very supportive, and positive, but >it made me >think about what I've done right, what I could've done better, and what sort >of approaches are most likely to be effective in the upcoming project.) Fortunately they were all still available! [snip] >1. Do I agree at a personal level with the products of this company, and >consider them useful or, at the very least, not harmful to the populace, or >am I working here simply because I need to make a living, or because it is >handy to home, or whatever...? A variation of Google's 'Don't Be Evil', aye. [snip] >Profit to the exclusion of >all else, is a bad thing. Excluding profit, however, can lead to eviction and living on the streets in a cardboard box... balance in all things, aye. >2. How will working here improve my personal growth? It will keep me from living in a cardboard box... after that comes schooling. [snip] >If you have a manager who is 'on your >case' >and makes life difficult, consider your options. You could quit or get moved >to another department, but what happens when the next guy is just as bad? At >some stage you are going to need to deal with 'bad' management. Try combining Schiller's 'Against stupidity the very gods contend in vain' with Ellison's 'After hydrogen, stupidity is the most common element in the universe.' It's out there, one deals with it and if the concentration in a particular area exceeds tolerable levels one changes location. [snip] > 1. Never lose your temper in the workplace. If you feel anger rising, >walk away. Calm down, then try again. After I mustered out of the military I promised myself, among other things, that unless it is an emergency I will not raise my voice. I've extended this to not allowing others to raise their voices to me, as well; when such a thing happens I respond 'Sir/Ma'am, there is no need to raise your voice to me'... and if the volume does not decrease *then* I walk off. > 2. Raise issues privately with the person concerned, never in public. This is contrary to the Standard Management Strategy of 'castigate in public, apologise in private'... which I have responded to with 'Please make sure to tell me this when there are as many folks around as originally.' (note - I'm usually known as being the quietest, most polite person around on a given site... so when others see someone getting 'bent out of shape' towards me it usually reflects badly on the one getting bent, eg, 'Didja see that? She was shouting at *him*, he's always quiet and calm... what's wrong with her?' > 3. Don't engage in petty wars (a devastating nuclear attack is OK as >long as it is decisive and over quickly :-)). Petty is in the mind of the beholder... keep in mind the dictum about the visciousness of academic politics. > 4. Listen to what is being said and what isn't being said. Think about >it before you act. > > If you are in a job where your manager is making your life a misery, >contact me privately and I'll try and help. IT (particularly, but business >in general) will cause conflict. How you deal with it is entirely within >your own power, even if, organisationally, you have none... Conflict can result in Very Good Things... set a flint against a steel and the gift of Prometheus results. As Heraclitus put it, 'They do not understand, that which is pulling against itsself is held together; such is the harmony of the bow and the lyre.' > >3. Set yourself daily personal goals. What do I intend to achieve today? If nothing else, eight hours towards a paycheck... anything beyond that is gravy. [snip] >4. If you get up in the morning and dread going to work, try and isolate why >you feel that way, decide if there is anything you can do about it. (If you >really can't, and all attempts at discussion have failed, consider other >employment. No one >should be 'sentenced' to a working life of misery and >unhappiness...Besides, you'll just drag others down around you... :-)) Those who have chosen their parents unwisely, thereby not being born into independent wealth or a great inheritance, run the risk of not liking their jobs... or there are folks out there who get up and say 'Oh boy, another eight hours at the fertiliser-plant shoveling manure... aren't I *lucky*?' I, personally, am fortunate... the more I say 'I'm having Fun!' the more others look at me, slightly concerned, and say 'But... you're doing Good Work'; in the USA baseball is the National Passtime and complaining about your job comes in second. When I got my first suit-wearing job lo, those many years ago, my co-workers were proud to announce how miserable they were. They cited a common example, I'll call him Kneeburt, and would say 'Remember Kneeburt? He'd always say 'Now keep in mind... this should be *fun*!' (pause) Kneeburt isn't here any more.' I recall relating this to my Respected Father as a sign of what it takes to get ahead in the world and he said 'Not really... think about it. These are small circles you work in, if Kneeburt went on to something worse don't you think they'd be gloating about it?' Shortly after that I went the independent consulting route. > >5. Decide that you will do the very best you are capable of. It isn't about >rewards or status, or acknowledgement (although all of these are nice to >have); it is about applying your skill as a professional, to the best of >your ability. See above about avoiding eviction... as many other parts of Life seem to be this, too, might be about Balance, in this case balancing delight in work, misery from work-related stuff, personal growth and keeping a roof over one's and one's childrens' heads. [snip] >6. Seek to extend your knowledge. Ow. This might be seen as telling the Russian Wolfhound 'seek to be like the chihuhua' or the Arabian stallion 'seek to be like the Percheron'... different folks appear to have different temperments and some people appear to be quite happy doing the same thing, over and over and over again, in a fashion which would drive others 'around the bend'. [snip] >7. Separate work from person. If someone is critical of your work, or >doesn't take your advice, don't take it personally. You are no less of a >person because someone didn't like something you did. Unless, of course, the criticism is expressed as 'What kind of idiot would write code like this?' (ans: 'One idiot pretends to be able to write code... someone else believed, hired him and has kept him on salary for (time); who is the greater idiot?') > >SECTION 2 > >Here are some principles that I think ANYONE WHO MANAGES PEOPLE should >consider: > >1. The most valuable asset that any company has, is the people who work for >it. This is not, in my experience, evidenced by the treatment given them. I've turned down contracts because of this... the conversations have gone like this: Pimp: 'They just called, you aced the interview and they want you to start tomorrow. Congratulations!' Me: 'They liked me? That's nice... I didn't like them, I don't want the job.' Pimp: 'WHAT?' Me: 'Aye.' Pimp: 'HOW COME?' Me: 'They could not tell me where I would be sitting.' Pimp: 'WHAT?!?' Me: 'Simple... I end every interview with a question of 'could I see where I'd be sitting? I like to get a sense of where I'll be spending my working hours'... and they didn't know. Now... they're going to be paying a lot of money for my work. If the manager said 'I want to spend US$200,000 for a color printer - a one-time cost that's readily depreciable - one of the questions asked would be 'where are we going to put it?' They show that kind of concern for machines but not humans... sorry, I don't want the job.' >The company should invest >in its people. That means delivering promised training, encouraging people >to do extra curricular studies, and generally supporting and helping people >who are trying to improve their skill base, and/or their personal growth. This has been discussed, at length, and bears no repeating at this time. The contrary stand is that if you train your people they get more skills, if they get more skills they think they are more valuable, if they think they are more valuable they'll want more money... and that means that you not only have to train them but you have to pay them more lest another firm hire them away. DD
From: on 17 Sep 2005 07:35 In article <6domi1dfgpg03lqidigih15529op2qomk5(a)4ax.com>, James Johnson <saildot.maryland(a)verizon.net> wrote: [snip] >Some things not mentioned is that sometimes managers are "bad" because their >bosses force them to be the way they are. The level of management incompetence >may start fairly high up and be forced downward. 'A fish rots from the head'. > >I once worked for an electric utility (on the Fortune 500 list) and found myself >transferred to an IT group at corporate headquarters whose management team in >general violated almost every item in Section 2 on a regular basis. Not >surprisingly, the turnover among programmers was on the order of 60% a year and >this was the group that did the coding for accts payable, accts receivables, >billing, finance, service order. In other words the core functions for the >corporation. Management's whole take on the situation was "There's something >wrong with our programmers, they all keep quitting." Just like many other groups... managers tend to support themselves over others. [snip] >The VP of IT was the soul mate to Dilbert's boss. We had bumper stickers made >up that said "Dilbert, it's not a cartoon. It's a documentary." Art imitates Life imitates Art imitates Life. >His decisions >and policies drove everyone below him half insane and set the management tone. See above re/ ichthyological decomposition... and combine this with 'people may tend to surround themselves with others similar to themselves'. DD
From: Pete Dashwood on 18 Sep 2005 07:20
Great post, JJ. Comments below... "James Johnson" <saildot.maryland(a)verizon.net> wrote in message news:6domi1dfgpg03lqidigih15529op2qomk5(a)4ax.com... <snipped long post from me>> >> > Some things not mentioned is that sometimes managers are "bad" because > their > bosses force them to be the way they are. The level of management > incompetence > may start fairly high up and be forced downward. > Yes, it certainly seems that way, sometimes. However, I don't believe that people have to suffer bad management if they take responsibility for what they do. I covered in the original post what you can do about having decisions you know to be bad, forced on you. If everyone is doing what was covered in sections 1 and 3, then stupidity in section 2, tends to stand out. But, better than that, and much more importantly, it becomes isolated and is seen to be the responsibility of the person requiring it. Eventually, the chickens come home to roost and managers get replaced... > I once worked for an electric utility (on the Fortune 500 list) and found > myself > transferred to an IT group at corporate headquarters whose management team > in > general violated almost every item in Section 2 on a regular basis. It must be something about the Power industry...I had a similar experience with a major utility :-) > Not > surprisingly, the turnover among programmers was on the order of 60% a > year and > this was the group that did the coding for accts payable, accts > receivables, > billing, finance, service order. This is where my advice about learning to deal with bad managers comes into play. Sooner or later in our careers we are all exposed to some form of bad management. (Don't blame me... I've spent a whole career trying to eradicate it :-)) Programmers have historically been fairly lucky; because their skills are in demand, they can easily get another job. (We all know this has changed dramatically in the last 15 - 20 years, but it certainly used to be true.) It is therefore tempting to take the line of least resistance ('The Hell with this... I'm outta here...'), rather than stay and deal with the situation (and, hopefully, in the process acquire some experience that assists both personal and professional growth.) When I look back now over bad management I experienced, and my fumbling attempts to handle it, I have to smile. But I got better at it, and when I moved to the other side of the table, I already understood some of the fundamental things NOT to do....(I covered them in Section 2...) In other words the core functions for the > corporation. Management's whole take on the situation was "There's > something > wrong with our programmers, they all keep quitting." > This is not enlightened management... :-) > The senior corporate leaders and board were pretty foolish themselves. It would certainly seem so... That does not inspire confidence ion the remainder fo the organisation. > They > proposed a merger with a neighboring utility. Since that utility had a > newer > data center it was decided that would be the data center for the combined > companies. Before the merger even happened they closed down our data > center and > moved all functions to the other utility's data center. Since many of the > staff > were unwilling to commute across 2 large cities to get to their jobs, and > staffing was to be reduced after the merger anyway, about 1/2 of the staff > quit > after the move. > > Then the merger couldn't gain regulatory approval. This is simply incompetence. (But of quite staggering proportions...) Someone should have got redundancy over this. >The data centers had to be > split, new mainframes and support equipment etc purchased and installed at > the > tune of 400 million in "unanticipated costs". Since this occurred when > the > industry was being deregulated the entire corporate billing and financial > IS > system also needed a complete rewrite ASAP. > No wonder the costs of electricity are so high... > I was drafted from one of the power stations and told you are now a COBOL > programmer, we'll tell you when you get your life back (we were all > salaried, > not hourly). I stayed for 18 months, through 5 work leaders, 3 > supervisors, and > 4 directors. You showed tenacity and courage. Even with the pension motivation. No one should have to suffer this kind fo stuff. It was a sick corporation and this is an instance where it would be necessary to cut your losses and leave. >The only reason I stayed for so long is that I had 10 years with > the corporation and didn't want to give up my pension. Of the 13 of us > who were > pulled from various parts of the corporation to fill the vacancies, I was > the > 11th to leave. > > The VP of IT was the soul mate to Dilbert's boss. We had bumper stickers > made > up that said "Dilbert, it's not a cartoon. It's a documentary." His > decisions > and policies drove everyone below him half insane and set the management > tone. > This really makes me sad. Not because he was so bad, but because he was allowed to go unchecked. (I like the Dilbert stickers... :-)) > What surprised me at the time, this was pre Enron/WorldCom scandal, was > why the > board let such a dysfunctional management team in place for many years. > It was > only when record fines and record low stock prices continued did the board > kick > the CEO and his cronies out 4 years later. Justice prevails...eventually. Thanks for the post; a really good example fo some very bad management. Pete. |