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Archive of Your Stories - Page 2 Index of Stories on This Page:
Mad Management at Newlon Re: Managers that panic Re: Managers that panic How not to set deadlines What happens when sales guys set project deadlines The Stories:
Mad Management at Newlon I work for a company whose management is utterly shameful and I donīt know what to do. My immediate boss is truly nasty and then sneaks to the boss above stories that are just not true. I am reminded of the camps in Germany under the third reich as the threats and especially the tone worry me. I have an ulcer and recently other health threats have become a worry. a frightened rabbit Somewhere in Europe, England Tue Mar 12 11:40:07 EST 2002 Re: Managers that panic Is it possible to resist the pressure and nevertheless do the things properly? It´s necessary! Anonymous Tue Mar 19 07:44:37 EST 2002 Re: Managers that panic I know of one manager who was in charge of a particularly high-pressure project. The remit was to produce an entire website for the customer inside of a month. Luckily (for me) I wasnīt directly involved - I was just helping them put their software process in place. Whenever I was around, the manager had a very sheepish expression (which surprised me, as I was there to help, not to judge him). Various suggestions such as "reduce the scope" or "extend the deadline" were instantly rejected, and in fact revealed the shocking truth: this guy was terrified of the customer. Itīs difficult to make people see sense when they are genuinely scared! Matt Stephens London, UK Tue Mar 19 09:10:11 EST 2002 How not to set deadlines The company was launching a new service that required a completely new web site with sophisticated database support. Marketing selected a good date for the launch party, sent out invitations to 200 industry figures and politicians etc, and only then told the development group what was required. The deadline had already been fixed because of the launch party, without any consideration of the development requirements. Needless to say, the deadline was hopelessly inadequate. We did get a basic service working in time, with a great deal of stress, but I took the young development manager aside and explained how to say No to marketing. To his credit, he insisted on better planning for future projects. J Developer UK Fri Mar 22 08:25:44 EST 2002 What happens when sales guys set project deadlines Two senior sales guys had landed a big contract with a client. They came to the development group and asked how long it would take us to do such and such simple task. About two weeks, we replied, and so the saga started. The sales guys refused to let developers talk to the client, on the grounds that they were perfectly able to communicate back and forth. We started developing the simple tool the sales guys had specified, accepting their claims that there was no need for documented requirements. We kept releasing versions and getting back requests, via the sales guys, for more and more features. This went on for three months before we finally got the complete specification and finished the simple "2-week" job. After this the company adopted a policy of not letting sales guy get involved in any project planning, regardless of how important the contract was. J Developer UK Fri Mar 22 08:35:03 EST 2002 Page 1 (earliest) Page 2 << Back to the Forum (Latest Stories) |
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