The Vent and Rant Thread

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by PeterT

If I had to guess... see Now I'm really confused

yes peter has the right thread go ahead and message me if you want more I am still very very confused so yeah

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I'm in the market for an exercise bike. Found the following on this page. Offered without comment.

Okay. One comment. Is our children learning?

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

yes peter has the right thread go ahead and message me if you want more I am still very very confused so yeah

No, no need. I see.

[Dylrob]

You know, the problem with group projects is that if the rest of your group is no show, you are completely ******.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

You know, the problem with group projects is that if the rest of your group is no show, you are completely ******.

Is this for a class? If so, here is my suggestion.

Create a folder and keep tack of group related work on email.

Email your group mates and ask them when they want to meet again, clearly the meeting time was miscommunicated since no one showed up but we need to get together to get this going. Send a list of suggested work break down.

Keep a log of when each meeting was, who attended, when they arrived, what they brought to the group, what they were assigned and what they did. After two failed meetings, you can normally convince a Prof to let you do a solo project because your group is dysfunctional but you need to have good documentation.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

You know, the problem with group projects is that if the rest of your group is no show, you are completely ******.

Welcome to the world of project management!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by wodin

Welcome to the world of project management!

Hell, that's project management at any level.

The problem with it--and I get the downright giggles on this whole new "agile" crap--is that PM is linear. Nobody likes it; nobody wants to do the paperwork, track the tasks/milestones, yadda yadda, but without that linear BS, nothing gets DONE. I had an email this morning about how some magic new PM system was going to combine "waterfall and agile" and if I could have literally picked it up and thrown it out the window, I would have.

Because what that MEANS, really, is that you now have a "message board" that looks like, god-help-me, a FB page of yakkity-yak, from which everyone is supposed to "stay informed," and truth be told, individuals aren't any more damned disciplined about THAT than they are FB...you end up with 20x more emails than you need, because, well...everybody is being AGILE!!!

Nobody loves herding kittens, but if you're going to succeed in PM, hit targets, stay on budget...it's the only way to survive.

Hitch

[wodin]

Agile be damned, you need a PM shop to succeed in PM, we are currently on the cusp of a complete re-org. And the "Plans and Projects" section is being moved to the fully functional "Infrastructure Management Group". We were a "Weak Matrix Organization" (at best), and will now become a "Functional Organization".

My new Supervisor (boss) and Manager (bosses boss) are on record as saying they will throw the PMBOK guide out the window, and everyone will become a SME. I'm too old to be crawling around in manholes!

Wodin
PMP, CISSP, ITIL

[Bilbo1967]

I'm not a PM, but I do consult in test and quality process improvement, having worked in that area for about 25 years. The problem with Agile in my view is that too many people see it as simply a way to ditch any kind of documentation. I believe that Agile can work, so long as people recognise that it's a formal methodology in its own right, not just an excuse to ditch documentation etc.

I've seen both extremes I think. From the bad ("We don't need no documentation or controls, we're agile! "), to the good (" We have appropriate documentation and working practices to ensure that we get the desired end result and make sure we don't repeat the same mistakes over and over again, but not just for the sake of it "). I've even seen places claiming to be Agile where no two members of the project team work in the same office!

As I said, I'm not a PM, but I've been around IT at all levels for a long time and I know BS when I see it!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by wodin

Agile be damned, you need a PM shop to succeed in PM, we are currently on the cusp of a complete re-org. And the "Plans and Projects" section is being moved to the fully functional "Infrastructure Management Group". We were a "Weak Matrix Organization" (at best), and will now become a "Functional Organization".

My new Supervisor (boss) and Manager (bosses boss) are on record as saying they will throw the PMBOK guide out the window, and everyone will become a SME. I'm too old to be crawling around in manholes!

Wodin
PMP, CISSP, ITIL

Man...

I feel for you, brother. The PMBOK has been around for a long time for a REASON. That marketing BS..."Functional Organization" crap, man, that is unobtainium-speak. And the worst part is, some a$$hole probably got paid a boatload of money to sell them on that "idea," whatever the damned end result is. I mean, what: everybody isn't an SME already? Are they going to PAY everyone like they are SME's? (yur, that's what I thought).

Does your field even have standards for SME? Most don't.

Ye gods, what a load of old bollocks.

@Bilbo1967 wrote:

The problem with Agile in my view is that too many people see it as simply a way to ditch any kind of documentation. I believe that Agile can work, so long as people recognise that it's a formal methodology in its own right, not just an excuse to ditch documentation etc.

That's what it ALWAYS becomes. Hell, I'm guilty of it; we have, literally, thousands of dropboxes for my company. Thousands. We have folders for quoting files; folders for QUOT-ed files; folders as the book moves into production; folders as the book comes OUT of production; folders for older versions, etc. And that's the organized stuff. My folders for "guides and miscellaneous," which has Amazon Guidelines, iBooks Guidelines, NookKids' Guidelines, Fonts, font replacements, little programs that we all access and use (e.g., TweakePUB), yadda yadda...and Dropbox isn't even our MAIN set of file folders. Those are on the server(s).

it's just human nature--the "ooooh, look at this" mentality. Everybody puts something "in the box" for everyone else to look at. Everybody has to chime in, in the message boards, so that, god forbid anyone think that Joe isn't paying attention. It's not sustainable, IME, unless it's an extremely disciplined group, and how often do you find that? And the larger the group--the more "agile" you become, IOW, the worse the "look at me!" syndrome becomes.

In my last life, I built big, 5-star hotel/resort projects. When I look at them now, and think about trying to wrangle hundreds of consultants, the GC's, architects, engineers, etc., in an "Agile" manner...nyah. I just don't see it. Not on-time, on-budget (which was my specialty). Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of work, with deadlines? NOPE.

Just my $.02.

Hitch

[Bilbo1967]

Well, I've never built hotels, but, in my experience, Agile only seems to work for relatively small, co-located, disciplined project teams with shared goals so I'm sure you're right there. I can certainly believe that Agile is not the way to go if you have a lot of 3rd party suppliers in the way you describe.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Well, I've never built hotels, but, in my experience, Agile only seems to work for relatively small, co-located, disciplined project teams with shared goals so I'm sure you're right there. I can certainly believe that Agile is not the way to go if you have a lot of 3rd party suppliers in the way you describe.

Boy, you can't make this stuff up:

I swear, today, we got a book in about...wait for it...how WONDERFUL Agile is. Honest to crap. I think it's the first or second PM book we've EVER had, even though our meat-and-potatoes is non-fiction work. TODAY. After this discussion. Amazing. (My nefarious brain wonders if I can use this super-power for personal gain?)

Hitch

[Hitch]

So...

I leave an appointment last night, and head out to an errand. My app't. is on a fairly large arterial road, here in Phoenix, that has a speed limit of 55-60. I go about...I dunno, half a mile or so, when I notice "holy crap, my speedometer has DIED," as it's displaying 0, while I'm obviously going fairly speedily. As near as I can tell, the speedometer didn't even "boot up," from when I started the car. So, ZOIKS!

Now, here in the desert, the real desert, not the downtown-city desert, folks, it's DARK. REALLY dark-dark, without a boatload of streetlights, even on our arterial roads. There are NO cars remotely near me. I also have strebismus, which, although corrected when I was a child, still means: I have no depth perception. This makes judging speed, by eye, extremely difficult. So, I do the normal wifely thing: I call my spouse, whom, of course, will Dr. Who himself not only into my racing vehicle, but into the engine compartment and auto-magically fix the dreaded disobedient vehicle at the same time, right?

Well, as we refer to it, "The Healing Hand of DH," worked long-distance, and the speedometer popped up, abruptly, indicating that (miraculously) I was doing about 54. ("The Healing Hand" thing is a running joke; Himself is, actually "handy" in that way; things get fixed. More annoyingly, things that are NOT working will suddenly START working when he comes near them. DH asserts it's because they fear him. We call it "The Healing Hand of DH," because...well, what ELSE would you freaking call it?)

I manage to make my errand run, turn the disobeying vehicle off; it worked, again, when I start it up again to head home, and nothing really freaky happens further, other than me wondering when The Master will strike again, at the heart of my (rather ancient) car, leaving me a bit kerfuffled at high speed.

But here's my real question:

Is it funny that, at one point, after the speedometer began to work, I looked down and started to panic, seeing it again at 0...before realizing that I was sitting at the stoplight, waiting to turn left?



Hitch

[TimW]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I manage to make my errand run, turn the disobeying vehicle off; it worked, again, when I start it up again to head home, and nothing really freaky happens further, other than me wondering when The Master will strike again, at the heart of my (rather ancient) car, leaving me a bit kerfuffled at high speed.

It's worse than you imagine, The Master is now

Spoiler:

The Mistress

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by TimW

It's worse than you imagine, The Master is now

Spoiler:

The Mistress

You're right--that would be bad.

Discusses Thor:

Spoiler:

Is that like, Ms. Thor? Or, sorry, "Lady Thor?" Not that I'm un-liberated, but Marvel has completely let me down. Thor has always, since my earliest days, been my fave. Hunky. Now a girl? BUGGER!

Discusses Dr. Who:

Spoiler:

And is it twooly twoo: is The master a woman now, too? (I am behind on Doc Who)

Hitch