No matter where you go...there you are. ~ Buckaroo Banzai
+16
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
Ah, dang. Ah, beans.
The library is getting our upper-story windows replaced, and the original plan was to close the library for a couple of weeks while that happened. Unfortunately, we've got a sister library across town that was built with the same floor plan, and they went through the same project over the last couple of weeks. At some point, the bosses realized that there was nothing about the project that would technically prevent us from providing curbside service throughout the project.
So instead of getting paid a full salary to come in once a week to come in and empty the book drop, we all get to sit around in an active construction zone for two weeks.
Worst of all, my beautiful Gantt chart? Completely useless.
Just venting quick because I have no other outlet.
My job has mandated that despite the building being closed, we must have a full crew, on site, every day for 8 hours "just in case" the higher ups want to "test something" - since we work in A/V and theyve been asking for things remotely that have to be tinkered with in the building to get working. Previously we were just always on call and had to run in maybe 3 times a week for an hour when they had a request - and now my boss has decided HE can look better by making sure no one has to wait for us to arrive on site if they have a request, if we're on site standing by.
We've been at this a week now and its obviously dangerous and unnecessary to have people just sit next to each other, bored, for 8 hours a day. Theyve also KEPT the mask mandate, but stopped providing PPE so we bring our own masks from home.
Anyway with all that said, I spoke up at our last team meeting that I'm disappointed our bosses aren't fighting for us, insisting that a small inconvenience of having to wait 30 minutes for us to arrive on site is worth it for our overall health and safety, and that we really should not be sitting in close quarters together for 8 hours a day for absolutely no reason in a pandemic.
No one else said anything and nothing has changed and I'm here at work, and the 70 year old man I work with just popped in to ask me if I "was still being a baby, crying." and that I should stop trying to get out of working.
I BROUGHT IT UP BECAUSE I DONT WANT YOU TO DIE, DUDE. FUCK. LITERALLY, YOU ARE THE PERSON I WAS THINKING ABOUT WHEN I SAID THIS IS A BAD IDEA.
I give up.
It shouldn't shock me some people's ability to be gigantic fucking assholes in a public environment much less a professional one but here we are. Fuck that dude.
+23
Options
L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
*last disaster planning meeting*
me: we should require masks or at the least strongly encourage them because employee to employee transmission is our highest risk right now
everyone else: freedom blah blah blah
*2nd potential exposure in just over a month is caused by a staff member testing positive*
executive management has sent home two departments without any high level announcement.
me: *steepling my fingers for an i told you so*
+13
Options
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
The library is getting our upper-story windows replaced, and the original plan was to close the library for a couple of weeks while that happened. Unfortunately, we've got a sister library across town that was built with the same floor plan, and they went through the same project over the last couple of weeks. At some point, the bosses realized that there was nothing about the project that would technically prevent us from providing curbside service throughout the project.
So instead of getting paid a full salary to come in once a week to come in and empty the book drop, we all get to sit around in an active construction zone for two weeks.
Worst of all, my beautiful Gantt chart? Completely useless.
All Gantt charts are useless, you just realized ahead of the curve.
Oh yeah, phone meeting where I get scolded for getting some information and just sitting on it. Thank you two higher level folks who I told the information to immediately and who provided no direction. I especially like the way you were dead silent when you knew that wasn't what happened. Real stellar examples of leadership there.
The library is getting our upper-story windows replaced, and the original plan was to close the library for a couple of weeks while that happened. Unfortunately, we've got a sister library across town that was built with the same floor plan, and they went through the same project over the last couple of weeks. At some point, the bosses realized that there was nothing about the project that would technically prevent us from providing curbside service throughout the project.
So instead of getting paid a full salary to come in once a week to come in and empty the book drop, we all get to sit around in an active construction zone for two weeks.
Worst of all, my beautiful Gantt chart? Completely useless.
All Gantt charts are useless, you just realized ahead of the curve.
Hard disagree. Gantt charts are magical, it's just many people who make them aren't living in reality
+4
Options
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
The library is getting our upper-story windows replaced, and the original plan was to close the library for a couple of weeks while that happened. Unfortunately, we've got a sister library across town that was built with the same floor plan, and they went through the same project over the last couple of weeks. At some point, the bosses realized that there was nothing about the project that would technically prevent us from providing curbside service throughout the project.
So instead of getting paid a full salary to come in once a week to come in and empty the book drop, we all get to sit around in an active construction zone for two weeks.
Worst of all, my beautiful Gantt chart? Completely useless.
All Gantt charts are useless, you just realized ahead of the curve.
Hard disagree. Gantt charts are magical, it's just many people who make them aren't living in reality
They're generally not the best way to communicate data to others, but they're a great brain prosthetic when you're just trying to pin a squirming dataset to a calendar and pummel it with fuzzy logic until the gaps go away.
+3
Options
Gabriel_Pitt(effective against Russian warships)Registered Userregular
Why isn't gramgram staying in the dirt? Is it zombies? Grave-robbers? Grave robbing zombies?! I NEED to know more!
*clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickcli-!*
Help us narrow this down. Was it world history, us history, current events, science, mathematics? Man, maybe that is the only answer we ever offer on why things were decided? Seems like it might be easier and more accurate.
+6
Options
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
Help us narrow this down. Was it world history, us history, current events, science, mathematics? Man, maybe that is the only answer we ever offer on why things were decided? Seems like it might be easier and more accurate.
Gantt charts are great for me personally, they present data in a way that's super easy for me to grasp and follow
But yeah as a team tool, not exactly the greatest thing since sliced bread
Gantt charts are a great way for a PM to build a high level view, then use that information to assign discrete tasks to the team with solid deadlines.
Which works great until you hit the first predicted unknown-unknown, and then the schedule gets blown completely the fuck up.
edit: I say predicted because history says there will be something we don't know that will take ages to understand, debug, and fix, so building slack into the schedule is necessary if you want to hit something approximating the target with something approximating the desired features
Orca on
+7
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Gantt charts are great for me personally, they present data in a way that's super easy for me to grasp and follow
But yeah as a team tool, not exactly the greatest thing since sliced bread
Gantt charts are a great way for a PM to build a high level view, then use that information to assign discrete tasks to the team with solid deadlines.
Which works great until you hit the first predicted unknown-unknown, and then the schedule gets blown completely the fuck up.
Well yea, but those charts shouldnt be set in stone and there should be some wiggle room and overlap to complete tasks. If something misses a deadline then Its the PMs job to update the chart. Good software will reconfigure automatically.
Any tool can be used poorly. Sadly Gantt charts often are.
thatassemblyguyJanitor of Technical Debt.Registered Userregular
Company rejected me a few weeks ago without an interview (no phone call, etc) - likely sent out an offer to another candidate. Now same company re-posted a very similar position - either they had a new req open or the other candidate backed out.
Thinking of re-applying because why not; if I get black balled oh well, need some interview practice.
+3
Options
L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
Company rejected me a few weeks ago without an interview (no phone call, etc) - likely sent out an offer to another candidate. Now same company re-posted a very similar position - either they had a new req open or the other candidate backed out.
Thinking of re-applying because why not; if I get black balled oh well, need some interview practice.
Do eet!
+18
Options
mightyjongyoSour CrrmEast Bay, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
Today I got a recruiting email for a new team at microsoft. Sure, I'll bite! Okay it says...standing up at the beginning of September... a little late but sure... click through to the job description
Once you start using vlookup more than once in a blue moon you might seriously consider using a DB like access or mysql.
You can import excel spreadsheets into most and then you get the full power of queries and views instead of vlookups that chug spreadsheets to death and take 15 minutes to open.
The best part is you can export that shit right back into a form excel can consume if someone above you needs a report. Hardest part is convincing other people who need to work with the data to use it over excel, but if you're solo riding it ain't no thing.
I don't have access to any database
I have had opportunity to run vlookup like twice in six months, which is why I cannot remember how to do it
My lifehack for situations like that
Make a new spreadsheet.
In tabs 2 and 3 paste your other two sheets.
Build your functions to populate the data in tab 1 based on the other 2 so you get the combined data your customer wants.
Save tab 1 as a separate document and send to them.
Save the workbook with a helpful name and keep it handy so the next time they ask, you just paste your reports into the other 2 tabs and refresh the first one.
+4
Options
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Gantt charts are great for me personally, they present data in a way that's super easy for me to grasp and follow
But yeah as a team tool, not exactly the greatest thing since sliced bread
Gantt charts are a great way for a PM to build a high level view, then use that information to assign discrete tasks to the team with solid deadlines.
Which works great until you hit the first predicted unknown-unknown, and then the schedule gets blown completely the fuck up.
Well yea, but those charts shouldnt be set in stone and there should be some wiggle room and overlap to complete tasks. If something misses a deadline then Its the PMs job to update the chart. Good software will reconfigure automatically.
Any tool can be used poorly. Sadly Gantt charts often are.
Hahaha! Oh you sweet summer child...
You're also thinking in terms of "problem X took 2x the time we expected to complete." I'm talking about the kind of shit that's "show-stopping problem X took 20x the time we expected to complete."
Even better when there's now a history of how long some things took vs. what was planned and then you throw out that historical data because you've already solved those problems before so why bother accounting for the unknowns this time around?
I quite like gantt charts for tracking project dependencies, as long as there's no dates attached
As soon as you put a calendar on a gantt you're living in a fantasy world.
Gantt charts are great for me personally, they present data in a way that's super easy for me to grasp and follow
But yeah as a team tool, not exactly the greatest thing since sliced bread
Gantt charts are a great way for a PM to build a high level view, then use that information to assign discrete tasks to the team with solid deadlines.
Which works great until you hit the first predicted unknown-unknown, and then the schedule gets blown completely the fuck up.
Well yea, but those charts shouldnt be set in stone and there should be some wiggle room and overlap to complete tasks. If something misses a deadline then Its the PMs job to update the chart. Good software will reconfigure automatically.
Any tool can be used poorly. Sadly Gantt charts often are.
Hahaha! Oh you sweet summer child...
You're also thinking in terms of "problem X took 2x the time we expected to complete." I'm talking about the kind of shit that's "show-stopping problem X took 20x the time we expected to complete."
Even better when there's now a history of how long some things took vs. what was planned and then you throw out that historical data because you've already solved those problems before so why bother accounting for the unknowns this time around?
If something takes 20x the time, you need better planning practices or technical awareness. Also, rarely do you have as stringent critical paths. That said, I like gantts for people allocation, not so much for project duration planning.
I mean I work in research, so every project timeline is ?????? because the whole point is we just don't know. I have absolutely had critical stuff that takes 20x as long as we think or hope it will, because you can't scope what you don't know.
I'm guessing product delivery timelines are a little easier to scope, but most of my deadline estimates are "two weeks if it goes smoothly, two months (or more) if it doesn't".
Gantt charts are great for me personally, they present data in a way that's super easy for me to grasp and follow
But yeah as a team tool, not exactly the greatest thing since sliced bread
Gantt charts are a great way for a PM to build a high level view, then use that information to assign discrete tasks to the team with solid deadlines.
Which works great until you hit the first predicted unknown-unknown, and then the schedule gets blown completely the fuck up.
Well yea, but those charts shouldnt be set in stone and there should be some wiggle room and overlap to complete tasks. If something misses a deadline then Its the PMs job to update the chart. Good software will reconfigure automatically.
Any tool can be used poorly. Sadly Gantt charts often are.
Hahaha! Oh you sweet summer child...
You're also thinking in terms of "problem X took 2x the time we expected to complete." I'm talking about the kind of shit that's "show-stopping problem X took 20x the time we expected to complete."
Even better when there's now a history of how long some things took vs. what was planned and then you throw out that historical data because you've already solved those problems before so why bother accounting for the unknowns this time around?
If something takes 20x the time, you need better planning practices or technical awareness. Also, rarely do you have as stringent critical paths. That said, I like gantts for people allocation, not so much for project duration planning.
Yeah, totally. These things happen when you're working out on the edge of materials science, are bringing up a new process with a vendor that hasn't made this particular kind of widget before, and need to hit good reliability. But the plan rarely accounts for these call them expected unknown unknowns. I know we're going to get burned by something we haven't seen before, but I just don't know what it's going to be until we hit that yield problem...
+1
Options
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
I don't think my thing is actually a Gantt chart, on further reflection and research. It looks very similar and has a horizontal time axis, but deals with shifts instead of interdependent tasks. A stacked bar chart, maybe? I don't know, Gantt is a fun enough word that I'm gonna keep using it wrong, that dude seems like a prick who shouldn't get to hog the good chart name.
Just venting quick because I have no other outlet.
My job has mandated that despite the building being closed, we must have a full crew, on site, every day for 8 hours "just in case" the higher ups want to "test something" - since we work in A/V and theyve been asking for things remotely that have to be tinkered with in the building to get working. Previously we were just always on call and had to run in maybe 3 times a week for an hour when they had a request - and now my boss has decided HE can look better by making sure no one has to wait for us to arrive on site if they have a request, if we're on site standing by.
We've been at this a week now and its obviously dangerous and unnecessary to have people just sit next to each other, bored, for 8 hours a day. Theyve also KEPT the mask mandate, but stopped providing PPE so we bring our own masks from home.
Anyway with all that said, I spoke up at our last team meeting that I'm disappointed our bosses aren't fighting for us, insisting that a small inconvenience of having to wait 30 minutes for us to arrive on site is worth it for our overall health and safety, and that we really should not be sitting in close quarters together for 8 hours a day for absolutely no reason in a pandemic.
No one else said anything and nothing has changed and I'm here at work, and the 70 year old man I work with just popped in to ask me if I "was still being a baby, crying." and that I should stop trying to get out of working.
I BROUGHT IT UP BECAUSE I DONT WANT YOU TO DIE, DUDE. FUCK. LITERALLY, YOU ARE THE PERSON I WAS THINKING ABOUT WHEN I SAID THIS IS A BAD IDEA.
I give up.
...I cannot fathom this being acceptable behavior in any context. Wtf.
Some people are very proud of what tough, resilient doormats they are. Not like those whiny snowflakes who are too weak to let people stomp mud and shit all over their faces forever and ever.
I mean I work in research, so every project timeline is ?????? because the whole point is we just don't know. I have absolutely had critical stuff that takes 20x as long as we think or hope it will, because you can't scope what you don't know.
I'm guessing product delivery timelines are a little easier to scope, but most of my deadline estimates are "two weeks if it goes smoothly, two months (or more) if it doesn't".
Yeah, for greenfield blue sky stuff it's more "we'll spend x time on this method and continue if we see y, otherwise we'll take a checkpoint and discuss if we should change approach".
Also a big part is knowing generally how big problems are - do we think this is a 6 month problem? A year? Breaking down the pieces helps you understand how variable the time estimate is by how much shit is "figure this out" vs "we just have to do this thing in a slightly different way". Things go sideways quick when people equate confidence and estimates between the two.
Most issues are usually humans being overoptimistic on estimates/ease, as SOMETHING going very wrong is pretty reliable once you get to a certain size of project.
+1
Options
L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
Company rejected me a few weeks ago without an interview (no phone call, etc) - likely sent out an offer to another candidate. Now same company re-posted a very similar position - either they had a new req open or the other candidate backed out.
Thinking of re-applying because why not; if I get black balled oh well, need some interview practice.
To kind of circle back around to this.
This is kind of why I was asking about profession resume writing services. I suspect that, when this has happened to me, the auto filtering email analysis bullshit isn't working well with my resume. Not hitting keywords, not parsing correctly, etc. So it gets immediately dumped to the trash, and no person ever sees it. I don't know how to get a hold of any of these magical systems, but I suggest reworking your resume to see if maybe it hits more keywords or whatever magic bullshit they want.
+1
Options
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
I mean I work in research, so every project timeline is ?????? because the whole point is we just don't know. I have absolutely had critical stuff that takes 20x as long as we think or hope it will, because you can't scope what you don't know.
I'm guessing product delivery timelines are a little easier to scope, but most of my deadline estimates are "two weeks if it goes smoothly, two months (or more) if it doesn't".
It depends on if you're making something new or not.
Ask Samsung how their flexible phones are working out. Betcha they've run into a bunch of those 20x problems.
Posts
If you have to ask, you're not ready.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
The library is getting our upper-story windows replaced, and the original plan was to close the library for a couple of weeks while that happened. Unfortunately, we've got a sister library across town that was built with the same floor plan, and they went through the same project over the last couple of weeks. At some point, the bosses realized that there was nothing about the project that would technically prevent us from providing curbside service throughout the project.
So instead of getting paid a full salary to come in once a week to come in and empty the book drop, we all get to sit around in an active construction zone for two weeks.
Worst of all, my beautiful Gantt chart? Completely useless.
It's for shoveling ass into an asswagon so you can haul ass
It shouldn't shock me some people's ability to be gigantic fucking assholes in a public environment much less a professional one but here we are. Fuck that dude.
Hopefully those people will be retiring soon.
me: we should require masks or at the least strongly encourage them because employee to employee transmission is our highest risk right now
everyone else: freedom blah blah blah
*2nd potential exposure in just over a month is caused by a staff member testing positive*
executive management has sent home two departments without any high level announcement.
me: *steepling my fingers for an i told you so*
For pooping, silly.
ED: Beaten by a goose!
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Best responses:
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
All Gantt charts are useless, you just realized ahead of the curve.
Hard disagree. Gantt charts are magical, it's just many people who make them aren't living in reality
They're generally not the best way to communicate data to others, but they're a great brain prosthetic when you're just trying to pin a squirming dataset to a calendar and pummel it with fuzzy logic until the gaps go away.
Why isn't gramgram staying in the dirt? Is it zombies? Grave-robbers? Grave robbing zombies?! I NEED to know more!
*clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickcli-!*
But yeah as a team tool, not exactly the greatest thing since sliced bread
~ Buckaroo Banzai
Student: why?
Me: because they were all huge racists.
It's accurate to every subject!
Gantt charts are a great way for a PM to build a high level view, then use that information to assign discrete tasks to the team with solid deadlines.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Which works great until you hit the first predicted unknown-unknown, and then the schedule gets blown completely the fuck up.
edit: I say predicted because history says there will be something we don't know that will take ages to understand, debug, and fix, so building slack into the schedule is necessary if you want to hit something approximating the target with something approximating the desired features
Well yea, but those charts shouldnt be set in stone and there should be some wiggle room and overlap to complete tasks. If something misses a deadline then Its the PMs job to update the chart. Good software will reconfigure automatically.
Any tool can be used poorly. Sadly Gantt charts often are.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Thinking of re-applying because why not; if I get black balled oh well, need some interview practice.
Do eet!
no longer accepting applications
recruiters, lmao
My lifehack for situations like that
Make a new spreadsheet.
In tabs 2 and 3 paste your other two sheets.
Build your functions to populate the data in tab 1 based on the other 2 so you get the combined data your customer wants.
Save tab 1 as a separate document and send to them.
Save the workbook with a helpful name and keep it handy so the next time they ask, you just paste your reports into the other 2 tabs and refresh the first one.
Hahaha! Oh you sweet summer child...
You're also thinking in terms of "problem X took 2x the time we expected to complete." I'm talking about the kind of shit that's "show-stopping problem X took 20x the time we expected to complete."
Even better when there's now a history of how long some things took vs. what was planned and then you throw out that historical data because you've already solved those problems before so why bother accounting for the unknowns this time around?
As soon as you put a calendar on a gantt you're living in a fantasy world.
If something takes 20x the time, you need better planning practices or technical awareness. Also, rarely do you have as stringent critical paths. That said, I like gantts for people allocation, not so much for project duration planning.
I'm guessing product delivery timelines are a little easier to scope, but most of my deadline estimates are "two weeks if it goes smoothly, two months (or more) if it doesn't".
Yeah, totally. These things happen when you're working out on the edge of materials science, are bringing up a new process with a vendor that hasn't made this particular kind of widget before, and need to hit good reliability. But the plan rarely accounts for these call them expected unknown unknowns. I know we're going to get burned by something we haven't seen before, but I just don't know what it's going to be until we hit that yield problem...
Tell me this thing and then fuck off
That's how you make friends people respect that
...I cannot fathom this being acceptable behavior in any context. Wtf.
Yeah, for greenfield blue sky stuff it's more "we'll spend x time on this method and continue if we see y, otherwise we'll take a checkpoint and discuss if we should change approach".
Also a big part is knowing generally how big problems are - do we think this is a 6 month problem? A year? Breaking down the pieces helps you understand how variable the time estimate is by how much shit is "figure this out" vs "we just have to do this thing in a slightly different way". Things go sideways quick when people equate confidence and estimates between the two.
Most issues are usually humans being overoptimistic on estimates/ease, as SOMETHING going very wrong is pretty reliable once you get to a certain size of project.
To kind of circle back around to this.
This is kind of why I was asking about profession resume writing services. I suspect that, when this has happened to me, the auto filtering email analysis bullshit isn't working well with my resume. Not hitting keywords, not parsing correctly, etc. So it gets immediately dumped to the trash, and no person ever sees it. I don't know how to get a hold of any of these magical systems, but I suggest reworking your resume to see if maybe it hits more keywords or whatever magic bullshit they want.
It depends on if you're making something new or not.
Ask Samsung how their flexible phones are working out. Betcha they've run into a bunch of those 20x problems.