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The Power of No

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  • S SteakhouseLuke

    I often work with people from other cultures (programmers, customers, etc) where NO is forbidden. It makes life more polite and unnecessarily difficult. Even if I ask something as simple as "Do you understand?" and the heads politely nod 'yes' regardless of whether they followed me or not. X|

    R Offline
    R Offline
    raddevus
    wrote on last edited by
    #13

    SteakhouseLuke wrote:

    I often work with people from other cultures (programmers, customers, etc) where NO is forbidden.

    I thought the same thing when I read that a dev actually said no to someone. Most places there is no possible way to say no. They want an estimate and you give them one. Completely meaningless, but very polite. :|

    1 Reply Last reply
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    • M Marc Clifton

      I was reminded of this recent event reading Kent's post 5 Project Management Skills Every Developer Should Have[^] My coworker (I'll use "C" for their name) and I were recently asked by the project manager (for context, he was a very new hire, but that doesn't imply he was new to the field of project management) assigned to our project, "Can you and C put due dates on all of the tasks for this project?" My one line answer. "No" The silence was deafening. After the pregnant silence gave birth, the obvious question "Why not???" was asked. Well, because: 1. Our daily activities include a variety of other unpredictable tasks that are constantly shifting in priority (aside - such is the life in a small company. Isn't that the definition of Agile? :laugh: ) 2. We are working with undocumented verbal specifications where new information is provided every week in the weekly meeting with the client and often previous requirements change slightly. (aside - we're an Agile team, right?) 3. The nature of the work requires interfacing with third party API's that are finicky and difficult to map their data responses into something we understand how to map to our fields. (aside - everyone is Agile nowadays, right?) 4. Your own (the client's) dataset doesn't have all the information we need and we're waiting for you to update your datasets. (aside - are THEY Agile???) 5. To put a due date on something, yes, we can estimate the number of hours, on average, per day that we can work on the project, but a due date means figuring out how many hours the task will take, and we're dealing with some unknowns that make that impossible at the moment. (Agile!) Once we have removed those unknowns, it may become possible to predict the hours. Of course, the senior project manager started off the whole conversation with the typical Dilbert-esque management speak: "I am here to facilitate -- if you need something from the client, let me know and I'll make it happen." I've been around the block enough times to know what utter BS that is. So the manager decided that what his male ego needed was a daily 30 minute conference call with moi and C to review, each and every day (except weekends) the status of each ticket. Riiiight. So we complained to our direct manager, who "managed" - managed to get that stopped. I mean reall

      D Offline
      D Offline
      dandy72
      wrote on last edited by
      #14

      Marc Clifton wrote:

      The irony is that this project manager went from being a bull in a China shop to a mouse - no facilitation, no responses to our emails when we actually need some information from the client that he could "facilitate", in fact, no communication at all except an hour before the scheduled weekly meetings "Are you guys ready?"

      Decades ago I worked with a QA lead who very much felt that he needed to have some visible authority and that he was constantly getting his hands tied behind his back. He stopped caring and only showed up to collect his regular paycheck. Then he was accused of "not being a team player". I saw him a few years after he was laid off, and was making the claim that "[Company Name] put an end to my IT career". I'm pretty sure he did that himself. As much as I don't like office politics, you have to learn what the rules are, and play by them. Don't sulk for months until you get fired just because you're not getting things your way.

      1 Reply Last reply
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      • R Ron Anders

        I love that word. We live and work in a transient resort town. Yesterday a fresh (they get off the greyhound daily) 1/2 wit was rolling a trash bin from the local thrift store past our shop. On the way back it stopped rolling right in front of our screen door. (ruh-row). "Hi, I found a google pixel phone under the chairlifts (skiing) and want to borrow a computer to remove the password. Do you have one?" No. - your not virus infecting one of my pcs I thought. The silence was also deafening. "I'm helping W!" - (the thrift shop owner). I just stared him down. He went on to enumerate all the reasons why I should do this for him and when I seemed unconvinced, he left. But I tell you, from project managers to street people (indistinguishable at times) one way to turn their disdain for types like you to respect, is the good old , NO! - at all probable costs. :thumbsup:

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        dandy72
        wrote on last edited by
        #15

        Ron Anders wrote:

        Hi, I found a google pixel phone under the chairlifts (skiing) and want to borrow a computer to remove the password.

        Sheesh. Security (yours) reasons aside, for starters, the phone isn't his to remove the password from. That should've shut him up right there and then.

        1 Reply Last reply
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        • M Marc Clifton

          I was reminded of this recent event reading Kent's post 5 Project Management Skills Every Developer Should Have[^] My coworker (I'll use "C" for their name) and I were recently asked by the project manager (for context, he was a very new hire, but that doesn't imply he was new to the field of project management) assigned to our project, "Can you and C put due dates on all of the tasks for this project?" My one line answer. "No" The silence was deafening. After the pregnant silence gave birth, the obvious question "Why not???" was asked. Well, because: 1. Our daily activities include a variety of other unpredictable tasks that are constantly shifting in priority (aside - such is the life in a small company. Isn't that the definition of Agile? :laugh: ) 2. We are working with undocumented verbal specifications where new information is provided every week in the weekly meeting with the client and often previous requirements change slightly. (aside - we're an Agile team, right?) 3. The nature of the work requires interfacing with third party API's that are finicky and difficult to map their data responses into something we understand how to map to our fields. (aside - everyone is Agile nowadays, right?) 4. Your own (the client's) dataset doesn't have all the information we need and we're waiting for you to update your datasets. (aside - are THEY Agile???) 5. To put a due date on something, yes, we can estimate the number of hours, on average, per day that we can work on the project, but a due date means figuring out how many hours the task will take, and we're dealing with some unknowns that make that impossible at the moment. (Agile!) Once we have removed those unknowns, it may become possible to predict the hours. Of course, the senior project manager started off the whole conversation with the typical Dilbert-esque management speak: "I am here to facilitate -- if you need something from the client, let me know and I'll make it happen." I've been around the block enough times to know what utter BS that is. So the manager decided that what his male ego needed was a daily 30 minute conference call with moi and C to review, each and every day (except weekends) the status of each ticket. Riiiight. So we complained to our direct manager, who "managed" - managed to get that stopped. I mean reall

          H Offline
          H Offline
          honey the codewitch
          wrote on last edited by
          #16

          The more I worked in the field, the more I understood the wisdom of two year olds. When I was green I was asked to move a deadline on a 3 month project, up a month. I said maybe. My mistake. Since then I have not been afraid of "no." I realized part of my job was to protect management from themselves. Not in the job description, but when the project fails, who gets blamed? It is my responsibility, because it's my behind if it gets behind.

          Real programmers use butterflies

          M C 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • S SteakhouseLuke

            I often work with people from other cultures (programmers, customers, etc) where NO is forbidden. It makes life more polite and unnecessarily difficult. Even if I ask something as simple as "Do you understand?" and the heads politely nod 'yes' regardless of whether they followed me or not. X|

            M Offline
            M Offline
            Marc Clifton
            wrote on last edited by
            #17

            SteakhouseLuke wrote:

            I often work with people from other cultures

            I've had that experience - it definitely requires learning how to phrase questions differently, like "tell me what you understand from all this?"

            Latest Articles:
            Proxy class for TypeScript/Intellisense DOM manipulation

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            • H honey the codewitch

              The more I worked in the field, the more I understood the wisdom of two year olds. When I was green I was asked to move a deadline on a 3 month project, up a month. I said maybe. My mistake. Since then I have not been afraid of "no." I realized part of my job was to protect management from themselves. Not in the job description, but when the project fails, who gets blamed? It is my responsibility, because it's my behind if it gets behind.

              Real programmers use butterflies

              M Offline
              M Offline
              Marc Clifton
              wrote on last edited by
              #18

              honey the codewitch wrote:

              I realized part of my job was to protect management from themselves.

              Yeah, so often the sad truth. Especially when the manager explicitly says "my boss is breathing down MY neck." Oi. Talk about roll reversal, which it should be the manager's job to protect you!

              Latest Articles:
              Proxy class for TypeScript/Intellisense DOM manipulation

              H S 2 Replies Last reply
              0
              • H honey the codewitch

                The more I worked in the field, the more I understood the wisdom of two year olds. When I was green I was asked to move a deadline on a 3 month project, up a month. I said maybe. My mistake. Since then I have not been afraid of "no." I realized part of my job was to protect management from themselves. Not in the job description, but when the project fails, who gets blamed? It is my responsibility, because it's my behind if it gets behind.

                Real programmers use butterflies

                C Offline
                C Offline
                CHill60
                wrote on last edited by
                #19

                Quote:

                ...I was asked to move a deadline on a 3 month project, up a month...

                I've been asked that recently in a similar timeline. I said "OK" :laugh: Then I said "Which bits do you want me to leave out?" I got some funny looks at that point, and the "nothing should be left out" response. I then wasted another 15 minutes of my life explaining that the work they required would take 4 months, so they could either have all of the work after 4 months or some of the work after 3 months. Now they've got me in overly frequent, regular meetings to review how we are against plan. The irony that these meetings are eating into my available dev time is completely lost on them :doh:

                H R 2 Replies Last reply
                0
                • M Marc Clifton

                  I was reminded of this recent event reading Kent's post 5 Project Management Skills Every Developer Should Have[^] My coworker (I'll use "C" for their name) and I were recently asked by the project manager (for context, he was a very new hire, but that doesn't imply he was new to the field of project management) assigned to our project, "Can you and C put due dates on all of the tasks for this project?" My one line answer. "No" The silence was deafening. After the pregnant silence gave birth, the obvious question "Why not???" was asked. Well, because: 1. Our daily activities include a variety of other unpredictable tasks that are constantly shifting in priority (aside - such is the life in a small company. Isn't that the definition of Agile? :laugh: ) 2. We are working with undocumented verbal specifications where new information is provided every week in the weekly meeting with the client and often previous requirements change slightly. (aside - we're an Agile team, right?) 3. The nature of the work requires interfacing with third party API's that are finicky and difficult to map their data responses into something we understand how to map to our fields. (aside - everyone is Agile nowadays, right?) 4. Your own (the client's) dataset doesn't have all the information we need and we're waiting for you to update your datasets. (aside - are THEY Agile???) 5. To put a due date on something, yes, we can estimate the number of hours, on average, per day that we can work on the project, but a due date means figuring out how many hours the task will take, and we're dealing with some unknowns that make that impossible at the moment. (Agile!) Once we have removed those unknowns, it may become possible to predict the hours. Of course, the senior project manager started off the whole conversation with the typical Dilbert-esque management speak: "I am here to facilitate -- if you need something from the client, let me know and I'll make it happen." I've been around the block enough times to know what utter BS that is. So the manager decided that what his male ego needed was a daily 30 minute conference call with moi and C to review, each and every day (except weekends) the status of each ticket. Riiiight. So we complained to our direct manager, who "managed" - managed to get that stopped. I mean reall

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                  L Offline
                  Lost User
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #20

                  I ran my own schedule using scheduling software and told the (user) PM that they had their schedule and I would use mine. Of course, they could look at mine. I had projected finish dates. If there was a "due date", I made them take out "requirements" until my forecast matched their due date (year-end). And, no (I said), "more people" won't help after a certain point. I was never "popular", but never late.

                  It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food

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                  • R raddevus

                    Marc Clifton wrote:

                    . We are working with undocumented verbal specifications where new information is provided every week in the weekly meeting with the client and often previous requirements change slightly. (aside - we're an Agile team, right?)

                    This is really the core problem, right? Plus, that may be what some company or many companies think Agile is (running around with no idea what your doing and having your tasks change and be re-prioritized constantly) but it is not. But, that's a much longer story. Maybe you should tell C that when he documents the verbal specs and keeps them in change control so you can view the changes over time, then you would be able to give him better estimates. :-D Software can be extremely easy when you know what your building. Alas, we rarely get to know what we are building. :|

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                    G Offline
                    GuyThiebaut
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #21

                    I work in an agile environment and we don't have specifications but we do have user stories. I am not completely sold on user stories, as I like to know exactly what is required of me. However they do have the advantage that they help specify what the user wants to do, why they want to do it and what outcome they want - which leaves a certain amount of creativity to the developer to fill in the rest or chat with the person who write the user story. There are places where user stories are probably not suitable such as medical devices/equipment and avionics.

                    “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

                    ― Christopher Hitchens

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                    • Richard DeemingR Richard Deeming

                      The Scotty principle - always multiply your estimates by a factor of four. How else can you maintain your reputation as a miracle worker? :-D


                      "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                      J Offline
                      J Offline
                      jackbrownii
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #22

                      I was told one a little different: "double the number and increase the units". Two days becomes four weeks.

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                      • C CHill60

                        Quote:

                        ...I was asked to move a deadline on a 3 month project, up a month...

                        I've been asked that recently in a similar timeline. I said "OK" :laugh: Then I said "Which bits do you want me to leave out?" I got some funny looks at that point, and the "nothing should be left out" response. I then wasted another 15 minutes of my life explaining that the work they required would take 4 months, so they could either have all of the work after 4 months or some of the work after 3 months. Now they've got me in overly frequent, regular meetings to review how we are against plan. The irony that these meetings are eating into my available dev time is completely lost on them :doh:

                        H Offline
                        H Offline
                        honey the codewitch
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #23

                        And people wonder where Scott Adams gets his material. The man must have worked in development.

                        Real programmers use butterflies

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • M Marc Clifton

                          honey the codewitch wrote:

                          I realized part of my job was to protect management from themselves.

                          Yeah, so often the sad truth. Especially when the manager explicitly says "my boss is breathing down MY neck." Oi. Talk about roll reversal, which it should be the manager's job to protect you!

                          Latest Articles:
                          Proxy class for TypeScript/Intellisense DOM manipulation

                          H Offline
                          H Offline
                          honey the codewitch
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #24

                          I agree. It was one of things I really didn't like about the field.

                          Real programmers use butterflies

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                            A company I once worked for wanted to outsource a project to a team in Romania. So, three managers (also the owners of the company) get on a flight to meet the team and discuss the project for three whole days. When they get back, one of them asks me "can you make an estimation for the project?" So obviously I ask if the remote team shouldn't make an estimation since they would be building it. They did make an estimation, but my manager didn't trust it because it was only one or two months away, which they were never going to make, and now he had more confidence in my estimations. So I aks him how many developers there were on the project. He didn't know :wtf: I asked him what the hell they talked about if they didn't talk about (believable) estimates and size of the team. He answered something like "other things, but not that." So I asked him how the hell he expected me to plan something I don't know anything about. His reply was "I know it's just guess work, so just guess" :wtf: So I "guessed" their original estimate would be accurate, but he wanted another guess :laugh: I think I answered something like "In that case I guess they'll have a hundred developers so they'll be done by tomorrow", but that wasn't the guess he wanted to hear either :laugh: It was hands down one of the weirdest conversations I've ever had :~ Ultimately, the only correct guess, and maybe you've already guessed it, was "never" :sigh: I left the company a year later and another year later they abandoned the project and lost the customer.

                            Best, Sander sanderrossel.com Migrating Applications to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly

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                            Lost User
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #25

                            You calculate / compile "function points" and using a "gearing factor" (per language), calculate total man-hours based on historical output per FP (one needs in-house FP stats or an industry estimate). That's the number management gets. How many people they budget is then their problem.

                            It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food

                            Sander RosselS 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • P PIEBALDconsult

                              Yup, I sent a "no" to my boss yesterday. Again. If he wants me to produce "CSV files", I'm going to produce proper "CSV files", e.g. ones which Excel recognizes as "CSV" as it's the de facto Standard for "CSV". He, of course, replied that I should use vertical bars rather than commas because the whack-jobs downstream are using a tool which can't read CSV! In fairness, Microsoft's BCP utility can't read CSV either, but these people are supposed to be developers. And so it goes around again. Some uber-whack-job up above must have read a blog post about how good this tool is and dictated that everyone across the enterprise needs to stop using what works and switch to this one. piece of crap. Hey, it's expensive, it must be good! :sigh: And, yeah, the same uber-whack-jobs up above have also dictated that everyone needs to use "Scrum" even though every word out of their mouths proves that they have not the first clue what "Scrum" is. :doh:

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                              L Offline
                              Lost User
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #26

                              You make the "value" of the delimiter an option; reading and writing.

                              It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food

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                              • P PIEBALDconsult

                                Yup, I sent a "no" to my boss yesterday. Again. If he wants me to produce "CSV files", I'm going to produce proper "CSV files", e.g. ones which Excel recognizes as "CSV" as it's the de facto Standard for "CSV". He, of course, replied that I should use vertical bars rather than commas because the whack-jobs downstream are using a tool which can't read CSV! In fairness, Microsoft's BCP utility can't read CSV either, but these people are supposed to be developers. And so it goes around again. Some uber-whack-job up above must have read a blog post about how good this tool is and dictated that everyone across the enterprise needs to stop using what works and switch to this one. piece of crap. Hey, it's expensive, it must be good! :sigh: And, yeah, the same uber-whack-jobs up above have also dictated that everyone needs to use "Scrum" even though every word out of their mouths proves that they have not the first clue what "Scrum" is. :doh:

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                                Nelek
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #27

                                PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                                e.g. ones which Excel recognizes as "CSV" as it's the de facto Standard for "CSV".

                                That can bring problems... I am in the CSV world at the moment too, and it is a pity because German Excel wants "," for decimal separation, but c++ wants "." for decimal separator. Having a:

                                Line 1_1; Line 1_2;
                                2 empty
                                Line 3_1; Line 3_2; Line 3_3; Line 3_4;
                                Line 4_1; Line 4_2; Line 4_3; Line 4_4;
                                Line x_1; Line x_2; Line x_3; Line x_4;

                                Opening in Excel to edit something and saving it, then opening with another text editor then you have:

                                Line 1_1; Line 1_2;;;
                                ;;;;
                                Line 3_1; Line 3_2; Line 3_3; Line 3_4;
                                Line 4_1; Line 4_2; Line 4_3; Line 4_4;
                                Line x_1; Line x_2; Line x_3; Line x_4;

                                Note the additional ";" in lines 1 and 2 And yes... I know, but that's the csv I get from customers... First line is variable and can be less or more than the data part (at least data is a "rectangle")

                                M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

                                K 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • G GuyThiebaut

                                  I work in an agile environment and we don't have specifications but we do have user stories. I am not completely sold on user stories, as I like to know exactly what is required of me. However they do have the advantage that they help specify what the user wants to do, why they want to do it and what outcome they want - which leaves a certain amount of creativity to the developer to fill in the rest or chat with the person who write the user story. There are places where user stories are probably not suitable such as medical devices/equipment and avionics.

                                  “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

                                  ― Christopher Hitchens

                                  R Offline
                                  R Offline
                                  raddevus
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #28

                                  GuyThiebaut wrote:

                                  I work in an agile environment and we don't have specifications but we do have user stories.

                                  Yes, I think User Stories are good too. They are a balance that the engineering team must understand. They help define what the user wants to a certain level and are very good. The dev team or single dev takes the shot and makes it work as best they understand. The product team tries it out (so difficult to get them to really do this) since they should know best what needs to change. If they can't describe that to the dev then the dev's shot at it must be considered final. however, everyone has to understand that when a dev is getting a thing to work and there are requirements gaps then the dev is the final answer while development is actively occurring (in the sprint). Sure later when everyone reviews it that could mean another iteration to fix it the way they think it should be. That's fine. But this is also why Agile may not work on teams where people really eventually only attempting to escape blame and point the finger at the person who is ultimately responsible and must take the fall. Agile requires that there is an actual team who cares for the final product and the other members. If you don't have that -- and a LOT of places don't -- then Agile is as bound to fail as all other Process Methdologies...or more so. Sounds like the way your team does it works well. Our team does this too and we like Agile fairly well, though there are other challenges too.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • M Marc Clifton

                                    I was reminded of this recent event reading Kent's post 5 Project Management Skills Every Developer Should Have[^] My coworker (I'll use "C" for their name) and I were recently asked by the project manager (for context, he was a very new hire, but that doesn't imply he was new to the field of project management) assigned to our project, "Can you and C put due dates on all of the tasks for this project?" My one line answer. "No" The silence was deafening. After the pregnant silence gave birth, the obvious question "Why not???" was asked. Well, because: 1. Our daily activities include a variety of other unpredictable tasks that are constantly shifting in priority (aside - such is the life in a small company. Isn't that the definition of Agile? :laugh: ) 2. We are working with undocumented verbal specifications where new information is provided every week in the weekly meeting with the client and often previous requirements change slightly. (aside - we're an Agile team, right?) 3. The nature of the work requires interfacing with third party API's that are finicky and difficult to map their data responses into something we understand how to map to our fields. (aside - everyone is Agile nowadays, right?) 4. Your own (the client's) dataset doesn't have all the information we need and we're waiting for you to update your datasets. (aside - are THEY Agile???) 5. To put a due date on something, yes, we can estimate the number of hours, on average, per day that we can work on the project, but a due date means figuring out how many hours the task will take, and we're dealing with some unknowns that make that impossible at the moment. (Agile!) Once we have removed those unknowns, it may become possible to predict the hours. Of course, the senior project manager started off the whole conversation with the typical Dilbert-esque management speak: "I am here to facilitate -- if you need something from the client, let me know and I'll make it happen." I've been around the block enough times to know what utter BS that is. So the manager decided that what his male ego needed was a daily 30 minute conference call with moi and C to review, each and every day (except weekends) the status of each ticket. Riiiight. So we complained to our direct manager, who "managed" - managed to get that stopped. I mean reall

                                    N Offline
                                    N Offline
                                    Nelek
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #29

                                    I had to jump in a project that was already way behind schedule. My first week there was almost only letting people explain me what it should be done and where we were. I tried to analyze what the previous guy was doing and then I called my boss, because repairing that mess would take me more time than starting over again. He let me do it. 2 weeks later, I was already moving the machine in semi-automatic. Then an appointment with the customer was done. When they came the project manager was trying to explain things where I was internally hitting my head against the desk. Then the customer started asking for things and the project manager would open his mouth. At some moment I got tired and said... NO. All quiet, staring at me... Customer: Pardon? What do you mean? Me: Because blah blah blah Next day he was speaking with me using "Du" instead of "Sie" (the formal form in Germany) the other team members were :omg: :omg: and asked me if he knew him from before... ME: No, I met him yesterday, why? They: Because the project manager had been working for him as extern for 4 or 5 years and was still being spoken with "Sie" I suppose I got his respect exactly when I said "No" and then I gave him technical reasons to support my "No" some of them even protecting the machine or the ergonomy of the future operators of his company. I gave him even an alternative (that he payed extra, because was against was written in the contract) So yes, learning when to say "No", being confident enough to say it and good enough to counter with objective arguments... is one of the worthiest thing that comes with experience

                                    M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

                                    M 1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • M Marc Clifton

                                      I was reminded of this recent event reading Kent's post 5 Project Management Skills Every Developer Should Have[^] My coworker (I'll use "C" for their name) and I were recently asked by the project manager (for context, he was a very new hire, but that doesn't imply he was new to the field of project management) assigned to our project, "Can you and C put due dates on all of the tasks for this project?" My one line answer. "No" The silence was deafening. After the pregnant silence gave birth, the obvious question "Why not???" was asked. Well, because: 1. Our daily activities include a variety of other unpredictable tasks that are constantly shifting in priority (aside - such is the life in a small company. Isn't that the definition of Agile? :laugh: ) 2. We are working with undocumented verbal specifications where new information is provided every week in the weekly meeting with the client and often previous requirements change slightly. (aside - we're an Agile team, right?) 3. The nature of the work requires interfacing with third party API's that are finicky and difficult to map their data responses into something we understand how to map to our fields. (aside - everyone is Agile nowadays, right?) 4. Your own (the client's) dataset doesn't have all the information we need and we're waiting for you to update your datasets. (aside - are THEY Agile???) 5. To put a due date on something, yes, we can estimate the number of hours, on average, per day that we can work on the project, but a due date means figuring out how many hours the task will take, and we're dealing with some unknowns that make that impossible at the moment. (Agile!) Once we have removed those unknowns, it may become possible to predict the hours. Of course, the senior project manager started off the whole conversation with the typical Dilbert-esque management speak: "I am here to facilitate -- if you need something from the client, let me know and I'll make it happen." I've been around the block enough times to know what utter BS that is. So the manager decided that what his male ego needed was a daily 30 minute conference call with moi and C to review, each and every day (except weekends) the status of each ticket. Riiiight. So we complained to our direct manager, who "managed" - managed to get that stopped. I mean reall

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                                      Caslen
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #30

                                      A long time ago I read somewhere that when writing software it takes 95% of the forecast time to do 95% of the work and another 95% of the forecast time to do the remaining 5% work. Whenever the PM insists for estimates on task duration I make a generous estimate and double it.

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                                      • C CHill60

                                        Quote:

                                        ...I was asked to move a deadline on a 3 month project, up a month...

                                        I've been asked that recently in a similar timeline. I said "OK" :laugh: Then I said "Which bits do you want me to leave out?" I got some funny looks at that point, and the "nothing should be left out" response. I then wasted another 15 minutes of my life explaining that the work they required would take 4 months, so they could either have all of the work after 4 months or some of the work after 3 months. Now they've got me in overly frequent, regular meetings to review how we are against plan. The irony that these meetings are eating into my available dev time is completely lost on them :doh:

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                                        Rick York
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #31

                                        That's when you tell them things have slipped a week because of all the time wasted in meetings.

                                        "They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"

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                                        • N Nelek

                                          I had to jump in a project that was already way behind schedule. My first week there was almost only letting people explain me what it should be done and where we were. I tried to analyze what the previous guy was doing and then I called my boss, because repairing that mess would take me more time than starting over again. He let me do it. 2 weeks later, I was already moving the machine in semi-automatic. Then an appointment with the customer was done. When they came the project manager was trying to explain things where I was internally hitting my head against the desk. Then the customer started asking for things and the project manager would open his mouth. At some moment I got tired and said... NO. All quiet, staring at me... Customer: Pardon? What do you mean? Me: Because blah blah blah Next day he was speaking with me using "Du" instead of "Sie" (the formal form in Germany) the other team members were :omg: :omg: and asked me if he knew him from before... ME: No, I met him yesterday, why? They: Because the project manager had been working for him as extern for 4 or 5 years and was still being spoken with "Sie" I suppose I got his respect exactly when I said "No" and then I gave him technical reasons to support my "No" some of them even protecting the machine or the ergonomy of the future operators of his company. I gave him even an alternative (that he payed extra, because was against was written in the contract) So yes, learning when to say "No", being confident enough to say it and good enough to counter with objective arguments... is one of the worthiest thing that comes with experience

                                          M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

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                                          Marc Clifton
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #32

                                          Nelek wrote:

                                          So yes, learning when to say "No", being confident enough to say it and good enough to counter with objective arguments... is one of the worthiest thing that comes with experience

                                          Very :cool:

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