• CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      53
      ·
      1 year ago

      My favorite is when project managers try to tell you it will be easier with more people.

      For some things that’s true.

      But for some, it really just takes a while.

      I tried to explain to a PM that maybe we should ask his wife next time if she can split up her pregnancy between two women. Baby could be born in half the time.

      He didn’t appreciate my feedback and wrote me up for it. Probably my proudest moment.

      • NewAgeOldPerson@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’m not saying this for all instances. Maybe I’ve been fortunate. 100% of project managers I’ve worked alongside looked for parallel paths, and that’s their job. But once the feedback from tech SME is that these are linear dependencies, they said okay. Let’s move to discuss how to communicate this to leadership and customer.

        My personal experience. Your mileage obviously may vary greatly. But a PM that doesn’t understand the mythical man month, isn’t much of a PM. Or even a competent team member.

        • CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          1 year ago

          The story I shared was from a terrible PM.

          I’ve had great PMs and they understood their role well. Their job was to help communicate to the stakeholders what’s needed and why it’s taking so long.

          They are far few in between. But when you have a good one, you can’t imagine your life without one.

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        wrote me up for it

        Uh, that’s not a thing that matters. Unless you were going to be fired anyway. But also, don’t talk about people’s significant others at all.

    • maporita@unilem.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      That’s pretty much all this cartoon ever is … just states some obvious fact about office life involving stupid demanding bosses.

    • Bonehead@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      For most people, it’s a mildly funny observation on office life.

      For project managers, it’s a statement on the nature of business and a testament to the banality of life itself.

      I’m guessing you’re a project manager?

    • eendjes@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I get that at work too and often it’s a trust issue. The other fella could get it done faster, but could he get it done equally well? Support time will eat future development time.

  • CurlyMoustache@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    61
    ·
    1 year ago

    This is like when the customer loudly proclaims they can get the item cheaper somewhere else, and just stare at you like a cow in a field when you say they should go there then

    • Deestan@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      1 year ago

      It is not possible to give more accurate estimates.

      Yes we understand it is not possible, but we really really want more accurate estimates so you need to make more accurate estimates.

    • Unaware7013@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      Engineers: We need more accurate SOWs and less feature creep.

      Management: Please add this other feature in the same time period

  • Naia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    I’ve always tried to estimate more time than I think a task will take unless I know it’s only like a simple task.

    If I think it will take a few hours, I estimate a day. A day or so is 3. 3 or more becomes a week.

    I’ve ran into way to many tasks somone else blindly put at a day and when we start to work the ticket we descover a ton of complications. I’ve seen so many 1-3 point tickets I’ve seen take multiple weeks because nobody thought about how deep the rabbit hole could go.

    • TheGreenGolem@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      I also really like when they ask for an estimate on brand-new tech. How much time? I really, truly don’t know, because I’ve literally never worked with it in my life, nor anybody at the company. It could take 2 days or 2 weeks. Let’s just say I’ll tell you when I’m finished.

    • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Ideally, tell them it will take 3 times your estimate and do it in 2 times your estimate. You’ll either look fast or correct.

    • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      That’s a rookie move. 2 hours can easily turn into 8 hours. If that happens, you still have to work on other things too. For a two hour task estimate a week. Two weeks to test and fix it when it breaks.

    • Ser Salty@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Always multiply your estimates by a factor of 4, so you can gain a reputation as a miracle worker

  • Blapoo@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    18
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    Never give firm estimates. It’s done when it’s done. Feel free to check in.

    • hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      26
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Customers kinda want to know in advance if a task will take 2 hours or 200 hours in advance

    • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      As someone who has been doing this for two decades, I disagree. Give a firm estimate, and always deliver before you said you would, just make sure you pad the fuck out of that estimate so that it would be virtually impossible not to accomplish it.

  • SARGEx117@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    1 year ago

    “why don’t you listen to what you just said in your head, and let’s start this conversation over from before going into it with the wrong attitude” is a more polite version of “the fuck did you just say? Start over and drop the bullshit at the door.”

    And I wholeheartedly recommend using it if the occasion pops up. It’s not rude, not confrontational, allows the person who said the dumb thing to hopefully realize their mistake and brush it off without being directly called on it. Any supervisor that is worth working for won’t bring it up again.