Venting......

[smh]

I am really pissed at the people I am working for right now. I have completely revamped this program that I am working on 8, count them 8 times! After they see a new little thing that I did for the program, they want more, and more, and more. This was supposed to be a week long project. I was supposed to be a simple little program for people to enter in any problems with hardware, software, and phones. Now, it is a complete Help Desk system, with billing for all departments and more. AND...now that I have the program completed for the eighth time in VB, they NOW want to change it to a Web based program. I am going to loose my head!!!! Tell you what, they are going to have to pay me a hell of a lot more money to work with these clients again...

[PJB]

unfortunately that's a common problem, the best ya can do is state every thing up front in a contract, easier said then done though

[smh]

The problem is that I do not deal with the contract, my boss does, and he doesn't know how to say 'NO'. Very frustrating!!!

[G.Kumaraguru]

Change your BOSS !!!

[PJB]

ya that is frustrating, might want to explain to him that unless he plans on writing the code himself then it wil be done on your terms, or find a new boss

and every now and then just open the window and scream out it, believe me it helps

Tell your Boss he is losing money that way. The only and l repeat only way to do this is to produce the specs get the client to sign off on them, do the coding, and if they want changes then they become additional to the original requirement and requirement specs costing etc etc.

If you leave it open the program will never be completed. It's called "the moving goalpost syndrome".

That really used to piss me off as well, till we slotted in project management.

[smh]

We even have a project management team, and that is another reason why this project is not getting finished. If they would do their jobs right in the first place (Which they never do) then I wouldn't run into this problem to this extent. I have never seen this project's project manager do any work, except for show up late for meetings. And then if I ask her a question about what we talked about in the meeting, she has no idea what I am talking about.

[PJB]

buy a gun and shoot anything that moves
or not, either way

[parksie]

Hehe. Like that guy in america. Maybe his project management team weren't up to scratch either.

[PJB]

or smacking your boss with a flounder could be amusing

[PJB]

sorry,
ya deal with it day by day, not much ya can do

[smh]

OK, went and took a break and got over it....until I have to do yet another version...

[parksie]

Calm down...I can hear the teeth grinding from across the atlantic

If they say do another version, just say no

Unfortunately, SMH can't. That particular job is for the
Project manager.

1. If SMH says no, that gets SMH's butt reprimanded (read
that: fired in 6 months) for not being a "team player"
2. gets the project manager off the hook by saying "Hey,
I was keeping the client happy...and JUST GETTING READY to
RENOGOTIATE THE CONTRACT"
3. Pisses of the client who then goes directly to head of
contract services which generally means you wouldn't get a
contract for ****-all in that town again

You might try keeping a paper trail and making sure
(subtly) that your project manager KNOWS about it. Short
of that, keep the paper trail but keep it a secret.


Been there, done that. It's time for CYA, guy.

[parksie]

Damn...that annoys me...because that seems unfair

I mean - it seems here that smh is paid to do something, then they make her do twice as much

It would appear they select IT Managers on their lack of knowledge and professional ethics. smh company must be lossing money hand over fist due to the management structure.

Yeah, Jethro's right. SMH has just got make sure the ole'
ass is covered up tight.

Looking for a new job isn't a bad idea also.

[smh]

I tell ya, if this happens on the next project, I just might do that. I don't like not having control of my own project.

[paulw]

smh,

Just make sure that your next project is well defined and costs are controlled. You will almost certainly find out that project-creep happens.

First it's "Let's get married in 2001", then
"What about the reception?"
"50 guests only" (Cost control) - you end up with 200
"Honeymoon?" - You start thinking about Tahiti and end up going to the Tahiti Motel 'n' Dine in Sioux City (You have to claw back some of the wild overspend on the reception)

Then project creep really sets in - you want to buy a $50,000 car when you realise that diapers and formula milk are really expensive.

So, remember, define your boundaries before saying "I do"!

Cheers,

P.

[smh]

I don't have the choice of saying 'I do'. My boss assigns the projects as they come in to whomever can handle them, and as I am the only VB programmer here right now, they all come to me. I have 13 projects lined up right now. With the expected timelines of the projects, I am booked for the next 2 1/2 years. I think I have convinced the boss that I need help, or we are going to have some very pissed off customers. (The company I am working for is only celebrating it's 1 year anniversary on Thursday, so I think this is the reason why we are being hung up so much. (It would also have helped if they didn't pull the project management team from our customer service phone department! They had no experience what so ever!))

[paulw]

Whoa... You're not marrying the boss... are you!?

Cheers,

P.

[smh]

NO WAY! He's old enough to be my father!

He He ....

[smh]

My fiance and I could NEVER work together. We are the two most stubborn people you have ever seen. We both like to be in charge of any project that we do. When we tried to put our son's crib together before he was born, we almost killed each other because we each had our own way of wanting to go about it. (I was actually reading the directions. )

And by the way, the way he wanted to do it didn't work. Ha Ha

[smh]

Oh.....look at that....I think I have gotten my sense of humor back with the new day....

[paulw]

There ya go...

Cheers,

P.

How big are your projects...(no snide comments lads)...it's a serious question.

We generally allow the person is doing the coding for small to medium sized projects to handle the whole thing themselves. With a few guidelines and meetings to keep them on track.

[parksie]

How big are your projects...(no snide comments lads)...it's a serious question.

Sure it is

[smh]

I am working on two projects right now. The one that is causing me the headache was supposed to be a quick throw it together project of 1 to 2 weeks. It has changed so much now that I have begun month 5.

My other project that I am working on is pretty large. It was slotted to be at least a six month project in the beggining, but after the boss looked at what I actually have to do, it has changed to a year long project. We have two months slotted for testing at the end of that. This program will handle accounting for about 25 million dollars (and this amount has grow 5 million a month for the last 2 months, so I expect to to continue to grow), so we have to make sure that there is no room for mistake.

Another thing that I should make clear is that I get paid on salary. I may get a bonus here and there, but my salary is mainly it. So, no matter how long I work on a project, I won't loose money. So, it's my businesses fault if they can't get their act together and get better trained project managers.