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Tshirt size estimate supremacy
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Apr 5, 2021 22:05
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Some fuckery is going in with how one the bigger research projects I work on is being managed. We switched the management aspect from MS Teams to JIRA but maintained project documents, chat, etc on Teams. Now the PM has been creating JIRA tasks/issues left and right and the JIRA pages themselves refer to the current project phase as Sprint 04. WTF
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Apr 5, 2021 22:32
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I don't think the PM knows what Jira is
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Apr 5, 2021 23:00
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I'm actually a dumbass that is trying to get promoted, but just failed to get an interview. Maybe time to focus on being well compensated already and stop trying. Adopt the IDGAF model.
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Apr 5, 2021 23:06
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Mojo Jojo posted:We're building the case for sacking John lol, nice
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Apr 5, 2021 23:43
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SirPablo posted:I'm actually a dumbass that is trying to get promoted, but just failed to get an interview. Maybe time to focus on being well compensated already and stop trying. Adopt the IDGAF model. Been around long enough to know that a lot of people get promoted because their best selling point is, "They won't try to change poo poo and therefore make my job harder."
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Apr 5, 2021 23:46
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Boiled Water posted:Try explaining the concept of negative points to people who assign these points and watch their heads combust. To be fair, the thought of workers organising is terrifying for most managers and owners.
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Apr 6, 2021 17:05
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Outrail posted:To be fair, the thought of workers organising is terrifying for most managers and owners. Yep, self-organizing teams make traditional managers nearly obsolete and that owns. I love seeing these old lovely micromanager curmudgeons get all huffy and eventually leave the company when they see the writing on the wall that they suck, have always sucked, and are no longer needed unless they're able to update their management style and learn to trust the people actually doing the work.
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Apr 6, 2021 17:21
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I just found a solution to a problem my office has been having for two years now that I didnt even know existed. We have several grants that need to be reported on to the EPA quarterly. Theres a specific format for one big grant, which has a lot of elements and needs organization, and then the grants I actually report on have much smaller components and don't need as detailed of reports. The big grant has become an issue because the reports are too large to email and the agency doesn't accept them on paper. Due to security reasons the EPA doesn't accept Google drive links or zip files either. So, to send this report, it either has to be under 25mb or possibly hosted on drop box or a non Google drive site (though i don't understand why a separate host would be fine but Google wouldn't be). I was asked to take a crack at it today and I was amazed at what I saw. Apparently the person in charge of this (annoying coworker) has the grant organized as a Google sheets document, with the 1st sheet being organized into tables documenting the status of each item, and then the second sheet being the deliverables (reports, pictures, etc). The deliverables on the second sheet are all screenshots. So a multiple page document has each page as a screenshot, pasted into the sheet and so small you need to zoom in to make anything legible. I assumed they were turning it in as a pdf, but apparently they've just been downloading this sheets file as an excel file and trying to turn it in as a massive mess. I Googled "compress pdf", found that Adobe has a site where you can upload a pdf to compress it, tried that with a 180 page 118mb pdf with the compression set to high, and it came out as 8.4mb with only marginal loss of quality on some of the pictures. Its likely the report was so big because instead of adding the attachments as pdfs, annoying coworker did them as much larger high resolution screenshots. So my solution for them is to go find all those original documents they attached, convert them to pdfs so they're actually legible, download the 1st worksheet with the tables and status of items as a pdf, combine the whole thing with the deliverables after it, and then compress it on the Adobe site to get it under 25mb so they can actually loving email this report. They were almost two months late last time because of this hosed up system. This isn't even my job. Im just trying to be useful on my last two weeks because my boss offered me a letter of recommendation
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Apr 6, 2021 18:27
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Let's see. Our company was expanding and the current office wasn't big enough, so the owner dropped a crapload of money on a new one. We had a bad year and they had to lay off about 20 people a couple months before covid hit (right as the renovations on the building were completing). Then when it hit, the office folks started working from home (half the company were field staff or worked from home normally). An email talks about how there might be a permanent WFH policy. Apparently during some IRS review, they realize employees within 50 miles are considered local employees, so they were supposed to be deducting local taxes. They decided to go beyond this though and anyone within 50 miles would need to start reporting to the office when it re-opens. A couple months later, an email goes out outlining plans for re-opening the office with voluntary and mandatory return to the office dates. They sent this during a period they were doing anonymous surveys. They got slammed with negative responses and canceled the plans. A few months later, they gave new dates and said there would never be permanent WFH option (apparently, the office staff was less productive from home, while the rest of us were just as productive as ever). They again got slammed by people for the return, and the leadership team were neither seen nor heard from for a day or two. These plans were also canceled. More people were let go in January. Since then, over a dozen people have quit. Word is that they have asked again about WFH, told nope, so they are saying gently caress it, and moving on. All because they want to fill seats and justify that expensive building that we probably don't need due to the staff reductions.
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Apr 6, 2021 19:19
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titty_baby_ posted:I just found a solution to a problem my office has been having for two years now that I didnt even know existed. We have several grants that need to be reported on to the EPA quarterly. Theres a specific format for one big grant, which has a lot of elements and needs organization, and then the grants I actually report on have much smaller components and don't need as detailed of reports. Do it, but don;t tell them how you did it. Offer to come back as a consultant.
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Apr 6, 2021 20:06
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Outrail posted:Do it, but don;t tell them how you did it. Offer to come back as a consultant. I explained this whole process to the other employee in charge of this grant but I feel like it just went in one ear and out the other. Maybe ill offer to do the offices grant reporting for $50/hr when I leave lol
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Apr 6, 2021 20:11
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titty_baby_ posted:I explained this whole process to the other employee in charge of this grant but I feel like it just went in one ear and out the other. I have things like that, too. I'll have to explain to some person how to use some specialized software or testing equipment and I get this blank stare back. At that point I know I'll be doing the job for them. which is fine because I am afraid they will mistreat my equipment. It's me, the guy with issues.
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Apr 6, 2021 20:15
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titty_baby_ posted:Maybe ill offer to do the offices grant reporting for $50/hr when I leave lol Aim higher.
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Apr 6, 2021 21:08
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titty_baby_ posted:I just found a solution to a problem my office has been having for two years now that I didnt even know existed. We have several grants that need to be reported on to the EPA quarterly. Theres a specific format for one big grant, which has a lot of elements and needs organization, and then the grants I actually report on have much smaller components and don't need as detailed of reports. how many people paid more than you do you think were involved in this process and couldnt figure something like this out on their own in a million years if they tried? 2? 5? 10?
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Apr 6, 2021 21:45
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BitBasher posted:Aim higher. This. And in case anyone else did not know this thread exists: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3768531 It's about how to negotiate for better pay and benefits. It was huge for me. I can't promise this advice will work for everyone but it's a good place to start. The OP is excellent.
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Apr 6, 2021 21:50
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ben shapino posted:how many people paid more than you do you think were involved in this process and couldnt figure something like this out on their own in a million years if they tried? 2? 5? 10? One. My boss is sort of involved but doesn't really give a poo poo, its just annoying coworker. Who is paid more then me, but thats because she leveraged her position to negotiate better pay when the department was desperate for people, while I was just seeking to jump ship ASAP and putting as little thought and effort into work as possible.
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Apr 6, 2021 22:11
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titty_baby_ posted:One. My boss is sort of involved but doesn't really give a poo poo, its just annoying coworker. Who is paid more then me, but thats because she leveraged her position to negotiate better pay when the department was desperate for people, while I was just seeking to jump ship ASAP and putting as little thought and effort into work as possible. that's not as bad i guess. we suffer from a lot of similar problems, but the amount of people involved from step A to Z that completely fail to notice or come up with solutions for things really boggles the mind sometimes. i'd probably find some way of bringing up the fact that anyone involved in this should have been able to solve this problem a long time ago with like twenty minutes of applying themselves but i'm petty as poo poo 
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Apr 6, 2021 22:15
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Elephant Ambush posted:This. And in case anyone else did not know this thread exists: Just gonna echo that that thread loving delivers. It's also got a fantastic new name, too! 
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Apr 6, 2021 22:26
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titty_baby_ posted:I explained this whole process to the other employee in charge of this grant but I feel like it just went in one ear and out the other. Maybe ill offer to do the offices grant reporting for $50/hr when I leave lol Specialised contractor IT work goes at higher rates than this. You should think about it at maybe $1000/day and any work is a 1 day minimum (even if the task takes you a minute. They don’t need to understand or appreciate that level of minutia).
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Apr 6, 2021 22:48
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ben shapino posted:not to hours but let's say 1 point = 1 day of work so just give estimates in .25 points if you think something is a roughly 2 hour fix Several agile manifesto signers have come out in the last few years saying that points (and perhaps estimation in general) are a mistake that they regret and would never recommend using them. I think Ron Jeffries refers to them as "Razor Blades for Babies".
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Apr 6, 2021 22:58
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I am a middle manager. I have discovered that if I delegate all my work to my reports that both they are happy and my boss is happy. They are happy because they get more responsibility and my boss is happy because I am "training the next generation of leaders". Meanwhile I don't have to do any work all day. My only actual work is hiring new people in a new site. My boss hasn't been able to hire a manager for these new people yet so they report to me. Apparently this site (near the border) has an issue with employees living in Mexico while working for us remotely.  Idgi being across the country from this site but I had to interrogate my new hires on where they lived. Lots of fun.
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Apr 6, 2021 23:00
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Is it too much to ask to get some documents that clearly detail the requirements and the specifications for how everything is supposed to work, and then for the customer to just gently caress off for six to eight months while the developers put it all together?
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Apr 6, 2021 23:01
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Batterypowered7 posted:Is it too much to ask to get some documents that clearly detail the requirements and the specifications for how everything is supposed to work, and then for the customer to just gently caress off for six to eight months while the developers put it all together? Whoa buddy. That’s waterfall talk
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Apr 6, 2021 23:05
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Steakandchips posted:Specialised contractor IT work goes at higher rates than this. Back when I was working for a sole operator at a two-man consultancy my boss got so fed up with a client constantly calling to ask stupid questions he said 'Outrail, every time that prick calls you charge him an hour, every single time I don't care anymore'. I charged the guy 12 hours once on top of 8 hours to another client. Good times.
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Apr 6, 2021 23:06
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vyst posted:Whoa buddy. That’s waterfall talk Listen, add four more months and we can even throw some prototyping in for the customer before QA.
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Apr 6, 2021 23:08
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Batterypowered7 posted:Is it too much to ask to get some documents that clearly detail the requirements and the specifications for how everything is supposed to work, and then for the customer to just gently caress off for six to eight months while the developers put it all together? did your keyboard break or something? your post seems like a bunch of nonsensical gibberish, lets just focus on getting this release out the door and then it's on to the next one, ok?
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Apr 6, 2021 23:09
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Zero One posted:I am a middle manager. I have discovered that if I delegate all my work to my reports that both they are happy and my boss is happy. They are happy because they get more responsibility and my boss is happy because I am "training the next generation of leaders". Meanwhile I don't have to do any work all day. So basically you get paid to do nothing Sounds dope as gently caress
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Apr 6, 2021 23:14
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Steakandchips posted:Specialised contractor IT work goes at higher rates than this. I'm not a specialized IT person by any means (my job isn't really related to computer touching at all, I just know how to Google things) and if they had actually asked our in house IT department for any help at all making this smaller they wouldve figured it out just as quickly as me.
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Apr 6, 2021 23:17
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AHH F/UGH posted:So basically you get paid to do nothing I still have to attend virtual meetings where the boss plays music and expect people to dance. I still feel I'm coming out at a loss.
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Apr 6, 2021 23:19
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We do AGILE with no standardization of what points mean and it's hilarious. Constant points inflation as team leads compete for that sweet sweet praise.
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Apr 6, 2021 23:19
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Batterypowered7 posted:Listen, add four more months and we can even throw some prototyping in for the customer before QA. Jesus christ, 12 months before you release anything?
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Apr 6, 2021 23:22
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Rent-A-Cop posted:We do AGILE with no standardization of what points mean and it's hilarious. Constant points inflation as team leads compete for that sweet sweet praise. Wow we estimated 420 points and got it done in 69, nice job everybody
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Apr 6, 2021 23:22
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Rent-A-Cop posted:We do AGILE with no standardization of what points mean and it's hilarious. Constant points inflation as team leads compete for that sweet sweet praise. Our company doesn’t review historical velocity like at all so every quarter i go back and reduce the velocity of all work items by like 50% so i can keep sprint backlogs small to avoid dev burnout when they have to take on ad hoca and still show a constant upward trend
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Apr 6, 2021 23:27
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i don’t understand the point of points if they’re by definition meaningless every single manager turns them into work estimates instantly while doing the  oh no don’t worry these aren’t real estimates i feel like the people behind agile did this on purpose
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Apr 6, 2021 23:27
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vyst posted:Our company doesn’t review historical velocity like at all so every quarter i go back and reduce the velocity of all work items by like 50% so i can keep sprint backlogs small to avoid dev burnout and still show a constant upward trend I don't know what any of this means, but you sound like a folk hero in the making.
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Apr 6, 2021 23:28
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vyst posted:Our company doesn’t review historical velocity like at all so every quarter i go back and reduce the velocity of all work items by like 50% so i can keep sprint backlogs small to avoid dev burnout when they have to take on ad hoca and still show a constant upward trend thank u for ur service braver than the troops, etc
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Apr 6, 2021 23:31
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like seriously ‘we’re also going to add this numerical measure that everyone has to agree on for each work item THATS TOTALLY MEANINGLESS GUYS SERIOUSLY but no you have to decide what all the numbers are before you start the sprint’ the only other explanation is they were high as kites
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Apr 6, 2021 23:32
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PIZZA.BAT posted:like seriously ‘were also going to add this numerical measure that everyone has to agree on for each work item THATS TOTALLY MEANINGLESS GUYS SERIOUSLY but no you have to decide what all the numbers are before you start the sprint’ The "official" explanation for how they should be used is: quote:Teams assign story points relative to work complexity, the amount of work, and risk or uncertainty. managers who don't understand this, or whose job performance is intricately linked to "whether things go out on time or not" will not see them this way. our managers don't even pretend like they're not supposed to be used as estimates. 1 story point = 1 day of work, we have 15 employees, 10 days in a sprint, thats 150 points we can try to fit into a sprint, also each sprint results in a release and there is probably no way this will lead to problems pretty much every sprint and either way you guys can just tackle the problems last minute like you're so good at doing every time this has happened in the past which is a lot because you guys are really the best and we couldn't do this without you no really the team is awesome good job guys oh hey that manager got promoted, good for them
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Apr 6, 2021 23:37
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PIZZA.BAT posted:like seriously ‘we’re also going to add this numerical measure that everyone has to agree on for each work item THATS TOTALLY MEANINGLESS GUYS SERIOUSLY but no you have to decide what all the numbers are before you start the sprint’ they meant well, but it was a flawed/bad idea that got weaponized by management.https://ronjeffries.com/articles/019-01ff/story-points/Index.html
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Apr 7, 2021 00:00
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