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Thread: Efficiencies

  1. #1
    Nec Pluribus Impar Member SwordsMaster's Avatar
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    Post Efficiencies

    Hi Orgahs,

    I need your help in a little poll about workplace frustrations:

    Would you be able to state your position in your company/institution (I don't need the actual institution name if you prefer it was anonymous, and obviously people working for sensitive organisations are free not to reply to whatever parts of this would go against your employers' interests. This is an information gathering exercise to prove a point to a friend who is a business consultant. I just need some real world data...)

    Next, could you please explain what processes are the most frustrating ones for you in dealing with your employer/school/other, and which ones are the most inefficient (efficiency here is something that takes up a lot of your time or is not an efficient use of your skill to no real gain to your employer or yourself - an example would be reports who nobody ever reads, a boring course would not be one, as there is gain for yourself at the end of it -. Please include as much detail in items that are inefficient or frustrating.

    So, for example:

    SwordsMaster (moi), Program manager (position), Progress reports creation (frustrating activity), creating reports quantifying costs which have been avoided (inefficient activity) as it is impossible to quantify how much money you would have spent if you were doing things differently.

    Thanks!
    Managing perceptions goes hand in hand with managing expectations - Masamune

    Pie is merely the power of the state intruding into the private lives of the working class. - Beirut

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    Darkside Medic Senior Member rory_20_uk's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Rory, Medical Advisor, Pharmaceutical Industry. Biggest inefficiencies are related to the Compliance we are forced to jump through for the smallest activitiy. All materials need signing off which is fine. Changing one spelling mistake means it needs to go right throught the process again. Massively time consuming.

    An enemy that wishes to die for their country is the best sort to face - you both have the same aim in mind.
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    "If you can't trust the local kleptocrat whom you installed by force and prop up with billions of annual dollars, who can you trust?" Lemur
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    Nec Pluribus Impar Member SwordsMaster's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Excellent, thanks!

    For the rest of you who are not rory: please share, I would like to get a bit of a sample size. Even you students or not currently employed!
    Managing perceptions goes hand in hand with managing expectations - Masamune

    Pie is merely the power of the state intruding into the private lives of the working class. - Beirut

  4. #4
    Enlightened Despot Member Vladimir's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Vladimir, Impaler, office monkey, writes TPS reports (sans cover sheet).

    The largest problem at my workplace is the familiar relationships between management and a select few staff. Management often forms close friendships with their subordinates and favor compliance over proficiency or innovation. Completely inappropriate and unprofessional; stifles creativity and creates a poor work environment. Employees are often overpaid due to management requiring tasks easily (best?) performed by people who make much less. Professional development and increased job-related skills don't improve performance due to the type of metrics used to quantify success.

    Also: Simple and verifiable errors committed by field offices must go through a non-standardized process for change. Errors that could be fixed by referencing standards headquarters is more aware of than the field offices are. Standardization is still an issue.
    Last edited by Vladimir; 09-10-2012 at 13:32.


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  5. #5
    Nobody expects the Senior Member Lemur's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Lemur, project manager and copywriter, media production company. Anything related to budgeting, esp. on tight projects. Inevitably I have to cut corners and shave hours, and just as inevitably it turns out the account manager held back hours, which means I put the teams under stress for no damn reason at all.

    (Worst is when an account manager comes back and says, "This website/video/newsletter looks cheap," to which we say, "The client paid for cheap," to which they say, "Oh, I only told you about a part of the budget," to which I very much want to say, "Sit on this and spin.")

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    master of the pwniverse Member Fragony's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    I would have every person in the company write down what they do and why they are absolutely necesary. You know how the company works without having to do much research, and you can easily find out where to improve.

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    Banned Kadagar_AV's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Kad, Teacher, meetings where very little concern me or the work that I do. Quite often a very small part of the meetings have anything to do with my subjects or my students. This often make my mind drift, so that I find myself missing information I could have had use of.

    I know what the meetings are about ahead of time, but I am ordered to go even if little concern me. However, as so very little concern my subjects or my students, it is mainly a big waste of my time.

    Also, at many of the meetings about social issues with the students, I have found myself wanting to point out on many an occasion that the problem might lay with the teacher, not the student. Doing that would have the other teachers hate me though. So instead I sit there and listen to unskilled people trying to come up with an external solution to a problem they themselves are the cause of.
    Last edited by Kadagar_AV; 09-10-2012 at 19:27. Reason: added material

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    Nec Pluribus Impar Member SwordsMaster's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Too true, Frags. And perhaps it should be done periodically as part of the board of directors reports. I feel in general, when the question can't be answered 'How much money do we spend on blah?' where blah is an item that is directly related to what makes that company money, and the company spends too much money on things not directly related to making money, but rather policing its people, then you know change is required. If I had an employee which costs me 40k per year, and had to spend another 40k or more on policing that employee, I would be thinking something isn't working.

    Thanks for the answers, gents! It is illuminating to realist most frustration comes management - the people who should be most interested in helping deliver efficiently! You'd think that was their job description!

    Edit:

    Kad, Is the agenda communicated ahead of time? Do you know you'll be wasting your time before you go?

    What is it that makes you go?
    Is it force majeure? (You must go because more senior people tell me to regardless of whether my time is used efficiently)
    Or is it because you need to contribute to a small part of it and end up wasting a large chunk of your time?
    Or because the agenda is unclear on what parts of the meeting will have information valuable to you?

    Thanks for the answers! Keep them coming!
    Last edited by SwordsMaster; 09-10-2012 at 19:19.
    Managing perceptions goes hand in hand with managing expectations - Masamune

    Pie is merely the power of the state intruding into the private lives of the working class. - Beirut

  9. #9
    Nobody expects the Senior Member Lemur's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Quote Originally Posted by SwordsMaster View Post
    It is illuminating to realist most frustration comes management - the people who should be most interested in helping deliver efficiently! You'd think that was their job description!
    Maybe a more accurate description would be that most enduring frustration comes from management. If, say, a Drupal programmer is messing up, I can (a) help, (b) reassign, or (c) fire him. Basically, if there's a hang-up or problem at my level or lower, I can address it.

    Problems that roll downhill from upper management are different; by definition, you can't deal with them directly. Hence the frustration. Hence everybody mentioning it.

    I have probably dealt with more serious issues with people I manage, but because I can deal with them, they don't bother me so much. Whereas a minor tic from management can turn into a throbbing headache.

  10. #10
    master of the pwniverse Member Fragony's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Sometimes it seems that managers make things as confusing as possible with the sole purpose of being the only one who understands it. Worst about them is manager-lingo though

  11. #11
    Nec Pluribus Impar Member SwordsMaster's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Quote Originally Posted by Fragony View Post
    Sometimes it seems that managers make things as confusing as possible with the sole purpose of being the only one who understands it. Worst about them is manager-lingo though
    Sometimes you might be right, Frags, In my experience such insecurities usually are spotted by (competent) senior management once the manager himself loses the connection between what his team is doing and what he is trying to explain to snr management.

    Lemur: Larger corporations sometimes have feedback loops evaluating areas of improvement for managers. If something like this happens at yours, do you ever see any actual changes implemented after? Do processes get better? Management try to fix some of these items that cause frustration?
    Managing perceptions goes hand in hand with managing expectations - Masamune

    Pie is merely the power of the state intruding into the private lives of the working class. - Beirut

  12. #12
    Nobody expects the Senior Member Lemur's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Quote Originally Posted by SwordsMaster View Post
    Lemur: Larger corporations sometimes have feedback loops evaluating areas of improvement for managers. If something like this happens at yours, do you ever see any actual changes implemented after? Do processes get better? Management try to fix some of these items that cause frustration?
    Hmm, my company is more medium-sized than big. The next step up from me is the Account Managers, of whom there are three, two of whom are also founders and Presidents. So ... when I kick upstairs, there's only one layer above me. Maybe this is my particular problem because I'm fairly high-up within my organization?

    Thinking back to when I was in a much larger corporation, there was still a very strict sort of hierarchy past which it was very hard to get heard. Part of why I kept accepting promotions was that I wanted to protect my teammates, and the best way to do it was to step up and take charge. I'm not sure that was a great example either, since the ultimate head of our department was slightly insane. Okay, very insane. We finally got rid of him when he was promoted to work with senior management, and they said, "Oh, this man is insane."

    -edit-

    Quote Originally Posted by SwordsMaster View Post
    Do processes get better? Management try to fix some of these items that cause frustration?
    Yeah, the problem—as I saw it in a large corporation—was that the senior managers usually had a very specific reason for having someone in a post, so if your problem was with that someone, you were out of luck. We could improve processes, and we did, but that did not address the madness of King George. Again, it took him being promoted to get him fired.
    Last edited by Lemur; 09-11-2012 at 18:37.

  13. #13
    Forum Lurker Member Sir Moody's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Sir Moody - Senior Developer (ie glorified code monkey)

    biggest gripe? I am the head of a team of one... that's right I am the Senior Programmer in a team made up of just me...

    There used to be 3 of us with me the Senior, a "journeyman" and our Junior - as it is with most development teams in small/mid sized companies we operate under "dead man's shoes" - you only get promoted if the guy above leaves

    Since I am quite settled that means in order to become a Senior our standard developer left - due to "budget cut backs" it was decided our Junior would be promoted and then we would abolish the junior role

    That's all fine and dandy but the workload remained the same with a developer down - the now promoted Junior realised this wasn't going to change and that technically he had the experience to go "Senior", so he did.

    This leaves me with 3 peoples jobs and worse rather than cutting back on work we are actually getting even more than before...

    Somehow I am staying on top of it but I have some BLINDINGLY bad mood days from time to time - and with all the new work I am rushing from one job to the next and errors are starting to creep in, I don't really have time to test properly any-more so I am getting quite cavalier with the whole thing...

    are we looking for a new developer? no... not even a Junior - it seems the Directors don't see the need since I am keeping up...

  14. #14
    Enlightened Despot Member Vladimir's Avatar
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    Default Re: Efficiencies

    Quote Originally Posted by Sir Moody View Post
    are we looking for a new developer? no... not even a Junior - it seems the Directors don't see the need since I am keeping up...
    Squeak wheel, squeak!


    Reinvent the British and you get a global finance center, edible food and better service. Reinvent the French and you may just get more Germans.
    Quote Originally Posted by Evil_Maniac From Mars
    How do you motivate your employees? Waterboarding, of course.
    Ik hou van ferme grieten en dikke pinten
    Down with dried flowers!
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



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