Job and General Employment Thread

[willeyeam]

*head nod*

[RonnieFranchise]

I think somebody in manglement just loves a nice long whiteboarding session.

[shmenguin]

In-person whiteboarding is an essential part of corporate strategy. It just is. You need to sit together, collect diverse opinions, read cues, etc. There’s no virtual substitute.

However…this isn’t a daily, weekly or even monthly thing. You have a few summits over the year to align and that’s it.

And this doesn’t apply to every job level.

[mikey]

I used a physical whiteboard yesterday over video for something that would have been easier in person...I wouldn't mind coming in every so often to do that.

Like shmeguin said, it's not a regular thing...and it looks like some alluded to it earlier that people just standby a water cooler and come up with the next Amazon...? What? No. No one is talking about work in common areas unless it's complaining about it...

[NTP66]

Quarterly strategy/roadmaps are not what any of us are talking about. And even then, there's no need for engineers such as myself to do that more than once annually.

[shmenguin]

Engineers come up with micro innovations independently and vet them up through the dev team lead. It’s not collaborative water cooler stuff. It’s more like you saw a cool thing in another application and decide to make your own interpretation.

Your bosses are selling you a line of BS, of course. But there must be a real motive there.

[nocera]

The real motive is the renovation and the unwarranted desire for supervision.

[shmenguin]

The real motive is the renovation and the unwarranted desire for supervision.

renovation...nah. the building exists. some people will go to work because they want to, and will enjoy the luxurious space of the new digs with fewer residents than usual. the company doesn't lose money if people stay home, and you still have the prestige/ego boost of the new office.

[meow]

Preciously. Building costs are fixed costs. Doesn’t matter if 1 dude works there or 1,000 dudes. It’s the supervision that these higher ups desire. They would get a more positive response from “we are going to the office because we said so” than hollow excuse after hollow excuse.

[nocera]

Maybe. Knowing the planning involved and the pride they had afterward for it, I truly believe they want to get use out of the reno even with it being a fixed cost at this point. Honestly, those involved talked about the renovation like it was their firstborn.

[shmenguin]

companies are sensitive to the changing landscape. they want to keep tabs on employees, protect from attrition, make sure new hires are managed appropriately.

your company probably feels a sense of losing control. they're also talking to CEOs from other companies to strategize. this is the "better safe than sorry" strategy

[Troy Loney]

In-person whiteboarding is an essential part of corporate strategy. It just is. You need to sit together, collect diverse opinions, read cues, etc. There’s no virtual substitute.

However…this isn’t a daily, weekly or even monthly thing. You have a few summits over the year to align and that’s it.

And this doesn’t apply to every job level.

We have this like separate team that built out a virtual replica for these work session/ brainstorming meetings. They have to facilitate and build it out for us to use with clients.

I was on a project that did all the planning work for the session. The project was org restructure for their risk management program. But then the client made a huge acquisition and cancelled the project because the work was now meaningless

[NTP66]

"We can't do this virtually" = "we don't have the staff capable of designing this to work virtually".

Period.

[count2infinity]

Every Wednesday morning we have a meeting where we talk high level stuff with company wide focus. By and large, I sit there and say very little unless asked. Today, they held the meeting in a hybrid manner. Had the conference room filled, but also had teams available. I sat at my computer and listened while I worked on other stuff. Of course, the dinosaurs had a solid 15 minute discussion about how good it felt to be back in person and meeting face to face and how it was the best meeting they've had in a long time.

No... it wasn't. It didn't get anything more accomplished than the virtual ones and it was longer than the virtual ones. That's how I measure a meeting's success: most amount accomplished in the smallest amount of time.

[NTP66]

I just presented some Citrix info at one of our Service Desk's two team meetings, and just noticed that they're 1.5 hours long. Woof.

[shmenguin]

new zoom behavior i'm noticing as bathing suit season creeps up...lots of dudes turning a head scratch/face rub into full fledged flexing for the camera and then staring at their arms on their screen.

[willeyeam]

i bet you are noticing that

[shmenguin]

twist ending - it's me doing it

[NTP66]

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

My employer has been sending out e-mails for webinars about project management/what the role of PM is and so on and so forth. I am a worker bee type with a very defined role and have always casted a wary eye towards PM types. So in good faith I signed up to listen and learn about the VALUE ADD provided by project managers.

20 minutes in and this asshat is blabbering on about traffic in the DC metro area.

[Morkle]

My employer has been sending out e-mails for webinars about project management/what the role of PM is and so on and so forth. I am a worker bee type with a very defined role and have always casted a wary eye towards PM types. So in good faith I signed up to listen and learn about the VALUE ADD provided by project managers.

20 minutes in and this asshat is blabbering on about traffic in the DC metro area.

Yup, sounds like a PM.

[meow]

There are two types of PMs: absolute rockstars and completely worthless. They usually reveal themselves within the first 5 minutes.

[nocera]

First day back and I hate it already.

[Orlando Penguin]

Every Wednesday morning we have a meeting where we talk high level stuff with company wide focus. By and large, I sit there and say very little unless asked. Today, they held the meeting in a hybrid manner. Had the conference room filled, but also had teams available. I sat at my computer and listened while I worked on other stuff. Of course, the dinosaurs had a solid 15 minute discussion about how good it felt to be back in person and meeting face to face and how it was the best meeting they've had in a long time.

No... it wasn't. It didn't get anything more accomplished than the virtual ones and it was longer than the virtual ones. That's how I measure a meeting's success: most amount accomplished in the smallest amount of time.

I might have chimed in with that observance and see what the dinosaurs had to say about it.

[pens9192]

Every Wednesday morning we have a meeting where we talk high level stuff with company wide focus. By and large, I sit there and say very little unless asked. Today, they held the meeting in a hybrid manner. Had the conference room filled, but also had teams available. I sat at my computer and listened while I worked on other stuff. Of course, the dinosaurs had a solid 15 minute discussion about how good it felt to be back in person and meeting face to face and how it was the best meeting they've had in a long time.

No... it wasn't. It didn't get anything more accomplished than the virtual ones and it was longer than the virtual ones. That's how I measure a meeting's success: most amount accomplished in the smallest amount of time.

They were just trying to convince themselves back in person was the right decision. This same type of idiotic patting each other on the backs to justify these decisions is going to go on at many companies all summer and into the fall IMO.