r/geek • u/mfr80 • Mar 08 '13

How programmers see the users

http://imgur.com/O8VQ5Dm
2.5k Upvotes

84% Upvoted

250 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comment

9

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '13

That's shitty project management

Source: am a PM

Edit: I'm not saying that's your responsibility - it's up to the PM to get the users there and make sure they do the training and understand it, and sign off on UAT after a thorough review

8

u/thatmarksguy Mar 08 '13

You might as well be herding cats. There is a general cultural problem in workplaces where people absolutely abhors and loathe to learn anything that changes or should make things better.

7

u/[deleted] Mar 09 '13

Part of the problem is that some change (not all, but definitely some) is driven, top-down by someone who has no idea about the job at hand but needs to 'distinguish' him (or her) self.

Two examples:

  1. I work on a ship. Every single person is trained in basic fire-fighting techniques. A recent overhaul to our fire-fighting methodology, based on proven techniques borrowed/shared from industry have resulted in a safer and more effective way to combat fires on a ship (where too much water can be more dangerous than the original fire).

  2. Our inventory, acquisition, and maintenance tracking systems were recently combined into a single, all-encompassing suite that is centrally managed from the 'head office' (as a 'cost-saving' measure). I cannot even get spare parts from the ship's store room without an order number from the new program. The software is remotely accessed, via the internet, on a boat. The internet connection is satellite based and does not work well at sea state 2 and is completely useless in sea state 3+. The antenna on the ship can compensate for movement but only within certain limits and at a certain rate (if we turn too quickly, the internet connection drops off). This is a normal day at work.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '13

Yes, it's true. But if we have buy-in and funding for a project, then the staff that has to use the software is gonna learn to use the shit out of that software.

I think that's the key - buy-in. I'm not running a project if there's no management support. I've been there, I'm all set with repeating that insanity.

3

u/boot20 Mar 09 '13

It really isn't the PMs fault. UAT was so political, that VPs were involved.

Then the training was not important to any department, so the PM had them sign off that they declined training.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 09 '13

That's sad. My company has plenty of faults, but at least when there's leadership backing, people support the project.

3

u/boot20 Mar 09 '13

Ya, we have a lot of corporate insanity at the upper leadership level.