• Ren (unregistered)

    Clearly an educated and well-loved boss. I'd like to see his evaluations.

    The guy uses his own money, time and technical experience and is treated like crap for it? I'm surprised he didn't quit on the spot.

  • (cs)

    So the dilemma is: Are the words "Fuck You" instead of "Understood" worth two months of pay?

    I say they are, but then I have narrowly avoided financial troubles so far.

  • (cs)

    Makes one wonder why the market is still going up...

  • (cs)

    Sounds like Drab's PC earned its name by reputation!

  • (cs)

    A year passed

    I hate it when people say this, but... this is the real WTF.

  • greyrat (unregistered)

    Meh. I see nothing unusual here. Not even a WTF. And he should have kept his app to himself. When are people going to learn that keeping your head down in Corporate America is the only way to survive. And the only way to get a raise is to go somwhere else.

  • PoorContractorAtInternetGiant (unregistered)

    No good deed goes unpunished, and no management incompetency goes unrewarded: just another day in the corporate world!

  • James (unregistered)

    I'd been wondering for a while why my employer had an entire department, with its own building, dedicated to maintaining the student database; when I had to request a thousand student records last week, I found out. After a week of waiting for what should have been a single SELECT query taking seconds, I contacted the guy handling it, who said it was a big job and offered to meet and discuss if maybe there was an easier way. All was explained when I entered: there on his desk sat a printout of my e-mailed list of student ID numbers, with the course data I had requested hand written beside each ID number.

    After a brief discussion, my request was transferred to their IT guy, who sent me the requested data by e-mail the following day. I just wonder what would have happened otherwise - and how much staff time gets spent each year on manual processing of trivial SQL queries!

  • whatever (unregistered)

    Obviously then you're not that great of an employee. I've increased my salary to an amount almost 3 times my starting salary in 7 yrs with the same company by being the best developer I can be.

    I know lots of worthless job hoppers who have to keep hopping from job to job because if they don't they'll eventually get demoted or fired. These people are paid way to much and hired for things they can't possibly do well. Their only recourse is to abandon ship before they are cast out like the trash they truly are.

    If changing jobs is the only way you can get ahead, then maybe you should look inward and see if you are truly as good as you think you are at what you do.

  • (cs) in reply to greyrat
    greyrat:
    Meh. I see nothing unusual here. Not even a WTF. And he should have kept his app to himself. When are people going to learn that keeping your head down in Corporate America is the only way to survive. And the only way to get a raise is to go somwhere else.

    I agree with keeping the app to himself. He should've "proposed" it later on to management. If they denied it, just keep using it for himself. If approved, he'd be a savior. As far as the raise goes, I have to agree with...

    whatever:
    Obviously then you're not that great of an employee. I've increased my salary to an amount almost 3 times my starting salary in 7 yrs with the same company by being the best developer I can be.

    I've managed to go up approximately 50% in 3 years of working here - and dealing with 2 mergers. Of course I had to adamantly convince them on a promotion and various raises over time. I still haven't reached Engineering pay, though. But, it's more than I made at all the other companies around here. It more than covers cost of living, too.

  • (cs)

    Gotta hand it to Warren for at least attempting to stick up for a good employee. Not too many first-level bosses would even try. He doesn't deserve the crappy employee he undoubtedly got stuck with next.

    Now, to be clear, Christian's barcode scheme still involved printing out the orders, right? Pretty impressive: a wooden-table process that's still significantly better than the previous method.

    Two heroes in this story ...

  • Anon (unregistered)

    Christian R. was in trouble. Despite his experience across hardware and software, desktops and server clusters, thumb drives and SANs, he hadn't found any freelance work in weeks. It was clear that he'd have to figure something out to pay the bills.

    For a few weeks...

    A year passed...

    Two months later, he found a new position and has been there for several years now. (at compusa???)

  • (cs)

    The first paragraph of this post seemed entirely unnecessary, and doesn't appear to relate to anything in the rest of the article.

  • 5|i(3_x (unregistered) in reply to whatever
    whatever:
    Obviously then you're not that great of an employee. I've increased my salary to an amount almost 3 times my starting salary in 7 yrs with the same company by being the best developer I can be.

    I know lots of worthless job hoppers who have to keep hopping from job to job because if they don't they'll eventually get demoted or fired. These people are paid way to much and hired for things they can't possibly do well. Their only recourse is to abandon ship before they are cast out like the trash they truly are.

    If changing jobs is the only way you can get ahead, then maybe you should look inward and see if you are truly as good as you think you are at what you do.

    You're either a troll or very lucky to have found a great employer your first time out.

  • James Schend (unregistered) in reply to whatever
    whatever:
    Obviously then you're not that great of an employee. I've increased my salary to an amount almost 3 times my starting salary in 7 yrs with the same company by being the best developer I can be.

    I know lots of worthless job hoppers who have to keep hopping from job to job because if they don't they'll eventually get demoted or fired. These people are paid way to much and hired for things they can't possibly do well. Their only recourse is to abandon ship before they are cast out like the trash they truly are.

    If changing jobs is the only way you can get ahead, then maybe you should look inward and see if you are truly as good as you think you are at what you do.

    Devil's Advocate: If you can the same raise by not doing a good job, but changing jobs, what's wrong with that?

  • (cs) in reply to AbbydonKrafts
    AbbydonKrafts:
    I agree with keeping the app to himself. He should've "proposed" it later on to management. If they denied it, just keep using it for himself. If approved, he'd be a savior. As far as the raise goes, I have to agree with...

    I've managed to go up approximately 50% in 3 years of working here - and dealing with 2 mergers. Of course I had to adamantly convince them on a promotion and various raises over time. I still haven't reached Engineering pay, though. But, it's more than I made at all the other companies around here. It more than covers cost of living, too.

    I guess my company's odd, then. It's why I keep trying to leave but can't.

    Every app we make to make our lives easier gets publicized, eventually. Some even get rolled into base code (libraries) or put on an internal webserver for everyone to use.

    We keep getting good raises, and just got a pay bump to be much more competetive (losing enough programmers made the Execs realize that...)

    Not everything is shiny happy, but people are listening. I guess that's the real WTF.

    If an app like the OPs was made, it'd be mainstream in 6 months, after all the QA processes finish. The code might be mangled in parts, but it'd be good enough for all but the purists.

  • Eventually (unregistered)

    I'm writing a "new system". It's coming... soon.

    If somebody here came up with a temporary measure to save some time, great. Just don't screw anything up and give me more work. The problem most likely didn't come from corporate IT, it came from some manager's toes being stepped on.

  • Michael (unregistered) in reply to gabba
    gabba:
    Gotta hand it to Warren for at least attempting to stick up for a good employee.
    WTF?! That wasn't sticking up for anything. What kind of crap bosses have you had that make this guy look good?
  • Some Job Hopper (unregistered) in reply to whatever
    whatever:
    Obviously then you're not that great of an employee. I've increased my salary to an amount almost 3 times my starting salary in 7 yrs with the same company by being the best developer I can be.

    I know lots of worthless job hoppers who have to keep hopping from job to job because if they don't they'll eventually get demoted or fired. These people are paid way to much and hired for things they can't possibly do well. Their only recourse is to abandon ship before they are cast out like the trash they truly are.

    If changing jobs is the only way you can get ahead, then maybe you should look inward and see if you are truly as good as you think you are at what you do.

    I'm a software developer who set up a branch office in a foreign country for my former employer. After a year of making that place work, and causing the company to actually ship a new software product for the first time in 3 years, I was rewarded with a "raise" that amounted to a paycut of ~$3000.

    After I went on vacation, one of the power hungry managers in the office told the boss a bunch of lies. After being accused on the basis of these lies, I quit.

    Two months later (back in the United States), I get hired at another company for twice what I was making before. A year later, the old boss calls up to see if I'd be willing to go back and manage the branch office again; seems it's hard to find good people willing to live in third world countries these days.

    For good people there's no need to "job hop", but don't let that stop you from hopping to a better opportunity.

  • Andrew (unregistered) in reply to James Schend
    James Schend:
    Devil's Advocate: If you can the same raise by not doing a good job, but changing jobs, what's wrong with that?

    That's why sites like this exist. Incompetent employees change jobs before they get fired.

    People realize that they can't do their job. Then, they leave the employer while the project(s) still look good on their resumes.

  • PoorContractorAtInternetGiant (unregistered)

    There's something not stated in this story at all, which may have some legitimate bearing on why this guy got in such deep trouble, and of all things, it comes down to internationalization and competition based on merits:

    ISO certification.

    Yes, it is entirely possible (without knowing the details of what really was going on in detail) that the whole reason this process improvement (clearly it was, in terms of efficiency and accuracy) ran afoul of upper management, and could cause someone to be considered worthy of losing their jobs if they screw up again, is that it completely violated all that ISO certification stands for: a documented, repeatable process that is consistently used as the way they do business and all things related unto it.

    You see, even process improvements need to go through a process of process improvements where everything is carefully documented in a prescribed manner such that the whole process of the process improvement is a repeatable process of process improvement in and of itself, in a nicely documented process. Got all that? GOOD! There are commercial advantages to being able to be ISO-certified, and if a vendor doing business with your company finds you committing process hanky-panky, that's grounds for cancellation of contracts, or at least threatening that, because chances are, using your company as a vendor is provisioned on them being ISO-certified, and likely your customer may also be ISO-certified, and quite possibly for the whole trail of paperwork to be properly processed, they need to show a complete line of ISO-certification, depending on what their customers require. Thus, someone going maverick and improving the process without going through due process ends up possibly processing a pink slip, because it may result in the whole company effectively being given a pink slip.

    Perhaps the most curious thing about this whole ISO certification and all the processes associated with it, is that computers, automation, and efficiency are not absolute requirements: what is required is repeatability of the process, including the process for process changes.

    Of course, it's entirely possible I'm overanalyzing this, and the place is so goofed up they're inflexible to process improvements (though still, he technically did a bad thing by not getting QA or whatever management to approve his experimentation, since if things went wrong, the company would be up a creek trying to explain why to customers) and they're not remotely ISO-certified, and have no delusions of becoming so.

    And yes, I've worked at a place that earned ISO certification during my stay there, so I can speak from first-hand experience of how this sort of thing works.

  • Mike (unregistered)

    I am reminded of this song from How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPEX_ET-i3Y

  • KattMan (unregistered) in reply to Andrew
    Andrew:
    James Schend:
    Devil's Advocate: If you can the same raise by not doing a good job, but changing jobs, what's wrong with that?

    That's why sites like this exist. Incompetent employees change jobs before they get fired.

    People realize that they can't do their job. Then, they leave the employer while the project(s) still look good on their resumes.

    Spoken as though every company out there is always doing things right and the only incompetent ones are the ones in the trenches, AKA the programmers. There are incompetent bosses, and companies that do not recognize the value of their employees. Do not think that everyone that has to change jobs does so because of their own lack of skill. There are cases for both sides of this argument and any of you that think it is all or the other are yourselves complete and utter fools.

    CAPTCHA: tristique, now I want to know since I am registered, why do I need to fill out this CAPTCHA.

  • Abu Dhabi (unregistered)

    Were it me in Christian's place at that meeting... well, let's just say that Larry had better hope he's better at unarmed combat than I am.

  • Ace (unregistered)

    Assuming he worked on his side project at home, I would be surprised he didn't get fired for taking customer data & order information home.

    That being said, I would have likely developed a similar application.

  • Stefanie (unregistered)

    Is it just me, or is this just depressing? It doesn't even seem funny, just really sad. I mean, I know everything on the site is sad when you think about it, but I kinda expect this site to be like watching America's Funniest Home Videos... a montage of dudes getting hit in the jewels, people falling on ice, dancing old ladies falling down, etc. Sure, all that stuff is depraved if you really think about it, but it's still funny. This just doesn't seem like it is. And I think the site rename is asinine. I would stop reading this site just out of spite, but I don't have anything better to do with my life. Maybe I'm just having an off day. I didn't even giggle when I typed jewels.

  • ForcedSterilizationsForAll (unregistered)
    Al Gore:
    whatever:
    Obviously then you're not that great of an employee. I've increased my salary to an amount almost 3 times my starting salary in 7 yrs with the same company by being the best developer I can be.

    I know lots of worthless job hoppers who have to keep hopping from job to job because if they don't they'll eventually get demoted or fired. These people are paid way to much and hired for things they can't possibly do well. Their only recourse is to abandon ship before they are cast out like the trash they truly are.

    If changing jobs is the only way you can get ahead, then maybe you should look inward and see if you are truly as good as you think you are at what you do.

    So now you make a whole $6/hour troll

    Nah, he probably makes 18 or 19 an hour. ;)

  • (cs) in reply to PoorContractorAtInternetGiant
    PoorContractorAtInternetGiant:
    There's something not stated in this story at all, which may have some legitimate bearing on why this guy got in such deep trouble, and of all things, it comes down to internationalization and competition based on merits:

    ISO certification.

    (snip)

    Of course, it's entirely possible I'm overanalyzing this

    I think it's entirely probable. ;)

    (Not saying what you've said is inaccurate, having gone through the ISO Certification process myself, just that this story sounds more like a set of patched together processes combined with a manager whose ego bruises easily)

  • Bejesus (unregistered) in reply to PoorContractorAtInternetGiant
    PoorContractorAtInternetGiant:
    And yes, I've worked at a place that earned ISO certification during my stay there, so I can speak from first-hand experience of how this sort of thing works.

    I've worked at three places where we've had ISO 9001 Tickit certification forced upon us, twice as the dev manager.

    It takes about a day to implement, and that day is an investment you will never see a return on. If you spend more than a day on it, you've got too many over complex processes and you will be lucky if ISO doesn't kill your business.

    ISO is entirely useless in every single way except one: Keeping the Quality Department in work. It contributes nothing but cost to a business and creates a culture where noone is responsible for anything, the process is always to blame.

    However, much as I would like to think so, it is unlikely that ISO is to blame here.

    The far more likely theory is simply that Larry is a moron and an asshole and Christian should have quit a year before his review.

  • Patrick (unregistered) in reply to Arancaytar
    Arancaytar:
    So the dilemma is: Are the words "Fuck You" instead of "Understood" worth two months of pay?

    I say they are, but then I have narrowly avoided financial troubles so far.

    That's why you keep your resume up to date and occasionally open up the want ads/monster/dice etc, regardless as to what industry you're in, or how satisfied you are with your job. The worst you can do is sit around and take shit from an a boss like that. Complacency is the reason why people get taken advantage of in the first place. If you're on top of your game, you know where you can go next if needs be, rather than be the next poor schmuck that has to sit around and put up wit this crap.

  • (cs) in reply to PoorContractorAtInternetGiant
    PoorContractorAtInternetGiant:
    You see, even process improvements need to go through a process of process improvements where everything is carefully documented in a prescribed manner such that the whole process of the process improvement is a repeatable process of process improvement in and of itself, in a nicely documented process.
    I can hear a dinosaur's arteries hardening now.
    PoorContractorAtInternetGiant:
    Perhaps the most curious thing about this whole ISO certification and all the processes associated with it, is that computers, automation, and efficiency are not absolute requirements: what is required is repeatability of the process, including the process for process changes.
    So how does retyping orders by hand satisfy the requirement for repeatability? If the original wooden table process satisfied whatever requirements were applicable, then I really don't see how this barcode improvement could violate those requirements. And if anybody else in the company thinks they have a "new system" that's better, let them put up or shut up.
  • I.M. Terrified (unregistered) in reply to Abu Dhabi

    Oohhhh..scary. Try that with me, I'll scan your ass.

  • TheRealWtf (unregistered)

    So the information is in an email, and he turns it into a barcode, prints it and uses a barcode scanner to get it back into another system. Were the printed barcodes by any chance put on a wooden table?

  • (cs) in reply to Stefanie
    Stefanie:
    Is it just me, or is this just depressing? It doesn't even seem funny, just really sad.
    Definitely sad. It sucks, but I can say I have seen this happen many times; both to other people and myself. It's often the result of higher-ups who are: -Afraid of change -Afraid of losing control -Afraid of losing respect -Offended by those who are better at a job than they are -Offended by people who do not follow process for process' sake Whether any of the above items are real or imagined.

    HOWEVER...

    Processes and procedures are in place at companies for a reason; if they are not followed, a business can unwind very quickly. I don't fault Christian for trying to be more efficient; I fault Christian for: 1.) Not getting buy-in and support from his boss early-on 2.) Implementing his software on company computers (or transferring customer info onto computers under his control, however he accomplished the printing) 3.) Failing by doing 1 & 2 and still telling other staff members about his program

    So, it sucks that management didn't do a better job of recognizing his talent and gently correcting his behavior, perhaps even acknowledging his contribution in the process (while removing it from production pending review or the implementation of their own system), but opportunities like this get wasted in business all the time.

    The best unsolicited advice I can give is to steel yourself to the inevitability that this is how life works and it's unlikely to change, and always do everything you can to cover your own ass no matter what size organization you work for.

  • GrigLars (unregistered)

    This isn't a WTF after the first half, IMO, but I have to say I have been in this employee's shoes before.

    A former boss of mine kept threatening me about layoffs. He knew I have lived through many of them. Finally, after an almost comical threat like a Mafia sketch from Monty Python, this comment went across:

    Him: So I am not sure giving you a raise would be beneficial to your continued employment. I think you should always take my advice, eh? Me: I make $65,000 a year for a job where I was just offered $75,000. Him: Really? Then you should take it. [laughs] Anyone who wants to pay YOU... well, go ahead. Grab it! Opportunity of your lifetime!

    [ two weeks later]

    Me: Here's my resignation. Him: WTF??? Me: You said to grab that job that offered me $75k. So I did. Him: You... why?? Me: You told me to. You told me I should always take your advice. You said if there was any company willing to pay me that, to grab the opportunity. I had three offers, but I picked the one I liked best. Him: ??? Okay... ... really? Someone offered YOU...?

    SoooOOOooo glad I left.

  • Dave (unregistered)

    The new system would just have bugs in it anyway.

  • Salami (unregistered)

    The mistake people make is that they get desperate for a job then take a job at places where no one wants to work. Places like this see employees as replaceable, and while they will promise raises and bonuses they don't deliver very often. And even if yo do manage to get a raise through heroic efforts, when it comes time for layoffs, you are the first one out the door. The key thing is to accept a bad job, but only temporarily and continue to look for decent work through all avenues.

    When large companies sell software services, it is for how much the client is willing to pay and not how much work is involved. One dedicated and halfway competent junior programmer can easily deliver $1,000,000 in software a year, if the company's salesmen know what they are doing, the client has deep pockets and charge something crazy like $250 an hour. Junior programmers can make more money for the company than Senior programmers, becuase they will work 50 times the hours, constantly reworking and debugging big sections of code, all of it billable. For that million, the junior programmer might make $26,000. He gets raised to $35,000 and he can't believe how much he is making.

  • Salami (unregistered) in reply to TheRealWtf
    TheRealWtf:
    So the information is in an email, and he turns it into a barcode, prints it and uses a barcode scanner to get it back into another system. Were the printed barcodes by any chance put on a wooden table?

    If he didn't print it, then he would have no record of the order being entered into the store system. The printed copy acts as the receipt for the transaction. Paper is an important part of a lot of busniesses.

  • (cs) in reply to PoorContractorAtInternetGiant
    PoorContractorAtInternetGiant:
    You see, even process improvements need to go through a process of process improvements where everything is carefully documented in a prescribed manner such that the whole process of the process improvement is a repeatable process of process improvement in and of itself, in a nicely documented process. Got all that?
    No. It was too much to process.
  • (cs) in reply to PoorContractorAtInternetGiant
    PoorContractorAtInternetGiant:
    There's something not stated in this story at all, which may have some legitimate bearing on why this guy got in such deep trouble, and of all things, it comes down to internationalization and competition based on merits:

    ISO certification.

    <snip>

    And yes, I've worked at a place that earned ISO certification during my stay there, so I can speak from first-hand experience of how this sort of thing works.

    Of course, you could just pay some sort of quasi standards organisation (say, in Europe) to push your "standard" through the ISO process without going through all the rigmarole usually associated.

    Nah, no one would go to all that trouble, would they?

  • Paul (unregistered)

    Geez... sounds like a certain computer company in City of Industry CA who "had" stores all over the country.

  • (cs)

    To those who say he should have kept his head down and not shared his app, I think that's silly.

    I find that "corporate karma" tends to even out in the end. Those people you helped may eventually get you a job elsewhere. I'm in the animation industry and the entire thing is practically founded on good connections and being a well-liked.

    Every job and freelance opportunity I've had has been based on connections with co-workers and former co-workers who liked me, who I'd helped out, and knew I had skills. I wrote countless tools to make their jobs easier, saved studios hundreds of thousands of dollars with a few days work, and so on.

    Meanwhile, quieter, less vocal "worker bee" types are constantly being let go, rehired and swimming around the industry, never really getting anywhere professionally.

    Keep your head up and you'll get noticed above the crowd.

  • Franz Kafka (unregistered) in reply to caffeinatedbacon
    caffeinatedbacon:
    Processes and procedures are in place at companies for a reason; if they are not followed, a business can unwind very quickly. I don't fault Christian for trying to be more efficient; I fault Christian for: 1.) Not getting buy-in and support from his boss early-on 2.) Implementing his software on company computers (or transferring customer info onto computers under his control, however he accomplished the printing) 3.) Failing by doing 1 & 2 and still telling other staff members about his program

    No, that's not what he did wrong. He made someone powerful look foolish.

  • (cs)

    The real WTF is that once he already went through the trouble of parsing his emails, he output barcodes and then hand scanned them in again, when he could've just used the data from the parsing to enter an order for him without any manual process at all.

  • kbiel (unregistered)

    I wonder if Christian was working at CompUSA. It would explain a lot.

  • Todd (unregistered)

    I would have done the same thing as I did at my last review. Give them hard metrics on the work that you have done and compare it to other people at the position, state that the current wage was not enough to keep you from looking. Tell them their standard raise doesn't work in IT even when they say that's the best they can do. Then start looking for a new job, and find a new job within two weeks that pays a lot more, then when current company makes a counter offer quietly laugh inside and turn them down, then go work for new company, then when the old company calls again to see if you want to come back, laugh quietly inside again and tell them you aren't interested.

    Yes, all that really happened

  • (cs) in reply to PoorContractorAtInternetGiant
    PoorContractorAtInternetGiant:
    There's something not stated in this story at all, which may have some legitimate bearing on why this guy got in such deep trouble, and of all things, it comes down to internationalization and competition based on merits:

    ISO certification.

    Y'know, it's a shame that your clarion call for "internationalization and competition based on merits" didn't get mentioned at all. In fact, you're utterly and completely right. This is the obvious moral to be drawn from the story.

    ISO Certification, yay! But which? 9000, 9001, 9002, or 9003? One of them works really well for combine harvesters, but I can't remember which one it is. I need enlightenment, or at least a really nifty combine harvester.

    PoorContractorAtInternetGiant:
    You see, even process improvements need to go through a process of process improvements where everything is carefully documented in a prescribed manner such that the whole process of the process improvement is a repeatable process of process improvement in and of itself, in a nicely documented process.
    Well, I'm almost convinced ... Could you talk us through this one more time? Only, this time, add more "process," *improvement," "process improvement," and "improvement of process," not to mention "processing the process" and "repeatable." (Don't mention "Repeatable." I think I mentioned it once, but I got away with it.)

    On the other hand, it is entirely possible that you are being sarcastic. In fact, now I come to think about it, you must be.

    But I can't be bothered to delete the rest of this post.

    Addendum (2007-12-11 18:14): Looking again at the quoted bits here, they definitely appear to be sarcastic. Surely, it's not possible to write 1984-style gibberish like this without some sort of humorous intent?

    Unfortunately, I referred back to the original, and it probably is possible. Either that, or I need to take my sarcasm detector in for a 60,000 mile service.

  • Todd (unregistered) in reply to whatever
    whatever:
    Obviously then you're not that great of an employee. I've increased my salary to an amount almost 3 times my starting salary in 7 yrs with the same company by being the best developer I can be.

    I know lots of worthless job hoppers who have to keep hopping from job to job because if they don't they'll eventually get demoted or fired. These people are paid way to much and hired for things they can't possibly do well. Their only recourse is to abandon ship before they are cast out like the trash they truly are.

    If changing jobs is the only way you can get ahead, then maybe you should look inward and see if you are truly as good as you think you are at what you do.

    That's really not that fast. I make 3 times as much as I did when I started 3 years ago and I am at my 3rd job now. Both times I quit, I quit a few weeks after a review, I was going to get a 20% raise but by changing jobs I got a lot more than that.

    You learn a lot more by switching jobs too, learn new processes, and technologies you wouldn't otherwise. I might stay at this job for a while though because I don't know where else I could take 6 weeks of vacation a year. :P

    Moral of the story is, it's a good market (if you think it's not you need to move), you have the power now to make good deals if your skills are good.

  • Timb (unregistered)

    Deploying your own software onto a work PC without permission just sounds like a bad idea to me. You're asking for trouble. He should have taken the software to his manager and asked if he could use it. There are legal questions about who owns the software and he would likely have to sign something to say he was donating it for company use, along with the source code so that the company could make sure there were no back doors.

  • David (unregistered)

    My tip for anyone who wants to bring in great improvements like this ... is to get management on side before you start work on it. I know it shouldn't be necessary, and you would think they would reward your initiative by going alone.

    Management like to be in control, I guess.

    You don't need a big profile around it, just get a key manager to back your idea first (at the very least, give you the nod to try it out). I've found the outcome always superior in terms of work support, management rewards etc.

Leave a comment on “Illicit Process Improvement”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #:

Log Out

« Return to Article