The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Way to bring feminist victimhood into things.

Thirty minutes later, the electrician arrived and assessed the problem. He then picked up the laptop, carried it the front of the room, and placed it on the podium next to the screen. The projector immediately came to life when he plugged it in.

NakedJayBird is entirely right. If the "electrician" were a lady, she probably wouldn't have been called an electrician. She probably would have been hired as, and paid as, a secretary with a technician's job.

obediah · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Surprised:
Odd... we haven't yet had the mandatory meta-comment on whether the purported WTF is actually a WTF.
I'll bite. This is a very odd article, because it's funny but it's not an actual WTF.

There definitely are some WTFs lurking in this article.

Policy should be for any meeting to start with an overview of room features ( how to use projector, control lights, etc... ). Either this building didn't send a support person for this run through, or the execs refused it - either way WTF?
The volume should have been checked before the meeting started by the people maintaining the room. Surely they have a checklist for this sort of thing.
Any conference room should have a prominent sign "If you have trouble with the equipment or environment in this room call XXX". And that number should not go to an electrician. Although the electrician title could just be a dailywtf embellishment.

kastein · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Frustrated:
kastein:
apparently people have a hard time right clicking the desktop, selecting properties, going to the settings tab, and checking a few boxes/setting the resolution properly... it's not exactly rocket science, just some settings.

kastein:
...the semi-redundant, completely incompatible configuration applet...A reboot is required to re-synch it properly, else neither one will work. As long as you are REALLY careful to never use the built-in one, it "works"...

You realize that in one post you explained why people treated you as demigods for knowing how to work it? A projector should just work by plugging it in. Most people don't know how to change their display resolution, why would they think to go to those settings to setup a projector?

Yeah... goes for the company computers with the crappy software, I fault no one for not getting those working. The other one made me sad though :(

As for it "just working", I guess you could write some software up that would use DDC data from the monitor/projector to autodetect and autoconfigure the projector, but last time I had a system try to do that for me, it got the supported resolutions wrong and so one of my monitors was stuck at 800x600 and nothing could change it. I ended up cutting the DDC wiring in the cable I was using and just forcing it to use what I wanted. I'd love such a feature just for the awkward "executive plugs in projector and it automatically starts projecting the awkward internal email on his screen before he can disable it" stories, though.

Addendum (2009-03-25 14:18):

Frustrated:
kastein:
apparently people have a hard time right clicking the desktop, selecting properties, going to the settings tab, and checking a few boxes/setting the resolution properly... it's not exactly rocket science, just some settings.

kastein:
...the semi-redundant, completely incompatible configuration applet...A reboot is required to re-synch it properly, else neither one will work. As long as you are REALLY careful to never use the built-in one, it "works"...

You realize that in one post you explained why people treated you as demigods for knowing how to work it? A projector should just work by plugging it in. Most people don't know how to change their display resolution, why would they think to go to those settings to setup a projector?

Yeah... goes for the company computers with the crappy software, I fault no one for not getting those working. The other one made me sad though :(

As for it "just working", I guess you could write some software up that would use DDC data from the monitor/projector to autodetect and autoconfigure the projector, but last time I had a system try to do that for me, it got the supported resolutions wrong and so one of my monitors was stuck at 800x600 and nothing could change it. I ended up cutting the DDC wiring in the cable I was using and just forcing it to use what I wanted. I'd love such a feature just for the awkward "executive plugs in projector and it automatically starts projecting the awkward internal email on his screen before he can disable it" stories, though.

obediah:
1) How many of you have every paid someone to change the oil in your car? bought prepared food? hired someone for home repair? paid for childcare?

Joke's on you! No, I haven't...

cparker · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

I'm interpreting this as a warning from Scott that even the best of us become total idiots when we reach the enterprise executive level.

If you ever find yourself using words like "synergize" and "monetize" on your own in a serious discussion, or if you ever start thinking enterprise software written in Java coupled with at least a dozen buzzwords (Hello, IBM!) is a good idea, I have one word for you...

RUN.

kastein · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

On the other hand, I am seemingly incapable of using this forum software properly, and doubled up my post... I think I'll hire someone to post for me...

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Peter:
Way to bring feminist victimhood into things.

Thirty minutes later, the electrician arrived and assessed the problem. He then picked up the laptop, carried it the front of the room, and placed it on the podium next to the screen. The projector immediately came to life when he plugged it in.

NakedJayBird is entirely right. If the "electrician" were a lady, she probably wouldn't have been called an electrician. She probably would have been hired as, and paid as, a secretary with a technician's job.

This is based on what, exactly? I've run into female techs - not exactly common, but they exist, and aren't paid as secretarys.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

obediah:
Yay, let's bash all the people that aren't competent and current in the minutia of our jobs and hobbies!
I encourage everyone to take a second from gleefully bashing every CEO, professor, grandma, and general Luddite that can't hook up a projector or resolve other basic computer problems to consider 3 things:

How many of you have every paid someone to change the oil in your car? bought prepared food? hired someone for home repair? paid for childcare? Paid for any service you could easily do yourself after a few days of research/practice? Do you consider yourself an idiot because of that?

Just like on atomic, cellular, and other scales - society is capable of much greater things when it's members specialize. It's stupid and destructive to deamonize expertise and specialization. Pick what you like best and do it the best that you can. Depend on other people to do the rest, and respect them for what they can do, rather than deride them for what they can't do.

This type of article just isn't appropriate for thedailywtf - for the same reason student mistakes aren't posted. If someone is a professional developer, sysadmin, or support provider and they fail epically at their job - then it is fair game. Someone that is paid to be a programmer, calls themselves a programmer, and can't write good code is an annoyance we can relate to, and someone we should ridicule. Someone that is paid to be a farmer, calls themselves a farmer, and can't write good code is a farmer. Before we ridicule them, we should go look at their farm.

Let's bash people who are incapable of doing things they really should know how to do, like set up a laptop and a projector.

I can change my own oil, but it's more convenient to pay someone else. I can also run a projector and add a monitor to my computer - tasks you'd expect a developer to be able to do.
what exactly is an exec specializing in when they can figure out a light bulb?
is there such a thing as a professional light switch operator?

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Surprised:
watching fish flop around on shore and marveling at their poor land-swimming skills

those were the days, oh how we laughed. right up until poor Jimmy drowned. he assumed, reasonably enough, he could hold his breath longer than the fish. the fish tricked him though, it had an oxygen tank. Jimmy didn't.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

obediah:
3) This type of article just isn't appropriate for thedailywtf - for the same reason student mistakes aren't posted. If someone is a professional developer, sysadmin, or support provider and they fail epically at their job - then it is fair game. Someone that is paid to be a programmer, calls themselves a programmer, and can't write good code is an annoyance we can relate to, and someone we should ridicule. Someone that is paid to be a farmer, calls themselves a farmer, and can't write good code is a farmer. Before we ridicule them, we should go look at their farm.

I think your point 3 is valid (points 1 & 2, not so much), except you missed the fact that the real subject of the WTF was Scott, Director of Applications Management. The article indicates that it has been some time since he did anything technichal, so one must assume that he was technichally skilled at one time. Thus the real WTF, as has been pointed out, that he is completely inept and can no longer even perform the most basic technical feat.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Franz Kafka:
1) I can change my own oil, but it's more convenient to pay someone else. I can also run a projector and add a monitor to my computer - tasks you'd expect a developer to be able to do.

That isn't a question. Try again.

Franz Kafka:
2) what exactly is an exec specializing in when they can figure out a light bulb?

Major Common Sense/Minor Screwing Things

Franz Kafka:
3) is there such a thing as a professional light switch operator?

Yes.

Pope · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Franz Kafka:

Way to bring feminist victimhood into things. I didn't notice them mentioning the gender of the electrician, although my image was a scruffy old codger with a toolbelt.

Oooh... that's also a good one.

My image was of the janitor off of Scrubs.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

This comment is the most sensible one I have seen on here in some time. I would like to expand on point #1: the amount of knowledge that we humans have is increasing at an exponential rate. It is simply not possible to be an expert in every field. I may be a good programmer, but I know nothing about engine repair, HVAC installation, or aircraft piloting, and I seriously doubt I could acquire the necessary knowledge and experience to do any of these things well in a few days. Experts in any field are worthy of our admiration and respect, regardless of whether or not they know how to properly hook up a laptop to an overhead projector.

People are not stupid, and they can tell if you lack respect for them. If you're sniggering behind your back whenever your boss calls you in to solve a minor technical problem, it's a pretty good bet he knows this, and will pass you over for promotion.

There was a comment made here a few days ago that really bothered me. In response to a polite and reasonable question about the article of the day, a commenter replied:

Um, Matt? This may not be the site for you. This site is > for people who actually know at least a little bit about > computers and programming.

Perhaps http://www.disney.com would be a better place to > hang out after school for you?

The attitude on display in this reply was frankly terrible. Why be gratuitously nasty like this? What's the point? If people are genuinely trying to learn, we should welcome it and help them out. One of the main points of this site is to learn from other people's mistakes so that we don't make them ourselves.

Dave

Code Dependent · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

obediah:
1) How many of you have every paid someone to change the oil in your car? Do you consider yourself an idiot because of that?

I used to change my cars' oil all the time. Then I got a Miata. The oil filter is reached by removing the front right tire, and is so difficult to change that you can actually buy a relocator kit. I know how to change the oil in my Miata. I choose to pay someone else (who has the proper equipment) to go to that trouble. Idiocy has nothing to do with it.

obediah:
bought prepared food? Do you consider yourself an idiot because of that?

I'm actually a rather good cook. But when I'm at work and didn't pack a lunch, it's much easier to pay someone for prepared food than it is to try to locate all the food and equipment resources I would need to cook it myself. Again, idiocy has nothing to do with it.

obediah:
hired someone for home repair? Do you consider yourself an idiot because of that?

I have a large, well-equipped woodworking shop. For a time, before I started doing software development, I worked as a carpenter. I have plumbing and electrical experience as well. Just as with changing Miata oil, there are some things I choose to pay someone to do even though I could do them myself. And again, idiocy has nothing to do with it.

The point I'm making here is simply that your illustrations don't fit.

obediah:
2) Just like on atomic, cellular, and other scales - society is capable of much greater things when it's members specialize.

I have to go with a previous poster here: what's specialized about working a dimmer switch?

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Elie:
"The fourteen attendees were handpicked for not only their extensive business knowledge and expertise..."
and later:

"...twelve executives are definitely not enough to change a light bulb."

What happened to the other 2?

It is the Executive version of a Baker's dozen.

Code Dependent · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Dave:
There was a comment made here a few days ago that really bothered me. In response to a polite and reasonable question about the article of the day, a commenter replied:

Um, Matt? This may not be the site for you. This site is > for people who actually know at least a little bit about > computers and programming.

Perhaps http://www.disney.com would be a better place to > hang out after school for you?

The attitude on display in this reply was frankly terrible. Why be gratuitously nasty like this?

That was KenW. It's not his fault; Ken suffers from Coprographia. When he says stuff like that he's really trying to say, "You seem like a nice guy. Smart, too!" It just comes out wrong for him.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

So who was going around conference rooms dimming the lights and turning down the phone ringer?

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Code Dependent:
kastein:
...then the manufacturer's applet flips out and doesn't work randomly.
So, what... it works consistently?

not random != consistent

See the distribution of prime numbers or the digits of pi for further details.

Code Dependent · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

JuanCarlosII:
not random != consistent
See the distribution of prime numbers or the digits of pi for further details.

Okay, I'm game. If it doesn't work randomly, and it doesn't work consistently, how does it work?

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Did they ever find the token that fell out of the network cable?

obediah · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Neil:
one must assume that he was technichally skilled at one time. Thus the real WTF, as has been pointed out, that he is completely inept and can no longer even perform the most basic technical feat.

Per the article, that was 20 years ago. I'd bet my life that 20 years ago Scott knew everything there was to know about presenting PowerPoint from a laptop to an overhead projector.

Code Dependent:
But when I'm at work and didn't pack a lunch, it's much easier to pay someone for prepared food than it is to try to locate all the food and equipment resources I would need to cook it myself

When you've got 14 executives, each making 6-8 digits a year, that you've flown in from all over the world to steer a $40,000,000,000 company, it is easier and cheaper to call support than to have them figure out the controls for a random conference room in Atlanta.

I only make 5 digits a years, and even I think it would be a waste to learn the controls of every conference room I end up in. When I was 20, I saw it as a test of ingenuity and reason to be the first to figure it out, but now I realize it's just a waste of everyone's time.

And again, idiocy has nothing to do with it.

So when you take advantage of someone else's work to solve a problem that you have no interest in it is wisdom, and when Scott does it, it is idiocy? I think I'll let George Carlin explain this one for me: "Have you noticed that their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff?"

Anon Ymous · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Stephen Gazard:
Anonymous:
Something is clearly amiss here - you can't actually dim fluorescent bulbs.

Nope, it's not. They've been around for a few years. This one is new to me admittedly.

I've seen a church with 2 foot high dimmable fluorescents in a church in Brockley about 2 years ago. Impressive things

CCFLs have been dimmable for more than a decade. Years ago I took an old guitar and built a speaker into it with an internally mounted cold cathode fluorescent lamp that adjusted intensity based on the audio signal.

ParkinT · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

"A meeting (Summit) is: a group of people who individually can do nothing and collectively agree nothing can be done!"

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

obediah:
Yay, let's bash all the people that aren't competent and current in the minutia of our jobs and hobbies!

I encourage everyone to take a second from gleefully bashing every CEO, professor, grandma, and general Luddite that can't hook up a projector or resolve other basic computer problems to consider 3 things:

1) How many of you have every paid someone to change the oil in your car? bought prepared food? hired someone for home repair? paid for childcare? Paid for any service you could easily do yourself after a few days of research/practice? Do you consider yourself an idiot because of that?

WRONG! Big difference in your argument here. We don't pay for goods and services that we can't do ourselves rather we pay for the convenience. It's not that we're incapable of doing such things... it's because we need something done and need it done within a reasonable amount of time.

It's common sense that if you're not getting a signal on a projector and nothing's hooked up to it that YOU WON'T GET ANY OUTPUT! Even after watching the "electrician" hook it up once, it would be easy enough for them to repeat the process.

2) Just like on atomic, cellular, and other scales - society is capable of much greater things when it's members specialize. It's stupid and destructive to deamonize expertise and specialization. Pick what you like best and do it the best that you can. Depend on other people to do the rest, and respect them for what they can do, rather than deride them for what they can't do.

This defeats your first point, but I do agree with it.

3) This type of article just isn't appropriate for thedailywtf - for the same reason student mistakes aren't posted. If someone is a professional developer, sysadmin, or support provider and they fail epically at their job - then it is fair game. Someone that is paid to be a programmer, calls themselves a programmer, and can't write good code is an annoyance we can relate to, and someone we should ridicule. Someone that is paid to be a farmer, calls themselves a farmer, and can't write good code is a farmer. Before we ridicule them, we should go look at their farm.

I think it is appropriate due to the fact that between 14 people, that can't do a simple task such as turning on the lights which doesn't require any sort of specialization to do.

hatterson · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

obediah:
Yay, let's bash all the people that aren't competent and current in the minutia of our jobs and hobbies!
I encourage everyone to take a second from gleefully bashing every CEO, professor, grandma, and general Luddite that can't hook up a projector or resolve other basic computer problems to consider 3 things:

How many of you have every paid someone to change the oil in your car? bought prepared food? hired someone for home repair? paid for childcare? Paid for any service you could easily do yourself after a few days of research/practice? Do you consider yourself an idiot because of that?

Just like on atomic, cellular, and other scales - society is capable of much greater things when it's members specialize. It's stupid and destructive to deamonize expertise and specialization. Pick what you like best and do it the best that you can. Depend on other people to do the rest, and respect them for what they can do, rather than deride them for what they can't do.

This type of article just isn't appropriate for thedailywtf - for the same reason student mistakes aren't posted. If someone is a professional developer, sysadmin, or support provider and they fail epically at their job - then it is fair game. Someone that is paid to be a programmer, calls themselves a programmer, and can't write good code is an annoyance we can relate to, and someone we should ridicule. Someone that is paid to be a farmer, calls themselves a farmer, and can't write good code is a farmer. Before we ridicule them, we should go look at their farm.

I agree with your general idea, however I don't really think it applies in this case.

Granted I believe the execs get a pass on the phone ringer. From the sounds of the article the attitude was more of a "whatever I can't be bothered, just send someone to fix it" which is perfectly reasonable. It's not their phone, they shouldn't have to bother themselves with finding the ringer volume.

However, not understanding how a light dimmer works is an entirely different matter. In my career in the IT field I have never once built, wired or installed a light switch or a dimmer. However I am well aware of how to use them.

This isn't calling a mechanic to change your oil. This is calling a mechanic because your car won't start and having the problem actually be that you never even tried turning the key.

The other two fall under the category of basic problem solving skills. The execs did not see it fail and immediately call someone to fix it because they couldn't be bothered to figure it out, instead they attempted to solve it themselves by displaying sheer stupidity.

If your laptop doesn't hook up to the projector at your seat, and then you try another seat, don't you think that your next course of action would be to glance around the room and see if there is possibly some magical location (like the presenters stand) where a laptop would make sense to be hooked up? Next, if your laptop is not sending a signal from a station where another laptop was should not one of your first thoughts be "is it plugged in?"

As I said, this is not IT magic. This is trivial problem solving skills.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Franz Kafka:
Peter:
Way to bring feminist victimhood into things.

Thirty minutes later, the electrician arrived and assessed the problem. He then picked up the laptop, carried it the front of the room, and placed it on the podium next to the screen. The projector immediately came to life when he plugged it in.

NakedJayBird is entirely right. If the "electrician" were a lady, she probably wouldn't have been called an electrician. She probably would have been hired as, and paid as, a secretary with a technician's job.

This is based on what, exactly? I've run into female techs - not exactly common, but they exist, and aren't paid as secretarys.

So you've run into female techs, and recognized them as such. Excellent. This does not counter what Peter and NakedJayBird had to say. The existence of female techs who are compensated appropriately does not negate the existence of secretaries who are given tasks outside the scope of their jobs, up to and including technical assistance to corporate dweebs. And I think that the latter is more likely to be found in an environment with clueless corporate dweebs than the former, based on personal experience and what I've heard from my colleagues.

Really, I took the comments about electrician/secretary to say more about the corporate morons and their dimwitted attitudes than about any 'feminist victimhood'. Methinks you project a bit much.

Code Dependent · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

obediah:
So when you take advantage of someone else's work to solve a problem that you have no interest in it is wisdom, and when Scott does it, it is idiocy?

"Idiot" is a term you brought up; not me.

savar · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Nothing about this article sounds right.

It reads just like one of those, "I'm a tier-1 customer support rep and this guy called to tell me he broke the drink holder on his new computer..." stories.

obediah · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

LightStyx:
WRONG! Big difference in your argument here. We don't pay for goods and services that we can't do ourselves

You don't???? You must be one of those people that can do anything (probably better than anyone else). Weird, I bump into you guys all the time on the internet, but never in real life!

It's not that we're incapable of doing such things... it's because we need something done and need it done within a reasonable amount of time.

I doubt the 14 CEOs would have starved to death ( in the dark, and without a presentation ), had they not had support. And for 14 myopic workaholics that have spent their adult lives chasing corporate power, the amount of reasonable time to spend hooking up a projector is about 1 minute.

2) Just like on atomic, cellular, and other scales - society is capable of much greater things when it's members specialize. It's stupid and destructive to deamonize expertise and specialization. Pick what you like best and do it the best that you can. Depend on other people to do the rest, and respect them for what they can do, rather than deride them for what they can't do.

This defeats your first point, but I do agree with it.

How so? The CEOs paid an "electrician" to do his job, so they could do theirs. I'm sure his fees were a minuscule portion of the cost of the meeting.

I think it is appropriate due to the fact that between 14 people, that can't do a simple task such as turning on the lights which doesn't require any sort of specialization to do.

Again with this. I don't know if you people have never been to a conference, haven't realized this site embellishes, or just like to assume the worst in people. But I've never been in a conference room where the lighting was controlled by one switch and one dimmer ( which would be a horrible design anyway ). Touch screens, banks of switches and knobs, or custom boxes to control everything in the room are most common, usually with 2-5 independent lighting circuits.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

obediah:
Neil:
one must assume that he was technichally skilled at one time. Thus the real WTF, as has been pointed out, that he is completely inept and can no longer even perform the most basic technical feat.

Per the article, that was 20 years ago. I'd bet my life that 20 years ago Scott knew everything there was to know about presenting PowerPoint from a laptop to an overhead projector.

Um, no, the article doesn't say he stopped working on technical things 20 years ago - it says he spent 20 years climbing the corporate ladder. I assume he didn't spend one day on tech things, then immediately move into the job of corporate do-nothing until 15 years later when he was finally promoted to director.

Assuming he spent 10-15 years in the corp and this story took place recently, he should be current on Powerpoint at least as of 2000.

Also, the assumption that an IT director loses all tech skills and stops all learning and understanding of tech related things the moment he leaves the trenches is a terrible one and if true, Scott should be shot and left for dead by his IT staff.

Moss · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Franz Kafka:
NakedJaybird:
Same role, different title based on gender: Since a man was helping them, they called him an "electrician." If it was a woman, they would have called her an "assistant," or "secretary."
TRWTF is that they called this person "the electrician," because they would not have had any idea who that guy really was. I bet his real role was a "technician."

Way to bring feminist victimhood into things. I didn't notice them mentioning the gender of the electrician, although my image was a scruffy old codger with a toolbelt.

"I'm Scruffy. The janitor."

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Aaah, finally we've identified TRWTF: calling something "soccer" which the rest of the world knows as "football" while calling something football which is played wihtout touching the ball with your feet in 99% of the time.

Many greetings from the other side of the pond :)

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

So this was a management meeting for Mass Effect 2?

Code Dependent · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
...calling something football which is played wihtout touching the ball with your feet in 99% of the time.

Just think of it as being in the same category with driving on the parkway and parking on the driveway.

Sutherlands · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Obediah, obviously you have trouble parsing the English language. Let me fix this so that it's a little bit easier for you to grasp the meaning.

obediah:
LightStyx:
WRONG! Big difference in your argument here. We don't pay for those goods and services because we can't do [them] ourselves

You don't???? You must be one of those people that can do anything (probably better than anyone else). Weird, I bump into you guys all the time on the internet, but never in real life!

obediah:

It's not that we're incapable of doing such things... it's because we need something done and need it done within a reasonable amount of time.

I doubt the 14 CEOs would have starved to death ( in the dark, and without a presentation ), had they not had support. And for 14 myopic workaholics that have spent their adult lives chasing corporate power, the amount of reasonable time to spend hooking up a projector is about 1 minute.

I'm not sure what your example has to do with the article. For instance, they didn't spend about 1 minute trying to hook it up. They also didn't try anything reasonable, which is what the article was about. LightStyx, otoh, is spot on in saying that we don't change our oil because we are lazy or idiotic (your point), and instead prefer other people to do it for convenience.

obediah:

I think it is appropriate due to the fact that between 14 people, that can't do a simple task such as turning on the lights which doesn't require any sort of specialization to do.

Again with this. I don't know if you people have never been to a conference, haven't realized this site embellishes, or just like to assume the worst in people. But I've never been in a conference room where the lighting was controlled by one switch and one dimmer ( which would be a horrible design anyway ). Touch screens, banks of switches and knobs, or custom boxes to control everything in the room are most common, usually with 2-5 independent lighting circuits.

You think this is the case for a conference room that holds 14 people? This isn't a theatre stage, and it's not a hall that holds 200 people. I therefore refute the notion that the most common way is something more difficult to grasp that what is in your basic home.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Summit Presentation March 25. 2009

PowerPoint:

● Boring ● Too generic ● Old fashioned

WTF Holdings 1/2

Summit Presentation March 25. 2009

Forum post:

● Witty ● Detailed ● Way of the future

WTF Holdings 2/2

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Aaah, finally we've identified TRWTF: calling something "soccer" which the rest of the world knows as "football" while calling something football which is played wihtout touching the ball with your feet in 99% of the time.
Many greetings from the other side of the pond :)

Well, the name "handball" was already taken, so their next best option was to just use the name of a game nobody in the U.S. was interested in. :P

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Do you also on occasions get the feeling reality has bent slightly into a Dilbert cartoon?

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

The Chub-Chubs are Coming!!:
So you've run into female techs, and recognized them as such. Excellent. This does not counter what Peter and NakedJayBird had to say. The existence of female techs who are compensated appropriately does not negate the existence of secretaries who are given tasks outside the scope of their jobs, up to and including technical assistance to corporate dweebs. And I think that the latter is more likely to be found in an environment with clueless corporate dweebs than the former, based on personal experience and what I've heard from my colleagues.
Really, I took the comments about electrician/secretary to say more about the corporate morons and their dimwitted attitudes than about any 'feminist victimhood'. Methinks you project a bit much.

I'm not the one projecting. The original comment about electrician/skelekratary is the one that dragged the whole poor feminist thing into the thread. Everything about that is speculation driven by what I have no idea.

And anyway, the corporate morons aren't sexist - they're just biased against anyone who isn't them.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

PHB:
Did they ever find the token that fell out of the network cable?

Nah, dude, this is ethernet. The ether must've leaked out.

WhiskeyJack · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Dave:
This comment is the most sensible one I have seen on here in some time. I would like to expand on point #1: the amount of knowledge that we humans have is increasing at an exponential rate. It is simply not possible to be an expert in every field. I may be a good programmer, but I know nothing about engine repair, HVAC installation, or aircraft piloting, and I seriously doubt I could acquire the necessary knowledge and experience to do any of these things well in a few days.

OK, Dave, you might know nothing about engine repair, HVAC installation, or aircraft piloting.

But you know enough to know that your engine won't start if you run out of gas.

You know how to turn your air conditioner on and off.

You know how to fasten your seat belt when you sit in an airplane.

The point of the story is that these are pretty basic skills for people in this particular field. No, it's not fair to expect any man on the street to be able to figure out projectors and PowerPoint. But executives spend a HUGE amount of time doing this (or so you'd think). And they weren't always executives, with assistants and secretaries at their every beck and call -- at one point they were doing the nitty gritty things themselves. And everyone uses a phone, practically every day. Phones have had ringer controls for decades. Even if it's a phone you've never seen before, you should be able to at least start to figure it out.

There's something to be said for logical thinking and common sense. If I stick you in a room and you cannot figure out how to turn on the lights, then I must conclude that (a) you are not very good at critical thinking, or (b) the light switch in the room is incredibly complicated. Granted I've definitely seen instances of (b)...

DaveK · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Madball:
Is it a WTF if I don't understand credit default swaps, nickel-resist casting, thermodynamics, or astrophysics as an IT guy?

If you end up as a top-level executive of a firm dealing in those things, yes, of course it is.

pink_fairy · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Gharp:
Madball:
I know it's cool to laugh a users, we all do it, but come on... (snip) As amusing as it is, it's not a WTF. Is it a WTF if I don't understand credit default swaps, nickel-resist casting, thermodynamics, or astrophysics as an IT guy?

The dimmer switch: As difficult to understand as astrophysics.

To be fair, those execs might have degrees in astrophysics -- there's nothing in the story to suggest one way or the other.

On the other hand, if they spend their working hours at conferences discussing the synergy of enterprisey solutions, they clearly have a functional IQ of 0. Under the circumstances, a "dimmer" switch would be supernumerary.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

It seems that most of the above commenters have never heard of usability:

-If the dimmer button will go all the way to off, then an on-off switch is useless and should be gotten rid of.

-Either the people in the room are not willing to be disturbed and the phone should be unplugged, or they are and the phone should ring normally. What is the purpose of a phone that rings silently ?

-Every one who has used a projector will agree they are over complicated. Hitting fn-F4 and going to the screen setup seem reasonable options because we've tried it again and again, whereas the thing should just work by itself and select the best resolution also by itself.

As Joel Spolsky said: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000062.html (paraphrasing) Even the brightest of minds will only use 10% of their brains to turn on a light

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

obediah:
Yay, let's bash all the people that aren't competent and current in the minutia of our jobs and hobbies!

Plugging a cable is not minutia. Stop advocating idiocy.

I encourage everyone to take a second from gleefully bashing every CEO, professor, grandma, and general Luddite that can't hook up a projector or resolve other basic computer problems to consider 3 things:

How many of you have every paid someone to change the oil in your car?

I usually pay them every time, yes. Oh, you mean ever? Yeah. Changing oil in your car is all-in-all much more difficult than plugging a cable in, or flipping a switch, not to mention it takes much more time than any of those.

bought prepared food?

What does that have to do with anything? I buy prepared food when I don't have time to cook. Cooking takes much more time than plugging a cable in.

hired someone for home repair?

Depending on type of repair. If it's simple stuff that's generally safe, I do it myself.

paid for childcare?

I don't have children. And if I had, your argument still doesn't make any sense. All throughout your line of argumentation you compare apples to oranges. Taking care of a child is more time consuming, and usually more complicated, than plugging a cable in.

Paid for any service you could easily do yourself after a few days of research/practice?

If I needed that service immediately, then sure. If not, no.

Do you consider yourself an idiot because of that?

No, I consider anyone who can't plug in a cable or flip a switch and then tries to rationalize it an idiot.

3) This type of article just isn't appropriate for thedailywtf - for the same reason student mistakes aren't posted.

Actually, I'm pretty sure there was a mention of student mistakes a few times in the articles. Either way, you should ask for a refund.

If someone is a professional developer, sysadmin, or support provider and they fail epically at their job - then it is fair game. Someone that is paid to be a programmer, calls themselves a programmer, and can't write good code is an annoyance we can relate to, and someone we should ridicule. Someone that is paid to be a farmer, calls themselves a farmer, and can't write good code is a farmer. Before we ridicule them, we should go look at their farm.

This still has nothing to do with completing tasks that were designed to be simple, and you know it.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Franz Kafka:
The Chub-Chubs are Coming!!:
So you've run into female techs, and recognized them as such. Excellent. This does not counter what Peter and NakedJayBird had to say. The existence of female techs who are compensated appropriately does not negate the existence of secretaries who are given tasks outside the scope of their jobs, up to and including technical assistance to corporate dweebs. And I think that the latter is more likely to be found in an environment with clueless corporate dweebs than the former, based on personal experience and what I've heard from my colleagues.
Really, I took the comments about electrician/secretary to say more about the corporate morons and their dimwitted attitudes than about any 'feminist victimhood'. Methinks you project a bit much.

I'm not the one projecting. The original comment about electrician/skelekratary is the one that dragged the whole poor feminist thing into the thread. Everything about that is speculation driven by what I have no idea.

And anyway, the corporate morons aren't sexist - they're just biased against anyone who isn't them.

There is no 'poor feminist' connotation. Just because someone turns on the light or plugs something in does not make that person an electrician. The narrator's word selection is interesting; it suggests executive ignorance, which is a primary contributor to WTF-ism. Exposing every possible avenue of executive ignorance is part of the fun, including the inability to identify someone's real role, and resorting to stereotypical guessing.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Sutherlands:
You think this is the case for a conference room that holds 14 people? This isn't a theatre stage, and it's not a hall that holds 200 people. I therefore refute the notion that the most common way is something more difficult to grasp that what is in your basic home.

I've been to conference rooms for 20 people that have a two banks of eight unlabelled switches, spaced several meters apart, to control the lighting.

In one, there were also a handful of projector cables, to one of which some helpful soul had affixed a piece of tape suggesting it be tried first. Nothing mentioned the remote control was in the podium, though.

DaveK · 2009-03-25 Reply Admin

obediah:
1) Policy should be for any meeting to start with an overview of room features ( how to use projector, control lights, etc... ).

Holy crap, your job must be boring!

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

NakedJaybird:
There is no 'poor feminist' connotation. Just because someone turns on the light or plugs something in does not make that person an electrician. The narrator's word selection is interesting; it suggests executive ignorance, which is a primary contributor to WTF-ism. Exposing every possible avenue of executive ignorance is part of the fun, including the inability to identify someone's real role, and resorting to stereotypical guessing.

While turning on the lights does not make someone an electrician, it's certainly a much better bet than "secretary". Especially when they're there because you asked for someone who can fix the wiring.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
NakedJaybird:
There is no 'poor feminist' connotation. Just because someone turns on the light or plugs something in does not make that person an electrician. The narrator's word selection is interesting; it suggests executive ignorance, which is a primary contributor to WTF-ism. Exposing every possible avenue of executive ignorance is part of the fun, including the inability to identify someone's real role, and resorting to stereotypical guessing.
While turning on the lights does not make someone an electrician, it's certainly a much better bet than "secretary". Especially when they're there because you asked for someone who can fix the wiring.

They called the electrician because "the cable wasn’t long enough to go from the table to the ceiling" not to "fix the wiring." No one calls an electrician for that.

2009-03-25 Reply Admin

Which is dumber, the executives or some of these comments?

Do they even own cars that they drive themselves? Can they turn the lights on and use the radio, windshield wipers, etc in THOSE?

Captcha: Damnum. As in, I do not give one damnum about people who have IQs less than room temperature and who make seven figure salaries.

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