If we’d gone with the Time and Attendance application both Payroll and IT suggested, we wouldn’t be having any of these issues and customisation requests. But nooooooo, you had to let the stores pick what they wanted, and they wanted the flashy piece of crap we’re stuck with now.
(HR and IT were excluded - purposely to my thought - from the “roadshow” meetings demoing the shortlist vendors.)
HR and IT should be the only ones attending vendor demos.
We were (along with Store Ops, which was okay; they generally listen to us). We made our recommendation and then it was decided to go out to the stores to do a demo and let them “have input”. Which turned into them getting their way. To be fair, the front-end of the system is really nice and pretty and user friendly, and the employees are going to love it. It’s the back end that we in IT and Payroll have to deal with that is a fucking ball-sucking mess.
I remember being in a user focus group deciding what mail platform to choose. This was way, way back in time when Outlook was announced but not released.
The choice was between MS Mail and something else (Groupwise?).
Every single person in the user focus group voted for MS Mail. Even before Outlook it was far better than the other option.
The company went with the other option because it was cheaper.
I know that for certain tasks, I get them done closer to the deadline because I’m trying to keep up with the rest of the work assigned to me and it was burned into me over many years that those other tasks are more important than anything else. That importance is emphasized in the metrics which only recently have been changed to shift away from them or downplay them in favor of other metrics. It’s too ingrained in my now to change. I learned some hard lessons years ago about what happens when those other tasks don’t have priority above all else.
I know you want this task done early. It will look good on your metrics. But telling us it must be done early and putting me in a position where I’d have to do it on my vacation is not okay. It will be done when I get back.
Had that same situation last year. PM decreed we need to roll out an antivirus product on four sites.
Over December.
I said sod it, took my leave and went to my family. PM took his holiday, because he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about other people, he is The Most Important one.
January there was a fallout, of course. He got reprimanded for trying to force an installation over the December period though.
Later on we found that the AV product do work on Windows 7, but it causes other issues as well, but he did not want to grant us time to test it properly, and he made some promises in order to curry favour with some people.
Anyways, we rolled the installation back. The entire route is getting an upgrade - new hardware, windows 11 (downgraded to win10 because our software is not 100% on win11 yet) and the new AV product.
I have learnt some lessons. PM also learnt some lessons. But he still falls back to his old ways of not communicating with other people.
We in IT are improving our communications with the other departments though. Slow work, but we’re getting there.
Petter (from Mentour Pilot) is an excellent resource and inspiration with the CRM model, and I’m basing our communications off from that as successful communications will lead to successful projects.
So, said PM may not last longer in this company, as manglement is not very happy with his antics.
Salary bands are just a convenient way to avoid giving people meaningful raises no matter how good they are at their job.
Two years in a row, the company has told a top performer “this is the most we can pay you because you’ve maxed out your salary band.” You even created a new job title just so you could give me a raise, and not 6 months later you have the gall to say “with this minuscule raise, you’re now at the top of the band for your new title.”
Absolutely disgusting.
Dear $Boss,
Calling out every single mistake, no matter how insignificant, is not exactly going to inspire me to do more than the bare minimum.
You’ve already primed me for hearing “yeah, we can’t give you a raise this year” in March 2026 by telling me that I’m maxed out now.
So you’ll have to deal with the consequences of that sometime this year. I hope.
I can fix the issue or I can attend a meeting to talk about the issue and what I need to do to fix the issue. Your choice.
Dear $Boss. I have been doing desktop for nearly a quarter century. So stop treating me like I’m some kid fresh out of school.
Dear $mangler
I did not use my own car for travel, I used a company car. Now my claim will be late, and I do not have fuel funds.
Next week I’m going to play some silly buggers. And it’ll be your fault.
Excuse us?
Think on it for a while. You are responsible for CPE (client premises equipment) at specific toll plazas.
Wednesday we started to have issues with a CPE router (Cisco) at plaza #1. After kicking the can around a bit, it was determined that yes, the switch’s borked, and yes, it is YOUR responsibility to replace.
You then sent an email to our Project Mangler, telling him that you’re waiting for a Purchase Order for a new switch.
Strike 1.
Then, this morning, Plaza #2 did the same thing. Same make and model of gateway router. We did what we could, and put the ball firmly into your court.
Then you sent out an email to the plaza manager, asking said manager that somebody should take that switch and drop it off at your offices. What?
Strike 2.
This, to me, tells of a piss-poor IT department who just loves to kick the can down the road and not take any kind of responsibility for any equipment that’s under their responsibility.
And the weekend is here. Plaza #1 is still down. And Plaza #2 is down as well.
You guys better pray that shit doesn’t happen over this weekend…
So somebody did a sudden resign because of a upcoming hearing… and still got his company laptop and phone.
It is not IT’s responsibility to go and lay a charge at the police station, it’s the manager’s responsibility. So get your butt moving and go to the police station already.
Rant streak over. It’s weekend.
Cheers!
Plaza #1 is back online. Yay. One worry less.
Dear $Colleague
You knew last week that you were going to Mozambique this Monday.
When you arrived at the office, you asked me for a cellphone charger.
Tough shyte. I’m not going to give you my personal one. Suck it up, go to the shop and buy one.
I gave you options on tracker software to use on laptops and cellphones.
You shot it down, deeming it to be too expensive.
Now somebody resigned suddenly, without returning company property.
Now you’re doing the same song and dance again.
fuck off.
Real email from our Change Management manager re: our new time and attendance system (with some details redacted):
"Hi all,
This morning one of the Managers [at pilot store] mentioned that for whatever reason when she tried to sign into [T&A app] using SSO, it never pre-populates her email and/or password, as it does for other systems.
Is there any way that we can change that?"
What I want to say: Seriously? I can think of about 20 other “issues” that need to be solved, and this is what you want to focus on?