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Doing The Smart Thing

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BrownOut

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I work in one of the worst managed departments ever. The only thing the managers care about is saving money, and so we don't have the tools needed to properly execute our projects. I'm constantly fighting with management to do better, to the point I think they are nearly ready to terminate me. My coworkers don't say anything to management out of fear of retaliation. So, what is my next move? Do I fall in line and do inferior work or keep pressing the issue and take the chance of being terminated? BTW, if I get fired, I'll be OK. I have other business interests and savings. I just want to do the smart things.

Also, I'm aware of the risk of posting my issues on a public forum. I'm 99.99% certain they don't read this; they aren't even technical people.
 
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I think that with these types, unless you put something down on paper which details where time and money are lost by doing things the hard way, breaking down the time lost per task vs the time gained with the correct tools and factoring in the outlay costs, over a certain time period, they just cannot see where you are coming from.

Taking the task on, even in your own spare time, shows that you actually do care about what you are doing and would like to help increase productivity & profits, not just turn up for a wage.

You say they aren't technical people..... so they probably don't understand fully the issues you are raising. The job is getting done as it is, but you know that with a bit of outlay, it could be done more quickly and in turn, once the outlay costs are recovered, the increased productivity which follows is pure profit.

Get it down on paper and give them something to think about.

Good luck.
 
Thaks alot, Mickster. Here is one problem I forgot to mention: labor cost is charged directly to the customer. So, the customer pays for labor, not the company. Strange is it seems, management is not concerned about labor, in fact, the more the better -- charges are marked up. Capatol purchases however, come out of the company's bottom line.
 
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I forgot to mention: labor cost is charged directly to the customer. So, the customer pays for labor, not the company...

...Capatol (capital) purchases however, come out of the company's bottom line.

There you go, you just explained the whole problem!

Sorry, but I think that you are screwed!
The company makes more money because it is inefficient.

I dont know the nature of the business, but if they do give you the sack, is there a possibility that you could set up a rival company to service the clients with a more cost effective service?
Really screw it to the MBAs and paper pushers.

JimB
 
How is the labor broken down and charged?
Is it a set menu price for a certain job, a variable price defined by actual man-hours on the job, an estimated price with updates and revisions, etc as the job progresses?
 
It's a simple constant charge for man-hours. Every month, the hours worked on the project is added up from our timecards, and invoiced to the customer, along with a markup. I've heard managers saying things like, "we have to charge more hours to the project..." and "we need to spend more of the project money..." etc.
 
There you go, you just explained the whole problem!

Sorry, but I think that you are screwed!
The company makes more money because it is inefficient.

JimB

Hi Jim, I thinik you might be right. So, the question becomes, do I keep pushing or back off? ( and keep collecting a paycheck )

PS: Nevermid. Your answer is in your reply; just didn't think enough about it.
 
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So basically, the longer the project continues to be in development, the longer the cash cow gets milked.

How often to project overruns occur? Quite frequently I'd guess.

Are there penalties for not meeting project deadlines?

As JimB points out, if you are in a position/capability of doing so and are not under any terms and conditions regarding previous clients, you may just be what the clients need. There's nothing like honest, healthy competition.
 
So basically, the longer the project continues to be in development, the longer the cash cow gets milked.

Basically that's true. There is a project completion date, however.

How often to project overruns occur? Quite frequently I'd guess.


I'm not sure. We've never completed a project before. The whole department was laid off many years ago, and this is the first project since re-staffing the department. However, as the whole department was laid off, I think that might suggest how badly things were operated before.

Are there penalties for not meeting project deadlines?


Yes, definitely. I think we will not meet our deadline, but management disagrees. I'm afraid what will happen is we'll deliver something, but it will be hastily build and inferior.

As JimB points out, if you are in a position/capability of doing so and are not under any terms and conditions regarding previous clients, you may just be what the clients need. There's nothing like honest, healthy competition.

What I really want to do is become an independent contractor or consultant. My money has to hold out while I figure out how to do that however.
 
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Are you, as a company, responsible for delivering a software/firmware product to be used on a particular hardware platform, or are you designated to deliver a completed soft/hard package?

Are you, as an employee, expected to complete the whole project, or just a certain modular part/parts of the project?

If you are expected, as an employee, to complete the project as a whole and are quite capable of doing so, despite your reservations with regard to mis-management and lack of equipment funding, I'd be inclined to bite my tongue for a while and continue to take the pay, but work on a refined version of the product as an insurance policy, just in case this first project does not deliver the goods.

If you are working on a module of the project, you may wish to sound out other employees who have similar concerns to your own and see if they are willing to collaborate on a side-project, along the lines of the company one, for the purpose of improving development processes. ;-)

You may find some allies, but you may also find foes.

There's only one person in this situation who can try to figure out who may be on side. I'm glad it's not me, but I wish you the very best and if any of the above is of help, you're welcome.
 
I've been an employer and an employee, and it can be a tough call. Basically as an employee you are in a master-servant relationship, where the employer tells you what to do and you do it, and you get paid to do it. So really you are obligated to do what the boss wants and do it the way the boss wants it done.

Of course that doesn't mean that the boss is right or even has a clue! ;)

So I think morally and ethically you are part of the bosses team and obligated to do what the boss wants. And personally I think if the boss is making bad decisions and giving you bad work and not accepting any feedback from you about your job then they are probably a bad boss and (in my opinion!) it might be worth looking for a better boss.

But maybe it's not so bad. If the company is working on the first major project after restructuring then it might be a learning process for the bosses too. Maybe you could try to establish positive communication with the bosses, ie ways to save money or improve things that won't cost their bottom line to implement. If the bosses get used to your input being positive and worthwhile then they will be more likely to accept some critical input from you in the future.
 
Well BrownOut you said it right here:

What I really want to do is become an independent contractor or consultant. My money has to hold out while I figure out how to do that however.

My suggestion is simple. You have a goal out there. Given a choice as to your money holding out while you go after the goal I would keep working. Don't bite the hand that is currently feeding you. Don't let foolish pride come between you and a pay check for the time being. Why live off savings when you can continue to live off your salary and I assume a benefit package?

You want to go independent? Then network yourself and I mean network the hell out of your ass! You go independent too soon without a good, solid client base you will find yourself broke and urinating in gutters real quick. Think and look long term. Also, make dame sure when you sever the cord you can not only pay yourself but give yourself a good benefit package, weigh in everything.

As to the billing hour thing I see it daily. Billing hours is not always an open check.

Just My Take
Ron
 
Hi MrRB, thanks. Those are very wise words.

Hi Ron, well I do know that some people make network contacts by contracting through agencies. I know a few who work through contract agencies exclusively. When their contract is up, they are basically out of work. I don't know how they handle the uncertainty, but they do somehow.

How you do know I don't piss in gutters now? ( just kidding )
 
Rule 1: The boss is right
Rule 2: If the boss is wrong, see rule #1

Unfortunately it's a double-edged sword. My boss basically wanted to show progress that something was being accomplished and I wanted to order parts so I could complete the design in time. The showing of accomplishment was virtually a just do, without any glitches expected, but if I hadn't ordered the next phase, I would have been in trouble later. I was ALWAYS had to be the last person involved because of doing the electrical portion of the project. So, it was part of the "Damed if you do" and Damned if you don't"

To give you some of the ideas of the junk I had to deal with:
1. Why do the wires have to be neat?
2. Why can't you light a light bulb in a panel B 100' away in another panel (A)with a power source from Panel A?
4. When you tell your boss that a $40K piece of equipment that your moving will be obsolete in a few months and he jumps down your throat because he thought you wanted him to replace it. It was just a warning. It did get replaced with a piece of used equipment.
5. When management just tells the electrician to move the alarm system from point A to point B without any realization that the system needed to be majorly upgraded.
5a. And the system really did get upgraded. An additional fire alarm like power supply with MULTIPLE Class II outputs. Separating low-level signals turned out to be a yipped at expense. Like why do you have to separate 100 mV signals from 24 VAC signals?
5b. Why did you fire stop every wire going through a firewall with a strain relief?

Bad for them. They now have no documentation because they would not allow it. But because it's designed so well, it will probably work forever or until an explosion (happened) or an upgrade (happened).

Initially, the system was very simple, but it evolved into a complex entity in 25 years. It really should have been a safety PLC.

One bad thing with the design was the lack of contact monitoring. I did end up visually monitoring the fire alarm contact and one other contact. The fire alarm contact occasionally was disconnected about 2x per year and "they" don't know how to undo it now.

I liked to design things that were modular, easily repairable and recyclable and they were. Recycleable meant, could be taken apart and the parts easily used for other research projects.

In another setup, I designed temperature control boxes which could be internally wired for 240/120 if need be. The power in connector (rear of the case) was the same, so you did have to pay attention to the labels. They had switches that would enable/disable power out dropout if required. They had to have a way of totally disconnecting the load with a relay and that's what the front panel off button did. That signal could be wired to an overtemperature gizmo.

What always happened earlier was a switch for Internal/External setpoint and ON/Zero switches.
This became a way to turn off a temperature controller, but not galvanically, so you could read the temperature while the heater was cooling.

The modular approach worked very well.

What didn't work well, was the unseen benefits of things I implemented like nothing but mechanical computer failures for 20 years at an initial cost of $1000.
 
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