Office politics - Dumped upon from a great height
Discussion
I’m a contractor on an IT project. As a result of political wrangling I’ve been lumbered with an extra team member that I do not want nor have work for them to do. Worse than that, due some complicated office politics that I won’t go into now, this person could actually end up taking my job.
To further add to the woe the person appears to be a complete space cadet. I’ve been working with her for 48 hours now and she’s already driving me round the bend. It’s like having a 5 year old kid in tow. She’s dizzy and giggley, I keep having to spoon feed her tasks and when I ask her a straight yes/no question she just looks at me blankly and says something like “well we’ll see” :rolleyes:
My project manager is currently trying to find out from the people that foisted her upon me what her exact role is supposed to be but, it may be that the decision is above his head and we have no choice but to accept her as part of the team.
My suspicion is that a higher corporate power is trying to get control of the project by inserting their own people into the project team. I really don’t care about that but if it involves them inserting someone that overlaps my role by about 90-95% then that could leave me high-and-dry and without a contract.
Why do I get the impression I’m about to get royally shafted? Any suggestions on a plan of action?
To further add to the woe the person appears to be a complete space cadet. I’ve been working with her for 48 hours now and she’s already driving me round the bend. It’s like having a 5 year old kid in tow. She’s dizzy and giggley, I keep having to spoon feed her tasks and when I ask her a straight yes/no question she just looks at me blankly and says something like “well we’ll see” :rolleyes:
My project manager is currently trying to find out from the people that foisted her upon me what her exact role is supposed to be but, it may be that the decision is above his head and we have no choice but to accept her as part of the team.
My suspicion is that a higher corporate power is trying to get control of the project by inserting their own people into the project team. I really don’t care about that but if it involves them inserting someone that overlaps my role by about 90-95% then that could leave me high-and-dry and without a contract.
Why do I get the impression I’m about to get royally shafted? Any suggestions on a plan of action?
Hedders is right, book some time off, give her a set number of tasks to do in your absence then CC your immediate boss with the list of tasks (to show you are taking your reponsibilities seriously) and watch her crash and burn.
alternatively you could just shag her..... both are perfectly good suggestions
alternatively you could just shag her..... both are perfectly good suggestions
MilnerR said:
Hedders is right, book some time off, give her a set number of tasks to do in your absence then CC your immediate boss with the list of tasks (to show you are taking your reponsibilities seriously) and watch her crash and burn.
alternatively you could just shag her..... both are perfectly good suggestions
When I have to train my replacements on projects the task setting works for me. Those who do it OK tend to do well. The muppets realise that they can't do it and tend to move into different things.
Got exactly the same situation here, though it is to do with sending work out to India (cause its cheap).
We are effectivly teaching them our jobs so the company can please the shareholders by removing the expense. Its seems like a good idea in principle to the board, but for us its complete hell.
The programs that come back are for want of a better word shit, they dont work but all test plans have been signed off, etc. The main management dont see this because the project is managed by us and we need to get the systems out by a certain deadline otherwise we are to blame, we have to fix them and in extreme circumstances re-write them.
No amount of talking to management has convinced them otherwise and because they are cheap, they are seen as better. As a parting shot the employees in India have a shelf life of 12-18 months, so we train them, they start to understand and then they quit and go to another company (having completely used us and our expertise) and we start the whole process again, yet this is seen as acceptable to management.
Its great to know that in a few years these inept people will have taken my job all because the company sees profits over quality of work.
Rant over!!
We are effectivly teaching them our jobs so the company can please the shareholders by removing the expense. Its seems like a good idea in principle to the board, but for us its complete hell.
The programs that come back are for want of a better word shit, they dont work but all test plans have been signed off, etc. The main management dont see this because the project is managed by us and we need to get the systems out by a certain deadline otherwise we are to blame, we have to fix them and in extreme circumstances re-write them.
No amount of talking to management has convinced them otherwise and because they are cheap, they are seen as better. As a parting shot the employees in India have a shelf life of 12-18 months, so we train them, they start to understand and then they quit and go to another company (having completely used us and our expertise) and we start the whole process again, yet this is seen as acceptable to management.
Its great to know that in a few years these inept people will have taken my job all because the company sees profits over quality of work.
Rant over!!
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I don’t think it’s that. People from the “other group” that foisted her upon us have told me what a great resource she is and that she’s worked with them on their project for x years and is a real gem. They think she’s a real asset and they are trying to force her into the project I’m on to get more control over the project. Trouble is I just can’t see where they’re coming from. If she was that good then I’d be worried. Currently I can’t believe (I hope) my project manager is going to let them kick me out and hand over the role to her. However it may not be his decision. The cynic in me says they are feeding me crap and have assigned her to me so I get pissed off and leave. After all she’s a permy and I’m a contractor.
t1grm said:
I don’t think it’s that. People from the “other group” that foisted her upon us have told me what a great resource she is and that she’s worked with them on their project for x years and is a real gem. They think she’s a real asset and they are trying to force her into the project I’m on to get more control over the project. Trouble is I just can’t see where they’re coming from. If she was that good then I’d be worried. Currently I can’t believe (I hope) my project manager is going to let them kick me out and hand over the role to her. However it may not be his decision. The cynic in me says they are feeding me crap and have assigned her to me so I get pissed off and leave. After all she’s a permy and I’m a contractor.
Sounds like the BOFH method of getting rid of someone crap - CV loading, see here:
www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/15/bofh_2004_episode_19/
t1grm said:
I don’t think it’s that. People from the “other group” that foisted her upon us have told me what a great resource she is and that she’s worked with them on their project for x years and is a real gem. They think she’s a real asset and they are trying to force her into the project I’m on to get more control over the project. Trouble is I just can’t see where they’re coming from. If she was that good then I’d be worried. Currently I can’t believe (I hope) my project manager is going to let them kick me out and hand over the role to her. However it may not be his decision. The cynic in me says they are feeding me crap and have assigned her to me so I get pissed off and leave. After all she’s a permy and I’m a contractor.
Beware of the glowing CV.... It's a good way to offload your crap
t1grm said:
After all she’s a permy and I’m a contractor.
Tells you all you need to know.
1) You're a contractor. So turn up, shut up and take their money whilst its on offer. If this means being nice to the lass - consider it part of your job.
2) You're valuable and can do the job. Whilst you are better at it you will have work. If it turns out they can do the job cheaper with a permanent member of staff then that's what they'll do. SHOW the WHOLE TEAM how good you are - irreplaceable, in fact. You do this through COMPETENCE not Empire Building.
3) If she's genuiinely useless its up to your Project Manager to determine this and give her some worthless task to keep her busy. As a PM I used to keep a stock of these handy. Filing. Compiling Quality statistics. Working on ISO compliance - shit like that.
4) If she's genuinely good its up to your PM to find useful work for her to do. She may be skilled at some of the same stuff as you - but there's no point having both of you do the same work. You might as well get through twice as much and get it done quickly. If there isn't enough work - one of you will need to spend time developing new skills and doing something else of value on the project. Discuss with your PM whether or not he thinks this is necessary. Volunteer.
PMs love helpful, teamworking, cooperative staff who can use their initiative to solve problems before they need to. Bear this in mind, grit your teeth and get on with the job.
Trying to shaft her is pointless. Unless you actually fancy her, fnarr, fnarr.
ProPlus said:
Got exactly the same situation here, though it is to do with sending work out to India (cause its cheap).
We are effectivly teaching them our jobs so the company can please the shareholders by removing the expense. Its seems like a good idea in principle to the board, but for us its complete hell.
The programs that come back are for want of a better word shit, they dont work but all test plans have been signed off, etc. The main management dont see this because the project is managed by us and we need to get the systems out by a certain deadline otherwise we are to blame, we have to fix them and in extreme circumstances re-write them.
No amount of talking to management has convinced them otherwise and because they are cheap, they are seen as better. As a parting shot the employees in India have a shelf life of 12-18 months, so we train them, they start to understand and then they quit and go to another company (having completely used us and our expertise) and we start the whole process again, yet this is seen as acceptable to management.
Its great to know that in a few years these inept people will have taken my job all because the company sees profits over quality of work.
Rant over!!
That's news to me! Sounds like a good plan from the top. dear oh dear...
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