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External
Since: Dec 10, 2007
Posts: 67
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(Msg. 1) Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 1:02 am
Post subject: working hard with the management
Archived from groups: sci>research>careers (more info?)
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I already wrote about my experience of sitting next to the
departmental head at a conference banquet and drinking alcohol
together. It has not passed for nothing. Recently, he told me that he
wanted to spend $40k for the piece of analytical equipment which I had
earlier suggested to buy for my project. (It came out that they spent
less than they expected, and thus had a budget surplus.) The work with
this device is a real science, and I am the only one who has a
background to work with the device. So far, so good.
Now, he says that he wants to combine my project (let's call it X)
with his project (let's call it Y). For his project Y, he wants to
spend $100k to buy the same apparatus as mine, only it will be larger.
He suggested that I would be a "co-manager" of this combined project
together with another guy. The other guy has no background in the
field of this science. The manager envisages that I will build/
assemble the $100k analytical device for the project Y, and fine tune
it. And the responsibility of the other guy will be to set up the
experiment, and to conduct the measurements with the samples of
interest. I thought it was no so good. It is a hard laborous routine
work to build and tune the instrument. It is painful. And all the fun
and all the glory (= doing actual research) will be taken by somebody
else. However, I said plainly to the manager that I would take up the
given task. The manager was not impressed by ,y lack of emotion, so
that I had to fake the excitement, and say it again. The manager
seemed to get satisfied.
It is not the first and even not the second time when the management
takes a project out of my hands, and gives it to somebody else (and
they have no background experience or qualifications for that
project). They make the other guy in charge for the project, and
sometimes I am assigned the role of an assistant. I do not fret about
it anymore, because the new "manager" does nothing about the project.
I just sit back and relax. A few milestones are missed. The project
turns from "hot" into a "cold" one. Then the management invariably
gives the responsibility for the project back to me. All becomes as
good as it could be.
But not this time. You see, I am made a "co-manager". This means I
cannot sit back and relax. The project is still "hot", and the
management is eagerly expecting the results. If the project is not
going, then the blame will fall partly on me as well. I think it was a
hairbrained idea of the management (as usual) to separate the task
into subtasks which is not separable. It is like to hire two people
for the task of driving a car, and assign one for steering the wheel,
and assign the other one to press the accelerator and brakes. The car
will not get far. It will end up crashed on a roadside. Only this
time, the crash can take me with it as well.
Any comments or advices ? |
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External
Since: Apr 18, 2007
Posts: 100
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(Msg. 2) Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 5:35 am
Post subject: Re: working hard with the management [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Feb 6, 4:02 am, Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
>
> It is not the first and even not the second time when the management
> takes a project out of my hands, and gives it to somebody else (and
> they have no background experience or qualifications for that
> project).
>
One wise guy said that in the hierarchical structures you can not
become good. You can only be nominated as good.
The law of Nature. ... I suppose ... |
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External
Since: Dec 10, 2007
Posts: 67
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(Msg. 3) Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:03 am
Post subject: Re: working hard with the management [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Feb 6, 10:58 pm, Straydog wrote:
> On Wed, 6 Feb 2008, Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
> > I already wrote about my experience of sitting next to the
> > departmental head at a conference banquet and drinking alcohol
> > together. It has not passed for nothing. Recently, he told me that he
> > wanted to spend $40k for the piece of analytical equipment which I had
> > earlier suggested to buy for my project. (It came out that they spent
> > less than they expected, and thus had a budget surplus.) The work with
> > this device is a real science, and I am the only one who has a
> > background to work with the device. So far, so good.
>
> > Now, he says that he wants to combine my project (let's call it X)
> > with his project (let's call it Y). For his project Y, he wants to
> > spend $100k to buy the same apparatus as mine, only it will be larger.
> > He suggested that I would be a "co-manager" of this combined project
> > together with another guy. The other guy has no background in the
> > field of this science. The manager envisages that I will build/
> > assemble the $100k analytical device for the project Y, and fine tune
> > it. And the responsibility of the other guy will be to set up the
> > experiment, and to conduct the measurements with the samples of
> > interest. I thought it was no so good. It is a hard laborous routine
> > work to build and tune the instrument. It is painful. And all the fun
> > and all the glory (= doing actual research) will be taken by somebody
> > else. However, I said plainly to the manager that I would take up the
> > given task. The manager was not impressed by ,y lack of emotion, so
> > that I had to fake the excitement, and say it again. The manager
> > seemed to get satisfied.
>
> > It is not the first and even not the second time when the management
> > takes a project out of my hands, and gives it to somebody else (and
> > they have no background experience or qualifications for that
> > project). They make the other guy in charge for the project, and
> > sometimes I am assigned the role of an assistant. I do not fret about
> > it anymore, because the new "manager" does nothing about the project.
> > I just sit back and relax. A few milestones are missed. The project
> > turns from "hot" into a "cold" one. Then the management invariably
> > gives the responsibility for the project back to me. All becomes as
> > good as it could be.
>
> > But not this time. You see, I am made a "co-manager". This means I
> > cannot sit back and relax. The project is still "hot", and the
> > management is eagerly expecting the results. If the project is not
> > going, then the blame will fall partly on me as well.
>
> Do you think Napoleon did not understand that it was possible for him to
> lose one or more of the wars he started and that his ass would be on the
> line?
>
> Every king or emperor had to use his imagination to anticipate that he
> would lose the war AND that meant his ass would become grass.
>
> It is part of the pressure cooker environment that when you get more
> responsibility, and you win, then its a big pile of glory and happiness,
> but if you lose, then you go into the dumpster and there is no glory or
> happiness but sadness and depression, etc.
>
> I think it was a
>
> > hairbrained idea of the management (as usual) to separate the task
> > into subtasks which is not separable. It is like to hire two people
> > for the task of driving a car, and assign one for steering the wheel,
> > and assign the other one to press the accelerator and brakes. The car
> > will not get far. It will end up crashed on a roadside. Only this
> > time, the crash can take me with it as well.
>
> > Any comments or advices ?
>
> So, do I understand you that you would like to assemble the machine AND
> use it to make the measurments? Then you somehow need to tell them:
>
> "Say, I would like to do both parts of the project, assemble the machine
> AND make all the measurements! Why can't we do it that way?"
>
> And see what they say to that.
I would like to be given responsibility for the _whole_ project, not
just for a fraction of it... insignificant fraction at that. At the
moment, the things look like they gave me an insignificant
responsibility (and thus I have an insignificant freedom to do the
work), but they expect from me that I will _complete_ the project
which, I believe, requires from me to have the full responsibility
(and thus be able to make bold moves, and take the credit for the
success when it comes; and have my ass whipped if I fail)...
Anyway, when the manager was introducing me into this great idea of
theirs to put me as a "co-manager" of the project and have the second
guy, they saw that I rose my eyebrow in faint surprise. The manager
rushed to explain that having two managers (and not only one person)
responsible for the project was a great idea, because this would
"increase productivity, decrease risk, enable each person to do what
they do best" etc. In other words, a usual managerial incoherent
trashspeak.
The diagnosis is clear for me: they wanted to use me. But they did not
want to give me too much power. And at this stage they tried not to
alienate me.
I repeat: I am the only person around who is qualified to do this job.
And this appears to be a complex task. It is a real science. They
cannot just appoint their favorite, and have him produce garbage which
they would gladly take as an account of completion. In fact, the task
may well appear to be above of my capability (it may require a team of
scientists who worked on the topic for 10 years of their postdoc
appointments). I am actually somewhat scared.
>
> I'm not sure what kind of "managerial" image they have of you, but your
> overlings will decide that, and what they call "X-manager" and how they
> define that, will also be decided by them. And, I still think you should
> focus not on what your are doing and how happy it makes you, but focus on
> the fact that you have a permanent job that makes money and if you don't
> make money, then you will be more unhappy.
>
> Good luck, whatever.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text - >> Stay informed about: working hard with the management |
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External
Since: Oct 11, 2005
Posts: 738
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(Msg. 4) Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:58 am
Post subject: Re: working hard with the management [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Wed, 6 Feb 2008, Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
> I already wrote about my experience of sitting next to the
> departmental head at a conference banquet and drinking alcohol
> together. It has not passed for nothing. Recently, he told me that he
> wanted to spend $40k for the piece of analytical equipment which I had
> earlier suggested to buy for my project. (It came out that they spent
> less than they expected, and thus had a budget surplus.) The work with
> this device is a real science, and I am the only one who has a
> background to work with the device. So far, so good.
>
> Now, he says that he wants to combine my project (let's call it X)
> with his project (let's call it Y). For his project Y, he wants to
> spend $100k to buy the same apparatus as mine, only it will be larger.
> He suggested that I would be a "co-manager" of this combined project
> together with another guy. The other guy has no background in the
> field of this science. The manager envisages that I will build/
> assemble the $100k analytical device for the project Y, and fine tune
> it. And the responsibility of the other guy will be to set up the
> experiment, and to conduct the measurements with the samples of
> interest. I thought it was no so good. It is a hard laborous routine
> work to build and tune the instrument. It is painful. And all the fun
> and all the glory (= doing actual research) will be taken by somebody
> else. However, I said plainly to the manager that I would take up the
> given task. The manager was not impressed by ,y lack of emotion, so
> that I had to fake the excitement, and say it again. The manager
> seemed to get satisfied.
>
> It is not the first and even not the second time when the management
> takes a project out of my hands, and gives it to somebody else (and
> they have no background experience or qualifications for that
> project). They make the other guy in charge for the project, and
> sometimes I am assigned the role of an assistant. I do not fret about
> it anymore, because the new "manager" does nothing about the project.
> I just sit back and relax. A few milestones are missed. The project
> turns from "hot" into a "cold" one. Then the management invariably
> gives the responsibility for the project back to me. All becomes as
> good as it could be.
>
> But not this time. You see, I am made a "co-manager". This means I
> cannot sit back and relax. The project is still "hot", and the
> management is eagerly expecting the results. If the project is not
> going, then the blame will fall partly on me as well.
Do you think Napoleon did not understand that it was possible for him to
lose one or more of the wars he started and that his ass would be on the
line?
Every king or emperor had to use his imagination to anticipate that he
would lose the war AND that meant his ass would become grass.
It is part of the pressure cooker environment that when you get more
responsibility, and you win, then its a big pile of glory and happiness,
but if you lose, then you go into the dumpster and there is no glory or
happiness but sadness and depression, etc.
I think it was a
> hairbrained idea of the management (as usual) to separate the task
> into subtasks which is not separable. It is like to hire two people
> for the task of driving a car, and assign one for steering the wheel,
> and assign the other one to press the accelerator and brakes. The car
> will not get far. It will end up crashed on a roadside. Only this
> time, the crash can take me with it as well.
>
> Any comments or advices ?
>
So, do I understand you that you would like to assemble the machine AND
use it to make the measurments? Then you somehow need to tell them:
"Say, I would like to do both parts of the project, assemble the machine
AND make all the measurements! Why can't we do it that way?"
And see what they say to that.
I'm not sure what kind of "managerial" image they have of you, but your
overlings will decide that, and what they call "X-manager" and how they
define that, will also be decided by them. And, I still think you should
focus not on what your are doing and how happy it makes you, but focus on
the fact that you have a permanent job that makes money and if you don't
make money, then you will be more unhappy.
Good luck, whatever. >> Stay informed about: working hard with the management |
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External
Since: Apr 27, 2007
Posts: 90
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(Msg. 5) Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:31 pm
Post subject: Re: working hard with the management [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Feb 6, 6:03 am, Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
> On Feb 6, 10:58 pm, Straydog wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Wed, 6 Feb 2008, Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
> > > I already wrote about my experience of sitting next to the
> > > departmental head at a conference banquet and drinking alcohol
> > > together. It has not passed for nothing. Recently, he told me that he
> > > wanted to spend $40k for the piece of analytical equipment which I had
> > > earlier suggested to buy for my project. (It came out that they spent
> > > less than they expected, and thus had a budget surplus.) The work with
> > > this device is a real science, and I am the only one who has a
> > > background to work with the device. So far, so good.
>
> > > Now, he says that he wants to combine my project (let's call it X)
> > > with his project (let's call it Y). For his project Y, he wants to
> > > spend $100k to buy the same apparatus as mine, only it will be larger.
> > > He suggested that I would be a "co-manager" of this combined project
> > > together with another guy. The other guy has no background in the
> > > field of this science. The manager envisages that I will build/
> > > assemble the $100k analytical device for the project Y, and fine tune
> > > it. And the responsibility of the other guy will be to set up the
> > > experiment, and to conduct the measurements with the samples of
> > > interest. I thought it was no so good. It is a hard laborous routine
> > > work to build and tune the instrument. It is painful. And all the fun
> > > and all the glory (= doing actual research) will be taken by somebody
> > > else. However, I said plainly to the manager that I would take up the
> > > given task. The manager was not impressed by ,y lack of emotion, so
> > > that I had to fake the excitement, and say it again. The manager
> > > seemed to get satisfied.
>
> > > It is not the first and even not the second time when the management
> > > takes a project out of my hands, and gives it to somebody else (and
> > > they have no background experience or qualifications for that
> > > project). They make the other guy in charge for the project, and
> > > sometimes I am assigned the role of an assistant. I do not fret about
> > > it anymore, because the new "manager" does nothing about the project.
> > > I just sit back and relax. A few milestones are missed. The project
> > > turns from "hot" into a "cold" one. Then the management invariably
> > > gives the responsibility for the project back to me. All becomes as
> > > good as it could be.
>
> > > But not this time. You see, I am made a "co-manager". This means I
> > > cannot sit back and relax. The project is still "hot", and the
> > > management is eagerly expecting the results. If the project is not
> > > going, then the blame will fall partly on me as well.
>
> > Do you think Napoleon did not understand that it was possible for him to
> > lose one or more of the wars he started and that his ass would be on the
> > line?
>
> > Every king or emperor had to use his imagination to anticipate that he
> > would lose the war AND that meant his ass would become grass.
>
> > It is part of the pressure cooker environment that when you get more
> > responsibility, and you win, then its a big pile of glory and happiness,
> > but if you lose, then you go into the dumpster and there is no glory or
> > happiness but sadness and depression, etc.
>
> > I think it was a
>
> > > hairbrained idea of the management (as usual) to separate the task
> > > into subtasks which is not separable. It is like to hire two people
> > > for the task of driving a car, and assign one for steering the wheel,
> > > and assign the other one to press the accelerator and brakes. The car
> > > will not get far. It will end up crashed on a roadside. Only this
> > > time, the crash can take me with it as well.
>
> > > Any comments or advices ?
>
> > So, do I understand you that you would like to assemble the machine AND
> > use it to make the measurments? Then you somehow need to tell them:
>
> > "Say, I would like to do both parts of the project, assemble the machine
> > AND make all the measurements! Why can't we do it that way?"
>
> > And see what they say to that.
>
> I would like to be given responsibility for the _whole_ project, not
> just for a fraction of it... insignificant fraction at that. At the
> moment, the things look like they gave me an insignificant
> responsibility (and thus I have an insignificant freedom to do the
> work), but they expect from me that I will _complete_ the project
> which, I believe, requires from me to have the full responsibility
> (and thus be able to make bold moves, and take the credit for the
> success when it comes; and have my ass whipped if I fail)...
>
> Anyway, when the manager was introducing me into this great idea of
> theirs to put me as a "co-manager" of the project and have the second
> guy, they saw that I rose my eyebrow in faint surprise. The manager
> rushed to explain that having two managers (and not only one person)
> responsible for the project was a great idea, because this would
> "increase productivity, decrease risk, enable each person to do what
> they do best" etc. In other words, a usual managerial incoherent
> trashspeak.
>
> The diagnosis is clear for me: they wanted to use me. But they did not
> want to give me too much power. And at this stage they tried not to
> alienate me.
>
> I repeat: I am the only person around who is qualified to do this job.
> And this appears to be a complex task. It is a real science. They
> cannot just appoint their favorite, and have him produce garbage which
> they would gladly take as an account of completion. In fact, the task
> may well appear to be above of my capability (it may require a team of
> scientists who worked on the topic for 10 years of their postdoc
> appointments). I am actually somewhat scared.
>
>
>
>
>
> > I'm not sure what kind of "managerial" image they have of you, but your
> > overlings will decide that, and what they call "X-manager" and how they
> > define that, will also be decided by them. And, I still think you should
> > focus not on what your are doing and how happy it makes you, but focus on
> > the fact that you have a permanent job that makes money and if you don't
> > make money, then you will be more unhappy.
a golden opportunity can be made of this cluster phuck.... you do it
this way... agree to the team approach,
then have a meetting with the oher team members that YOU call...then
ask each member to talk between themselves and decide which parts of
the project each would like to be **responsible for**... then when
thats done, and they all take nice big parts of the project...take
them all to lunch... enjoy... you pay. buy em all a few beers.
go home.
next day write a progress memo regarding who has taken
**responsibility** for each section, and do not mention any part you
might be involved in...just mention them... then act in an oversight
roll...and issue weekly progress reports... being careful to notice
any messy situations developing and include those in yer memo to
management...cc'd to each team member, complement them all profusesely
at all times, especially as the train wreck unfolds... detailing the
err... difficulties...that various team members are having, and then
yourself suggesting solutions (hindsight you know...its 20/20)
that should woik.
Phil Scott >> Stay informed about: working hard with the management |
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External
Since: Apr 18, 2007
Posts: 100
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(Msg. 6) Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:58 pm
Post subject: Re: working hard with the management [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Feb 6, 9:03 am, Beladi Nasrallah wrote:
>
> The diagnosis is clear for me: they wanted to use me. But they did not
> want to give me too much power. And at this stage they tried not to
> alienate me.
>
As SRC de facto becomes a think tank for solving your calamities, I
can not avoid the responsibility and join the chorus with a piece of
advice. Get engaged and complete the whole project that is both tool
tuning and measurements. Your archive multiple goals doing so not
mentioning getting complete satisfaction which is the real goal of any
human endeavor.
>
> I repeat: I am the only person around who is qualified to do this job.
> And this appears to be a complex task. It is a real science. They
> cannot just appoint their favorite, and have him produce garbage which
> they would gladly take as an account of completion. In fact, the task
> may well appear to be above of my capability (it may require a team of
> scientists who worked on the topic for 10 years of their postdoc
> appointments). I am actually somewhat scared.
> >> Stay informed about: working hard with the management |
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