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Sundae posted:Failed a computer systems validation? A vague thing happened to a vague place!
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Jul 30, 2014 21:03
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I fill out a timesheet to the nearest sixth of an hour, but even though I'm salaried, I still make time+X after eight hours/Saturdays and time+2X after ten hours/Sundays. 
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Jul 30, 2014 21:40
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I work in a large professional services firm. The policy is to track time in six minute increments. Makes sense for consultants as we bill clients based on those timesheets. Except I'm internal staff, non-client facing and I still have to do it. Why? "That's just how we do things". Ugh.
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Jul 30, 2014 22:19
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CelestialScribe posted:I work in a large professional services firm. The policy is to track time in six minute increments. Makes sense for consultants as we bill clients based on those timesheets. Doesn't it make you feel more like an empowered, productive part of the team though? :mba:
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Jul 30, 2014 22:22
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Ashcans posted:Pf, when I started working in a law office I was expected to track my time to tenths of an hour (so 6 minute increments). Let me tell you, six minutes is an absurdly awkward amount of time to track your day with. My time wasn't even billed directly to clients, it was just because the partner wanted to scrutinize exactly what everyone was doing at all times. When I wrote patents for a living, I had to track 6 minute increments too.
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Jul 30, 2014 22:26
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If you have to keep track of every 6 minute interval, what do you charge taking a dump or getting a cup of coffee to?
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Jul 30, 2014 22:58
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skipdogg posted:If you have to keep track of every 6 minute interval, what do you charge taking a dump or getting a cup of coffee to? Break.
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Jul 30, 2014 22:59
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:I also track to the nearest tenth. I track to the .5 hour, but I have to hunt down my booking code in a ridiculous maze of work items. Assuming anyone's bothered to assign me to the right project so I can access that code, of course. Then there's the whole tension over 'clock hours' vs 'work item hours', because our timesheet system is not linked to our work item tracking system, and what the ratio between these should be, depending on your training level. Naturally, my project lead disagrees with my line manager about this. I spend too much time doing my timesheet and there's no code for that, either.
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Jul 30, 2014 23:17
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A major part of my job is to send out notifications to upper management regarding any kind of major service disruption we may face. As a result of several stupid people making several stupid mistakes, a process was put in place where we draft a notification and our supervisor approves the draft before it goes out. This was put in place to stop us from making mistakes, and really I don't mind it because it adds an extra pair of eyes to what I send out for both proofreading and covering my rear end, considering it's going to be heavily scrutinized by a lot of important people. The problem is that there's no "right" way to send a notification, and every supervisor has their own idea of what's "right". And of course, every time you do it "wrong", you can expect a lecture on what you did wrong, why it's wrong, and a speech about how "your director is out to get us so we have to be really careful because the next person who makes a mistake is going to get their rear end handed to them." That means weather or not you did it correctly is dependent on the phase of the moon and the whims of whatever the freak out FOTM is (which us techs are never told about until get lectured on it) Today I sent out a notification that included the wording "Root Cause is still under analysis." One known PIA supervisor comes running out telling me to fix my grammar. We sat there and went over it word for word looking for where my egregious grammar error. The only change we made? "Root Cause" got turned into "Root cause". We play a fun game on my shift called "spot the change" where the first person on the shift to spot what this supervisor changed in the notification wins bragging rights. I called out this game and proceeded to win gold, silver, and bronze for "dumbest change ever made to a notification." We have a 30 minute SLA to send out these notifications, and I would have hit that 30 minutes had he just approved it. Instead, I hit 45 minutes because of one letter. Then, to top it all off? We got an e-mail while we were going through the notification asking a question about my outage, and my director answered roughly one minute and thirty seconds later. The same supervisor gave me a talking to because I was supposed to answer that question before the director can, even though that very sup is the one who was diverting my attention away from it. I'm not even mad or worried anymore, all I can do is laugh. Every week for the past two and a half years I get the "they're out to get us so we have to be PERFECT" talk over something silly while my coworkers around me make huge mistakes born from incompetence and they walk out of it just fine. Not a single person has ever been fired in the history of this department, and undesirable people wind up getting glowing recommendation letters from management for promotion and promote them out because it's easier. It's just supervisors playing their supervisory games to make them feel better about themselves.
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Jul 30, 2014 23:25
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Sundae posted:Failed a computer systems validation? I wish that's all it was. detectivemonkey posted:A vague thing happened to a vague place! Given one person in this thread knows where I work if I give more info, I really shouldn't
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Jul 31, 2014 00:36
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skipdogg posted:If you have to keep track of every 6 minute interval, what do you charge taking a dump or getting a cup of coffee to? Whatever I happened to be working on when I decided to get up. If they're paying me to sit in a chair and stare at their project for hours on end they can pay for my breaks I need to take from it to perform bodily functions. I can't remember who I was talking to, but they had something like 15 minutes they could charge for bathroom breaks and whatnot every day. I'd feel weird charging to that though, telling the entire accounting staff "I spent 6 minutes pooping today!" Speaking of which I was attempting to use the bathroom when one of the HR ladies came in and tried to strike up a conversation about how my first couple weeks were going while I was in a stall. It was kinda awkward. It's not as bad as the time my friend was on a job interview and excused himself to use the bathroom and the interviewer followed him into the bathroom and continued the interview at the urinals.
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Jul 31, 2014 01:22
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Whatever I happened to be working on when I decided to get up. If they're paying me to sit in a chair and stare at their project for hours on end they can pay for my breaks I need to take from it to perform bodily functions. I can't remember who I was talking to, but they had something like 15 minutes they could charge for bathroom breaks and whatnot every day. I'd feel weird charging to that though, telling the entire accounting staff "I spent 6 minutes pooping today!" I'm salary and OT starts after 45 hours. Those 5 hours are supposed to be built in for pooping, going to get coffee, taking a short walk, calling the SO. Its pretty fair and you never get knocked for getting a breath of air and its actually encouraged to do walking during the day. If it was like 50 hours I'd get antsy about it but since the economy is up they're rolling policy back to the employees favor and I doubt its going to get worse anytime soon.
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Jul 31, 2014 01:33
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:the time my friend was on a job interview and excused himself to use the bathroom and the interviewer followed him into the bathroom and continued the interview at the urinals. What would you say your best attribute is? 
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Jul 31, 2014 02:08
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:It's not as bad as the time my friend was on a job interview and excused himself to use the bathroom and the interviewer followed him into the bathroom and continued the interview at the urinals. No. loving. Way. (Did he get the job?)
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Jul 31, 2014 02:10
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FrozenVent posted:No. loving. Way. He did, I met him at work where he was performing the job he was interviewing for. Now that he's on more familiar terms with the interviewer he gives him endless poo poo about it.
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Jul 31, 2014 02:29
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sbaldrick posted:Given one person in this thread knows where I work if I give more info, I really shouldn't Oh yeah I wasn't giving you poo poo about it, I'm the same way. Good luck with the Stone Age!
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Jul 31, 2014 03:03
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Our lawyers bill in 6 minute increments. The industry hot topic these days is to give the client a fixed price up front by estimating what the work will cost and creating a palatable number out of it. We are attempting this however we have so little intelligence on what things cost to produce that the estimate varies wildly. Management has some aversion to numbers, they prefer to go by the gut feeling on things. I don't understand how a business can run like this in this century. Edit - one of the partners has a running joke with me about how much I 'love' analysis and statistics. He laughs at me as if I'm trying to bring on the wet season with a rain dance. Swink fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Jul 31, 2014 |
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Jul 31, 2014 04:50
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Swink posted:Our lawyers bill in 6 minute increments. The industry hot topic these days is to give the client a fixed price up front by estimating what the work will cost and creating a palatable number out of it. We are attempting this however we have so little intelligence on what things cost to produce that the estimate varies wildly. Lawyers are generally awful at running their own firms. Don't get me wrong - it is a bad idea to run a company solely on numbers (as evidenced by this thread) but you're doomed if you can't properly cost out your service. The one good thing about flat fee pricing is that you can "win" on certain services because the value to the customer is greater than the billable time, so you can bill more for it.
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Jul 31, 2014 12:56
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Going fixed fee is actually really nice if you can pull it off - a lot of clients (both private and corporate) prefer it because they have a fixed amount on paper as opposed to a retainer and a big question mark. It also works out well for a lawyer because you can tell your client 'this will be $xx' and have them agree to it, and then they are much more likely to pay than if you get retainer and go through all sorts of stuff and then they get outraged at the building cost and don't want to pay you anything else. But yea, it strongly hinges on being able to properly value work so that you aren't charging people a pittance for a lot of work. This is easy to do because there are any number of things that aren't complicated, but are tedious and still require a lot of time to manage and complete. It works best for a practice with a clearly defined process; immigration is predominantly done as fixed-fee, because its easier to judge how much time/work a specific application will take compared to, say, handling someone acrimonious divorce. The problem with law firms is essentially the same as for many small businesses. You have people who are very good at their industry or trade, but that doesn't mean that they're good at managing a business. Lots of small businesses suffer from poor management because being a great cake-maker doesn't make a competent business manager. What makes it worse is that when something like a bakery gets big enough, the guy running it might actually say 'Man, this is tough, I think I need an office manager to help me here', whereas a lot of lawyers are probably going to say 'Hey, I'm a lawyer, I do complicated paperwork poo poo all the time, I don't need someone telling me how to order my business'. Then you get like eight of these people, most of whom are in their sixties and don't have great exposure to how work is actually done any more, and they make business decisions by consensus.  I work at a small firm now that is not actually terrible about this, but man there are terrible places out there.
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Jul 31, 2014 14:45
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On a typical day, I work on projects for at least half a dozen clients. Some of them get billed based on actual hours worked, some don't, but we need to keep track of how much time is being spent on everything. I keep track of my projects in 5 minute intervals. Random non-project related stuff and coffee breaks get charged to "Admin".
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Jul 31, 2014 18:34
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jkk posted:On a typical day, I work on projects for at least half a dozen clients. Some of them get billed based on actual hours worked, some don't, but we need to keep track of how much time is being spent on everything. I keep track of my projects in 5 minute intervals. Random non-project related stuff and coffee breaks get charged to "Admin". Five minute intervals seems weird just because it's not a convenient decimal to the hour. Why not six?
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Jul 31, 2014 18:37
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Just got 48 hours notice that I have to break some plans on Saturday that I'd made more than a month ago because a new task just got dropped on my section. On the upshot, I also found out that I don't have a limit on my tuition remission, so MBA here I come! And then there I'll go, because gently caress this place.
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Jul 31, 2014 18:39
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ItalicSquirrels posted:Just got 48 hours notice that I have to break some plans on Saturday that I'd made more than a month ago because a new task just got dropped on my section. On the upshot, I also found out that I don't have a limit on my tuition remission, so MBA here I come! And then there I'll go, because gently caress this place. Make sure that they don't have a clause that says you must stay for X number of years after receiving your degree or you have to pay them back.
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Jul 31, 2014 18:41
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Make sure that they don't have a clause that says you must stay for X number of years after receiving your degree or you have to pay them back. Also, check the wording on how they define stay/leave. A previous employer made no distinction between voluntary and involuntary departure and sent my co-worker a bill for the tuition reimbursement after she got laid off.
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Jul 31, 2014 18:49
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There's no "will I stay or will I go now" clause, there's just all the tuition that I can suck out. If this place didn't upset me so much, I'd stay for a doctorate. As it stands, my wife has already told me she hates my job because of the hours required, and I have to agree with her.
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Jul 31, 2014 18:56
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Five minute intervals seems weird just because it's not a convenient decimal to the hour. Why not six? I dunno. The budgeted time for most projects is in 5 minute intervals, ie. I'm expected to spend 15 minutes per day on this and 45 on that. Why would it need to be convenient decimals? The system can handle either "1.5" hours or "1:30" though. I just find it easier to track 5 minute intervals myself, especially if I'm not doing the whole 45 minutes in one go.
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Jul 31, 2014 18:58
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jkk posted:I dunno. The budgeted time for most projects is in 5 minute intervals, ie. I'm expected to spend 15 minutes per day on this and 45 on that. Why would it need to be convenient decimals? My firm uses decimal time sheets. It just seems odd to me because if you spend an hour and 25 on something, you are then entering 1.416 hours. It seems weird to use a mix of base 10 and base 60.
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Jul 31, 2014 19:08
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Its month end in the wonderful world of accounts payable. Yesterday I found out that my job had been theoretically made redundant as of July 1st, but I've been doing it the old way for the last month because no one told me to do it any differently. Apparently, everything I do should have been farmed out to an outside company. Oh well, I guess. Just means there is less stiff i have to train my replacement on before I leave to be an EMT on Tuesday. And by "replacement" I mean "my co-worker who is already working 60+ hour weeks because every time something new needs to be done management foists it on her because she is unwilling to say no". Also, our Regional Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Accounting Manager, and Regional Controller all quit in the last two weeks. Along with 50% of the staff.
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Jul 31, 2014 19:25
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I currently envy Sundae's job.
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Jul 31, 2014 19:31
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sbaldrick posted:I currently envy Sundae's job. You're in hell, aren't you? You've died and gone to hell. Edit: Once you get past whatever's gone wrong over there, I certainly hope you can describe it to us so that we can wince in sympathy.
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Jul 31, 2014 19:48
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Sundae posted:You're in hell, aren't you? You've died and gone to hell. I might be in hell given the information about our issues we just all received. Sadly as someone pointed out I can't say too much about what's gone wrong without everyone being able to figure out where I work.
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Jul 31, 2014 20:02
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sbaldrick posted:I might be in hell given the information about our issues we just all received.
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Jul 31, 2014 22:22
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sbaldrick posted:I currently envy Sundae's job. Do you work retail?
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Jul 31, 2014 22:49
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Defenestration posted:I'm not really sure how to google what companies are failing spectacularly due to sudden onset problem so I'll assume you're either in Gaza or at Market Basket Would he have internet in Gaza? And I am not from the US so did some reading om Market basket, but that is one hell of a mess. No news from me, enjoying two weeks leave away from home.
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Jul 31, 2014 23:21
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sbaldrick posted:I might be in hell given the information about our issues we just all received. This whole "I have a very interesting story, WHICH I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU" is getting a little irritating.
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Jul 31, 2014 23:37
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Ashcans posted:
Hi, this is my firm! My firm president hired some efficiency consultants and simultaneously doubled the average number of signoffs required for even the most mundane processes.
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Aug 1, 2014 01:21
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Lets say my company was hacked by an outside party on which has caused our company system to be shut down for at least three months more then likely longer in some cases. Today it was publish outside my company that not only did they know we had been hacked for a month but they know that all of our personal data was lost and didn't tell us. Given our computer system is locked out we can't change and personal info (like banking info) without losing the ability to get paid. Also our raises and backpay that was due the middle of August won't be given to us because they can't cut checks.
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Aug 1, 2014 01:37
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Holy poo poo, I knew you guys had it bad, but I didn't realize it was that bad. Three loving months? Goddamn.
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Aug 1, 2014 01:43
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If it's the place I'm thinking of, I thought you guys just found out last week, with the personal data revelation today. Three months? Guess centralized IT really isn't the answer.
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Aug 1, 2014 01:50
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Seat Safety Switch posted:If it's the place I'm thinking of, I thought you guys just found out last week, with the personal data revelation today. They found out long enough to go to ask a tribunional if they had really lost all our data. Three months for some things on the outside. *edit* Everyone found out about the personal data breach from outside sources. sbaldrick fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Aug 1, 2014 01:56
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