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Project managers, ducks, and dogs marking territory (2013)

rachelbythebay.com

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Re: Project managers, ducks, and dogs marking territory (2013)

#11

Post by notahacker »

scrapheap wrote: post #2

Quite often the person believes they are helping with their suggestions (or at least that's what I believe when I'm the one doing the suggesting). But there is certainly better and worse ways to make those sort of suggestions. On the other hand, I quite often don't bother rounding the corners of boxes when working on a web UI until one of the last things. That way anyone who just wants to make their mark can just sug…

That works up until the point someone says they love the squareness of the boxes ;-)

Re: Project managers, ducks, and dogs marking territory (2013)

#12

Post by notahacker »

preinheimer wrote: post #7

I used to live in Montreal. Cabs there need to get a safety inspection like every 6 months. Talking to some cab drivers there, many of them remarked that the people doing the safety exam -had- to find something. Your car could have been fresh from the mechanic, they’d find something to complain about. So, starting about 6 weeks out from their next safety, if something went wrong but the car was still drivable, they w…

My boat is for sale. Most prospective buyers will get a marine survey which will identify that among other minor things it needs a new bilge pump.

If they don't pay for the survey I'll sort them out with a new bilge pump anyway.

(This isn't an argument against surveyors though. Mine sorted me out with a new gearbox and had half the boat rewired at the vendor's expense)

Re: Project managers, ducks, and dogs marking territory (2013)

#13

Post by roter »

When I was finishing my PhD thesis, the suggestion was to insert some low-hanging fruit for the reviewers who would be doing only a cursory review but would need to find their "duck". Didn't do it because my committee was excellent and didn't want to show any disrespect.

Re: Project managers, ducks, and dogs marking territory (2013)

#16

Post by ysavir »

resonious wrote: post #9
preinheimer wrote: post #7

I used to live in Montreal. Cabs there need to get a safety inspection like every 6 months. Talking to some cab drivers there, many of them remarked that the people doing the safety exam -had- to find something. Your car could have been fresh from the mechanic, they’d find something to complain about. So, starting about 6 weeks out from their next safety, if something went wrong but the car was still drivable, they w…

It's bad but I consider doing this for code review sometimes.

I tend to do this in code review. But what I consider critical is that it comes without a "I want this changed" mentality, and instead a "let's find something we can improve on for next time" mentality. The current PR can go in as-is, but we should aim for always getting better at the craft.

Re: Project managers, ducks, and dogs marking territory (2013)

#17

Post by lloydatkinson »

This is closely related to the “hairy arm technique” (it’s known by multiple names). This is where some people find it is necessary to nitpick everything even when it is unnecessary and the solution is to purposely make one aspect of some plan obviously bad, dumb, or nonsensical.

The person will then insist that be removed, ensuring the actual underlying work isn’t impacted by their incessant pickiness.

I’ve had to use this technique myself a few times, mostly with micromanagers/agile fanatics/product owners and the like.

Re: Project managers, ducks, and dogs marking territory (2013)

#18

Post by lloydatkinson »

raziel2p wrote: post #14

Why is the PM the meddling one here, and not the artist who (presumably un-prompted) added a duck to the game? Seems clear to me that the artist was the one who wanted to leave their mark in this story. Are some people allowed to and others not?

Unfortunately I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Some people ARE allowed while others are not. Sadly it seems the most creative or involved people (devs, artists) are not while a PM is.

Re: Project managers, ducks, and dogs marking territory (2013)

#19

Post by marcinzm »

I used to work at a startup whose clients worked on behalf of large corporations. I once tried to automate some things to make the company more money as our clients were rather inefficient at their settings but got a lot of push back. Then I talked to our clients and they said that unless they had knobs to turn to "prove" they provided value they'd be fired by their clients (the large corporations). If they got fired then they'd stop spending money with us and so we'd actually make less revenue due to second order effects. It was an enlightening experience.
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