Mounting Frustration
Today's rant is brought to you courtesy of WorldCom executives and other executives of That Ilk. Why blame them? Because their disingenuity in "not knowing" what was occuring in their respective over-valued companies led Congress to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The next time an executive is called on the carpet for a major discrepancy between a company's market value versus its actual worth, the "paper" trail of fiscal and project management information will supposedly reveal all and these ethicsless goobs will be forced to acknowledge that they were in fact aware of what was going on in their companies--and therefore accountable. Hmmmmm. I think it should be obvious that a high-level executive should know a great deal about what is going on even if they may not have the details of the day-to-day activities of individuals. It should never have required (literally) an Act of Congress to get them to have that knowledge....
So my real complaint is that the intent of the S-OX Act has had unintended consequences beyond forcing accountability to the highest echelons of a company. The result is massive amounts of paperwork on the part of the rank-and-file so management can "monitor" the situation. A lot of this stuff ends up being busywork, and as such, adds little or no value to our daily jobs with the fringe benefit of inflating the cost and time to execute projects. Since I work in a very process-oriented engineering company, the principle of process and documentation has turned into an unsatisfying pursuit of filling out forms over providing function. Project managers have a love-hate relationship with it. On the one hand, it has provided a bonanza of information, training, and lots of attention being lavished upon them. On the other, a lot of valuable time is wasted on administrivia activities, playing games with numbers, trying to deflect project costs, and browbeating people into doing low-value tasks that they don't understand the reason for.
Our internal customers fail to see the benefits, too. They consider our self-congratulatory "better than industry average" delivery rate is unacceptable (considering that the industry average is pretty low, I agree with their point). In response to the complaints of our internal customers and the project managers, the highest levels of management have said "simplify and streamline" and have mandated that the people who actually do the work should be the ones to identify the areas in which we can best gain efficiency. Not a bad plan--after all, it works in the manufacturing facilities. The plan goes awry because mid-level management just thinks it is another process layered on people already overburdened with processes. Bah. Following some mid-level management presentations this week, I see some glimmerings of hope, though.
My big issue still remains unresolved, though. All the processes and documentation in the world will be of zero value if you don't have the right people with the right skill sets at the right time. Having the right tools and the right access goes a long way, too. Our current process seems to be:
Aaaaand I just got stuck with a fairly aggravating assignment because I let it be known that I had too much time on my hands. Sigh. It will take me a few steps further away from technology.
Ghostly Aspect
Our yard will look a little bit haunted this year. After many years of increasing the tack factor of our house during the winter holidays, we have finally invested in tack for the Halloween season. Simple ghosts, pumpkins, and some lighted spiderwebs will be the initial offering for ourdoors. I considered going to the effort of making tombstones and silhouette/stand ups of various things, but I also realize that I am lazy and lack appropriate storage space for them. For indoors, I have rearranged ealdthryth's ducky collection to a semblance of order and started work on a diorama for the top of the entertainment center. Thus far, ealdthryth seems pleased.
Blankie Fu
Appropriately enough, AElfgifu has decided that no one puts Baby in a corner. The old fleecy robe that has been given to the cats as a nest/comfy lounge spot has long been wadded in the corner of the bedroom behind the rocking chair. This week, AElf' has started dragging it out into the middle of the room to snooze upon. I've put it back a couple of times, only to discover it back in the middle of the room when I get up in the morning. When I come home in the afternoon, AElf' has migrated to her usual nap spot on ealdthryth's side of the bed, and Josie is lounging on the robe.
Silly girls!
So my real complaint is that the intent of the S-OX Act has had unintended consequences beyond forcing accountability to the highest echelons of a company. The result is massive amounts of paperwork on the part of the rank-and-file so management can "monitor" the situation. A lot of this stuff ends up being busywork, and as such, adds little or no value to our daily jobs with the fringe benefit of inflating the cost and time to execute projects. Since I work in a very process-oriented engineering company, the principle of process and documentation has turned into an unsatisfying pursuit of filling out forms over providing function. Project managers have a love-hate relationship with it. On the one hand, it has provided a bonanza of information, training, and lots of attention being lavished upon them. On the other, a lot of valuable time is wasted on administrivia activities, playing games with numbers, trying to deflect project costs, and browbeating people into doing low-value tasks that they don't understand the reason for.
Our internal customers fail to see the benefits, too. They consider our self-congratulatory "better than industry average" delivery rate is unacceptable (considering that the industry average is pretty low, I agree with their point). In response to the complaints of our internal customers and the project managers, the highest levels of management have said "simplify and streamline" and have mandated that the people who actually do the work should be the ones to identify the areas in which we can best gain efficiency. Not a bad plan--after all, it works in the manufacturing facilities. The plan goes awry because mid-level management just thinks it is another process layered on people already overburdened with processes. Bah. Following some mid-level management presentations this week, I see some glimmerings of hope, though.
My big issue still remains unresolved, though. All the processes and documentation in the world will be of zero value if you don't have the right people with the right skill sets at the right time. Having the right tools and the right access goes a long way, too. Our current process seems to be:
- Sit down, facing your desk.
- Bring forehead swiftly into contact with the top of the desk surface
- Repeat Step 2 until conscious thought is lost or the process makes sense and is useful.
Aaaaand I just got stuck with a fairly aggravating assignment because I let it be known that I had too much time on my hands. Sigh. It will take me a few steps further away from technology.
Ghostly Aspect
Our yard will look a little bit haunted this year. After many years of increasing the tack factor of our house during the winter holidays, we have finally invested in tack for the Halloween season. Simple ghosts, pumpkins, and some lighted spiderwebs will be the initial offering for ourdoors. I considered going to the effort of making tombstones and silhouette/stand ups of various things, but I also realize that I am lazy and lack appropriate storage space for them. For indoors, I have rearranged ealdthryth's ducky collection to a semblance of order and started work on a diorama for the top of the entertainment center. Thus far, ealdthryth seems pleased.
Blankie Fu
Appropriately enough, AElfgifu has decided that no one puts Baby in a corner. The old fleecy robe that has been given to the cats as a nest/comfy lounge spot has long been wadded in the corner of the bedroom behind the rocking chair. This week, AElf' has started dragging it out into the middle of the room to snooze upon. I've put it back a couple of times, only to discover it back in the middle of the room when I get up in the morning. When I come home in the afternoon, AElf' has migrated to her usual nap spot on ealdthryth's side of the bed, and Josie is lounging on the robe.
Silly girls!