CUBE LIFE! Office Etiquette

[DSafetyGuy]

Send a pm to DaveinSeattle, our resident sailor.

He's out sailing for a week right now, if his comments over at Defector are to be believed.

[degenerasian]

gear-grinder: Work meetings that run long. It's such a lack a respect for people's time.

[elflaco2]

meetings i run/schedule.. start five minutes past the hour (or half hour) or finish 10 minutes before the hour.
that said, the business unit i work with loves meetings.. since jan1 i'm averaging 30+hrs of meetings a week.. finally had it last month and forced a number of the worst offenders to an offsite meeting for three days.. got more done last week than we would have in three months of 3xweek calls.

[Keg]

The team really liked the sextant idea and decided to run with it. Thanks fellas!

[P.D.X.]

The team really liked the ... d. Thanks fellas!

[rass]

Now he can always find his way home.

Just like keg can. Even if it's only when he needs something. :(

[DaveInSeattle]

Send a pm to DaveinSeattle, our resident sailor.

He's out sailing for a week right now, if his comments over at Defector are to be believed.

Just seeing this...yes, I was up in Anacortes, WA doing Race Week (It was fun! We finished second in our class)

A sextant is a great idea...along with a book on celestial navigation.

[The Sybian]

Now he can always find his way home.

Just like keg can. Even if it's only when he needs something. :(

Daaaamn. I thought about a similar joke but yours is much better.

[Giff]

My view for the next 10 work days includes a view of the Pacific Ocean. Not bad.

[sancarlos]

My view for the next 10 work days includes a view of the Pacific Ocean. Not bad.

Santa Cruz?

[DSafetyGuy]

My view for the next 10 work days includes a view of the Pacific Ocean. Not bad.

Where in the LA area?

[Giff]

My view for the next 10 work days includes a view of the Pacific Ocean. Not bad.

Santa Cruz?

Yup. Got here yesterday afternoon after four days disconnected in Big Sur.

[Giff]

My view for the next 10 work days includes a view of the Pacific Ocean. Not bad.

Where in the LA area?

Six hours north. Just picked up the wife and girls at LAX after I drove from Houston.

[DSafetyGuy]

I was fooled by your LA traffic post.

[sancarlos]

Let me know if you are coming up my way. I have frosty cold beverages.

[rass]

Let me know if you are coming up my way. I have frosty cold beverages.

Bicoastal Zoom swampup on Sunday...

[A_B]

Let me know if you are coming up my way. I have frosty cold beverages.

Bicoastal Zoom swampup on Sunday...

Speaking of, I have an unlimited Zoom account if we really did want to have a screen going for hop ons.

[Giff]

Let me know if you are coming up my way. I have frosty cold beverages.

Bicoastal Zoom swampup on Sunday...

That might work if sancarlos is available. What time do the festivities start? We do have plans that evening, but with the three-hour time difference maybe it'll work.

[sancarlos]

I’m free on Sunday.

[DaveInSeattle]

Throwing out a question here for the SW/Management folks here...Here's the situation:

We have an existing product A, that's been out in the field for about 2 1/2 years now. It works well, customers are happy, etc. We have a new product B, that is due to ship to beta customers any day now (hopefully) that is pretty advanced (includes interfacing to a new cloud based data analysis service that is being developed by an outside vendor).

Anyways, over the last year or so, because of the development of product B, most of the SW people (devs and test) have been moved off of product A, and onto product B. However, there are still new features that are being asked for on product A, so there is a small crew of devs (3 on my team, 2 on another team) and testers (2 on my team, 2 on the other) left on A.

The question is, how do I keep people on A motivated and interested in what they are working on? I know if I was in their shoes, as a developer, I'd be thinking "Wait...why am I stuck still working on the old product, and not being called into work on the cool new/sexy product?".

Anyone ever dealt with a situation like this? Any ideas?

[EnochRoot]

Throwing out a question here for the SW/Management folks here...Here's the situation:

We have an existing product A, that's been out in the field for about 2 1/2 years now. It works well, customers are happy, etc. We have a new product B, that is due to ship to beta customers any day now (hopefully) that is pretty advanced (includes interfacing to a new cloud based data analysis service that is being developed by an outside vendor).

Anyways, over the last year or so, because of the development of product B, most of the SW people (devs and test) have been moved off of product A, and onto product B. However, there are still new features that are being asked for on product A, so there is a small crew of devs (3 on my team, 2 on another team) and testers (2 on my team, 2 on the other) left on A.

The question is, how do I keep people on A motivated and interested in what they are working on? I know if I was in their shoes, as a developer, I'd be thinking "Wait...why am I stuck still working on the old product, and not being called into work on the cool new/sexy product?".

Anyone ever dealt with a situation like this? Any ideas?

Unless Product A employees understand they have first right of refusal to work on Product C, why not just rotate team members on/off products A & B?

[A_B]

So, I think the fact that you are already thinking about it puts you ahead of the game. Your quote about "why am I stuck with old product" can probably be addressed in a few ways. I'd think there is an opportunity to say they know Product A better and that product is still an important part of what we do and we wanted capable people to be a part of that team because it still is important to the overall strategy. Of course I don't know if that's true or if it was the underperforming or less skilled workers that stayed on the older product.

You could also try to get ahead of it by speaking with your managers if there are people in the old team that might be able to transition if there is a Product C that comes out, but again, I don't know specifics if that's what could happen. If there will be a product C, letting your team know that you'll make sure they have future opportunities might be effective at assuaging fears or reservations.

Another way might be to just remain upbeat and positive about product A and stay engaged with that product's team in an exaggerated manner from time to time. If they feel like managers think it's important that might help to keep them from misplacing their gruntles. So long as Product A isn't going away completely, hopefully they can understand the decisions that were made. Now if Product B makes A obsolete, then you should probably try to be as up front about that as possible within the confines of your general communication structure.

And obviously a pizza party will fix any kind of morale/motivation issues.

[A_B]

Also, I have a good article from my MBA stuff that might give you some ideas about dealing with situations like this. But the only e-mail address I can find for you is pretty old so if you want to PM or text me an email address I can send it your way.

[DaveInSeattle]

Throwing out a question here for the SW/Management folks here...Here's the situation:

We have an existing product A, that's been out in the field for about 2 1/2 years now. It works well, customers are happy, etc. We have a new product B, that is due to ship to beta customers any day now (hopefully) that is pretty advanced (includes interfacing to a new cloud based data analysis service that is being developed by an outside vendor).

Anyways, over the last year or so, because of the development of product B, most of the SW people (devs and test) have been moved off of product A, and onto product B. However, there are still new features that are being asked for on product A, so there is a small crew of devs (3 on my team, 2 on another team) and testers (2 on my team, 2 on the other) left on A.

The question is, how do I keep people on A motivated and interested in what they are working on? I know if I was in their shoes, as a developer, I'd be thinking "Wait...why am I stuck still working on the old product, and not being called into work on the cool new/sexy product?".

Anyone ever dealt with a situation like this? Any ideas?

Unless Product A employees understand they have first right of refusal to work on Product C, why not just rotate team members on/off products A & B?

Too much of a learning curve with rotating people onto the new product. The code base is ridiculously complicated, and it takes a while for even Senior level engineers to feel comfortable with it.

[DaveInSeattle]

So, I think the fact that you are already thinking about it puts you ahead of the game. Your quote about "why am I stuck with old product" can probably be addressed in a few ways. I'd think there is an opportunity to say they know Product A better and that product is still an important part of what we do and we wanted capable people to be a part of that team because it still is important to the overall strategy. Of course I don't know if that's true or if it was the underperforming or less skilled workers that stayed on the older product.

On my team, 2 of the 3 engineers are really good at what they do....while the other is a definite flake (he's the one who I'm pretty sure was drunk during a zoom retrospective meeting a few months ago). The testers are really good as well.

There is a 'Product C' coming down the road at some point...but probably not for a couple of years or so. We gotta get Product B out the door (our beta runs are not going well!)

[DaveInSeattle]

Also, I have a good article from my MBA stuff that might give you some ideas about dealing with situations like this. But the only e-mail address I can find for you is pretty old so if you want to PM or text me an email address I can send it your way.

PM'ed you..thanks!

[Shirley]

DiS, I've absolutely come across this situation many times. I've been a dev on the old product, a dev on the new one, and a manager/product manager for both as well. Happens all the time. There's really no good way to avoid the feeling that the new product is "better" and that you should want to work on that one and not the old one. That's a fundamental bias in the whole technology industry, isn't it?

AB has some good suggestions. I'd stress to those working on A that it's the product that's actually making the company money and employing them. Product B's development is only possible because A has been successful. (I assume this is true). Also see if you can find what the future holds for A. Will it be totally replaced by B? Will those working on A all get to migrate to B eventually?

If you have customers on A and you have meetings with them, invite a dev or two each time you meet so they can see the actual users of the product they work on. That's really valuable and often quite rare for devs. If they see that what they're working on has real impact to actual paying customers, that should help.

[The Sybian]

My first day working from one of my company's offices since December 2019... It's so weird. Took the train into NYC, and I was surprised that it was fairly full. Penn Station was pre-pandemic busy (though I hear Grand Central was eerily empty as were the roads in from NJ). Even more disorienting, we are in our old space that we closed in 2018. Had no idea we still had the space, but sublet when me moved to a much nicer space. I started in this building for my first few weeks back in 2013. Kind of nice to see people again.

[degenerasian]

I've found that working from home during the pandemic resulted in people putting more hours in almost across the board I’ve seen an increasing number of meeting requests over lunch. I ignore them. And people almost never take sick days anymore. It’s as if we just assume that besides covid, nobody gets sick. Or if we’re sick we can still work from home.

[The Sybian]

I've found that working from home during the pandemic resulted in people putting more hours in almost across the board I’ve seen an increasing number of meeting requests over lunch. I ignore them. And people almost never take sick days anymore. It’s as if we just assume that besides covid, nobody gets sick. Or if we’re sick we can still work from home.

I think I've taken less than 5 sick days in my entire career, and working from home, I'd have to be on death's door to call in sick. NJ law requires 5 paid sick days which we track separate from PTO days, so it's beneficial. I probably should have used them when I got vaxx'd, as we were supposed to, but I still did work and took a nap and went back to work when I woke up.

[A_B]

I've found that working from home during the pandemic resulted in people putting more hours in almost across the board I’ve seen an increasing number of meeting requests over lunch. I ignore them. And people almost never take sick days anymore. It’s as if we just assume that besides covid, nobody gets sick. Or if we’re sick we can still work from home.

I think I've taken less than 5 sick days in my entire career, and working from home, I'd have to be on death's door to call in sick. NJ law requires 5 paid sick days which we track separate from PTO days, so it's beneficial. I probably should have used them when I got vaxx'd, as we were supposed to, but I still did work and took a nap and went back to work when I woke up.

Those german snuff films aren't gonna watch themselves.

[Nonlinear FC]

I took a sick day a couple of weeks back because I got bitten by a spider and my foot/ankle puffed up like crazy and I just wanted to take Benedryl all day and elevate my foot. Very much worth it.

(foot/ankle is fine, but there's still a noticeable "hole" over my ankle bone thing.)

[The Sybian]

I've found that working from home during the pandemic resulted in people putting more hours in almost across the board I’ve seen an increasing number of meeting requests over lunch. I ignore them. And people almost never take sick days anymore. It’s as if we just assume that besides covid, nobody gets sick. Or if we’re sick we can still work from home.

I think I've taken less than 5 sick days in my entire career, and working from home, I'd have to be on death's door to call in sick. NJ law requires 5 paid sick days which we track separate from PTO days, so it's beneficial. I probably should have used them when I got vaxx'd, as we were supposed to, but I still did work and took a nap and went back to work when I woke up.

Those german snuff films aren't gonna watch themselves.

It's been 16 years since my job required me to watch illegal pornography.... Maybe I was better off under a Bush presidency.

[A_B]

I've found that working from home during the pandemic resulted in people putting more hours in almost across the board I’ve seen an increasing number of meeting requests over lunch. I ignore them. And people almost never take sick days anymore. It’s as if we just assume that besides covid, nobody gets sick. Or if we’re sick we can still work from home.

I think I've taken less than 5 sick days in my entire career, and working from home, I'd have to be on death's door to call in sick. NJ law requires 5 paid sick days which we track separate from PTO days, so it's beneficial. I probably should have used them when I got vaxx'd, as we were supposed to, but I still did work and took a nap and went back to work when I woke up.

Those german snuff films aren't gonna watch themselves.

It's been 16 years since my job required me to watch illegal pornography.... Maybe I was better off under a Bush presidency.

What is the Swamp if not a place where history defines us? Jerloma is the guy that got crabs after jumping off a bridge. Johnnie is a poor black airman. Hood is the cabbage soup jorts guy. I'm the extremely good looking alpha male who has always had a very healthy relationship with alcohol. Nothing to be done to change it.

[The Sybian]

So I've been in my current job for almost 9 years. Love my manager, if you asked me to design the perfect manager, I couldn't have imagined someone this great to work for/with. I like the job for the most part, but I'm getting really bored and there isn't a path to promotion unless I give up workplace investigations, which I want to keep as a career path. I've been working from home since long before COVID, which is great in some ways, but I really miss the social interactions and feel completely isolated from my company. I used to consult with internal colleagues several times a day, but due to restructuring, that's almost completely gone.

Anyways, I've been getting a lot of calls from recruiters lately and gone through some interviews. 2 are standing out as potential options. One is with a major international corporation. Interview process moved extremely fast, and I'm doing the final round today at their HQ. Sounds like a really interesting role, and I'm impressed and like everyone I've had Zoom interviews with so far. Downside is I'd have to go into their NYC office 3 days a week. It'll be a substantial increase in pay, but how much $ is worth having to commute? Not the most convenient location, Upper East Side. Took me 90 minutes today, but everything went perfectly smooth, trains on time, no traffic, and connections came immediately. In addition to commuting costs and wasting 9 hour of commute time, I'll have to pay NYC income tax, train ticket is $336/month, plus I'll have to wait a few years on the wait list for a parking permit which is another $300/year.

I was very excited about Company #2. Brand new group, so I'd be able to put a stamp on how the group operates. Currently one other person in the group, based in London, so they see the position being a Director managing new hires they expect to bring on within a year. Potential for international work in London, Brazil and Asia, which I'd like. They do some cool software security work, mostly for Homeland Security and other governments. Then I saw one of their founders is an extreme Right Wing nutjob closely tied to Trump and funding extreme Right election deniers. It looks like he is on the Board but not otherwise involved. Red flag #2, their stock fell 66% since November. I'd have to go into the office in NYC when needed, but no requirement.

Not sure my point in posting, just trying to get my thoughts in order I guess. I think meeting with the Company today in person will give me a much better feel for whether I want this.

[A_B]

Guy I know just finished his MBA and applied for a job for the first time in 26 years.

[The Sybian]

Guy I know just finished his MBA and applied for a job for the first time in 26 years.

I'll ask if they need a coal guy when I go in.

[Giff]

Good luck to you both!

I've gone back and forth about reaching out to the best swamper in the world to see if there's anything in his group for me. But with everything going on right now with kids, etc., it's really hard to beat my current set-up.

[sancarlos]

Sybian, i assume it will probably come down to which one will send you out on west coast road trips?

Good luck to you all!

Still happily retired.

[Shirley]

I can't even imagine commuting 90+ minutes each way to my job. It would have to be a LOT of money. Good luck with the rest of the process though!

Good luck to you, too, AB.

My company has gotten a little wobbly lately with frequent changes. I think we're actually still making money and doing well, but there's a lot of fear of a recession driving cost-cutting which is no fun. We were gearing up for an IPO, but put that on ice a while back and I suspect we're angling for an acquisition. Anyway, I'm going to start responding to the recruiters who reach out to me on LinkedIn. But not Meta.