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In my case it was the computer that had to go, not the cat. The results were the same and I still think it was the wisest choice: Garfield by Jim Davis for May 27, 1979 - GoComics[^]
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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There is something deeply wrong if the question has to be asked like: 'me or ...?!'. Even if you think you can give up on ..., you have to rethink that relation...
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge". Stephen Hawking, 1942- 2018
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Never give in to a blackmailer, or this will never end.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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The short coder ran away to marry - but finished the software. (9)
A nice easy one to smooth your way into the week ...
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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DEVELOPED
dev -> short coder
eloped -> ran away to marry
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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Is the correct answer!
You are up tomorrow. 
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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We have proper process to follow & tools to use. But a senior manager keeps posting the requirements , bugs , on the unofficial channels. i.e mails , chats etc. And our management is so accommodating this.
I have reminded couple of times that this gets messy and makes us double the efforts to copy from there and document it in the original pace.
But this is never corrected. Now I feel like making a protest about this exception provided to him and demand proper instructions to him to ensure he follows the rules and uses right tools. The reason he seems to provide is, "many times he's on the go & travelling & He doesn't want to wait and miss things."
So if this is the case with me, what I would do is to take these notes for myself on the go, and once I settle down, I would log them into the official tools.
Well I'm not sure, many times I quick fire mails and end up stirring the conflicts. And regret later, thinking I could have just ignored it. Now it's THAT moment now, thinking should I load the bullets or just keep them on the covers. lol
Travelling, On-the-go etc - all these look like lame reasons. He's just old school and feels so difficult to tweak his mind to use new tools. He doesnt want to learn anything new. That's the fact.
Starting to think people post kid pics in their profiles because that was the last time they were cute - Jeremy Falcon.
modified 18-Jun-18 6:47am.
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Ask yourself: "how much hassle is this really causing me?"
If it's a lot, then keep bugging your boss and see if he will do something. Probably not, and it won't make you more popular, so if it's really that annoying then look for a new job.
If it isn't, then take a deep breath, hold it for a count of ten, and slowly release. Now get the request into the "proper" system and send him back a message telling him it's in the official channels and he can get updates there.
But letting it annoy you does nothing but raise your stress levels for no good reason...
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Griff's answer is correct.
You also might go the passive aggressive route. When asked for an update on something that was emailed. Say. "hmmm, I don't remember that email. Was it ever entered in the system and documented? If not then it isn't an issue so please move on. " A few times of "missing" things that were sent via the wrong channel or "losing" things because of improper procedures and knuckhead will eventually learn that your pain is his pain.
Don't make a complete ass of yourself though.
I really hate to say this. But Passive Aggressive is usually the best way to deal with this situation. I myself am aggressive aggressive. But that doesn't work usually.
To err is human to really mess up you need a computer
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Wow, excellent advice 
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It is elephanting unacceptable. But posting emails with that wording may not be a great idea. Instead of emailing, bring it up during your team meetings, and discuss how to handle this "noise", and how to get the requests into the system.
Too bad the managers in between are so meek. It is really their job to protect the workers from stuff like this. Perhaps they could use a friendly push to do so...
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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megaadam wrote: It is elephanting unacceptable. But posting emails with that wording may not be a great idea
.
I would really love to bring up literally "This is elephanting unacceptable" in a meeting.
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Ideally you would be able to convince him that:
1. It's important to follow the proper process.
2. That he spends the extra time involved in following it, rather than you.
The first point is probably quite doable. The second point is harder and will depend on your working relation (e.g. hierarchy) or his goodwill.
modified 13-Sep-18 21:01pm.
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I had a time, when - lead by a QA manager - all QA members came to me to explain the problem they found, instead of reporting bugs in the right place... I used to listen them and do nothing with the bug... When QA manager asked me why I do not fix bugs they reported to me, I asked - with innocent face - what is the number of the bug report... After he tried to explain me that he is the boss I told him where he can hang it... And told him that there is only one person who can hand me over problems directly and not fill in a bug/request report and he is the CEO (who is the owner too) - everyone else, including her Majesty the Queen, will fill a bug report...
What I'm saying, is that if you are confident that you have a back from the real boss, you can force some middling manager to work proper, otherwise you have to make your decision:
1. Slow down work, by asking for definite priorities between incoming tasks from different sources - to save your own sanity...
2. Merge into the stream - and lost a lot of hair probably
3. Quit
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge". Stephen Hawking, 1942- 2018
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You anticipated me. There's really nothing more to add. 
GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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Vunic wrote: And our management is so accommodating this.
Do not try and force the behavior of that person to change, but get an official and written statement that this is the way the management wants it to go (= use toolchain with allowed exceptions). It is of course not your task/responsibility to decide whether or not other employees have to use the corporate toolchain, but you have the right to understand why some people have to and some others don't, and that the answer to this gets documented as a tailoring rule in the process description - so asking the question is legit.
The difference with the complaint is that you are not firing on a particular employee, but you are simply rising a question about the internal processes and how to document them.
If this brings attention to the fact that the particular situation has to change, all fine. If they do want to keep this as an exception, then this is a PITA but still their decision ; you can bring this out the next time the lack of using the toolchain caused a delay/bug/problem @ customer.
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Depends on how senior/connected the manager is to the MD/owners etc.
What I would do is fill out the form for that manager, and send it back to him to sign off (as mentioned the wording in the email may be vague, the documented version is what will happen.)
Anyhoo, when he sends it back - and only then, reply with "thank you, now the request is official I can begin doing the work."
It protects you in that you have a properly documented work order that he has signed. You wont be asked about 'off-book work.' Too bad you have to spend time filling out the forms, if they ask then you explain that you have to ensure proper forms are completed to show accountability of your work performed.
Otherwise they may think you are doing ad-hoc/off-book work ... "why, did you do it wrong before? didn't you complete this when it was first done?.... - which makes your work habits look sloppy and hard for them to to account.
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Vunic wrote: But a senior manager...
Just flick him in the nuts as you walk padt him next. Might not fix the problem but you will feel better watching him rolling around on the floor not laughing his arse off.
Michael Martin
Australia
"I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible."
- Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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Vunic wrote: But a senior manager keeps posting the requirements , bugs , on the unofficial channels
You should see my workplace then, where there is no official channel at all.
GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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Next time, write down a clarification question on a post-it note and stick it on the back of a carton of milk in the fridge. When he eventually queries why nothing's being actioned, just refer him to that. He might eventually get the message that using the correct channels get things done more effectively.
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If this won't get you fired, try the following:
1 - disable auto responses to opening emails.
2 - if an email comes with new specs or something, close it.
3 - mark as unread, or better yet, delete.
If things don't happen because the right route wasn't followed, then the other side now has to consider fixing their behavior to get their desired result.
As things stand now - from on high, the perspective is things are working the way they are.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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As others have suggested (indirectly), let things fall through the cracks. Then play innocent. He's the one not following the rules and procedures in place, and he's the one who's going to look bad for it.
IMO.
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Similar behavior happens here, I get an email or phone call reporting a bug or requesting a new feature. I then have to log into the ticketing system and enter everything. Adds 7-15 minutes to my workflow, although I can't blame my users since if it takes that long for me to enter all the info for a ticket, it probably takes them even longer.
If he is traveling/on the road that often, doesn't he have an assistant who he could send these notes to that could then put them into the system for him?
I'd bet part of the reason is "I'm too important to do that sort of work, I'll just send an email to someone less important and make it happen."
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I am doing a contract for a client that does much the same. I get phone calls, emails with terse messages and the occasional screenshot - all used to request a new feature or DCR.
I just take the time to put into the system I put in place to track all this (VisualStudio.com, Work area with Stories, Tasks and Bugs). Then I bill him for the time it took to manage this 
One thing though that happens is that often his descriptions of what he wants is incomplete. So I end up doing the same task with changes about 2-3 times. Again, I bill for this.
Previously I had tried to do full specifications and such. But they never read them and considered them a waste of time (well, I guess they were a waste if they couldn't bother to read them). I tried explaining that it was a lot easier to write a spec and changing that, than to keep changing the code, but they never seemed to want to accept that. So now we just go through this dance (and I keep billing for it).
The client has all the access he needs to do this himself on the system, but just prefers to do it his way (with all the issues this produces).
Long and short of all this, in the end you have to accommodate the client/manager. They are the ones that cuts the cheque that gets you paid. You just have to include this in any estimates/billings you do for the work.
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Vunic wrote: The reason he seems to provide is, "many times he's on the go & travelling & He doesn't want to wait and miss things."
Maybe ask the alternative question: Is it true that it is very difficult, while travelling, to complete the corporate process. If so then push back on that. It is a route that you can honestly point to that isn't your 'fault', but is an issue that needs resolving as you are unable to properly respond (and then ensure that the failure to properly respond actually happens - bugs being lost, wrong bug fixed, anything that points to that part of the process issue).
If it is easiest for the manager to use the proper process then that's the route they will take.
Maybe the process itself is borked (as well) - maybe it asks for too much stuff up front, when there should be a short form to raise the issue, which can then be expanded later. It is very common for the initial form to be 5-10 pages long because every possible aspect is listed on the form and has become mandatory for ever box to be completed before submission.
An easy process is a used process.
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