Pitting Managers trying desperately to sound like Managers

The BBQ Pit
1

So, we’re re-doing our entire network architecture – basically, designing and buying a new switching core. We (the network engineering team) are on the 10th or so call with the chosen vendor getting some final pricing.

Manager joins. Let’s call him Phil.

Phil is “responsible” for a data center in Southern California. He’s constantly squashed by long-existing business units and is told (and accepts being told) how to do his job. Phil got the job by default because no one was going to re-locate to take the job. He was local and cheap. Phil has nothing to do with the east coast data center or the networking group. He joined the call for no reason at all other than one of his subordinates (a very junior network guy who’s part of the national “team”) telling him about it.

Phil: “I am concerned with introducing a solution that involves using multiple vendors. What happens if we have a problem with the architecture? We can’t have vendors pointing fingers at each other.”

Phil – what in the fuck do you expect the sales guy to say at this point? And do you not think this was covered, say, in fucking January when we began looking at equipment?

Sales guy: “We have a great relationship with the other vendor. We have several case studies proving such, and I’d love to send them to you. In fact, we had <insert exact situation anecdote here, which lasts EASILY 5 minutes>, and it all worked out great.”

Phil: “Sounds good! Can you describe to me the implementation schedule?”

Sales guy: “Well, that’s… um, that’s probably up to your team. We can be available whenever you’re looking to install the equipment.”

Phil: “Of course. Just asking! So what about support? Are you available 24x7?”

Phil, now you’re just being stupid. This isn’t 1992. Network equipment vendors have had 24x7 TACs for over ten years. Do you ask your car salesman if they offer a warranty?

Sales guy: “Uh… yes, we have a 24x7x365 TAC. Because you’re purchasing gold support, you get directly through to a level 2 engineer.”

Phil: “Thanks!”

15 minutes of a 45 minute call wasted. Thanks, Phil.

2

Is a putting manager anything like a swing coach?

3

Typo. Can’t edit.

4

Report one of the posts, not your own, and ask a mod to fix it.

5

I reported it for a Mod to fix for you.

Sorry about your Bozo in California, maybe a flight out there and using his head as a putting tee is not a bad idea? :smiley:

Jim

6

Thanks.

Man, we just had to schedule another call with the vendor. This time we unfortunately had to leave out the junior network guy to avoid the risk of him inviting said Bozo.

7

I think that’s the second thing they teach at manager school - how to come into a project late and ask random questions that have long been settled as if the manager was the first person to ever think of such a thing.

Designing a new lab a few years ago, several months into the planning the idiot manager pipes up with “What about EPO? We should have some kind of Emergency Power Off capability implemented in case of …” Not only did he make sure we all knew what EPO stood for, but he went on to list all the reasons one would want EPO. We suspect he saw it mentioned in a magazine he was reading on the john.

Same guy interrupted a meeting with some vendors to ask if I could help his buddy at another company get his workstation running.

And he picks his ear in meetings.

8

Since you are a Gold Tier support customer, I went ahead and fixed the typo in the title. For future reference, had you purchased one of our Platinum Support plans, I would have also rewritten your OP to be more interesting and banned any Silver Support members who criticized it.

9

Thanks – and noted. I’ll have my people contact your sales force. We’ll set up a call to exhaustively discuss options. I’ll include Phil.

10

If the guy has no stake, why is he allowed in the meeting? If he means so little, why is his subordinate in the meeting?

I feel your pain, but usually situations like this can be avoided. If this manager does have a legitimate stake, then he should have been involved earlier in the process, even if he is an idiot. Especially if he is an idiot. Idiots need to be overpapered and put to written decisions early.

I am assuming that you ran the meeting. If you didn’t then you can’t do anything about it anyway, and you deserve to vent.

11

:: Pounds disconsolately on coffee-sticky keys ::

Hey, why can’t a Tin Tier customer at least get a replacement keyboard once in a while? :mad:

12

Sign me up!

13

I’m sorry, but Tin Tier support only guarantees that the staff limit themselves to one unprovoked insult per post, you stupid douchebag.

14

Stop it, Giraffe! I don’t actually chuckle out loud at SDMB posts very often, and you’ve done it to my twice in one short thread. If I purchase a Zinc Tier plan, can we go for the trifecta?

15

Yeah, it was my meeting. I invited the junior guy along so he could get a feel for vendor meetings – what questions to ask, what not to ask, etc. Then Phil joined the call.

I’ve since castigated the junior network guy, and told Phil that I’d appreciate if he could furnish me a list of questions he may have for future vendors and I will ask what I cannot answer. In other words, do not invite yourself to my meetings.

16

I have personally conducted scores of channel partner audits on successful vendors of big name network equipment who did not offer 24x7 support. And some who claimed to offer 24x7 support actually just had an answering service take calls after hours, so you were by no stretch of the imagination guaranteed of getting a qualifed engineer right away.

And of the 75 or so network solution vendors I visited, at least 50 could not possibly have made this promise; they were busy enough that they needed at least a few weeks of warning for a system of any real complexity.

Unless you’re leaving something out, those are reasonable questions.

17

Isn’t that two insults?

18

If you read your Tin Tier Support Handbook, you’ll see that a standard user insult is composed of a derogatory noun/adjective pair, you smelly dildo.

19

I think you’re missing the point. Those are reasonable questions at the beginning of a discussion cycle, sure. Those are not reasonable questions for someone who hasn’t been involved with the project to be asking at such a late date. Nor is it reasonable for someone to jump in to a meeting and start asking questions without verifying with their own people first what has and has not been discussed. It’s rude, it’s stupid, and it potentially can cause costs to go up, lost business, or a bad impression (which can lead to the other two as well). Anyone with a brain doesn’t do it.

I’m with the OP on this one. Stoopid Phil.

20

He’s right. You may have missed that because in the marketing material it is described as “fully redundant support session feedback”.