One of those meetings ...

[Guest]

[rant]

Do you ever have those kind of meetings where the Grand Poobah stands before everyone in an exultant way proclaiming how they single handedly did this or that .. polishing thier apple to the wrong group of people.

I thought I was suppose to be in a meeting to reach consensus on how to write a permit but it rapidly turned into a self-indulged story time for the Grand Poobah's accomplishments.

Given that I cannot suffer fools or arrogance well, I began to look for a point of entry into the Grand Poobahs story time whereby I could burst his bubble. Oppurtunity seemed to have come along as the Grand Poobah was saying, ".. and so we have had problems tracking cross programmatic issue with databases because they are not communicating well with each other ..."

I was able to quickly interupt and ask,

"But << Grand Poobah >>, if the majority of the people in this department don't communicate well with each other, why would you expect thier databases to communicate well with each other?"

My snide remark managed to elicit a few weak grins and laughs but the desired result of bringing the meeting back on point was achieved. Mission accomplished. :bananalama:

[/rant]

JR

 

[Dark Knight]

From Tallahassee,FL we got: MI IV

Starring: JR

and as the villain : Grand Poobah

The Grand Poobah threatens to turn a work meeting in a boring "I did, I am the greatest" monologue. But the brave PEngineer, member of the elite group Engineer Boards and also super special Emoticon Engineer agent JR, comes to the rescue with a daring move he can only make.

Soon in a PC screen near your keyboard.

==============================

Darn, I am full of it. Sorry JR. Just blowing some steam out at your expense.

 

[Dleg]

Yeah, I hate those meetings. I sat through one a couple of days ago about a big constructed wetland project that I had originally conceived (I was on top, as I recall), and had gone through the full procurement & design process and was canceled the day after the cosntruction contract was awarded, and then the public lands agency revoked their permission so that they could isntead try to sell the lot for a new hotel (yeah, in their dreams). A $3.2 million project, all federally funded, down the tubes.

Anyhow, now some people in the government and tourism industry want to see the wetland project proceed, because it would improve our most polluted beach (something like 28 weeks of closure due to fecal coliform count last year), which happens to be right in front of our most popular tourist district. It's our Waikiki. So, of course, they send a politician to meet with us about this, among a group of government engineers, and we have to sit there and listen to 2 HOURS of speechifying and pontificating. I had several interruptions similar to yours, JR, trying to get the guy back on track and let the people who have to DO the work talk.

 

[Guest]

Darn, I am full of it. Sorry JR. Just blowing some steam out at your expense.

Actually, I think I like that movie idea !!! lusone: :bananalama:

I will continue to pursue truth, justice, and a little bit of :bananalama: whererever I encounter :brickwall:

JR

 

[Mike1144]

Our Grand Poohbah used to be a drafter so we occasionally get "lessons" on efficient drafting techniques. "By using one less dimension, we'll save time." This guy is honestly concerned with saving minutes a week off our submittals. We thought maybe he didn't understand AutoCAD and how fast you can dimension stuff. He's actually looking to shave minutes off our submittal times. If only he realized all the time we saved by using fewer dimensions just got wasted listening to him tell us about using fewer dimensions.

 

[Road Guy]

some people think that effective communication = more meetings!

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

^ We have an LA group in our office. They waste the entire morning every morning having a weekly meeting. They won't even take calls then unless they are urgent.

As opposed to me, who wastes the whole morning here.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I used to work for a small manufacturer that was actually quite efficient until the owner bought in a consultant. Then we had weekly meetings tracking things, arguing about whose fault it was, and discussing 'better tracking of goals.' Then we'd go out and track stuff for the next meeting. Productivity deceased by at least half, I'd say.

 

[SkyWarp]

I have to deal with a guy who got the title "senior" because he's the oldest, not the most experienced. In the last meeting he told us how he refused to let upper management have us do 5 minutes of work, 4 times a year, because it's not our job. I had to be the one to break the news to him that we're the only people with the knowledge of the projects to do that 5 minutes of work. But thanks for saving me that responsibility Poobah.