The joys of having a non technical manager.

[Joerg]

I suspect "I pushed the DRC button and nothing happened" is just someone's
lame excuse for, "I know damned well that if I hit that button I'm going to
get dozens of errors, and I can't be bothered to fix them."

If you do cutting edge analog stuff the DRC blares all the time. It's
like those bush pilots where the stall horn sings it's song the whole
left base and final and sweat beads show up on passengers foreheads when
they see the trees coming up. "Is that normal out here?" ... "Yep".

Best was a design where we had no real estate so DRs had to be
compromised left and right. No other choice. One of the fab engineers
said "You are crazy, this thing won't even make it to half a year with
all this electromigration" ... "Well, it only needs to work for six
hours max" ... "Oh, ok, alright then".

 

[Eeyore]

Yes. So don't assume it's an unsellable prototype; make it your best
shot at being the final product. Why not? You've got to attempt a
final product eventually.

Too damn right.

Those 2 guys I mentioned were just used to working sloppily under poor
management. They soon found the Rev A pcbs could work rather well.

Graham

 

[[email protected]]

Apparently, you can scratch skydiving from that list....
See: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17113222/

-mpm

But not in this case:

Dave

 

[[email protected]]

My non technical manager thinks that our (very) complex electronic
products shouldn't have prototype stages in the project plan because
electronics engineers should aim to 'get it right first time'. This
guy has had 20 highly successful years of managing the production of
speakers, and treats every little design problem as a sign of
incompetance (and I do mean little).

Has anyone else had this kind of experience and how did you cope?

You need to get one of those smaller .45 caliber semi-auto pistols and
keep it in an ankle holster under your pants. Next time that ****
stain comes up and starts verbally abusing you, you just whip out your
..45, bitch slap him upside the head with it, and scream "If I hear one
more derogatory comment outta your worthless ass I am gonna use this
gun to blow that crap you use for brains all over the walls in
here!!!". Then stick the barrel in his mouth and make him beg you like
a little bitch not to kill him.

That should end any personality conflicts you may have with this guy.
Dave

 

[Frank Buss]

Ick! No offense, but those are some of the worst flying solder joints
I've ever seen!

I know, it doesn't win an art prize, but what's wrong with it? No cold
soldered joints and it works.

 

[[email protected]]

troubleshooting. Of course, the longer the duration, the more

oportunity for marketing to change the specifications. With todays
short product cycles, prototyping and even thorough testing of the
final product can becomes luxuries. When there are two or three
generations of new products in development at any given time, nobody
will be interested in fixing the "old" products.

Must be why setup boxes (sat-tv, pvrs etc) work like crap. Firmware update..
forget that..

Now if any new setup box shall be bought. I will demand som sort of guarantee
that firmware will be fixed. Or they can stuff their boxes.
(the alternate solution is a HTPC that will allow you to workaround bugs)

 

[Joerg]

From time-to-time I'm called to do IC designs for major semiconductor
firms. Often these degenerate into "interviews" with little cretin
punks, primarily from that rather large "English-speaking" Asian
country, who think they are hot shit because they're PhD's and want me
to spout the Level=1 CMOS equation... like who-the-**** cares (or uses
Level=1)... I'm way beyond proving I know my trade.

I've only had one company that tried to dodge my travel costs. They
quickly decided to pay up ;-)

They wanted to dodge the travel costs? I guess that's spelled out in
your agreement as well, but even if it weren't, man, that's low.

Yesterday two records were broken here: Shortest consulting gig and
fastest payment. New client from down south called. Big problem, if I
could look at it? Sure, how about Monday morning? They didn't want to
risk shipment so a guy drove from about midnight until he arrived here
at 8:30am, only stopped for a drive-through coffee. I prayed for him
that night, that he won't doze off and crash. Seriously.

Hauled it all into the lab, clock started at 8:45am. Problem found and
machine ran by 10:30am, came to 1-3/4 billed hours grand total. "Can you
invoice and accept payment right now?" ... "Uhm, oh, well, if you really
want to, sure". At 10:31 the check was written. Blew me away.

 

[krw]

Telecommuting might be your friend... if you have the time?

They're pretty anal about having people work at the facility (not
even overtime is allowed from home). The real problem is a ModelSim
license though. Mentor doesn't allow use by off-site contractors.
Wonderful company.

 

[krw]

Strange! I've used Cadence User-Carnivorous Crap off-site via a link
straight into the client's system.

I'm sure it can be done with Mentor's stuff too, but it's not legal
according to their license. "Outside contractors" aren't allowed to
use their help or file a bug report. That's one of the reasons I
didn't seriously consider doing contracting from home. The tools
are just too expensive and licensing too "user-carnivorous".

 

[krw]

That's not really organized. Last guy I hired, we spent a full day
designing together. We do let a potential employee spend some time
alone with two or three people.

I spent a half-day with one of the teams I interviewed with in a
design review. I told them how to avoid a lot of headaches (their
grounding would have been a mess) and gave some other hints. I got
the job, but they later decided they couldn't afford me and
rescinded the offer. :-( The job was in Des Moines, so I got even.
;-)

The last (and I say last because I accepted - start Tuesday
interview was one of the only one's I've been on where they gave me
a test. The "problems" weren't really in my area of expertise but I
did OK. ...except one circuit where they asked an ambiguous
question (I told them the answer they wanted on the way to "beats me
- don't see how it can happen").

The classic advertise-resume-interview thing doesn't seem to work
well. Last engineer I hired I met on s.e.d., with no planned intent or
even a defined job opening.

Sometimes it's the only path available. Of course, networking is
better for both sides.

 

[JosephKK]

I'm sure it can be done with Mentor's stuff too, but it's not legal
according to their license. "Outside contractors" aren't allowed to
use their help or file a bug report. That's one of the reasons I
didn't seriously consider doing contracting from home. The tools
are just too expensive and licensing too "user-carnivorous".

In my current analysis, it is clinging to a 1970's CAD / CAE business
model that is no longer valid that is causing the problems. Aggravated
by the MPAA and RIAA infused DRM business model that they are trying
to incorporate to "protect" their IP.

 

[Rich Grise]

Fella grew up in New York and was raised to love scrod (what we Left
Coasters would call cod or haddock).

Got sent out to the company's midwestern headquarters where the dish is
not found. On his first trip back to the New York headquarters, the first
thing he does out of JFK is to hop in a cab and asks the cabbie if he
knows where he can get scrod.

The cabbie turns around and in a deep Bronx accent says, "Buddy, I've hoid
dat question ten t'ousand times, but dat's the FOIST time I've ever hoid
it in the plupoifect subjunctive."

Guy gets in cab, driver is a woman. Just to play a little joke, he says,
"Take me to the cheapest brothel in town."

Lady cabbie says, "Brother, you're in it!" ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Joerg]

In my current analysis, it is clinging to a 1970's CAD / CAE business
model that is no longer valid that is causing the problems. Aggravated
by the MPAA and RIAA infused DRM business model that they are trying
to incorporate to "protect" their IP.

So they limit the seats to onsite? Is someone asleep at the wheel?

 

[JosephKK]

So they limit the seats to onsite? Is someone asleep at the wheel?

Yes. Yes.

 

[JosephKK]

If it crashes precisely on the state line, where do they bury the
survivors? ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

In their home states / nations.

 

[JosephKK]

The "get it right the first time" sounds very much like the "zero
defect" programs of the early 1970's. They didn't quite work in the
1970's and are still with us today. The idea is to improve quality by
reducing mistakes. The problem is that the victims of such programs
spend their time minimizing their mistakes, instead of maximizing
their successes. Fear of making a mistake sets in rather quickly,
which seems to be exactly what your new manager is practicing. The
next stage is finger pointing, where nobody wants to accept
responsibility for a mistake. I've attended meetings where the
assignment of the blame took precidence over fixing the problem.

Methinks you might be headed for trouble if this is your new managers
doctrine. I don't have any brilliant suggestions on how to convince
the manager that his approach is wrong. The best I can offer is that
he should consider the possible effects of his policies dragged to its
logical extreme. If every little problem results in excessive
criticism, then people are just not going to report problems. (I've
also seen that happen). The result is that he'll get reports from his
staff indicating that everything is just wonderful, when nothing is
working. It's so much easier to lie and fix the problems quietly,
than to admit that there's a problem, and incurr the wrath of this
manager. Such over-reaction might also cause designers to refuse to
"take ownership" or responsibility for their decisions, resulting the
previously mentioned blame game. If someone coming to this manager
for help with a problem also gets blamed for the problem, then it's
highly likely that nobody will ask for help. This manager is headed
for "isolation".

The managers production background is also interesting. Production
and QA people are usually involved in Zero Defect or Six Sigma
programs in order to improve quality. A questions whether these
programs can effectively be applied to development, where they tend to
stifle creative solutions and promote excessive paperwork.

As for the necessity of doing prototypes, I'm undecided. It's been 20
years since I've done a major project. We tried it both ways, but
never reached a decision. I favored build fast and furious, and found
myself spending my time fixing problems. Others favored a more
careful, step by step, carefully calculated approach, which tended to
extend the project duration, but resulted in much less
troubleshooting. Of course, the longer the duration, the more
oportunity for marketing to change the specifications. With todays
short product cycles, prototyping and even thorough testing of the
final product can becomes luxuries. When there are two or three
generations of new products in development at any given time, nobody
will be interested in fixing the "old" products.

Gotta run.... good luck.

Yikes. It comes back to me now. The zero defects program instigated
by the US military was fashionable in the 1970's. The six sigma
program that followed in the 1980's was driven by the military as
well. It seem several management fads were driven by non-playing
captain military consultant types. Currently it seems to be "Mission,
Vision, and Goals"; but it is fading now. It was something else in
the 1990's, does anyone recall? Any one watching the current
management fads coming out of school for the past decade.

 

[JosephKK]

You need to get one of those smaller .45 caliber semi-auto pistols and
keep it in an ankle holster under your pants. Next time that ****
stain comes up and starts verbally abusing you, you just whip out your
.45, bitch slap him upside the head with it, and scream "If I hear one
more derogatory comment outta your worthless ass I am gonna use this
gun to blow that crap you use for brains all over the walls in
here!!!". Then stick the barrel in his mouth and make him beg you like
a little bitch not to kill him.

That should end any personality conflicts you may have with this guy.
Dave

The side effect of it ending your employment and landing you in jail
must also be considered.

 

[Rich Grise]

In their home states / nations.

Ha, ha, gotcha! You don't bury survivors, because they're not dead. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Charlie E.]

My non technical manager thinks that our (very) complex electronic
products shouldn't have prototype stages in the project plan because
electronics engineers should aim to 'get it right first time'. This
guy has had 20 highly successful years of managing the production of
speakers, and treats every little design problem as a sign of
incompetance (and I do mean little).

Has anyone else had this kind of experience and how did you cope?

Assasination is always a worthwhile option....

 

[Charlie E.]

I once had a great manager; he really knew his stuff and we all got along
fine - (me, an engineer, and three other techs). One day, he called a
meeting and said that he was giving his notice because somebody else hired
him.

The company hired some complete weenie who didn't know his elbow from
a hole in the ground. I got myself fired by coming in hung-over all the
time; I got another job at another company much closer to home; while
I was working there, I ran into two people (a tech and an engineer) who
were my co-workers under Rick. When the new guy came on, he was such a
lousy manager that they had quit. ;-)

Cheers!
Rich

I have had bad managers, and good mangers, but only one great manager.

I had just come off one of the worst experiences in my life, but had
sent his company my resume anyway because it was in the same industry
(toll roads) and was in the local area. I interviewed with him and
several others, and basically did a "how I can do the job' interview
with them. I then got an offer, refused it, got another one, refused
it, and then got a third offer. Since I didn't have anything else
lined up, and they were a 'virtual company' (all contract hires) I
took it.

Norm was a great boss. He anticipated problems, helped me grow into a
better engineer. He accepted problems as opportunites to excel! (and
meant it!) Unfortunately, he did not fit in with the corporate
politics. He made the cardinal sin of gettting the job done on time,
under budget, with no major problems reported to upper management. His
software counterpart had four times the staff, was continuously behind
and over budget, and had one crisis after another. Since they
couldn't fire Norm, they just laid off his entire department...