I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this...

As some of you may know, I worked for my last employer for ten years, 
and managed to miss the "annual" staff appraisal every single year. 
Which is just fine with me! (And in ten years, nobody actually *noticed* 
this...)

Think about it - what would my appraisal have looked like?

   What is your job?
     I'm supposed to keep the computers running.

   What did you achieve last year?
     I successfully kept the computers running.

   What are your goals for this year?
     I hope to keep the computers running.

At this point, I have to wonder - why am I filling this form out again? 
What "goals" or "achievements" can I invent to put in these boxes? How 
can I pretend these are related to the company mission?

My new employer - heh, "new". I've been there over a year! Oh yes, which 
is why I apparently need to fill out an appraisal form. Any ideas for 
creative ways to say "last year I wrote code, this year I will write 
code"? ;-)

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On Mon, 11 Nov 2013 21:58:21 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> I'm still trying to wrap my brain around this...
> 
> As some of you may know, I worked for my last employer for ten years,
> and managed to miss the "annual" staff appraisal every single year.
> Which is just fine with me! (And in ten years, nobody actually *noticed*
> this...)
> 
> Think about it - what would my appraisal have looked like?
> 
>    What is your job?
>      I'm supposed to keep the computers running.
> 
>    What did you achieve last year?
>      I successfully kept the computers running.
> 
>    What are your goals for this year?
>      I hope to keep the computers running.

I used to do reviews like this all the time when I worked in IT.  There's 
much more involved than that - but this explains why you had trouble 
writing your CV - performance reviews and objectives/goals documentation 
is really helpful for maintaining a CV.

> 
> At this point, I have to wonder - why am I filling this form out again?
> What "goals" or "achievements" can I invent to put in these boxes? How
> can I pretend these are related to the company mission?

In IT, pretty much everything you do relates to the company mission.  IT 
enables companies to achieve their mission in an efficient manner 
(ideally).  So every system you manage, implement, update, or fix 
directly affects the bottom line.

> My new employer - heh, "new". I've been there over a year! Oh yes, which
> is why I apparently need to fill out an appraisal form. Any ideas for
> creative ways to say "last year I wrote code, this year I will write
> code"? ;-)

Write more than "I wrote code."  Write about what the code does, what 
it's used for, and what it's a part of.  For goals, look forward at what 
the company's doing, where it's headed, and how the code you've already 
written is helping them meet their goals, and then extrapolate how your 
existing code might evolve - things you want to implement that you didn't 
get to, that sort of thing.  Goals and objectives are set in concert with 
your manager, so if you have a goal, objective, or desire that doesn't 
fit, your manager should help you align your goals to the organizational 
goals.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

> Think about it - what would my appraisal have looked like?
>
>    What is your job?
>      I'm supposed to keep the computers running.
>
>    What did you achieve last year?
>      I successfully kept the computers running.
>
>    What are your goals for this year?
>      I hope to keep the computers running.
>
> At this point, I have to wonder - why am I filling this form out again?
> What "goals" or "achievements" can I invent to put in these boxes? How
> can I pretend these are related to the company mission?

As you were the entire IT department in your last job, then I would 
expect your objectives and goals would be more like department goals. 
Things like "% of staff requests answered within 4 hours", or "% of 
uptime for critical servers and infrastructure" or "implement a new 
system to increase storage and backup capacity" whatever is actually 
important for your employer. You can then set targets and measure your 
performance against them.

> My new employer - heh, "new". I've been there over a year! Oh yes, which
> is why I apparently need to fill out an appraisal form. Any ideas for
> creative ways to say "last year I wrote code, this year I will write
> code"? ;-)

Don't you have certain projects you are meant to work on? Your goals 
should be based on things like "complete project X by date Y" or "become 
the company expert for Z" or personal development type stuff "chair a 
customer review" or "mentor new staff" etc. Did you ever hear of SMART 
objectives? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria

Post a reply to this message

Le 2013-11-11 16:58, Orchid Win7 v1 a écrit :
> At this point, I have to wonder - why am I filling this form out again?
> What "goals" or "achievements" can I invent to put in these boxes? How
> can I pretend these are related to the company mission?
>

Did you have any deadlines?  Did you meet them?

Did you resolve any big problem that was delaying a project?

Did you find ways of making XYZ run faster?  By how much?

Was your code relevant to anything the company did?  How so?  Would the 
company have fared any worse without your code?



-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Any ideas for
> creative ways to say "last year I wrote code, this year I will write
> code"? ;-)

search Google for latest tech trends and spell it out:  "Last year I wrote all
software in EJB.  This year I shall rewrite them as Android activities" etc

Post a reply to this message

On 12/11/2013 03:39 PM, nemesis wrote:
> Orchid Win7 v1<voi### [at] devnull>  wrote:
>> Any ideas for
>> creative ways to say "last year I wrote code, this year I will write
>> code"? ;-)
>
> search Google for latest tech trends and spell it out:  "Last year I wrote all
> software in EJB.  This year I shall rewrite them as Android activities" etc

Funniest god-damned thing I read all day!

Enterprise Java Beans... LMAO!

Post a reply to this message

On 12/11/2013 10:31 AM, scott wrote:
> As you were the entire IT department in your last job, then I would
> expect your objectives and goals would be more like department goals.
> Things like "% of staff requests answered within 4 hours", or "% of
> uptime for critical servers and infrastructure" or "implement a new
> system to increase storage and backup capacity" whatever is actually
> important for your employer. You can then set targets and measure your
> performance against them.

Staff requests equate to people standing outside my door asking me to 
fix it. Perhaps "time to fix" rather than "time to respond" would be a 
better measure. It would still require somebody to actually *measure* 
this stuff.

Ditto for uptime. Systems were a bit unstable when I joined, but within 
a few years everything was stable enough that I basically didn't need to 
even *be* there any more.

"Implement new system to increase performance" would require that 
somebody actually give me the *money* to perform badly-needed upgrades. 
Never gonna happen. :-P

Basically, for the best part of ten years, all I really did was swap the 
backup tapes once a week.

>> My new employer - heh, "new". I've been there over a year! Oh yes, which
>> is why I apparently need to fill out an appraisal form. Any ideas for
>> creative ways to say "last year I wrote code, this year I will write
>> code"? ;-)
>
> Don't you have certain projects you are meant to work on? Your goals
> should be based on things like "complete project X by date Y" or "become
> the company expert for Z" or personal development type stuff "chair a
> customer review" or "mentor new staff" etc.

Not really. There is no long-term plan. We just show up each day and 
mungle on with writing the code. Deadlines don't really exist.

> Did you ever hear of SMART
> objectives? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria

No - but it sounds interesting...

Post a reply to this message

On 12/11/2013 02:13 PM, Francois Labreque wrote:
> Le 2013-11-11 16:58, Orchid Win7 v1 a écrit :
>> At this point, I have to wonder - why am I filling this form out again?
>> What "goals" or "achievements" can I invent to put in these boxes? How
>> can I pretend these are related to the company mission?
>>
>
> Did you have any deadlines? Did you meet them?
>
> Did you resolve any big problem that was delaying a project?
>
> Did you find ways of making XYZ run faster? By how much?
>
> Was your code relevant to anything the company did? How so? Would the
> company have fared any worse without your code?

At my previous place, the answer to all of the above is pretty much "no".

At my current place... well, they pay me to write code all day long. If 
I hadn't written that code, somebody else would have written it, which 
means it would have taken the company slightly longer to get where it is 
now.

Post a reply to this message

>> At this point, I have to wonder - why am I filling this form out again?
>> What "goals" or "achievements" can I invent to put in these boxes? How
>> can I pretend these are related to the company mission?
>
> In IT, pretty much everything you do relates to the company mission.  IT
> enables companies to achieve their mission in an efficient manner
> (ideally).  So every system you manage, implement, update, or fix
> directly affects the bottom line.

At my last place, I was pretty much a necessary but useless overhead - 
like paying for water and electricity. Doesn't add any value to the 
business, but you can't operate without it.

>> My new employer - heh, "new". I've been there over a year! Oh yes, which
>> is why I apparently need to fill out an appraisal form. Any ideas for
>> creative ways to say "last year I wrote code, this year I will write
>> code"? ;-)
>
> Write more than "I wrote code."  Write about what the code does, what
> it's used for, and what it's a part of.

Code is basically the company's product. We have a room full of people 
who write code all day. If I hadn't been there... they would have one 
fewer staff, so it would have taken a few percent longer to write the 
code that got written this year.

> For goals, look forward at what
> the company's doing, where it's headed, and how the code you've already
> written is helping them meet their goals, and then extrapolate how your
> existing code might evolve - things you want to implement that you didn't
> get to, that sort of thing.  Goals and objectives are set in concert with
> your manager, so if you have a goal, objective, or desire that doesn't
> fit, your manager should help you align your goals to the organizational
> goals.

*mumble something about the company not actually having any defined 
direction*

Interesting suggestions...

Thing is, if I say "I wrote some code", that's too short. And if I 
describe everything I implemented - even just the noteworthy stuff - 
that's *way* too long.

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On Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:21:29 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

>>> At this point, I have to wonder - why am I filling this form out
>>> again? What "goals" or "achievements" can I invent to put in these
>>> boxes? How can I pretend these are related to the company mission?
>>
>> In IT, pretty much everything you do relates to the company mission. 
>> IT enables companies to achieve their mission in an efficient manner
>> (ideally).  So every system you manage, implement, update, or fix
>> directly affects the bottom line.
> 
> At my last place, I was pretty much a necessary but useless overhead -
> like paying for water and electricity. Doesn't add any value to the
> business, but you can't operate without it.

If you are necessary for operation, you're not useless overhead.

>>> My new employer - heh, "new". I've been there over a year! Oh yes,
>>> which is why I apparently need to fill out an appraisal form. Any
>>> ideas for creative ways to say "last year I wrote code, this year I
>>> will write code"? ;-)
>>
>> Write more than "I wrote code."  Write about what the code does, what
>> it's used for, and what it's a part of.
> 
> Code is basically the company's product. We have a room full of people
> who write code all day. If I hadn't been there... they would have one
> fewer staff, so it would have taken a few percent longer to write the
> code that got written this year.

The important thing is that you actually /did/ something, not that they'd 
have continued to function/exist if you weren't there.

Give yourself some credit, man! ;)

>> For goals, look forward at what the company's doing, where it's headed,
>> and how the code you've already written is helping them meet their
>> goals, and then extrapolate how your existing code might evolve -
>> things you want to implement that you didn't get to, that sort of
>> thing.  Goals and objectives are set in concert with your manager, so
>> if you have a goal, objective, or desire that doesn't fit, your manager
>> should help you align your goals to the organizational goals.
> 
> *mumble something about the company not actually having any defined
> direction*

Certainly someone must have an idea what the company does.  You're very 
secretive about even where you work, so it's kinda difficult to provide 
specific information.

What market does the company serve?  Who are its competitors?

> Interesting suggestions...

That's how it's actually done.  Someone else suggested you read up on 
SMART goals - and that's definitely a place to start.

> Thing is, if I say "I wrote some code", that's too short. And if I
> describe everything I implemented - even just the noteworthy stuff -
> that's *way* too long.

There's a middle ground.  "I wrote code that does 'x'" - as a summary, 
not a detailed description.

Jim

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On Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:16:28 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> Basically, for the best part of ten years, all I really did was swap the
> backup tapes once a week.

I seem to recall you did end user support, too.

Jim

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Le 2013-11-12 14:17, Orchid Win7 v1 a écrit :
> On 12/11/2013 02:13 PM, Francois Labreque wrote:
>> Le 2013-11-11 16:58, Orchid Win7 v1 a écrit :
>>> At this point, I have to wonder - why am I filling this form out again?
>>> What "goals" or "achievements" can I invent to put in these boxes? How
>>> can I pretend these are related to the company mission?
>>>
>>
>> Did you have any deadlines? Did you meet them?
>>
>> Did you resolve any big problem that was delaying a project?
>>
>> Did you find ways of making XYZ run faster? By how much?
>>
>> Was your code relevant to anything the company did? How so? Would the
>> company have fared any worse without your code?
>
> At my previous place, the answer to all of the above is pretty much "no".
>
> At my current place... well, they pay me to write code all day long. If
> I hadn't written that code, somebody else would have written it, which
> means it would have taken the company slightly longer to get where it is
> now.

See?  You are a pivotal team member without whom the company would be 
missing their milestones.

Writing year end reviews is not that hard!
-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> On 12/11/2013 03:39 PM, nemesis wrote:
> > Orchid Win7 v1<voi### [at] devnull>  wrote:
> >> Any ideas for
> >> creative ways to say "last year I wrote code, this year I will write
> >> code"? ;-)
> >
> > search Google for latest tech trends and spell it out:  "Last year I wrote all
> > software in EJB.  This year I shall rewrite them as Android activities" etc
>
> Funniest god-damned thing I read all day!
>
> Enterprise Java Beans... LMAO!

good to know I brought to your attention this decade-old tech

and it sounds funny, but really:  how can an enterprise run without hot boiled
java beans? :p

Post a reply to this message

On 13/11/2013 01:00 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:16:28 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>
>> Basically, for the best part of ten years, all I really did was swap the
>> backup tapes once a week.
>
> I seem to recall you did end user support, too.

Yes. Hopefully if you're doing your job well, users won't often need to 
speak to you. ;-)

[There's always wetware issues, of course...]

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> Staff requests equate to people standing outside my door asking me to
> fix it. Perhaps "time to fix" rather than "time to respond" would be a
> better measure. It would still require somebody to actually *measure*
> this stuff.

Most places I've been at use a database to log all this automatically. 
Even if you still want to allow people to turn up at your door, it only 
takes a few seconds to log it into the database. You can then use it as 
a kind of "to-do" list as well if you want.

> Ditto for uptime. Systems were a bit unstable when I joined, but within
> a few years everything was stable enough

Even if the senior management there weren't interested, don't you think 
it would have been nice to be able to produce actual numbers rather than 
"it used to be a bit unstable but it's better now"? If even to only put 
on your CV for future jobs.

> "Implement new system to increase performance" would require that
> somebody actually give me the *money* to perform badly-needed upgrades.
> Never gonna happen. :-P

There's other things, like software solutions to make things easier/more 
efficient to do.

> Basically, for the best part of ten years, all I really did was swap the
> backup tapes once a week.

But you could have done more?

> Not really. There is no long-term plan. We just show up each day and
> mungle on with writing the code. Deadlines don't really exist.

So if you only pretend to work for the next 3 months and don't actually 
write any code, nobody will care? I find that really hard to believe. 
Where does the company get its money from to pay your salary?

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On Wed, 13 Nov 2013 09:07:46 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> On 13/11/2013 01:00 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:16:28 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>>
>>> Basically, for the best part of ten years, all I really did was swap
>>> the backup tapes once a week.
>>
>> I seem to recall you did end user support, too.
> 
> Yes. Hopefully if you're doing your job well, users won't often need to
> speak to you. ;-)
> 
> [There's always wetware issues, of course...]

Of course. :)

But supporting end users is something that directly affects the company 
bottom line - you help them be more productive.  So for something like 
that, "resolved user issues in an average of 30 minutes" or something is 
a specific, measurable result.

Jim

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On 12-11-2013 20:17, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 12/11/2013 02:13 PM, Francois Labreque wrote:
>> Le 2013-11-11 16:58, Orchid Win7 v1 a écrit :
>>> At this point, I have to wonder - why am I filling this form out again?
>>> What "goals" or "achievements" can I invent to put in these boxes? How
>>> can I pretend these are related to the company mission?
>>>
>>
>> Did you have any deadlines? Did you meet them?
>>
>> Did you resolve any big problem that was delaying a project?
>>
>> Did you find ways of making XYZ run faster? By how much?
>>
>> Was your code relevant to anything the company did? How so? Would the
>> company have fared any worse without your code?
>
> At my previous place, the answer to all of the above is pretty much "no".
>
> At my current place... well, they pay me to write code all day long. If
> I hadn't written that code, somebody else would have written it, which
> means it would have taken the company slightly longer to get where it is
> now.

That sort of implies that you have no skills that are unique. I find 
that hard to believe. There are probably specific tasks that people turn 
to you to. Either because you do them faster or better. Better either 
because more readable or more thorough.

Some of these things might even be related to Haskell as a spill over. 
Not that you use the language, but you may use techniques borrowed from 
there.



-- 
Everytime the IT department forbids something that a researcher deems
necessary for her work there will be another hole in the firewall.

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>> Basically, for the best part of ten years, all I really did was swap the
>> backup tapes once a week.
>
> But you could have done more?

Not really. Once HQ started to get involved, they seemed to perceive me 
as some kind of incompetent moron [which, oddly, is how I perceived them 
- based on actual *evidence*], and they seemed keen to take as much 
control away from me as possible...

>> Not really. There is no long-term plan. We just show up each day and
>> mungle on with writing the code. Deadlines don't really exist.
>
> So if you only pretend to work for the next 3 months and don't actually
> write any code, nobody will care? I find that really hard to believe.
> Where does the company get its money from to pay your salary?

If it were noticed that I was only pretending to work, I'd probably be 
fired on the spot. That doesn't mean that my work is critical to meeting 
deadlines - it's just that, why would you pay somebody to do nothing?

Post a reply to this message

>> At my current place... well, they pay me to write code all day long. If
>> I hadn't written that code, somebody else would have written it, which
>> means it would have taken the company slightly longer to get where it is
>> now.
>
> That sort of implies that you have no skills that are unique. I find
> that hard to believe.

Well, we all know how to write code, so...

> There are probably specific tasks that people turn
> to you to. Either because you do them faster or better. Better either
> because more readable or more thorough.

Mostly people turn to me because I happen to be the guy who wrote 
function X, and how does that work again? I could look it up, but it's 
quicker to ask you...

> Some of these things might even be related to Haskell as a spill over.
> Not that you use the language, but you may use techniques borrowed from
> there.

Heh, I still remember the day I wrote some code that parses a particular 
file, and I wrote it as a nice isolated function that takes the file 
contents (which is data) and returns the parsed result (which is data), 
and then a tiny wrapper that actually does file I/O. This makes it 
trivial to test the parsing without having to *physically* create files 
on disk...

...and then my boss ordered me to munge the two together and write tests 
that actually create (and then delete) files on disk. Sometimes I feel 
my talents are totally wasted...

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>> Enterprise Java Beans... LMAO!
>
> good to know I brought to your attention this decade-old tech

You know, I once started reading about WTF a "bean" actually is...

...a decade later, I *still* have no idea! I hypothesise that it's a 
software design fad.

(It still amuses me how every five years or so the industry oscillates 
between thinking that fat clients are best, and then thinking that thin 
clients are best. In truth, both have advantages. But at any given 
moment, the industry claims that one is "the future" and the other is 
"legacy"...)

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Le 13/11/2013 23:19, Orchid Win7 v1 nous fit lire :
>>> Enterprise Java Beans... LMAO!
>>
>> good to know I brought to your attention this decade-old tech
> 
> You know, I once started reading about WTF a "bean" actually is...
> 
> ...a decade later, I *still* have no idea! I hypothesise that it's a
> software design fad.
> 
> (It still amuses me how every five years or so the industry oscillates
> between thinking that fat clients are best, and then thinking that thin
> clients are best. In truth, both have advantages. But at any given
> moment, the industry claims that one is "the future" and the other is
> "legacy"...)

they have the same oscillations about their market: "we need to extend
the applications of our product(s) to new domain"..."we need concentrate
on our heart-skill and drop the border for better competitivity"...

The military had it easier: To Do and Undo is still a work, do not
execute an order before the counter-order has arrived.

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>> *mumble something about the company not actually having any defined
>> direction*
>
> Certainly someone must have an idea what the company does.

Remember that "the company" consists of less than 10 humans [decimal]. 
When a company is that tiny, they don't necessarily have a grand 
"corporate vision" laid out in meticulous detail.

 From what I can gather, the business owner's plan is to make a product 
that does everything for everybody. Every time a customer mentions 
something the product doesn't do, we must immediately implement that 
feature.

I presume I don't need to explain why this is a flawed approach?

> You're very
> secretive about even where you work, so it's kinda difficult to provide
> specific information.
>
> What market does the company serve?  Who are its competitors?

Put simply, we make stuff used by several foreign governments, and if 
you want to know exactly what it does, you're going to need security 
clearance.

Not joking.

That probably makes it sound *far* more exciting than it actually is. 
But obviously I'm not going to sit here and talk about it on some random 
Internet forum that anybody can read.

What I can tell you is this: There are only so many governments in the 
world. So our market is small, and competing products number dozens 
rather than thousands or something.

>> Thing is, if I say "I wrote some code", that's too short. And if I
>> describe everything I implemented - even just the noteworthy stuff -
>> that's *way* too long.
>
> There's a middle ground.  "I wrote code that does 'x'" - as a summary,
> not a detailed description.

Well, this year I wrote code for about 25 different small tasks. A list 
of 25 items seems a little excessive though...

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On Wed, 13 Nov 2013 22:49:36 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

>>> *mumble something about the company not actually having any defined
>>> direction*
>>
>> Certainly someone must have an idea what the company does.
> 
> Remember that "the company" consists of less than 10 humans [decimal].
> When a company is that tiny, they don't necessarily have a grand
> "corporate vision" laid out in meticulous detail.

Well, I'm assuming it's not a lawnmowing business, or a garden centre, or 
an aircraft manufacturer.

So the product must do *something* specific.

>  From what I can gather, the business owner's plan is to make a product
> that does everything for everybody. Every time a customer mentions
> something the product doesn't do, we must immediately implement that
> feature.

So, I take it that the product is an accounting product that does asset 
tracking, maintenance management planning, fleet management, building 
security access, general spreadsheet/word processing/presentation tools, 
car diagnostics, virus scanning, automated teller machine management, 
city planning, scheduling of police department rosters, web hosting, 
Linux kernel tuning, ... - all of that?

> I presume I don't need to explain why this is a flawed approach?

I presume I don't need to go on with my previous paragraph, no?  There is 
*some* sort of scope.  I've worked with companies that don't have a 
"grand corporate vision laid out in meticulous detail" but it was still 
possible to say "here's what we do" or "here's what our goals are".

So that's the starting point.  You know you don't mow lawns for pay.  You 
know you write software that does *something*.  Within the scope of that 
"something," it may be broadly defined, but the scope isn't going to be 
"do everything software could possibly do for anyone anywhere".

>> You're very secretive about even where you work, so it's kinda
>> difficult to provide specific information.
>>
>> What market does the company serve?  Who are its competitors?
> 
> Put simply, we make stuff used by several foreign governments, and if
> you want to know exactly what it does, you're going to need security
> clearance.
> 
> Not joking.

So, I'm going to assume it's not lawn mower scheduling. :)

> That probably makes it sound *far* more exciting than it actually is.
> But obviously I'm not going to sit here and talk about it on some random
> Internet forum that anybody can read.
> 
> What I can tell you is this: There are only so many governments in the
> world. So our market is small, and competing products number dozens
> rather than thousands or something.

That's a fair thing to say.  So, you know that you compete in a certain 
market.  That defines the scope of what you are working on.  You probably 
don't work on it all, so limit what you include in your self-assessment 
to what the specific code you wrote does for the product and what it 
brings to the product.  Don't say things like "if I didn't do it, someone 
else would" because the point of the self-assessment is that /you did 
it/.  It wasn't someone else.

>>> Thing is, if I say "I wrote some code", that's too short. And if I
>>> describe everything I implemented - even just the noteworthy stuff -
>>> that's *way* too long.
>>
>> There's a middle ground.  "I wrote code that does 'x'" - as a summary,
>> not a detailed description.
> 
> Well, this year I wrote code for about 25 different small tasks. A list
> of 25 items seems a little excessive though...

Start with the list of 25 items, then work with your manager to classify 
the items in more broad categories if necessary.

I had performance reviews/self assessments/goals that included maybe 4 or 
5 main categories, each with a half dozen items under them.  That's not 
unusual.

Jim

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On Wed, 13 Nov 2013 22:14:00 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> If it were noticed that I was only pretending to work, I'd probably be
> fired on the spot. That doesn't mean that my work is critical to meeting
> deadlines - it's just that, why would you pay somebody to do nothing?

They actually hired you to do a job, and you're doing it - so as a self-
assessment, you need to talk about how you're doing the job they're 
paying you to do.

You're still relatively new to the organization, so it's entirely 
possible that your tasks to date haven't been mission-critical deadline 
items, but you need to talk about them in the assessment, certainly.  
Getting things done earns you more responsibility, more visibility, and 
ultimately (it's generally hoped) more pay.

So look at this another way - they interviewed you, hired you, and seem 
to be happy with the job you're doing, right?  So don't tell them they're 
stupid by saying that what you do doesn't matter.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

On 13/11/2013 11:52 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Nov 2013 22:14:00 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>
>> If it were noticed that I was only pretending to work, I'd probably be
>> fired on the spot. That doesn't mean that my work is critical to meeting
>> deadlines - it's just that, why would you pay somebody to do nothing?
>
> They actually hired you to do a job, and you're doing it - so as a self-
> assessment, you need to talk about how you're doing the job they're
> paying you to do.
>
> You're still relatively new to the organization, so it's entirely
> possible that your tasks to date haven't been mission-critical deadline
> items, but you need to talk about them in the assessment, certainly.
> Getting things done earns you more responsibility, more visibility, and
> ultimately (it's generally hoped) more pay.
>
> So look at this another way - they interviewed you, hired you, and seem
> to be happy with the job you're doing, right?  So don't tell them they're
> stupid by saying that what you do doesn't matter.
>

Jim is perfectly right. He comes from a culture that, we in Britain are 
drifting to, like a boat in a whirlpool.
Think about it like a justification for your job.  You either play the 
game or opt out and be expendable. I opted out. For my last assessment I 
went into the maintenance supervisor’s office with my trousers over my 
arm and said that it was his job not mine to give me an assessment. It 
did not go down well. Now I am a contractor and I will never have one 
again. I don’t think that you would like the lifestyle, of either.
Blow your own horn because the days that someone else would do it for 
you are long gone. :-(



-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 13/11/2013 10:49 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> Put simply, we make stuff used by several foreign governments, and if
> you want to know exactly what it does, you're going to need security
> clearance.
>

So! I have that. (When you work in the nuclear industry it is 
mandatory.) So has doctor, you know who.

> Not joking.

Not joking.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Le 2013-11-13 17:49, Orchid Win7 v1 a écrit :
>>> *mumble something about the company not actually having any defined
>>> direction*
>>
>> Certainly someone must have an idea what the company does.
>
> Remember that "the company" consists of less than 10 humans [decimal].
> When a company is that tiny, they don't necessarily have a grand
> "corporate vision" laid out in meticulous detail.
>
>  From what I can gather, the business owner's plan is to make a product
> that does everything for everybody. Every time a customer mentions
> something the product doesn't do, we must immediately implement that
> feature.
>
> I presume I don't need to explain why this is a flawed approach?
>
>> You're very
>> secretive about even where you work, so it's kinda difficult to provide
>> specific information.
>>
>> What market does the company serve?  Who are its competitors?
>
> Put simply, we make stuff used by several foreign governments, and if
> you want to know exactly what it does, you're going to need security
> clearance.
>
> Not joking.
>

Them?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FinFisher

> That probably makes it sound *far* more exciting than it actually is.
> But obviously I'm not going to sit here and talk about it on some random
> Internet forum that anybody can read.
>
> What I can tell you is this: There are only so many governments in the
> world. So our market is small, and competing products number dozens
> rather than thousands or something.
>
>>> Thing is, if I say "I wrote some code", that's too short. And if I
>>> describe everything I implemented - even just the noteworthy stuff -
>>> that's *way* too long.
>>
>> There's a middle ground.  "I wrote code that does 'x'" - as a summary,
>> not a detailed description.
>
> Well, this year I wrote code for about 25 different small tasks. A list
> of 25 items seems a little excessive though...

No.  Not at all.

You may want to group them in categories if some of those tasks are 
similar.  Or only give 2 or 3 main ones as an example.

Ex:
- Created installation scripts for X, Y, and Z.
- Created, implemented testing plan for 23 modules (main ones being Foo, 
Bar and Baz).
- Etc...


-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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Le 2013-11-13 19:57, Stephen a écrit :
> On 13/11/2013 10:49 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>> Put simply, we make stuff used by several foreign governments, and if
>> you want to know exactly what it does, you're going to need security
>> clearance.
>>
>
> So! I have that. (When you work in the nuclear industry it is
> mandatory.) So has doctor, you know who.
>

So do I, but I work in one of the colonies.  It may not be recognized.

>> Not joking.
>
> Not joking.
>

Not joking.

-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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>>> There's a middle ground. "I wrote code that does 'x'" - as a summary,
>>> not a detailed description.
>>
>> Well, this year I wrote code for about 25 different small tasks. A list
>> of 25 items seems a little excessive though...
>
> No. Not at all.
>
> You may want to group them in categories if some of those tasks are
> similar. Or only give 2 or 3 main ones as an example.
>
> Ex:
> - Created installation scripts for X, Y, and Z.
> - Created, implemented testing plan for 23 modules (main ones being Foo,
> Bar and Baz).
> - Etc...

Now that seems reasonable...

Post a reply to this message

On 13/11/2013 11:52 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:

> You're still relatively new to the organization, so it's entirely
> possible that your tasks to date haven't been mission-critical deadline
> items, but you need to talk about them in the assessment, certainly.
> Getting things done earns you more responsibility, more visibility, and
> ultimately (it's generally hoped) more pay.

In such a tiny company, *everybody* is already very near the top of the 
tree - because it's only a tiny tree. (More of a shrub really...) ;-)

> So look at this another way - they interviewed you, hired you, and seem
> to be happy with the job you're doing, right?  So don't tell them they're
> stupid by saying that what you do doesn't matter.

Fair enough.

Post a reply to this message

On 14/11/13 00:57, Stephen wrote:
> 
> So! I have that. (When you work in the nuclear industry it is
> mandatory.) So has doctor, you know who.
> 
So now I'm going to have to kill you; but not before you've bought me a
beer (and possibly some uisge beatha)

>> Not joking.
> 
> Not joking.
> 
What do you think ;-)

John
-- 
Protect the Earth
It was not given to you by your parents
You hold it in trust for your children

Post a reply to this message

On 14/11/13 00:38, Stephen wrote:
>
<snip>

> For my last assessment I
> went into the maintenance supervisor’s office with my trousers over my
> arm 

Now I've lost my appetite :-)

John
-- 
Protect the Earth
It was not given to you by your parents
You hold it in trust for your children

Post a reply to this message

On Thu, 14 Nov 2013 08:39:02 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> On 13/11/2013 11:52 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> 
>> You're still relatively new to the organization, so it's entirely
>> possible that your tasks to date haven't been mission-critical deadline
>> items, but you need to talk about them in the assessment, certainly.
>> Getting things done earns you more responsibility, more visibility, and
>> ultimately (it's generally hoped) more pay.
> 
> In such a tiny company, *everybody* is already very near the top of the
> tree - because it's only a tiny tree. (More of a shrub really...) ;-)

Yep, I've worked with companies that size as well.  The COO of one client 
is the CEO's "minder" - because the CEO is sorta "Jobsian" in his 
approach (ie, very little focus, big thinker, not too concerned about the 
details, changes his mind daily about where he wants to go).

But the developers at that company have specific areas of expertise.  One 
works on network systems, one works on CPU utilization, etc.

>> So look at this another way - they interviewed you, hired you, and seem
>> to be happy with the job you're doing, right?  So don't tell them
>> they're stupid by saying that what you do doesn't matter.
> 
> Fair enough.

So just summarise what you've done over the past year.  That's a starting 
point.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

> (ie, very little focus, big thinker, not too concerned about the
> details, changes his mind daily about where he wants to go).

That sounds disturbingly familiar.

Ooo, a shiny thing...

>>> So look at this another way - they interviewed you, hired you, and seem
>>> to be happy with the job you're doing, right?  So don't tell them
>>> they're stupid by saying that what you do doesn't matter.
>>
>> Fair enough.
>
> So just summarise what you've done over the past year.  That's a starting
> point.

OK.

Post a reply to this message

>>> Certainly someone must have an idea what the company does.
>>
>> Remember that "the company" consists of less than 10 humans [decimal].
>> When a company is that tiny, they don't necessarily have a grand
>> "corporate vision" laid out in meticulous detail.
>
> Well, I'm assuming it's not a lawnmowing business, or a garden centre, or
> an aircraft manufacturer.
>
> So the product must do *something* specific.

Very loosely, computer security software.

> Don't say things like "if I didn't do it, someone
> else would" because the point of the self-assessment is that /you did
> it/.  It wasn't someone else.

Sure. It's just that I don't feel like I wrote anything that nobody else 
in the room could have easily written, that's all.

>> Well, this year I wrote code for about 25 different small tasks. A list
>> of 25 items seems a little excessive though...
>
> Start with the list of 25 items, then work with your manager to classify
> the items in more broad categories if necessary.
>
> I had performance reviews/self assessments/goals that included maybe 4 or
> 5 main categories, each with a half dozen items under them.  That's not
> unusual.

OK...

Post a reply to this message

On Thu, 14 Nov 2013 19:29:53 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

>>>> Certainly someone must have an idea what the company does.
>>>
>>> Remember that "the company" consists of less than 10 humans [decimal].
>>> When a company is that tiny, they don't necessarily have a grand
>>> "corporate vision" laid out in meticulous detail.
>>
>> Well, I'm assuming it's not a lawnmowing business, or a garden centre,
>> or an aircraft manufacturer.
>>
>> So the product must do *something* specific.
> 
> Very loosely, computer security software.

OK.  So that's a start. :)

>> Don't say things like "if I didn't do it, someone else would" because
>> the point of the self-assessment is that /you did it/.  It wasn't
>> someone else.
> 
> Sure. It's just that I don't feel like I wrote anything that nobody else
> in the room could have easily written, that's all.

That doesn't matter.  What matters is that *you* wrote it.  So write that 
you wrote it.  That's what a performance review is about - not about 
whether you think someone else could've written it, but that you were the 
one who was tasked with it and are the one who wrote it.

>>> Well, this year I wrote code for about 25 different small tasks. A
>>> list of 25 items seems a little excessive though...
>>
>> Start with the list of 25 items, then work with your manager to
>> classify the items in more broad categories if necessary.
>>
>> I had performance reviews/self assessments/goals that included maybe 4
>> or 5 main categories, each with a half dozen items under them.  That's
>> not unusual.
> 
> OK...

You're getting there. :)

Jim

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On Thu, 14 Nov 2013 19:28:35 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

>> (ie, very little focus, big thinker, not too concerned about the
>> details, changes his mind daily about where he wants to go).
> 
> That sounds disturbingly familiar.
> 
> Ooo, a shiny thing...

Yep.  I did writing for this company 2 years ago for a product that was 
to be released about 3 months after I did the writing.

The product still is in a free beta - and there's a lot of new stuff that 
really (IMHO) should've been targeted for a version 2 (or even a version 
3).

>>>> So look at this another way - they interviewed you, hired you, and
>>>> seem to be happy with the job you're doing, right?  So don't tell
>>>> them they're stupid by saying that what you do doesn't matter.
>>>
>>> Fair enough.
>>
>> So just summarise what you've done over the past year.  That's a
>> starting point.
> 
> OK.

Like I said in another post, you're getting there. :)

Jim

Post a reply to this message

>> Ooo, a shiny thing...
>
> Yep.  I did writing for this company 2 years ago for a product that was
> to be released about 3 months after I did the writing.
>
> The product still is in a free beta - and there's a lot of new stuff that
> really (IMHO) should've been targeted for a version 2 (or even a version
> 3).

"So, what do you want us to work on next?"

"OK, well A is really important. Put that as priority one. B is a 
crucial capability; none of our competitors have that yet. So put that 
as priority one. C is a really fantastic idea, so put that as priority 
one. D, I've got a customer who's really interested in that, so that has 
to be priority one. Oh, and E is going to enable us to deliver a really 
compelling advantage, so that's priority one."

"So... all five items have equal priority?"

"Yes."

"So which one do you want us to do first?"

"Can't you do all of them?"

"Yes, eventually. But which one should we sort out FIRST?"

"I want them all!"

*bang* *bang* *bang*

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On Thu, 14 Nov 2013 22:22:33 +0000, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

>>> Ooo, a shiny thing...
>>
>> Yep.  I did writing for this company 2 years ago for a product that was
>> to be released about 3 months after I did the writing.
>>
>> The product still is in a free beta - and there's a lot of new stuff
>> that really (IMHO) should've been targeted for a version 2 (or even a
>> version 3).
> 
> "So, what do you want us to work on next?"
> 
> "OK, well A is really important. Put that as priority one. B is a
> crucial capability; none of our competitors have that yet. So put that
> as priority one. C is a really fantastic idea, so put that as priority
> one. D, I've got a customer who's really interested in that, so that has
> to be priority one. Oh, and E is going to enable us to deliver a really
> compelling advantage, so that's priority one."
> 
> "So... all five items have equal priority?"
> 
> "Yes."
> 
> "So which one do you want us to do first?"
> 
> "Can't you do all of them?"
> 
> "Yes, eventually. But which one should we sort out FIRST?"
> 
> "I want them all!"
> 
> *bang* *bang* *bang*

Yep, that sums that client up pretty much.  Well, except that every day 
there's a change in direction - at least there was when I was doing work 
for them.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

> If it were noticed that I was only pretending to work, I'd probably be
> fired on the spot. That doesn't mean that my work is critical to meeting
> deadlines - it's just that, why would you pay somebody to do nothing?

Why would you pay someone if the work they are doing doesn't contribute 
to meeting deadlines?

The only answer is if they are hoping that in the future you *will* be 
able to do work that is critical to meeting deadlines. And given two 
people, one who says "i wrote code last year" and another who lists out 
his own personal deadlines and how he met them, guess which one is more 
likely to get promoted (or be successful in applying for another job)?

Post a reply to this message

On 14/11/2013 1:47 AM, Francois Labreque wrote:
> Le 2013-11-13 19:57, Stephen a écrit :
>>
>> So! I have that. (When you work in the nuclear industry it is
>> mandatory.) So has doctor, you know who.
>>
>
> So do I, but I work in one of the colonies.  It may not be recognized.
>

Not "may not" as each organisation has to do its own vetting. But if you 
can supply the name of the organisation that cleared you. It 
significantly shortens the process.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On 14/11/2013 12:22 PM, Doctor John wrote:
> On 14/11/13 00:38, Stephen wrote:
>>
> <snip>
>
>> For my last assessment I
>> went into the maintenance supervisor’s office with my trousers over my
>> arm
>
> Now I've lost my appetite :-)
>
Lost your appetite for what? ;-)


-- 
Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On 14/11/2013 12:16 PM, Doctor John wrote:
> On 14/11/13 00:57, Stephen wrote:
>>
>> So! I have that. (When you work in the nuclear industry it is
>> mandatory.) So has doctor, you know who.
>>
> So now I'm going to have to kill you; but not before you've bought me a
> beer (and possibly some uisge beatha)
>

That is so annoying. I hate being deaded.

>>> Not joking.
>>
>> Not joking.
>>
> What do you think ;-)
>

A better question than "Can you think?" ;-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On 15/11/13 11:16, Stephen wrote:
> 
> That is so annoying. I hate being deaded.
> 

Enter Bluebottle, waits for audience applause, not a sausage

>>>> Not joking.
>>>
>>> Not joking.
>>>
>> What do you think ;-)
>>
> 
> A better question than "Can you think?" ;-)
> 

Cogito, ergo cogito

John
-- 
Protect the Earth
It was not given to you by your parents
You hold it in trust for your children

Post a reply to this message

On 15/11/2013 11:46 AM, Doctor John wrote:
> On 15/11/13 11:16, Stephen wrote:
>>
>> That is so annoying. I hate being deaded.
>>
>
> Enter Bluebottle, waits for audience applause, not a sausage
>

You dirty, rotten swine, you!

>>>>> Not joking.
>>>>
>>>> Not joking.
>>>>
>>> What do you think ;-)
>>>
>>
>> A better question than "Can you think?" ;-)
>>
>
> Cogito, ergo cogito
>

Altogether now:
René Descartes was a drunken fart - I drink therefore I am

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 11:46:55 +0000, Doctor John wrote:

> On 15/11/13 11:16, Stephen wrote:
>> 
>> That is so annoying. I hate being deaded.
>> 
>> 
> Enter Bluebottle, waits for audience applause, not a sausage

LOL

Post a reply to this message

On 15/11/2013 6:32 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 11:46:55 +0000, Doctor John wrote:
>
>> On 15/11/13 11:16, Stephen wrote:
>>>
>>> That is so annoying. I hate being deaded.
>>>
>>>
>> Enter Bluebottle, waits for audience applause, not a sausage
>
> LOL
>

Yes, it was perfect. :-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 18:37:41 +0000, Stephen wrote:

> On 15/11/2013 6:32 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 11:46:55 +0000, Doctor John wrote:
>>
>>> On 15/11/13 11:16, Stephen wrote:
>>>>
>>>> That is so annoying. I hate being deaded.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Enter Bluebottle, waits for audience applause, not a sausage
>>
>> LOL
>>
>>
> Yes, it was perfect. :-)

What time is it, Eccles?

Jim

Post a reply to this message

On 15/11/13 20:10, Jim Henderson wrote:
> 
> What time is it, Eccles?
> 

Just a minute. I've got it written down on a piece of paper. A nice man
wrote the time down for me this morning.

Eccles
-- 
Protect the Earth
It was not given to you by your parents
You hold it in trust for your children

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On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 20:53:57 +0000, Doctor John wrote:

> On 15/11/13 20:10, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> 
>> What time is it, Eccles?
>> 
>> 
> Just a minute. I've got it written down on a piece of paper. A nice man
> wrote the time down for me this morning.

Ooooh, then why do you carry it around with you Eccles?

Bluebootle

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