Headless chickens
Discussion
Would you say most companies are organised, or people run around like headless chooks with no idea?
Prior to the oil price going down the toilet, I used to work in the oil and gas industry. I thought it was very organised and everyone pretty much had a clue.
Due to getting laid off, I took a general type job. Now nobody has any idea. Not only no idea, but they create work such that I spend a lot of time replying to internal emails which is totally unbillable and I have to drop doing billable work. Today I got 42 emails addressed to me. In the oil industry I was client rep for about a £700 million project, everything technical from the contractors landed on my desk and usually my desk only. I never got anywhere near 42 emails a day.
Now I'm dealing with stuff about 1/100,000th the value and I get 42 emails, most of which never needed to be sent. WTF????? Is everywhere like this?
Prior to the oil price going down the toilet, I used to work in the oil and gas industry. I thought it was very organised and everyone pretty much had a clue.
Due to getting laid off, I took a general type job. Now nobody has any idea. Not only no idea, but they create work such that I spend a lot of time replying to internal emails which is totally unbillable and I have to drop doing billable work. Today I got 42 emails addressed to me. In the oil industry I was client rep for about a £700 million project, everything technical from the contractors landed on my desk and usually my desk only. I never got anywhere near 42 emails a day.
Now I'm dealing with stuff about 1/100,000th the value and I get 42 emails, most of which never needed to be sent. WTF????? Is everywhere like this?
I'm not sure this doesn't apply to the O&G industry either, in my previous role (O&G country manager) I would receive anywhere between 150-500 emails a day, 90% of which didn't require any input from me. It's just people covering their arses.
Edited by thainy77 on Friday 20th May 07:42
In my old company, 50% of work undertaken was work, 50% undertaken was by people covering their a**e in respect of the work they had done...... There were a LOT of emails which were carefully drafted and lengthy which concentrated on why they were not to blame if something went wrong....
thainy77 said:
I'm not sure this doesn't apply to the O&G industry either, in my previous role (O&G country manager) I would receive anywhere between 150-500 emails a day, 90% of which didn't require any input from me. It's just people covering their arses.
As an aside, what system did you use to sort which ones could go direct to the bin, which you had to file and which ones you actually had to do something?Edited by thainy77 on Friday 20th May 07:42
creampuff said:
As an aside, what system did you use to sort which ones could go direct to the bin, which you had to file and which ones you actually had to do something?
I didn't really, i just used rules and folders in Outlook, if i was on CC it would go to a designated folder and it would more than likely not get looked at unless i had time.It wasn't ideal but i'm a bit OCD and don't like unopened emails so tended to scan read anything other than what was in the CC folder and reply as necessary.
Many people think their job is the be all and end all, and the world would stop turning if they didnt do that important round robin email of nothingness.
at the place I work there's a guide. 1) Put it on Slack. 2) If you have to email it, keep it to 2 lines. If you cant say it in under 2 lines you set up a call
at the place I work there's a guide. 1) Put it on Slack. 2) If you have to email it, keep it to 2 lines. If you cant say it in under 2 lines you set up a call
thainy77 said:
I'm not sure this doesn't apply to the O&G industry either, in my previous role (O&G country manager) I would receive anywhere between 150-500 emails a day, 90% of which didn't require any input from me. It's just people covering their arses.
In my experience the unnecessary fluff and arse covering in O&G is worse than any other industry other than Pharma. Overuse of email is one of the things I hate in my working life. I work for one of the largest global companies that attempts to run a lean workforce, however, in reality by trying to cut headcount too much they actually introduce an inefficient structure where people follow a set of process notes and any deviations cause mayhem leading to the requirement for more heads than originally.
I get about 200 emails a day in my inbox. I've already set up automatic rules to file or delete certain emails so the real number is much higher. Of the 200 I delete about half without opening and then read and file another 50 just in case I need to refer to them in the future. This leaves about 50 that need me to do something, I concentrate on the ones that are chasing previously unactioned requests and delete the other 25 that are first requests, as I've learned the majority are a waste of time and will self resolve.
With my remaining time I may actually do some of my own work, but it's unlikely I'll get the chance.
I get about 200 emails a day in my inbox. I've already set up automatic rules to file or delete certain emails so the real number is much higher. Of the 200 I delete about half without opening and then read and file another 50 just in case I need to refer to them in the future. This leaves about 50 that need me to do something, I concentrate on the ones that are chasing previously unactioned requests and delete the other 25 that are first requests, as I've learned the majority are a waste of time and will self resolve.
With my remaining time I may actually do some of my own work, but it's unlikely I'll get the chance.
I've noticed that companies seem to experience a change when they get to somewhere between 50-250 employees. Before that point everyone is quite involved in keeping the place running; after it you get a lot more people who are "internal" and don't actually have a direct impact on the company (they may still be important, but they are largely acting indirectly). At this point it becomes easier to "hide" within the company structure - internal meetings; process documentation; make-work. Above 1000 employees you start to accumulate politicians and people who genuinely have no impact at all and can build entire empires of pointlessness without bringing the company down.
I have observed a few people iterate their careers along a path of "get job doing real work; slide into internal job; build pointless empire; move on when the company goes under/new top management spot the vampires"
When working with someone in this "hiding" mode, they often desire to appear massively busy. I've had people storm into my office demanding to know why I didn't CC them on an email trail to which they had only tangential relevance. They could have offered no useful input into the "conversation", nor would it have impacted upon them, but they felt slighted. This sort of politics leads to junior staff (or those with slightly lower levels of assertiveness) simply CC'ing everyone lest they offend a make-work colleague who wants to look busy.
Add in the usual backside covering and you get the situation described.
The worst, for me, are the people who will spend hours agonising over sending an email; drafting and redrafting to get exactly the right "tone". If it's that important, pick up the phone!
I have observed a few people iterate their careers along a path of "get job doing real work; slide into internal job; build pointless empire; move on when the company goes under/new top management spot the vampires"
When working with someone in this "hiding" mode, they often desire to appear massively busy. I've had people storm into my office demanding to know why I didn't CC them on an email trail to which they had only tangential relevance. They could have offered no useful input into the "conversation", nor would it have impacted upon them, but they felt slighted. This sort of politics leads to junior staff (or those with slightly lower levels of assertiveness) simply CC'ing everyone lest they offend a make-work colleague who wants to look busy.
Add in the usual backside covering and you get the situation described.
The worst, for me, are the people who will spend hours agonising over sending an email; drafting and redrafting to get exactly the right "tone". If it's that important, pick up the phone!
CaptainSlow said:
Flooble said:
I've noticed that companies seem to experience a change when they get to somewhere between 50-250 employees.
Wait to you get to 300,000.It was ridiculous even at that point ... Senior Management time seemed to be occupied on different divisions fighting each other. Junior staff might as well have been in different companies, such was the lack of interaction and amount of paperwork and process.
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