New job, how much settling in time?
Discussion
Hello All.
I started a new job on the 30th Nov, with two days of induction. This was very generic and at a high level, however, well organised and needed in terms of maintaining the corporate vision. It is within the banking industry, an area i have no experience of at all.
Following the induction, I was placed into my role. I appear to have ended up in a very unhappy team, made up mainly of contractors who are all very busy. I am a permie btw.
The team is made up of six contractors, a couple of PMO resources and team manager and his boss (lets call him bossman). Bossman reports to a lady, who appears not to have any technical knowledge. Reporting is made using a weekly report which is RAG'd. I have flagged a red RAG status and Bossman has come down hard, he gets his 'balls kicked' if anything is red, so pressured me to make it amber at worst. I stuck to my guns, resource is not available and timeslines have slipped - so red... Everyone appears to be frightened of Bossman and even more that lady. Her name is used to strike fear into the staff.
Anyway, I have been there for 15 days in total and have been given two projects to look after - i am a PM with circa 15 years of experience, but this is a new field of business for me. The contractors were looking after these projects previously, but have had little time to knowledge transfer. I have inherited a MS project plan that is very difficult to understand and am being pressured over the dates in it now. I have no idea how long test timescales are, or how many people it takes to build xyz. No one is now in the office to ask as contractors are given time out over Xmas.
When i questioned boss man, he told me that this is why he is paying the wages he does, i should own the plan and be confident with it by now.
Is this fair as I am kicking myself for being stupid now.
Apologies for the slightly cryptic message, but i am trying not to disclose anything senstive.
I started a new job on the 30th Nov, with two days of induction. This was very generic and at a high level, however, well organised and needed in terms of maintaining the corporate vision. It is within the banking industry, an area i have no experience of at all.
Following the induction, I was placed into my role. I appear to have ended up in a very unhappy team, made up mainly of contractors who are all very busy. I am a permie btw.
The team is made up of six contractors, a couple of PMO resources and team manager and his boss (lets call him bossman). Bossman reports to a lady, who appears not to have any technical knowledge. Reporting is made using a weekly report which is RAG'd. I have flagged a red RAG status and Bossman has come down hard, he gets his 'balls kicked' if anything is red, so pressured me to make it amber at worst. I stuck to my guns, resource is not available and timeslines have slipped - so red... Everyone appears to be frightened of Bossman and even more that lady. Her name is used to strike fear into the staff.
Anyway, I have been there for 15 days in total and have been given two projects to look after - i am a PM with circa 15 years of experience, but this is a new field of business for me. The contractors were looking after these projects previously, but have had little time to knowledge transfer. I have inherited a MS project plan that is very difficult to understand and am being pressured over the dates in it now. I have no idea how long test timescales are, or how many people it takes to build xyz. No one is now in the office to ask as contractors are given time out over Xmas.
When i questioned boss man, he told me that this is why he is paying the wages he does, i should own the plan and be confident with it by now.
Is this fair as I am kicking myself for being stupid now.
Apologies for the slightly cryptic message, but i am trying not to disclose anything senstive.
Ray Singh said:
Hello All.
I started a new job on the 30th Nov, with two days of induction. This was very generic and at a high level, however, well organised and needed in terms of maintaining the corporate vision. It is within the banking industry, an area i have no experience of at all.
Following the induction, I was placed into my role. I appear to have ended up in a very unhappy team, made up mainly of contractors who are all very busy. I am a permie btw.
The team is made up of six contractors, a couple of PMO resources and team manager and his boss (lets call him bossman). Bossman reports to a lady, who appears not to have any technical knowledge. Reporting is made using a weekly report which is RAG'd. I have flagged a red RAG status and Bossman has come down hard, he gets his 'balls kicked' if anything is red, so pressured me to make it amber at worst. I stuck to my guns, resource is not available and timeslines have slipped - so red... Everyone appears to be frightened of Bossman and even more that lady. Her name is used to strike fear into the staff.
Anyway, I have been there for 15 days in total and have been given two projects to look after - i am a PM with circa 15 years of experience, but this is a new field of business for me. The contractors were looking after these projects previously, but have had little time to knowledge transfer. I have inherited a MS project plan that is very difficult to understand and am being pressured over the dates in it now. I have no idea how long test timescales are, or how many people it takes to build xyz. No one is now in the office to ask as contractors are given time out over Xmas.
When i questioned boss man, he told me that this is why he is paying the wages he does, i should own the plan and be confident with it by now.
Is this fair as I am kicking myself for being stupid now.
Apologies for the slightly cryptic message, but i am trying not to disclose anything senstive.
Ask for some time with your boss's boss.I started a new job on the 30th Nov, with two days of induction. This was very generic and at a high level, however, well organised and needed in terms of maintaining the corporate vision. It is within the banking industry, an area i have no experience of at all.
Following the induction, I was placed into my role. I appear to have ended up in a very unhappy team, made up mainly of contractors who are all very busy. I am a permie btw.
The team is made up of six contractors, a couple of PMO resources and team manager and his boss (lets call him bossman). Bossman reports to a lady, who appears not to have any technical knowledge. Reporting is made using a weekly report which is RAG'd. I have flagged a red RAG status and Bossman has come down hard, he gets his 'balls kicked' if anything is red, so pressured me to make it amber at worst. I stuck to my guns, resource is not available and timeslines have slipped - so red... Everyone appears to be frightened of Bossman and even more that lady. Her name is used to strike fear into the staff.
Anyway, I have been there for 15 days in total and have been given two projects to look after - i am a PM with circa 15 years of experience, but this is a new field of business for me. The contractors were looking after these projects previously, but have had little time to knowledge transfer. I have inherited a MS project plan that is very difficult to understand and am being pressured over the dates in it now. I have no idea how long test timescales are, or how many people it takes to build xyz. No one is now in the office to ask as contractors are given time out over Xmas.
When i questioned boss man, he told me that this is why he is paying the wages he does, i should own the plan and be confident with it by now.
Is this fair as I am kicking myself for being stupid now.
Apologies for the slightly cryptic message, but i am trying not to disclose anything senstive.
Explain your dilemma.
Ray Singh said:
Hello All.
I started a new job on the 30th Nov, with two days of induction. This was very generic and at a high level, however, well organised and needed in terms of maintaining the corporate vision. It is within the banking industry, an area i have no experience of at all.
Following the induction, I was placed into my role. I appear to have ended up in a very unhappy team, made up mainly of contractors who are all very busy. I am a permie btw.
The team is made up of six contractors, a couple of PMO resources and team manager and his boss (lets call him bossman). Bossman reports to a lady, who appears not to have any technical knowledge. Reporting is made using a weekly report which is RAG'd. I have flagged a red RAG status and Bossman has come down hard, he gets his 'balls kicked' if anything is red, so pressured me to make it amber at worst. I stuck to my guns, resource is not available and timeslines have slipped - so red... Everyone appears to be frightened of Bossman and even more that lady. Her name is used to strike fear into the staff.
Anyway, I have been there for 15 days in total and have been given two projects to look after - i am a PM with circa 15 years of experience, but this is a new field of business for me. The contractors were looking after these projects previously, but have had little time to knowledge transfer. I have inherited a MS project plan that is very difficult to understand and am being pressured over the dates in it now. I have no idea how long test timescales are, or how many people it takes to build xyz. No one is now in the office to ask as contractors are given time out over Xmas.
When i questioned boss man, he told me that this is why he is paying the wages he does, i should own the plan and be confident with it by now.
Is this fair as I am kicking myself for being stupid now.
Apologies for the slightly cryptic message, but i am trying not to disclose anything senstive.
I started a new job on the 30th Nov, with two days of induction. This was very generic and at a high level, however, well organised and needed in terms of maintaining the corporate vision. It is within the banking industry, an area i have no experience of at all.
Following the induction, I was placed into my role. I appear to have ended up in a very unhappy team, made up mainly of contractors who are all very busy. I am a permie btw.
The team is made up of six contractors, a couple of PMO resources and team manager and his boss (lets call him bossman). Bossman reports to a lady, who appears not to have any technical knowledge. Reporting is made using a weekly report which is RAG'd. I have flagged a red RAG status and Bossman has come down hard, he gets his 'balls kicked' if anything is red, so pressured me to make it amber at worst. I stuck to my guns, resource is not available and timeslines have slipped - so red... Everyone appears to be frightened of Bossman and even more that lady. Her name is used to strike fear into the staff.
Anyway, I have been there for 15 days in total and have been given two projects to look after - i am a PM with circa 15 years of experience, but this is a new field of business for me. The contractors were looking after these projects previously, but have had little time to knowledge transfer. I have inherited a MS project plan that is very difficult to understand and am being pressured over the dates in it now. I have no idea how long test timescales are, or how many people it takes to build xyz. No one is now in the office to ask as contractors are given time out over Xmas.
When i questioned boss man, he told me that this is why he is paying the wages he does, i should own the plan and be confident with it by now.
Is this fair as I am kicking myself for being stupid now.
Apologies for the slightly cryptic message, but i am trying not to disclose anything senstive.
Sounds pretty unreasonable given you have been there literally a couple of weeks and no proper handover. Can you ask the pmo resource for copies of plans they have for similar projects with testing in them and logic behind them and use that timeframe as a working assumption? Who is the project sponsor / governance committee that has agreed to the plan? They might be able to help or meeting minutes may have it documented as agreeing the plan should go through some sort of working group / steer co etc. I agree with your red rag status logic. Sounds like a god awful mgt situation but all too common in this industry. Heaven forbid they have to explain themselves to the higher ups (as they have probably been painting a picture of all being well not understanding the detail)
Whilst far from ideal, it's a fairly common scenario.
My first reaction is did you have any insights prior to accepting the role? You should have as this is part of your own due diligence when deciding if you want to work for them.
Additionally, if you're good and they're paying you handsomely then there could be a realistic expectation that you'll grab this by the scruff of the neck and make it happen, exploiting your many years of experience.
If however it's all starting to feel uncomfortable, then don't be afraid to reconsider your position; if you've made a mistake then best to deal with it sooner rather than later.
In any normal situation, I'd be reflecting with you the proven strategy for dealing with the first 100 days.
Good luck and do keep us posted.
My first reaction is did you have any insights prior to accepting the role? You should have as this is part of your own due diligence when deciding if you want to work for them.
Additionally, if you're good and they're paying you handsomely then there could be a realistic expectation that you'll grab this by the scruff of the neck and make it happen, exploiting your many years of experience.
If however it's all starting to feel uncomfortable, then don't be afraid to reconsider your position; if you've made a mistake then best to deal with it sooner rather than later.
In any normal situation, I'd be reflecting with you the proven strategy for dealing with the first 100 days.
Good luck and do keep us posted.
rog007 said:
Whilst far from ideal, it's a fairly common scenario.
My first reaction is did you have any insights prior to accepting the role? You should have as this is part of your own due diligence when deciding if you want to work for them.
Additionally, if you're good and they're paying you handsomely then there could be a realistic expectation that you'll grab this by the scruff of the neck and make it happen, exploiting your many years of experience.
If however it's all starting to feel uncomfortable, then don't be afraid to reconsider your position; if you've made a mistake then best to deal with it sooner rather than later.
In any normal situation, I'd be reflecting with you the proven strategy for dealing with the first 100 days.
Good luck and do keep us posted.
This is great advice.My first reaction is did you have any insights prior to accepting the role? You should have as this is part of your own due diligence when deciding if you want to work for them.
Additionally, if you're good and they're paying you handsomely then there could be a realistic expectation that you'll grab this by the scruff of the neck and make it happen, exploiting your many years of experience.
If however it's all starting to feel uncomfortable, then don't be afraid to reconsider your position; if you've made a mistake then best to deal with it sooner rather than later.
In any normal situation, I'd be reflecting with you the proven strategy for dealing with the first 100 days.
Good luck and do keep us posted.
I was in a similar position a couple of years ago. Didn't do enough checking and 4 weeks in alarm bells started ringing.
Senior management didn't seem to know what they wanted themselves but behaved towards employees as if they should know what the expectation was. No handover, no structure and staff turnover that was eye wateringly high.
I lasted 4 months before calling it a day as I realised that there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Whatever positive changes I made would not have been anywhere near enough and I didn't need to put up with that kind of hassle.
The first priority of an employee is to make their boss happy. Change the red to amber, and send them an email stating that you've changed the colour to make their life easier but it's still really red. Explain that you expect to get the resources and handover you need in the new year.
In a different sector (sheet metal stamping and assembly parts for automotive) some years ago I found myself in a somehow similar situation. I hope yours is not that bad as mine was. It was impossible to deliver the results "officially" expected from the management in that new production plant. I fell into the "trap" (many mistakes made before needed to be covered by somebody else failure) because I was young and eager to accept a new and very well paid challenge. Entire layers of mid management were missing or not skilled, the agreed ramp up times and quantities for more than 100 parts were not achievable, the machines were not working properly and the tools were poorly designed. The production processes were out of control. My boss and the rest of the board were permanently 4k miles away in Germany. I immediately asked 5 people to be temporary sent from Italian and German plants, I got one. I worked 7 days a week at least 12 hours a day for a couple of months but as the time passed I regularly discovered new problems while the central management asked for better results and positive outlooks. After three months or so our position towards customers was a bit improved and we were able to minimize costly line stop on their final assembly line but it was also clear that the plant won't be profitable for a long time, the established pricing was not coherent with the production processes involved, even considering best case scenario for OEE. I subsequently left the company even if they offered me another role with equal pay. I later knew from former colleagues that some productions were moved from that plant and the plant was finally closed and sold just 2 years after.
"When i questioned boss man, he told me that this is why he is paying the wages he does, I should own the plan and be confident with it by now."
Sounds like he hasn't got a clue either.
You can hardly be expected to take over a workplan that you weren't involved in creating in the first place.
My advice would be to find out who is responsible for the various parts of the "plan" and get the together as soon as possible to find out (a) what the output from their part will be, (b) how long it will take and (c) any potential delays. Only then will you find out what the plan actually means and what is expected from it. CC your boss and boss's boss so they know you're doing something - couch it in a way that suggests you're new and need to get a grip on the project as soon as possible.
Sounds like he hasn't got a clue either.
You can hardly be expected to take over a workplan that you weren't involved in creating in the first place.
My advice would be to find out who is responsible for the various parts of the "plan" and get the together as soon as possible to find out (a) what the output from their part will be, (b) how long it will take and (c) any potential delays. Only then will you find out what the plan actually means and what is expected from it. CC your boss and boss's boss so they know you're doing something - couch it in a way that suggests you're new and need to get a grip on the project as soon as possible.
Edited by Monty Python on Thursday 24th December 10:21
Banks are heading into bonus season and Q4/EOY reporting so any issues or exceptions are going to be seriously scrutinised. Also the last two quarters for most banks haven't been great and so I can understand why nobody wants to rock the boat right now. Are you sure you can't adjust it and then you reassess the RAG status once Q4 reporting is officially done and your full team is back in the office ?
Edited by essayer on Thursday 24th December 18:10
You know within a month (if not sooner) whether the fit is correct.
If you are at senior level - it goes with the territory and you need to resolve. Harsh but true especially as you are permanent.
Most organisations have very poor PMO/PM practices. Pretty Gantt charts and talking the talk do not lead to a successful execution. How well was the plan drafted - seems that you need to understand some of the key constraints and links and formulate your own given the one that you have inherited is hard work.
RAG - wish I had a pound for every time I hear people/organisations say we cannot have a "red"......... Would you run a key project without an Issue Log. If the culture is "no reds" then you either play the "bulls
t" game or seek the right employer. Finally, did it pass an amber to go red - when amber what was mitigation and who was tasked plus what is their opinion.
I wish you the best - as sure have read some of your previous posts.
If you are at senior level - it goes with the territory and you need to resolve. Harsh but true especially as you are permanent.
Most organisations have very poor PMO/PM practices. Pretty Gantt charts and talking the talk do not lead to a successful execution. How well was the plan drafted - seems that you need to understand some of the key constraints and links and formulate your own given the one that you have inherited is hard work.
RAG - wish I had a pound for every time I hear people/organisations say we cannot have a "red"......... Would you run a key project without an Issue Log. If the culture is "no reds" then you either play the "bulls
t" game or seek the right employer. Finally, did it pass an amber to go red - when amber what was mitigation and who was tasked plus what is their opinion.I wish you the best - as sure have read some of your previous posts.
spikeyhead said:
The first priority of an employee is to make their boss happy. Change the red to amber, and send them an email stating that you've changed the colour to make their life easier but it's still really red. Explain that you expect to get the resources and handover you need in the new year.
This approach is not without risk. If the resources and handover don't materialise and the project continues its negative path ultimately they will come to the PM and hold them responsible. Bossman and the mentalist will likely avoid any blame / accountability in this scenario. Its not getting any better.
The contractors in the team have all told me that I have joined the problem department and that I should get out.
I have asked my line manager if we can monitor the situation closley.
I hope to change team soon, or will go contracting.
I havent been so nervous on a sunday night for many years........
The contractors in the team have all told me that I have joined the problem department and that I should get out.
I have asked my line manager if we can monitor the situation closley.
I hope to change team soon, or will go contracting.
I havent been so nervous on a sunday night for many years........
Totally different industry but concept is the same. As an incoming PM, you have one chance to get the bad news out together with a plan to deal with, that's in the 1st few weeks, thereafter its yours. Never ever cover anything up in the 1st few weeks, get all of the bad news out of the way then.
GT03ROB said:
Totally different industry but concept is the same. As an incoming PM, you have one chance to get the bad news out together with a plan to deal with, that's in the 1st few weeks, thereafter its yours. Never ever cover anything up in the 1st few weeks, get all of the bad news out of the way then.
A very well made but generally little appreciated piece of advice. The honeymoon of being able to blame one's predecessor is very short indeed. The sign of a good manager is to take full responsibility and come up with a plan as if it were a problem of their own making. Those around you who are good will of course know the truth and appreciate your approach.Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff