I've been dilberted!

[Armitage]

So yesterday I sent my boss my estimate for time & $$$ required to set up a new service we are pursuing. My guess was 5-8 man-months to "first light"and then at least 2 full time people to run it from there. And $6K for some "hot spare" hardware. And a cell phone so we can be "on-call" for our customers.

This a.m. I get cc'd on an email to our business manager where he states that we can stand it up in 3 months, run it with 1.25 people and need only $2k for additional hardware. And the cell phone is now a pager.

I need to start padding my estimates more :disgust:

[update 2006-02-14]
The project just got approved by our CEO! I got the boss to add in a few weeks and add the caveat that this is the very optomistic end of the schedule and a few other dependencies. And he's working on a requisition to hire at least one more person for our shop.

 

[spidey07]

yep, always take your estimates and triple them.

oh well, live and learn

 

[Zanix]

and then bosses get upset when things don't get done well/good enough...

 

[mcvickj]

lol. That sounds like a typical response.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: Zanix
and then bosses get upset when things don't get done well/good enough...

Fast Good Cheap
Pick any two

 

[Zanix]

Originally posted by: Armitage

Originally posted by: Zanix
and then bosses get upset when things don't get done well/good enough...

Fast Good Cheap
Pick any two

Indeed. :beer:

 

[DCFife]

Originally posted by: spidey07
yep, always take your estimates and triple them.

oh well, live and learn

Exactly. Now your business manager will take the numbers your boss sent and cut them to 1.5 months, .75 people, $1k for hardware and the pager will probably remain. Basically somebody will tasked out to maintain this new service (which will be put together half-assed because of the 1.5 months) as an addition to their current requirements and they'll have no recourse if anything goes wrong.

 

[FoBoT]

classic pointy haired boss stuff!

 

[spidey07]

yep.

Dilbert is funny because it is so accurate.

 

[ahurtt]

Dilbert cartoons wouldn't be funny if they weren't true.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: Armitage
So yesterday I sent my boss my estimate for time & $$$ required to set up a new service we are pursuing. My guess was 5-8 man-months to "first light"and then at least 2 full time people to run it from there. And $6K for some "hot spare" hardware. And a cell phone so we can be "on-call" for our customers.

This a.m. I get cc'd on an email to our business manager where he states that we can stand it up in 3 months, run it with 1.25 people and need only $2k for additional hardware. And the cell phone is now a pager.

I need to start padding my estimates more :disgust:

I learned that the hard way too. Ended up doing 2 projects with migration in 1.5 months.

 

[Nerva]

Originally posted by: Armitage
So yesterday I sent my boss my estimate for time & $$$ required to set up a new service we are pursuing. My guess was 5-8 man-months to "first light"and then at least 2 full time people to run it from there. And $6K for some "hot spare" hardware. And a cell phone so we can be "on-call" for our customers.

This a.m. I get cc'd on an email to our business manager where he states that we can stand it up in 3 months, run it with 1.25 people and need only $2k for additional hardware. And the cell phone is now a pager.

I need to start padding my estimates more :disgust:

wow, classic dilbert. where do you work?

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: 3cho

Originally posted by: Armitage
So yesterday I sent my boss my estimate for time & $$$ required to set up a new service we are pursuing. My guess was 5-8 man-months to "first light"and then at least 2 full time people to run it from there. And $6K for some "hot spare" hardware. And a cell phone so we can be "on-call" for our customers.

This a.m. I get cc'd on an email to our business manager where he states that we can stand it up in 3 months, run it with 1.25 people and need only $2k for additional hardware. And the cell phone is now a pager.

I need to start padding my estimates more :disgust:

wow, classic dilbert. where do you work?

probably PacBell, isn't that where the dilbert guy worked before he started doing dilbert?

 

[Czar]

what are you trying to set up?

 

[SagaLore]

Your boss is a putz. If h were smart, he'd have padded what you told him, just so he looks good when you guys get it done early and under budget.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: DCFife

Originally posted by: spidey07
yep, always take your estimates and triple them.

oh well, live and learn

Exactly. Now your business manager will take the numbers your boss sent and cut them to 1.5 months, .75 people, $1k for hardware and the pager will probably remain. Basically somebody will tasked out to maintain this new service (which will be put together half-assed because of the 1.5 months) as an addition to their current requirements and they'll have no recourse if anything goes wrong.

Yea, but now a mandatory expensive to the employee - the company won't pay for it.

 

[Chryso]

Send this to your boss.
http://www.rhlschool.com/reading.htm

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Chryso
Send this to your boss.
http://www.rhlschool.com/reading.htm

hahaha nice

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: Czar
what are you trying to set up?

Commercializing some internal R&D related to satellite operations. Can't say much more then at at this point.
We're going to photochop his head onto a dilbert cartoon :evil:

And - irony of ironies - we just blew a breaker on one of our UPS - which is something I had on my procurement list

 

[FelixDeCat]

How do you hire .25 people?

 

[kranky]

And that story reminds me of the exact lines used in a long-ago Sunday Dilbert that addressed this problem.

PHB: You're way over budget. Can you show me the cause?
Dilbert: That depends. Can mirrors reflect your image?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
How do you hire .25 people?

you assign that work to the guy who only shows 250% utilized in the time keeping software.

problem solved.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
How do you hire .25 people?

you assign that work to the guy who only shows 250% utilized in the time keeping software.

problem solved.

So let me get this straight - he gets PAID to work 1/4 of one eight hour day- aka part time?

 

[spidey07]

no, its just head count. the number of people required to do the job.

in this instance it is 1.25 people, or 50 hours per week.

 

[Gand1]

Ah that pretty much happened to me recently. Budjeted $560k for technology in a new building. Had everything designed and planned by the AV architect and then was told hmmm no sorry do that but with $180k. Fuuuuggh!!!