Infomercials

Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I was engaged at work. I think engaged is the wrong word. That makes it sound like I was genuinely interested. Regardless, at one point mid morning I was sitting among 2 PhDs and a Master's degree with 30 years experience in everything. As I sat there and listened to decision making conversation that I had no weight in, I thought "Is it really necessary that I be here for this?". The answer was No. But, instead of getting up to go look for a snack I just waited it out.  Then it hit me. I was "working". If these guys really thought what they were talking about was really that important, then they probably wanted someone to hear it.

Later in the day, after the earth shatterting, 6 one way, half dozen the other decision had been made I was working (not just listening, but clicking mouse buttons too) alone with the non PhD of the previous trio. Listening to him brag about how he would do it better, with Specs! and Documented Procedures! and Test Plans! He reminded me of a bad infomercial. He was seriously trying to sell me something I had no interest in buying that was guaranteed to make my work life better/more complicated.

Bad Infomercial. That is redundant. I have never seen a good one. Funny sometimes. Bad acting always. But good? Never. Sorry, Billy. And who is in charge of the Shake Weight or the Hula Chair? Really? How did the marketing team pitch those? And who approved them? There is no way they thought the product was that great. I doubt they could have kept straight faces. Not like the people from Magic Bullet. They've got to be real believers in their product. I will say the drinks look ok, but I wouldn't eat that quesadilla. I don't care how easy it was to chop that chicken. It just looks nasty.

I am, in fact, a fan of criteria, test plans and documented procedures. However, I've been around this block under this particular leadership before. There isn't any task so insignificant that we can't turn into a giant obstacle with enough meetings.

That is one nice thing about chickens. They don't have meetings.