Comments on: The worst IT worker in the world http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/ The original Mr Angry... Finding something to be angry about every day of the year Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:46:04 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: simon23 http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-122622 simon23 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:44:11 +0000 http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-122622 check out http://chroniclesofgeorge.nanc.com/ for a look at the worst it worker in the world :P check out http://chroniclesofgeorge.nanc.com/ for a look at the worst it worker in the world :P

]]> By: Mr Angry http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-122614 Mr Angry Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:15:01 +0000 http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-122614 david: the evils of management are far worse than the evils of us little drones david: the evils of management are far worse than the evils of us little drones

]]> By: david http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-122598 david Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:12:55 +0000 http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-122598 I'm wondering if there is an acid test for being a horrible I.T. person. I recently left a position where my boss, the leader of a roughly 12-person design firm, had indicated to me on many occasions that he wished to remain ignorant of all I.T. matters, and that he was just interested in things "being pretty", with mantras like "how good it looks over how well it works"... At what point do I call them stupid? At what point do I call them ignorant? At what point do I get to berate them because I really have gone to the lowest common denominator of information transfer and they have the "DoY!" face going on? I agree that sometimes I am guilty of one or two of the things you mention in your list, specifically the explanation of things technical. But really... After being blamed for technical tragedies which were only "my fault" because they couldn't understand the nature of the problems, I told them where they could stuff their job... which was sad because that's the only time i've ever had to do that. Blah. Great column by the way... speaks volumes! I’m wondering if there is an acid test for being a horrible I.T. person. I recently left a position where my boss, the leader of a roughly 12-person design firm, had indicated to me on many occasions that he wished to remain ignorant of all I.T. matters, and that he was just interested in things “being pretty”, with mantras like “how good it looks over how well it works”…

At what point do I call them stupid? At what point do I call them ignorant? At what point do I get to berate them because I really have gone to the lowest common denominator of information transfer and they have the “DoY!” face going on?

I agree that sometimes I am guilty of one or two of the things you mention in your list, specifically the explanation of things technical. But really…

After being blamed for technical tragedies which were only “my fault” because they couldn’t understand the nature of the problems, I told them where they could stuff their job… which was sad because that’s the only time i’ve ever had to do that. Blah.

Great column by the way… speaks volumes!

]]> By: Aphra Behn - danger of eclectic shock Happy bloggiversary « http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-39685 Aphra Behn - danger of eclectic shock Happy bloggiversary « Thu, 10 May 2007 06:55:52 +0000 http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-39685 [...] Angry’s posts on the IT industry almost always having me laughing, except when they make me [...] [...] Angry’s posts on the IT industry almost always having me laughing, except when they make me [...]

]]> By: Aphra Behn http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29183 Aphra Behn Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:15:26 +0000 http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29183 I do feel better for it, thank you. I do feel better for it, thank you.

]]> By: Mr Angry http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29124 Mr Angry Fri, 23 Feb 2007 22:15:52 +0000 http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29124 Excellent rant Aphra, no arguments from me! Excellent rant Aphra, no arguments from me!

]]> By: Aphra Behn http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29123 Aphra Behn Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:03:59 +0000 http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29123 What Anon and Ben Craigo said. >> re: users are wrong because they are lazy and do stupid things like not read documentation. Why should they? It really does <i>not</i> help if the documentation is written in a way which is completely incomprehensible to the users. Ok, a sweeping statement, and here's another. Most documentation written by IT people is completely crap. That is why technical authors exist, and a lot of what they write is crap too. I'm spending a huge amount of my time right now writing material for the business, and - guess what - most of that is completely crap the first time. And the second time. I get business people to rip it to shreds and by the third time it's reasonable, It only gets good at its job - communicating quickly and accurrately a one read-through with no need for re-reads - when I am editing it for the fourth time. I don't know if this shows I am a good communicator or a bad one, but it does show that writing good documentation is hard. I spent all of yesterday re-writing a user-guide for the peeps in the business who are responsible, poor fools, for making sure that the role profiles are kept up to date. It was so bad that <i>I</i> didn't understand parts of the previous version. In the end the only thing to do was take off and nuke the whole site from orbit. (Thanks Sigourney ;-)) So I listed the headings in the order that users would want to read them, and started from there. And then I tested it out on users. I'm still awaiting the results on that one. The problem, as has been said elsewhere, is that users and IT folk inhabit parallel universes. When I asked a user to read the previous role profiling document she thought I was talking about benchmarking peoples' jobs and wondered why I was suddenly helping out HR. Users are a guest in your country. Treat them with respect. They pay your bills. Aphra. *breathing deeply* *breathing calmly* What Anon and Ben Craigo said.

>> re: users are wrong because they are lazy and do stupid things like not read documentation.

Why should they? It really does not help if the documentation is written in a way which is completely incomprehensible to the users. Ok, a sweeping statement, and here’s another.

Most documentation written by IT people is completely crap. That is why technical authors exist, and a lot of what they write is crap too.

I’m spending a huge amount of my time right now writing material for the business, and – guess what – most of that is completely crap the first time. And the second time. I get business people to rip it to shreds and by the third time it’s reasonable, It only gets good at its job – communicating quickly and accurrately a one read-through with no need for re-reads – when I am editing it for the fourth time. I don’t know if this shows I am a good communicator or a bad one, but it does show that writing good documentation is hard.

I spent all of yesterday re-writing a user-guide for the peeps in the business who are responsible, poor fools, for making sure that the role profiles are kept up to date. It was so bad that I didn’t understand parts of the previous version.

In the end the only thing to do was take off and nuke the whole site from orbit. (Thanks Sigourney ;-) ) So I listed the headings in the order that users would want to read them, and started from there. And then I tested it out on users. I’m still awaiting the results on that one.

The problem, as has been said elsewhere, is that users and IT folk inhabit parallel universes. When I asked a user to read the previous role profiling document she thought I was talking about benchmarking peoples’ jobs and wondered why I was suddenly helping out HR.

Users are a guest in your country. Treat them with respect. They pay your bills.

Aphra.
*breathing deeply*
*breathing calmly*

]]> By: Reading list for 2/21/2007 » Buu Nguyen’s Blog » Blog Archive http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29084 Reading list for 2/21/2007 » Buu Nguyen’s Blog » Blog Archive Wed, 21 Feb 2007 22:41:06 +0000 http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29084 [...] http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/: what Mr. Angry considers the characteristics of the worst IT people.  The list is not exhausive, and I can add more to that.  Can follow up with his post about the characteristics of the worst bosses [...] [...] http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/: what Mr. Angry considers the characteristics of the worst IT people.  The list is not exhausive, and I can add more to that.  Can follow up with his post about the characteristics of the worst bosses [...]

]]> By: Constantin Baciu http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29082 Constantin Baciu Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:17:33 +0000 http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29082 Nice list of rules to follow.. :D Nice list of rules to follow.. :D

]]> By: Web Clippings (Leaderware) - 2/21/2007 » Continuous Learning http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29081 Web Clippings (Leaderware) - 2/21/2007 » Continuous Learning Wed, 21 Feb 2007 18:19:07 +0000 http://angryaussie.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/the-worst-it-worker-in-the-world/#comment-29081 [...] The worst IT worker in the world � Angry 365 Days a Year Mr. Angry hits it on the head on the type of IT workers that have difficulties getting along and making impact in IT enviornments. Communications and customer service attitudes are critical for IT people success. [...] [...] The worst IT worker in the world � Angry 365 Days a Year Mr. Angry hits it on the head on the type of IT workers that have difficulties getting along and making impact in IT enviornments. Communications and customer service attitudes are critical for IT people success. [...]

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