work

So I thought I'd do the first blog about why I've not been having much fun just recently.

Unfortunately it's become very apparent to me that my decision to stay on at my current employer last year was a big mistake.

I'm really not enjoying work.

All the same crap still seems to happen.  I had thought that some of the reason for me staying on was to help introduce some better ways of doing things, but basically they've all been either ignored or actively disregarded.

I'll give you a very good example - we've recently introduced a new Contact Management System.  Now, Contact Management is key to what I do - bid management.

However, at no stage have I been asked my opinion or in any way included in the process.

The old thing we used to use was a bespoke system put together by one of the employees and it was bobbins.  It was full of fields that nobody understood, nobody used to fill it out anyway and there was never any training to explain anything.  The problem being it wasn't properly designed - it was thrown together and packed full of "wouldn't it be nice if it" stuff.

Guess what's happened with the new system?

It's full of stupid fields that are either pointless or nobody understand the purpose of / what to put in there.  And there's not been any training.

Part of the problem is they've bought something that is a product - it is an "out of the box" thing.  Now there are a few ways they could have gone that would have worked:

• Get a complete bespoke solution, a bit like the old one, but made by professionals.
• Get an existing solution and either:

1. Pay to make it bespoke
2. Modify the processes and procedures of the company to match the product.

Guess what they've done?

They've kept the out of the box product and added in loads of fields that mimic the crap the old system used to have.  So the problem is they're trying to make it bespoke when the product itself is set up such that in other to make it bespoke in any useful sense you have to get a programmer in to change stuff.

A programmer who costs a lot of money.  And they're not willing to spend any money.

This bespoking has also been done by someone who is not that way inclined - he's not a programmer, not an analyst and really not at all suited to the job.  And it's been "managed" by the MD.  Who has started taking loads of holidays and breaks like she has already retired and is focused on trying to sell the company.

Which is the other thing, but I will continue with that tomorrow.