New Project Fears. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2020, 09:12:42 am
content: So just after the social distancing and working from home started I ran to the end of a contract in work.I'm already signed up to the next project with another US investment bank. I have been onboarded, staring at a blank remote desktop, but I have no information. I have a blank project tracker and a blank documentation portal.I hate this phase. Sends my anxiety up the wall. I consider myself to be a competent and experienced software engineer, but I have in my 15 year career had a few projects I never got to grips with an under performed as a result. Each project is usually different, different company, different ethos, different tech, didn't country.Normally, I would not expect someone new to a project to be of any great use for several weeks. Months before they are fully bedded in, especially if they are operating within a new (to them) company.But the project manager on our company side invited us to a "Kick off" with the client. He says, "Come on guys, be prepared for this have questions ready!"I have pinged him multiple times for documentation, project requirements or ANYTHING that tells me what I will be doing and I have nothing other than, "Moving a Java app to the cloud.". I don't know what that app does, don't have it's documentation, nothing.So I need a strategy to keep my anxiety in check as unchecked I am likely to be short, grumpy and acidic on calls because I won't be able to perform as I would like.Do I just go in silent and passive and let others, particularly from the client side, drive things until I feel comfortable? Set expectations low by doing so and then as I ramp up and find my feet I can appear to excel?Help!

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2020, 10:51:21 pm
content: You are asking us two different but interconnected questions. The first one is unanswerable because it depends on your personal psychology. I don't know how to assuage your anxiety. I mostly don't get anxious so anything I might suggest in terms of coping mechanisms probably won't work.The second question concerns managers/clients that are on the extreme end of non co-operation. This I have experience with. These guys are lazy and expect the software development process to be one that mimics a consumer purchase. They do the absolute minimum to come up with a vague requirements document that is often self contradicting and expect to click the buy button. There I'm done!. After they hand it over to you they want to go on cruse control and lounge in their office incommunicado until the completion date. This kind you have to ride hard and be undiplomatic with. Ply them with refined and detailed requirements document that they need to sign off on, or just quit. They will balk at signing but so what, tough noogiesI prefer to give ultimatums and risk early termination rather than have the thing drag on and end in failure anyway. You know that stupid reality show Survivor? There was an episode I watched where the first guy to be voted off the island came up with this statement in the postmortem exit interview: "I'm glad to be the first voted off, after winning it is next best outcome" or something to that effect.He is correct, who needs to be trapped in some stupid game for weeks just to lose anyway.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 27, 2020, 11:13:59 pm
content: @Paulca: do you still get paid? If yes, then where is the problem? The project will start when it starts.You know it is about moving a 'Java app to the cloud' so you could look for experience from other people who went through a similar development cycle to learn about potential pitfalls.

author: DrG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2020, 01:09:48 am
content: That is an interesting situation. Not coming from that background, I might have a different take…IFyou are absolutely sure that 1) you asked for documentation; and 2) were not given any – and your end (i.e., your project manager agrees that you were not given any). I would be inclined to lower anxiety by first sincerely contributing to pleasant conversation on whatever topic the client appears to be willing and interested in talking about.I would not be silent as that can be interpreted in the negative. I also would not say anything like, "why haven’t you sent us anything? We thought we would have seen the app by now and seen all the docs – what’s up with that dood?"Open up politely. If the conversation seems to be going ok, you will find an opportunity to add…”I am really looking forward to hitting the ground running…and can’t wait to get all the specs and get going….blah blah blah. You will know that opportunity comes up when the air is hanging with “what the heck is the job?”.Don’t worry about questions you can’t answer…like, “So what will your role be on the project?” Answer, wherever I can be the most useful …embellished a bit with particular strengths and not – how the %$#@ would I know since I don’t even know what the freaking project is?If you really don’t know what the project details are, you really can’t be prepared to ask questions about the details, other than "what are they?"If I were a client and actually liked people, I might want to have a get acquainted conference call where everybody met and showed the right degree of friendliness backed up by competent suitability. Of course, I am neither, so you may want to listen to someone else.Still, if the client leaves the conference call thinking – these folks seem like good people who are happy and have their act together, it will have gone well.It reminds me that of all the conference calls/briefings that I have participated in, there was almost always an agenda ahead of time. The exceptions meant that I was there to listen and to listen to people that were much higher "ranking" than me.Please do let us know how it goes.

author: Dubbie
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 28, 2020, 01:16:47 am
content: Quote from: DrG on April 28, 2020, 01:09:48 amFor someone who doesn't like people, I think you hit the nail on the head.Paulca, Just be polite, friendly, and enthusiastic. If you haven't received any info yet, that's all they can expect.From what you've told us, I think you are worrying too much about this situation. The time to worry is when you have specific technical problems to worry about!

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2020, 03:09:00 am
content: Think back through the various books on projects and project management you have read or slogged through over the years. Between those and your experience with previous projects you may be able to guess at what the next few months will be like.Anyway, without a requirements document, in a sense you are now able to help chart part of the path. Some of the questions you could have ready:1. Who will be responsible for the build? Nightly build?2. What is being used for source control?3. What is the scope / scale / size of the Java program?4. What is the scope / scale / size of the database it works with?5. Any specific technologies that are involved? Database, etc.6. Is there a manual for the existing program?7. What methodology will be used? Agile? Phase-Gate? Random Hacking?8. As relevant: Who is the Scrum Master? Project Manager?9. Which service provider will host the new application?10. How many active users at once?11. Will there be an iPhone / Android app?

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2020, 10:48:37 am
content: Had a few calls with my work peers in my company and feel a bit better now.On anxiety, I get paid a load of money to do stuff. When I am not doing stuff I feel anxious. If I have a day where I work flat out and actually deliver value I log off happy and feel safe in my job. Spending what must be 4 weeks now idle makes me very nervous.Currently I'm trying to work out the playing field. This unnamed company of course rename or rebrand their components and a lot of them are *aaS - "whatever as a service", thus managed with complex access request chains etc. Pain in the ass TBH. Why can't they call a spade a spade?It does seem, like in all banks, nothing is likely to happen fast, so much bureaucracy and dozens of access requests that will take a day to process each tends to slow things down. Hopefully that holds as you can always hide behind their bureaucracy and use it as an excuseI'll let you know how it goes.

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 30, 2020, 11:26:32 am
content: So it turns out - as expected - I was over reacting.Kick off with the customer revealed they haven't even decided on the actual requirements yet. But it's basically just a dev ops project to take existing services and move them to containerised cloud images. There are a few easier ones top of the queue before the hard ones and it's a time bound project.Got some access to systems trickling in and I don't think any pressure will ramp up for a while yet.Today I got the first sub project to build, so I'm sitting on that info for tomorrow's update and going to take it easy today.

author: Dubbie
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 01, 2020, 04:58:40 am
content: Glad to hear it all worked out well!A lesson for next time!I am not an EE, but in my professional life, one mark of real experience is knowing when to worry and when to not.

author: paulca
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2020, 03:01:49 pm
content: My fear always grows when I end up sitting idle staring at the wall cause I don't know what I'm doing. Why would people pay me lots of money to do that?But today I find myself doing that.I'm a software developer. It usually goes one of two ways.1. Deployment and release management is simple - development do it, it's basic and 100% open to development customisation. We own it.2. Deployment and release management is complex and convoluted - There is a team responsible for it. Development create an artefact that ticks their boxes, they deal with the rest.However, this current project it seem I am one of those "Dev Ops" team. Probably sold as a dev ops expert by my company.But their deployment and release management process is incredibly complicated, massively customised, heavily regulated and completely out of my control.It would be all very well learning dev ops and some of the tech I'm facing, but it won't be that. It will be learning my way through all their overly complex processes and policies while wading through a constant swamp of customised terminology and nomeclure.There are no spades called "Spade" in this place.Somehow I have to FGH my OKJ with a G4F5 from the AIM on the GIUY repo, having applied for a 55FTR from QQES so I can use a YYU pipeline. You get that? No. Nor did I.