Rant: how can it be

[billyskank]

that management spend almost all their time in meetings, and yet never make a decision to do anything?

:rant:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. I once sat through an entire meeting staring at a cup of tea get cold...

the artist director never came. Beginning of meeting, her assistant came in her put a cup of hot tea down at the end of the board table. Two hours later and after much queeny bickering, the meeting was over. Her assistant came back and dumped out the cup of now iced tea. Honestly, was it not for that slight bit of amusement, I may have stabbed my eye out with my pen.

[billyskank]

2. Fortunately I don't have to sit through them

it's just that, when you need to talk to one, they are always in a meeting. And yet we have very important things that urgently need to be done, which are waiting for someone higher up to make the decision and say, yes, do it. But the decision never comes.

:banghead:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

3. At one theatre company I worked for (the one mentioned above)...

we had one early every friday morning during the rehearsal process. During tech, we had one after each tech rehearsal at 12:30am. Then as part of stage management, we had to write a report to distribute to the departments afterwards.

It was really only bearable when the little absurd or stupid moments took place, such as staring at the cup of tea getting cold or hearing a retarded props master say, "Wait, so we're burying a live dog onstage?" The latter spread so fast that by the time I made it back down to the office (a short elevator ride), a stage manager on another show said to me, "wow, you're gonna have to make friends with the people at the animal shelter, since you're going to need a new dog every performance. That's 37 dogs!" The only thing that props master was good for was being stupid.

[SeattleGirl]

4. Simple, darlin'

Those that can, do. Those that can't, manage.

:loveya:

[billyskank]

5. Yes....sigh

:hi: SeattleGirl! :loveya:

[tjwmason]

6. Because meetings aren't about getting things decided

They're about massaging egos.

Are things bugging you? :hug:

[billyskank]

7. A little, yes

Here we use this Oracle 7 database, which really belongs in a museum. Oracle 8 came out in 1997, Oracle 9 came out in 2001, and 10 came out in 2003. We are having great difficulties with this old database, because new Oracle products can't talk to it, and we urgently need to migrate it to a newer version. But that requires a decision from management. We actually have a number of projects which can never go live without upgrading the main database, but that seems to intrude on management's consciousness not a whit.

:grr:

[tjwmason]

8. You work for a computer company

Yet you're using a database from before 1997?

Even very non-techy me can see that that's bonkers.

:hug:

[billyskank]

10. I don't work for a computer company

I work for a the administrators of horseracing. In addition to that they publish racecards (like programmes for race meetings) and various other things, they also run a bank. I just work in the IT department.

And they are clueless about IT :hide:

[tjwmason]

12. Oh I see.

But still - that's damn ancient in computer terms. I barely touched a computer until 1997.

They need to make you a director and give you a vast budget - that would soon sort things out.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

16. Just imagine sitting through a meeting with...

six flaming gay men arguing over a tux and a fake piano for over an hour. It sounds like it might be fun, but it's really not, even if the costume director says, "I wear these big scissors around my neck for a reason. I'm ready to stab a man today."

[tjwmason]

17. I'm afraid that I'd just become one of them.

But from the outside, beyond the first ten seconds it would be most vexatious.

[Mutley]

9. They don't talk about business in meeting like that.

That would mean they'd actually have to work.

[billyskank]

11. Quite true

Meetings are the opposite of work.

:hi: mutley!

[Mutley]

13. In my limited experience they are just social gatherings.

:D

Morning billy! :hi:

[ThomCat]

14. It's a cultivated skill

If you never make the decision, you can't be blamed for the results.

[billyskank]

15. That must be it

:(