then I understand why the company is where it is: horrible management. back-stabbers, leachers, a—kissers folks who have no other job/talent than to get in the way,
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@ufp you clearly don't understand IT, if you think Agile fits in every aspect of it
EMIT has a hard CL cap for IT employees. They themselves have already stated that there are fewer than 10% positions CL27 or higher. With more of those positions moving overseas as the low cost GBCs mature and - let’s face it - become more capable in their own right, the chances of someone in a high cost location like Canada or the US attaining such positions will continue to dwindle. This will only further breed more of the behaviours already outlined in other posts here.
@fva+16Wiihcf - Lets not act like we still hire the best and the brightest engineers either...hasn’t been that way for a long time.
Agile isn’t a fad. It’s been around for 30+ years. Like with everything else, EMIT just waited for every other company to adopt and prove it before deciding to implement...and implement poorly because consultants need to fund their 2nd and 3rd vacation homes.
Good points awx; it was the computer savvy people from the business, plants and engineering who became IT early on. These guys are long gone, and we now have people with IT and business degrees, and not the brightest: if they were, they would be working for the googles and amazons of the world. The current VP is controller background, and so are several execs.
Old timers used to say that the MD is not for the employees, not even to run the company; it is to identify the three people of the MC. As a result everything is excused if you convince yourself you have the right people to inherit the throne. EMIT people do not have a path to MC, yet they run their career development in the cliquish, non meriticratic way the business side is run. But without an actual business to run, all that's left is the machiavellianism and the backstabbing.
A couple quick points:
EMIT management formerly were brought up from the engineering/science fields with some actual management mentoring and stewardship. This has transitioned now to poorly trained and educated 'IT Professionals' with no foundation in the actual business of EM.
Agile is simply a fad and certainly not applicable for all 'IT' areas.
EMIT will be completely out-sourced (except for some engineering/science specific activity) within a few years.
Definitely back stabbers in EMIT all the way up the chain, including the supposed ‘chiefs’. What a joke! The least technical people become architects then become back stabbers in order to try and cover up their own inadequacies
@OP+16Wiihcf - Everyone complains about not being competitive/progressive enough compared to other industries and companies though. Well we are only going to be able to do that by following. You think every large company is reinventing the wheel? No, they’re all following each other, just making it better and fit for purpose.
EMIT has seriously lost its way. They fluffed themselves up under the previous VP with "Technology" (as if technology hasn't been our business for over 100 years), bought into all the consultants hype and then some, and because they have no real contact with the reality of the business they all became worse rhan managers: all they care about is managing their career and that of their protégé. Vicious and backstabbing snakes, they will go behind your back to your management to get what they want. Don't get me started on the expat assignments and the travel - supposedly staffed low cost locations so that they could get 40% uplift expats and have whole teams travel from Argentina and Brazil weekly. Not sure whether EMIT is run like XOM or XOM is run like EMIT, either way, they should be outsourced .
Agile is a great way to manage IT projects. A 10 minute meeting isn’t causing the current issues. If $500M was spent on training now that is an issue.
I would say Agile is actually ideal for a company like ExxonMobil where many PM lie about projects being on schedule.
That seems to be the answer for everything lately “every other major company is doing it”. I didn’t know we were such followers but then I think of who our great leaders are and it makes perfect sense.
If you don't like Agile go start your own company because at this point other major company is also doing Agile. They are also much more strict and you either know it or you're out.
Difficult to be agile with 5+ layers of management.
Don't care for AGILE......so many delays because of this.
EMIT: yesterday’s technology, tomorrow!
@ufp Agile might be a good overall concept but, it clearly does not fit EVERY aspect of IT, which is exactly what EMIT has tried to do.
@jaw the travel was excessive, yes. You clearly don't understand what Agile is though.
has anyone looked into the "agile transformation" that EMIT has.is going thru and how much it's cost the company in unnecessary /excessive travel the last couple of years? Heard it was in the $500M/year. Not to mention all the wasted time attending DAILY status meetings.