SAS Cloud seems to run entirely on project managers.
No actual SAS experience in sight, yet somehow they manage to present themselves as experts on absolutely everything.
No wonder the whole place looks like it’s permanently waiting on a meeting about a meeting.
@d1 “R&D needs direction. Without it, they are awash in “hey, look at this cool useless thing I did.”
While I agree to an extent I disagree with the latter part.
In the tech industry there has always been the “cool useless thing I did” issue.
But there have also been amazing things that get started that way. Most things get started that way.
The tech industry and our lives would not be even close without those “look what I did” moments.
Do you think the business and marketing folks would have done the majority of these things? I’ll say not.
So it always worries me when people try to stifle it in the interest of letting the business folks tell you what they want. We absolutely want to know what they want and that feedback is valuable. But if limited to that feedback we would still be using rocks on a string or scratches in a tree to count stuff.
@dq especially if you factor in the reputational damage done to SAS.
I'd wager that if an honest accounting of the situation could be done, SAS would find that bleed caused by cloud into areas like R&D and tech support makes it a money-loser.
“Hey, look at this cool useless thing I did!”
[Manager]- “(Hmmm…we’ll…they do have a big charismatic personality…)
Yes, let’s do it! It will be the next big vanity project that will save the company! All hands on deck!”
@d1 from job-hopping pms that never bother to rtfm?
or from the offshore low wage low skilled technical leads that never bother to rtfm?
R&D needs direction. Without it, they are awash in “hey, look at this cool useless thing I did.”
Add a clueless secret love child to the mix and watch the fun begin.
Meetings galore and top heavy administration. SAS has become the UNCCH of the software world. Spend a ton on image and not get much substance.
All talk and no action.
@af Spot on!
I am in R&D and spend more time educating this pack of re--rds than I do writing code.
The PM and Agile hierarchy @SAS is largely a waste of time and money. It’s a bureaucracy that often hinders effective software product design, development and delivery.
With highly competent product visionaries/leaders, expert architects and top-flight engineers who communicate well, the “administrative class” is largely unnecessary. The fact that PM is so prevalent at SAS is a big reason why they are in decline.
why have one person working when you can have a dozen pm’s watching them work