How do you cope with work overload?

As the key decision-maker at your web development company, how do you
handle situations like work overload, short-term staff shortages, etc?
How do you plan to tackle the upcoming holiday season's increased
workload?

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Re: How do you cope with work overload?

On Oct 30, 7:44 pm, Amy Sinclaire wrote:
> As the key decision-maker at your web development company, how do you
> handle situations like work overload, short-term staff shortages, etc?
> How do you plan to tackle the upcoming holiday season's increased
> workload?

A lot of drink, drugs, and masturbation...

Re: How do you cope with work overload?

Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:21:33 GMT
Travis Newbury scribed:

> On Oct 30, 7:44 pm, Amy Sinclaire wrote:
>> As the key decision-maker at your web development company, how do you
>> handle situations like work overload, short-term staff shortages, etc?
>> How do you plan to tackle the upcoming holiday season's increased
>> workload?
>
> A lot of drink, drugs, and masturbation...

You must be one of those ubiquitous yuletide yankers.

--
Bone Ur
Cavemen have formidable pheromones.

Re: How do you cope with work overload?

"Amy Sinclaire" wrote in message
news:1193741403.333571.112790@k35g2000prh.googlegroups.com.. .
>
> As the key decision-maker at your web development company, how do you
> handle situations like work overload, short-term staff shortages, etc?

When I'm really busy I stop reading or replying to newsgroup postings.

> How do you plan to tackle the upcoming holiday season's increased
> workload?
>
> If you already outsource work, you would know how difficult it can be
> to find capable and reasonably priced talent to choose from.
>
> Have you tried Spammers At Large yet?

No, nor would I knowingly use any service that spammed newsgroups (or
individual mailboxes).
--
Brian Cryer
www.cryer.co.uk/brian

Re: How do you cope with work overload?

Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:26:18 GMT
Brian Cryer scribed:

>> Have you tried Spammers At Large yet?
>
> No, nor would I knowingly use any service that spammed newsgroups (or
> individual mailboxes).

How about a company that spams you _every day_ with essentially the same
come-on? That's what this bogus outfit allcoolmusic.com does. Sure,
there's an opt-out link, and I used it. Eureka, the spam stopped - for
about 3 weeks. Then it started again, to the same address. Seems like
once they get a valid mailbox, they don't let go. To make matters worse,
they're a dishonest comnpany selling free shareware software.

What would you do about that? They currently list a foreign (physical)
address, but there's evidence they started-out (and may easily still
reside) in Canada. Yes, I have "junk" filtering on my mail client and have
setup automatically deletion of spam, but what _should_ be available is an
option to bounce certain addresses/domains back to the originator right on
the server. I think that would go a _long_ way in stopping spam.

--
Neredbojias
Just a boogar in the proboscis of life.

Re: How do you cope with work overload?

On 2007-10-30, Amy Sinclaire wrote:
>
> As the key decision-maker at your web development company, how do you
> handle situations like work overload, short-term staff shortages, etc?
> How do you plan to tackle the upcoming holiday season's increased
> workload?

When in trouble
When in doubt
Run in circles
Scream and shout

Andrew

--
Among the tales of sorrow and of ruin that come down to us
from the darkness of those days there are yet some in which
amid weeping there is joy and under the shadow of death light
endures ...

Re: How do you cope with work overload?

Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:23:12 GMT
andrew scribed:

> On 2007-10-30, Amy Sinclaire wrote:
>>
>> As the key decision-maker at your web development company, how do you
>> handle situations like work overload, short-term staff shortages, etc?
>> How do you plan to tackle the upcoming holiday season's increased
>> workload?
>
> When in trouble
> When in doubt
> Run in circles
> Scream and shout

When in trouble,
Do not sob.
Go out drinking,
And quit the job.

--
Bone Ur
Cavemen have formidable pheromones.

Re: How do you cope with work overload?

"Bone Ur" wrote in message
news:Xns99DBAA0C913CAboneurhyphe@85.214.62.108...
> Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:23:12
> GMT
> andrew scribed:
>
>> On 2007-10-30, Amy Sinclaire wrote:
>>>
>>> As the key decision-maker at your web development company, how do you
>>> handle situations like work overload, short-term staff shortages, etc?
>>> How do you plan to tackle the upcoming holiday season's increased
>>> workload?
>>
>> When in trouble
>> When in doubt
>> Run in circles
>> Scream and shout
>
> When in trouble,
> Do not sob.
> Go out drinking,
> And quit the job.
>

This all reminds me of a very old joke that my old boss years ago used to
tell whenever we told him we were running over schedule:

Q. What does an IT professional do when they see light at the end of the
tunnel?
A. Extend the tunnel.

:))

Seriously... given a staff shortage and no prospect of recruitment, one has
little choice but to not over-commit oneself in the first place.

If however, one finds oneself over-committed, there is little one can do
other than attempt to renegotiate timelines and deliverables with affected
clients. If the staff shortage is *that* bad, they most likely will not be
able to find another supplier anyway. I have found that if you are honest
with clients and explain the situation clearly, most are understanding and
accomodating. If not, who needs them anyway- there's no shortage of clients
if you are good at what you do. Sometimes you will find yourself in a
situation where you need to manage your losses, and bail out if possible.
It's unfortunate, but we've all been there at some time or another.

Whatever you do, you should NOT:

a) panic
b) smoke too much / take up smoking again
c) drink yourself to oblivion / fall off the wagon
d) get grumpy or depressed
e) eat too much chocolate or burgers
f) over-extend your workforce. They'll just leave, leaving *you* with even
less production capacity.

One should always attempt, when writing development agreements and contracts
to provide 'staged withdrawl' clauses and conditions for all parties
concerned at defined project milestones. That way the supplier *and* the
client have opportunities to back out of a project gracefully and without
ill will, hopefully leaving the client with something of value. One should
never write an agreement or contract that one is not 100% willing or able to
fulfill IMO.

Minimise your risk.

Sometimes (and this is something I still have trouble with), it's good to
say 'No' to a client in order to ensure quality and reputation.

Another trick... if possible, make sure you over-estimate the time it takes
to do things for a client at the outset. That way, when you get finished
before schedule, you and your company look good. :)

Re: How do you cope with work overload?

Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:15:47
GMT asdf scribed:

>>>> As the key decision-maker at your web development company, how do
>>>> you handle situations like work overload, short-term staff
>>>> shortages, etc? How do you plan to tackle the upcoming holiday
>>>> season's increased workload?
>>>
>>> When in trouble
>>> When in doubt
>>> Run in circles
>>> Scream and shout
>>
>> When in trouble,
>> Do not sob.
>> Go out drinking,
>> And quit the job.
>>
>
> This all reminds me of a very old joke that my old boss years ago used
> to tell whenever we told him we were running over schedule:
>
> Q. What does an IT professional do when they see light at the end of
> the tunnel?
> A. Extend the tunnel.
>
>:))
>
> Seriously... given a staff shortage and no prospect of recruitment,
> one has little choice but to not over-commit oneself in the first
> place.
>
> If however, one finds oneself over-committed, there is little one can
> do other than attempt to renegotiate timelines and deliverables with
> affected clients. If the staff shortage is *that* bad, they most
> likely will not be able to find another supplier anyway. I have found
> that if you are honest with clients and explain the situation clearly,
> most are understanding and accomodating. If not, who needs them
> anyway- there's no shortage of clients if you are good at what you do.
> Sometimes you will find yourself in a situation where you need to
> manage your losses, and bail out if possible. It's unfortunate, but
> we've all been there at some time or another.
>
> Whatever you do, you should NOT:
>
> a) panic
> b) smoke too much / take up smoking again
> c) drink yourself to oblivion / fall off the wagon
> d) get grumpy or depressed
> e) eat too much chocolate or burgers
> f) over-extend your workforce. They'll just leave, leaving *you* with
> even less production capacity.
>
> One should always attempt, when writing development agreements and
> contracts to provide 'staged withdrawl' clauses and conditions for all
> parties concerned at defined project milestones. That way the supplier
> *and* the client have opportunities to back out of a project
> gracefully and without ill will, hopefully leaving the client with
> something of value. One should never write an agreement or contract
> that one is not 100% willing or able to fulfill IMO.
>
> Minimise your risk.
>
> Sometimes (and this is something I still have trouble with), it's good
> to say 'No' to a client in order to ensure quality and reputation.
>
> Another trick... if possible, make sure you over-estimate the time it
> takes to do things for a client at the outset. That way, when you get
> finished before schedule, you and your company look good. :)

Lots of good suggestions, the last of which I've always done, probably by
intuition. However, I'm guilty of a), b), d), e), and a little f). But
I've really cut down on picking my nose and eating it. :)

--
Bone Ur
Cavemen have formidable pheromones.

Re: How do you cope with work overload?

"Neredbojias" wrote in message
news:Xns99DB649C6B8F6nanopandaneredbojias@85.214.62.108...
> Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:26:18
> GMT
> Brian Cryer scribed:
>
>>> Have you tried Spammers At Large yet?
>>
>> No, nor would I knowingly use any service that spammed newsgroups (or
>> individual mailboxes).
>
> How about a company that spams you _every day_ with essentially the same
> come-on? That's what this bogus outfit allcoolmusic.com does. Sure,
> there's an opt-out link, and I used it. Eureka, the spam stopped - for
> about 3 weeks. Then it started again, to the same address. Seems like
> once they get a valid mailbox, they don't let go. To make matters worse,
> they're a dishonest comnpany selling free shareware software.
>
> What would you do about that? They currently list a foreign (physical)
> address, but there's evidence they started-out (and may easily still
> reside) in Canada. Yes, I have "junk" filtering on my mail client and
> have
> setup automatically deletion of spam, but what _should_ be available is an
> option to bounce certain addresses/domains back to the originator right on
> the server. I think that would go a _long_ way in stopping spam.

I would love to see an automatic reject of some emails. Not a bounce,
because the sender email address is often forged. However, to block emails
at the point of delivery so they wouldn't be accepted by your email server,
that would be good. It is something that some email servers allows you to
partially do - but only if you manage your own - for example Exchange allows
emails to unknown email addresses to be blocked before they enter the server
and likewise emails from specific ip addresses can be blocked.

However, back in the real world, I have a similar issue with some
organisations. Fortunately they mostly use the same email address and I just
have them going straight to my junk email folder. Little else I can do. :(

Needless to say, the whole issue of spam is one that has vexed lots of us
for a long time.
--
Brian Cryer
www.cryer.co.uk/brian

Re: How do you cope with work overload?

Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:28:41
GMT Brian Cryer scribed:

>>> No, nor would I knowingly use any service that spammed newsgroups
>>> (or individual mailboxes).
>>
>> How about a company that spams you _every day_ with essentially the
>> same come-on? That's what this bogus outfit allcoolmusic.com does.
>> Sure, there's an opt-out link, and I used it. Eureka, the spam
>> stopped - for about 3 weeks. Then it started again, to the same
>> address. Seems like once they get a valid mailbox, they don't let
>> go. To make matters worse, they're a dishonest comnpany selling free
>> shareware software.
>>
>> What would you do about that? They currently list a foreign
>> (physical) address, but there's evidence they started-out (and may
>> easily still reside) in Canada. Yes, I have "junk" filtering on my
>> mail client and have
>> setup automatically deletion of spam, but what _should_ be available
>> is an option to bounce certain addresses/domains back to the
>> originator right on the server. I think that would go a _long_ way
>> in stopping spam.
>
> I would love to see an automatic reject of some emails. Not a bounce,
> because the sender email address is often forged. However, to block
> emails at the point of delivery so they wouldn't be accepted by your
> email server, that would be good. It is something that some email
> servers allows you to partially do - but only if you manage your own -
> for example Exchange allows emails to unknown email addresses to be
> blocked before they enter the server and likewise emails from specific
> ip addresses can be blocked.
>
> However, back in the real world, I have a similar issue with some
> organisations. Fortunately they mostly use the same email address and
> I just have them going straight to my junk email folder. Little else I
> can do. :(

I do about the same using Thunderbird. There is a "delete from server"
option in the filters setup but I think it applies only to messages
retrieved first and left on the server. Anyway, I couldn't get it to
delete from the server without d/ling the mail, too. I also use the
"clear junk on shutdown" option so I never really have to see the damn
crap, but I'd still prefer purging it from the server if it's not wanted.

> Needless to say, the whole issue of spam is one that has vexed lots of
> us for a long time.

Sure. And a large part of the fault rests with the software developers
and related commercial interests for their ignorance and/or complicity.
Spam could be stopped in a month if it was financially worthwhile to do
so.

--
Bone Ur
Cavemen have formidable pheromones.