all the hours that I spent on technical documentation not wasted then?
BOFH: Is everybody ready for the meeting? Grab a crayon – let's get technical
BOFH logo telephone with devil's horns So I'm doing some documentation – which we all know is a waste of my valuable time because everything I do is self-documenting – and the Boss walks in. "How's that documentation coming along?" he asks, looking at a long list of items on his personnel disorganiser. "It stopped the …
COMMENTS
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Friday 22nd June 2018 23:09 GMT tfewster
"You know this is a technical document, right?" "Made for technical people?"
All my documentation starts with a disclaimer "This guide documents $COMPANY standards and is intended for the use of staff already trained on $TECHNOLOGY". Y'know, when the manufacturer guide says "This is how to partition your disk as required", I document* the partition sizes to be used, but not how to do it.
* Though just printing out the config of a gold build and writing BOFH-type guides instead might be a better use of my time. "How to securely decommission a server (with a rubber mallet and a cattle prod)".
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Friday 22nd June 2018 10:21 GMT Dr. G. Freeman
Not really,
Wasn't specific on which political leader, and sadly the quote can be applied to oh so many of them. So, it may be about a politician, the joke isn't of itself political.
(yes, I've had to explain political humour to HR recently, for my "not my fault, I voted for Kodos" poster)
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Friday 22nd June 2018 14:16 GMT Michael H.F. Wilkinson
Re: Technical, English and Idiot.
"I know only 3 languages, Technical, Plain English and Idiot."
Neat, very neat phrase indeed. Must use this one on more annoying students and/or management (annoying is the default mode for management).
Might have to extend that as I also can do "Algemeen Beschaafd Nederlands" (==Plain Dutch) and "Idioot" (take a wild guess)
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Friday 22nd June 2018 16:09 GMT Grikath
Re: Technical, English and Idiot.
@ MHF Wilkinson : "management" is the fourth stage in the progression nowadays. Idiots can't help being what they are. Management tends to be deliberately obtuse.
Forcing Manglement to speak proper dutch is a neverending source of entertainment at dreary meetings.
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Friday 22nd June 2018 19:09 GMT Celeste Reinard
Re: Technical, English and Idiot.
O, I always thought that Plain Dutch was 'Jip en Janneketaal', laced with 'Bootwerker' (which roughly translates as 'Harlot'), while ABN was bankers lingo, hiding their incompetence (or general state of confusion, hence the empty stares when you ask something in 'Jip en Janneke') behind multisylabic 'Idiot', but I get your point.
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Saturday 23rd June 2018 10:09 GMT Uffish
Re: Technical, English and Idiot.
My moderately fluent version of French, after thirty years of working in France, is a mix of basic French from half-remembered O level and a book on irregular verbs (the 'Jip en Janneke') plus a lot of 'argot' (the 'Bootwerker'). Works fine but causes some amusement in polite society.
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Friday 22nd June 2018 16:15 GMT Grikath
To be honest... While at Uni the math dept. there had some large boards out in the hallways on knot theory, and the Stuff on it lost me in about 30 seconds. I still maintain they had that stuff out there to ensure Peace and Quiet in their bit of the building. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment...
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Friday 22nd June 2018 10:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: "I prefer not to answer that but suggest you wear gloves to work."
It's true PHBs have to shovel stuff. If they're good at it, they shovel it away from the project critical path. If they're bad at it, they shovel it the other way.
But hot air - that's easy. What do you think the fan was doing in the moments before the excrement hit it?
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Friday 22nd June 2018 10:56 GMT Joe Werner
Re: "I prefer not to answer that but suggest you wear gloves to work."
My thoughts exactly. But as commented above: if they are worth their pay they help the project / job / whatever, or at least act as a DMZ to deflect incoming interference from above. Oh, and make sure the techies in their jeans-and-dirty-t-shirt (or around here: outdoor trousers + t-shirt) are kept away from the upper floors... and yes, this sort of works for me at the moment.
... the GoreTEX one please, the one in expedition quality...
(WHO are you calling an Anorak?!)
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Friday 22nd June 2018 11:28 GMT sandman
Re: "I prefer not to answer that but suggest you wear gloves to work."
I had a great boss a while back who said to us: "You all know what you're doing, it's my job to shield you from the political crap." He did - resulting in a happy, productive department while he basked in our success and gained (as we did to a lesser extent, obviously) much in the way of bonuses.
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