I was required to enter a problem for "Continuous Improvement". The problem was that the function (BlipVert) needed inputs from five different different subsystems or external systems, which were in five different formats, logging forty different data objects. The only common element was that they were all timestamped (in different formats, of course, not to mention some were local and some were GMT).
I was limited to 15 minutes, and 10 slides.
The audience was made up of 50 people from different groups. None knew all five systems. Most didn't even know that there *were* five different systems. So before I could explain my proposed solution, I had to explain the problem, meaning I had to explain the five subsystems.
My proposal, "BlipVert: Threat or Menace?" started off with "Welcome to the Tower of Babel", and proceeded to explain all five subsystems. Those that were documented had manuals of up to 200 pages, which I had to summarize in one slide per system, giving me only five slides to explain the actual proposed solution.
In the feedback comments, there were three complaints about my presentation:
#1 - "Slides have too much detail, you need to summarize more", and
#2 - "Too few slides, this amount of detail should have been split over 25 or more slides"
#3 - "Not enough detail of the subsystems was presented, you should go into more depth"
Naturally, management asked me to do another presentation to address all three contradictory requirements. Fortunately, we ran out of budget, so I never had to. But I learned not to propose any more solutions at that company after that.
I was required to enter a problem for "Continuous Improvement". The problem was that the function (BlipVert) needed inputs from five different different subsystems or external systems, which were in five different formats, logging forty different data objects. The only common element was that they were all timestamped (in different formats, of course, not to mention some were local and some were GMT).
I was limited to 15 minutes, and 10 slides.
The audience was made up of 50 people from different groups. None knew all five systems. Most didn't even know that there *were* five different systems. So before I could explain my proposed solution, I had to explain the problem, meaning I had to explain the five subsystems.
My proposal, "BlipVert: Threat or Menace?" started off with "Welcome to the Tower of Babel", and proceeded to explain all five subsystems. Those that were documented had manuals of up to 200 pages, which I had to summarize in one slide per system, giving me only five slides to explain the actual proposed solution.
In the feedback comments, there were three complaints about my presentation:
#1 - "Slides have too much detail, you need to summarize more", and
#2 - "Too few slides, this amount of detail should have been split over 25 or more slides"
#3 - "Not enough detail of the subsystems was presented, you should go into more depth"
Naturally, management asked me to do another presentation to address all three contradictory requirements. Fortunately, we ran out of budget, so I never had to. But I learned not to propose any more solutions at that company after that.
They can't stop, and they won't stop.