in employment pickle, please advise me

FurryPaws

aaaaaaaaaa

Emmzi

no, not constructive dismissal. You don't like it but it isn't truly untenable.

So I think it is about repositioning yourself.

How is that corporate testing strategy and guide coming along?

How is the estimate of manhours for testing coming along?

Have you written your training and coaching sessions on testing?

How's your CV?

zzzLazyDaisy

FurryPaws wrote: »

Can this be constructive dismissal?

Many thanks for all opinions and advice - and for reading this far

Just to say while it is probably unlikely that this is CD, in any case the vast majority of CD claims fail at tribunal, and to be in with any chance at all you would have to exhaust the company's grievance procedure before taking a decision to leave.

Sambucus_Nigra

Which one of those is your direct manager?

getmore4less

The thing that stands out is what does this quality manager do all day,

A lot of the things you are talking about sound like the things they should allready have in place.

One thing I can tell you is that if you look at the failings in the past project 99% of the time it will point at bad managments.


Sounds a bit like they have not got a clue and have not invested in QA because they only see the costs, QA is about saving money.

Sound like they could do with employing a QA specialist to get sme basics in place.


You say you don't want to do this QA role but do you have an idea/experience of what is needed or are you learning as you go.

How many people and projects are there sounds like they need a team, developer based QA wlil always fall short.

(rough idea of area I might be looking for something like this next year )

DVardysShadow

getmore4less wrote: »

The thing that stands out is what does this quality manager do all day,

A lot of the things you are talking about sound like the things they should allready have in place.

One thing I can tell you is that if you look at the failings in the past project 99% of the time it will point at bad managments.


Sounds a bit like they have not got a clue and have not invested in QA because they only see the costs, QA is about saving money.

Sound like they could do with employing a QA specialist to get sme basics in place.

You say you don't want to do this QA role but do you have an idea/experience of what is needed or are you learning as you go.

How many people and projects are there sounds like they need a team, developer based QA wlil always fall short.

(rough idea of area I might be looking for something like this next year )

Good analysis. Which prompts me to say this:

FurryPaws, I suggest you go with the flow for a few more weeks - say until Christmas has gone. Get yourself a copy of "Quality is free" by Philip Crosby. This book is from a time when industry was very different, but its message has amply withstood the test of time. It is very readable.

It will frustrate the pants off you. You will know what needs doing. And you will see that your organisation is quite unlikely to be able in mindset to adopt any of the ideas. You will also see that your organisation is probably incapable of even adopting common sense ideas which you currently have about your role without the benefit of the book.

Then your choice is to insist on going back to a Developer role or leave, I feel. Your management are probably of the mindset that Quality is an oncost, rather than an investment in avoiding rework.

Acc72

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Which one of those is your direct manager?

This is the key first of all.

At the moment 3 people want you to do different stuff and non of you are happy.

At least if you only report to one person, then if "A" asks you to do something then you can say I am doing what "B" (my manager) asked me to do, so speak to him if you want me to do something else and "B" can decide.

This might cause more problems in the short term, but at it least it raises the issue and the senior management will then be forced to more clearly define the lines of reporting and also the specifics of your role.

In the meantime, you continue to do whatever your manager tells you.

to be honest, you are not doing yourself too many favours here and could come across as a difficult employee - and nobody wnats a difficult employee.

Also, it looks as though you want to keep the MD in the loop, but he will have a thousand other things to worry about so don't be e-mailing him every day (imagine if every disbruntled employee started to e-mail him direct on a daily basis ?).

Tygermoth

Many years ago I was in a similar situation between three warring department heads.

I was essentially employed by the MD of a very small company to assist them (so they didn’t need to talk to each other) and so he could wash his hands of their petty disputes. Each was outstanding at his job they just absolutely hated each other!

I would start something for Boss A because it was super urgent... then Boss B would want something done right now.... causing me to fail completing whatever Boss C had started me on in the morning.

Next day same poo different order.

It was so very frustrating and stressful as I was always the bad guy. They each wanted me to be their Personal assistant and resented any of the others utilising my time. As I had no defined job role other than keeping them out of the MDs hair.. Each wanted to palm unwanted jobs, cover for staff in their departments or do personal errands for them... but for them alone.

As none of them would take a stand and confirm a clear line of command basically would be told their work/meeting/issue took precedence and the others would have to wait.... then the next boss would come in and say the same. I just ended up being moaned about all the time. It’s hard to describe how stressful it gets as you are in a permanent no win situation.

When it came to a head on a day where the pettiness just made me explode... I took it to the MD and finaly made him listen... and said allocate me on a day basis to a department head, or rotate on a week system as adhoc was just failing miserably or even better get another two assistants..... He noted the company size did not warrant a PA each (which was true) but an allocated system had merit.

The MD called a meeting and advised that what was going on was to stop and they could not allocate any work to me until a rota and defined role had been agreed. I was so relived.

Nine months later I left when they still had not finished arguing about the rota/role and I had done nothing, absolutely nothing for those nine whole months. (Sounds great getting paid to do nothing, but gets boring and old.... fast)

Without clarity, a clear line of command and a total understanding of the sphere of responsibility for your role......stress ensues. (mostly because everyone will want you to be their biatch, so they have less workload)

ohreally

I think the basic element of your problem is you can't be line managed by several people - sort out this first.

In the meantime cc the MD in on any and all relevant correspondence making competing demands on your time.

FurryPaws

aaaaaaaaaa

DVardysShadow

FurryPaws wrote: »

I told him I wouldn't be typecast as a tester as I was employed as a developer and we've had coffee meetings every few months where he told me he wanted me out of developing and managing a team as he knows I'll be good at it.. yet he sticks me in a role I would never choose to work.

You are right to be concerned. This is a definite skill and mindset required for serious testing. But in too many places, it is a turn the handle role where developers who can't do code get put. Being tester could be career limiting - in a way which being testing manager would not.

In your position, I would be looking to move. The MD's attitude [and comprehension of software, I imagine] is never going to allow you to develop your talents.