23
lolcube
5y

I am a people people pleaser.

Especially when it comes to deadlines. I struggle heavily with them. For example:

My boss: 'Will the app be done by Friday?'

Me: 'well some features won't be ready but overall yes.'

The truth: "No even if I work on it 24/7 there are just so many things in the background that are too technical to explain to my boss that it will be impossible for me to hit that deadline. It will most likely take over a month to be ready for beta testing...."

I just don't know how to deal with those kinds of questions. I don't want to say 'most likely over a month' because it makes me look like a bad dev but at the same time I know that that is way more realistic than 'it will be done by Friday'

The truth is: even if it just looks like 3 buttons to you, in reality I need to change thousands of lines of code to accomplish the expected goals...

P.S:

I wanted to write this rant for a long time. Now I am drunk. There will be a sober more ordered version of this rant.

Comments
  • 0
    @sweetnothings I think you're giving the boss man too much credit in these cases.
  • 2
    @sweetnothings ♡♥♡♥
    Nothing more to say
    You've said it all
  • 1
    @sweetnothings to be fair, I just recently became 19. I can't be that experienced yet. And I am also the only one building the entire App, including tests etc... And to be honest, I think that I am doing a great job given those conditions. My English is also pretty f***ed right know... I've had quite a few shots of whisky and my native language is german ^^°

    Edit: I also think that you are correct. I know that I should tell my boss the truth, or at least what I think of as the truth. Problem is, that I still struggle to estimate the time a given task will take. I am often unsure if it will take an hour or 2 weeks. I am constantly becoming better with estimations though...
  • 1
    @sweetnothings thank you :D that means a lot!
  • 0
    @sweetnothings that's not what I meant. I've worked for some shite bosses, and most of them don't give a hoot about honesty. It didn't matter how accurate the honest forecast was. All that matteed to them wass how long they'd have to wait to get that moolah.
  • 0
    Same. I always underestimate deadlines to please my "boss". Also, I've made the mistake of thinking "I can't charge much because if I do I'll lose the client" while I knew it was going to be a lot of work. End result: it's been a year I'm working on this app (thank God I'm almost done with it) and seriously underpaid. I got paid less than minimum wage in my country (pretty shit) for a whole year of work. The original idea was to re-sell the app to more people (it's pretty niche) but I would need to rewrite the whole thing for it to be feasible.
  • 1
    This doesn't look like a technical issue because you do know what's going on. It's a human issue because you don't dare stand your ground.

    Remember that everybody's darling will always be everybody's fool. This is not limited to this specific topic. I think you need to grow balls.
  • 1
    @Fast-Nop well you're not wrong.
  • 0
    Bro, you shared the same like I want to.
    Whenever I am asked , fir some features they are with like these deadlines. Same issues with my company, they see every feature as same and expect same deadlines.

    Whatever they say of deadlines I never agree to them, as I know what is needed to be done. Except in some cases where actual work and time to do is there.

    Also everyone saying like, you are not expert dev or you are not truthful with timings, I partially agree with them
    As they may or may not have these situations.

    The ultimate issue is the unrealistic expectations and timeliness from the boss.
  • 0
    Using the concept of Labour illusion & giving itemised timelines are the key I ‘think’.
  • 1
    @sweetnothings update: I told them the truth in a meeting today and the reception was definitively good. I am very lucky that my boss values honesty. He is very nice in general. I personally think he does a great job as a boss but he is sadly planning his resignation... I honestly fear for a bad successor.
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