Help please - Tech impaired boss

Give him his old tools back and see if he can function.

I was working with "that guy" a few years ago. Would never use a data collector to collect data or stakeout in the field.

He was not worrying about being right, he was only concerned about being close enough for his own standards.

It was like everything he did was go to that Easy Button for any solution and to accomplish any task.

I've found out in my experience that simply going thru the motions of work is not really working at all.

😉

Don't wish IT was easier, wish that YOU were better.

It's really an attitude thing, isn't it? The time I've spent learning new software has been really painful, and usually really rewarding. If your PLS isn't willing to push through the pain to get the gain his mind is going to be as flabby as his body likely is.

Yes, I feel your pain brother. Been there, done that, got a tee shirt.

Don't worry about telling management. They know.

He sounds like me when I get near AutoCAD. Spent three hours this morning copying *. vba, *.lsp, *.cui, *.mnl,*. dll,*. arg and *.dammit files from one workstation to another using “appload”. What a fun morning! It finally worked, how, I haven’t a clue. Could I do it again?, probably not.

I am an old fart too, but I actually enjoy screwing around with that kind of stuff. For some odd reason frustration seems something I am used to. It started right after I became licensed. 😉

You could just ask the guy nicely to take some notes so you don't have to explain the same thing over and over. Personally, that and the copious expletives would drive me nuts. :-/

Be nice. Be civil. Answer his questions. ONCE. Give him enough rope and he will hang himself.
Had the same problem with a guy a few years ago. He knew everything. He could prove that ALL of the GPS units made gave bad answers.Couldn't draw a straight line and absolutely no understanding of coordinates. I gave him tutorials that I made up to answer his questions. He still did not get it. When he complained to the Boss that I was not supporting him, the Boss replied, "Number One, it's not his job to support you and number two what are all those crib sheets he gave you, if not support?". Old boy was let go shortly there after.
Some people just cannot admit that they do not know how to do something, but sooner or later theit ignorance will raise its head.
Patience will pay off sooner or later. I'm the oldest guy in the office and it really pains some people to admit that I actually know what I am doing, but, sooner or later they will come around.

I've worked with bosses that had issues with software, although none had quite that bad an attitude about it. In one particular case, after I had a little training session with him, I would then go back to my desk and type it out. In some cases, I grabbed some screen shots and inserted them into the Word document I was creating. Then I'd print it out and give it to him. He appreciated that.

After awhile, I had a notebook of instructions. Some others in the office got wind of it and started sharing the documents with their respective bosses. Before I knew it, I was developing CAD standards for the surveying department.

Moral of the story: turn the negative into a positive. By providing documentation, you aren't just helping your boss and others in the office, you are coincidentally helping yourself and strengthening your position at the company.

Wedell, in the Army we called that a "Smart Book". You cannot remember everything, so a quick set of notes plus copies of all the cool ideas you see on websites that you migh use later comes in mighty handy.
My Smart Book is about 3" thick now. The thicker the Smart Book, the dumber the user can be. :-$
Now if I can just get everyone one else to ACTUALLY read it every now and then!!

If it was a co-worker, I would be too busy to help the second time around. Difficult for some to do, but sometimes necessary.

Why try to remember something if it is easier to simply ask every time you hit a stumbling block?

Answering the same question over and over is simply enabling.

If it was my BOSS I would probably go out of my way to be as helpful as possible.
I would create an easy to use cheat sheet of the common questions and E-Mail it to him/her every time there was questions. Pretty soon they would get the idea and update it themselves.

:good: :good: :good:

If it was the boss or coworker how about putting it on your timesheet so the one that pays the bills sees how much time it is taking? Tough if you only track by the hour. Not sure how a boss would take that but be prepared to give him an answer when asked about it. Just make sure it isn't a done in spite.

Really, this is a waist of time. Actually double time, yours and clueless'.

Everywhere I have ever worked, there are guys that are better at some things than other things. Yes, there are the guys that seem to be super-smart plus good at field work etc. I have seen threads making fun of "CAD Jockeys", (fka COGO), or other high-tech guys that have no common sense in the survey world. Guys like the one that drew up the sketch Scott Z. posted. There are field guys that are hard workers and good pack-mules that will work hard in the field for as long as you need them. There are guys that have a good sense of the legal-end of surveying and evaluating the evidence. a good CAD man might be able to draft circles around these other guys, but do they necessarily know what they're looking at?

Hopefully there is a place in your firm for all of these guys including yourself who might have a better handle on all of it. (I don't know). Hopefully, the good manager can figure out what tasks his staff are best at and manage the office in the most efficient way possible.

Are you working for this PLS? If so, you might need to know how best to present your work to him to show him how you went about doing what you did. If you're out to get him fired, hopefully there is a more competent guy to take over.

You'll have to deal with it, but if the guy seems like he's dumb as rocks, maybe he won't last too long. It sounds like he was at least able to figure out how to pass his licensing exam.

Sitting at your desk, with him looking over your shoulder; saying click on this, click on that, pull down this menu, pick this task, drag and drop this here, doesn't help the guy much. I know it can be painful, but you need to sit him down and look over his shoulder. He will learn a lot more by doing, than watching someone do it.

Most old surveyors are leary of black box answers, they want to see how the results are compiled. Once they understand that, it comes a lot easier. Make sure you explain the fundamentals to him, he'll thank you for it later.

But then some people will never get it...
I worked for an engineer once, for a short time. He didn't even have a computer on his desk or at home. If he got an email, his secretary would print it out. When he got around to replying, he would write it out and have the secretary type it up. He would proof read it and then she would send it out.....

Good luck

Got that right. Try not to demonstrate procedures with keystrokes you are making yourself. If you watch and direct the questioners' keystrokes, one of the things you can detect is how well they can see screen prompts. Some don't even think they should have to look for them.

Cheers,
Henry

I have to concur with him

"I don't need classes, they need to make better @#$@$ing programs"

🙂

It sounds like the person in question is either obstinate and refuses to learn new software and processes or he has a legitimate learning disability.

I would talk to management about your concern, after all dealing with issues like this is part of what managers are supposed to do. I would not go in and b*tch about the situation but I would express the concern that you are having to re-iterate concepts that were covered in training x multiple times. I would also explain that you are offering support on various software and you are concerned that your effective billing rate is being impacted. Ask management if they want you to continue to support this employee. Management should be happy that you are trying to stay as billable as possible, but if teaching this guy is of high value to the company they should be willing to give you a unique time code to pay for this time. I would approach this with a genuine concern to do what is right for the company and not what is most convenient for you.

Ouch. Something that's certainly not helping is the number of new software/procedures that he's having to deal with. Having to 'context switch' between softwares can be pretty confusing. Is there any way to reduce number of software that he's dealing with? Or at least focus on 2-3 (rather than 5-6) for a few weeks?

Wait until he gets started on a really important project with a tight deadline. Arrange to take some vacation right when he will be finishing the project, then go out of your way to help him for the first day or two of the project. Then go fishing or camping some where that does not have cell coverage and enjoy so much needed time off. You might plan to stay on vacation till 1 or more days after his deadline. Then come back to work refreshed and ready to do anything the real boss requests. Maybe a missed deadline will get him some good software. Enjoy your vacation, you might not get another one for a while.:-) :beer:

Print out the entire users manual. Place it in a three ring binder. THEN, when he asks, tell him to "Consult the Oracle" like I do my guys.

I was self taught in AutoCAD and had help from some friends and tech support, but I read the manual A LOT and know it well (I think) now.

Make it painful so he'll remember. Unless he's your dad (like mine) then just do it for him. 🙂

> Unless he's your dad (like mine) then just do it for him. 🙂

Good one Kris!!:good: