How boring is working in public sector!

[SouthernManc78]

I've been working for about 4 months now on my first public sector contract and am still shocked at how bad things are, mainly with regards to the speed at which they all operate and the staggering amount of processes to be followed and forms to fill in just to get something done. Then you wait weeks for what you've asked to be done to actually get done and only after chasing several times will it get done.

Is this typical of other people's experiences of public sector or am I just in a bad one?

[alreadypacked]

I've been working for about 4 months now on my first public sector contract and am still shocked at how bad things are, mainly with regards to the speed at which they all operate and the staggering amount of processes to be followed and forms to fill in just to get something done. Then you wait weeks for what you've asked to be done to actually get done and only after chasing several times will it get done.

Is this typical of other people's experiences of public sector or am I just in a bad one?

Makes me glad I never have.

[SouthernManc78]

I won't be in any rush to go back into the public sector I can tell you!

[bobspud]

I've been working for about 4 months now on my first public sector contract and am still shocked at how bad things are, mainly with regards to the speed at which they all operate and the staggering amount of processes to be followed and forms to fill in just to get something done. Then you wait weeks for what you've asked to be done to actually get done and only after chasing several times will it get done.

Is this typical of other people's experiences of public sector or am I just in a bad one?

No they are supposed to work like that. It protects them and you from megalomaniacs trying to seize initiative and wreck things for short term goals. Think about how many commercial companies that get a new CIO who wants to implement a new thing only to then **** off in 18 months when their CV has the words :Successfully implemented X and Y on it. In fact how many sad little developers do you come across that want to use tool Z on this project because they read about it and want it on their CV?

The CS is about steady state not continual revolution. As an example there are rules that govern pensions for 50-60 years do you think that its safe to keep changing how the data is stored or searched every 2 years just because someone has a great open source project that will be dead in 9 months?

I watched just such a psychopath try it on at one of my last clients. if he had got his way 30 years of important data would have been lost forever in a FSCKING hadoop cluster-cuss. Instead the permies hit the slow button and waited it out and the CIO got bored and left (might have been sacked for lack of delivery) However you will quickly realise that if you find the right people and impress them that you KNOW what _THEY_ (NOT YOU) actually want to achieve they will oil the wheels and help stop the tedium.

Your timeframes for delivery are different to theirs its like a mosquito sitting on a great turtles back wondering if we are there yet. You will be 100 years dead before he is.

[Eirikur]

I've been working for about 4 months now on my first public sector contract and am still shocked at how bad things are, mainly with regards to the speed at which they all operate and the staggering amount of processes to be followed and forms to fill in just to get something done. Then you wait weeks for what you've asked to be done to actually get done and only after chasing several times will it get done.

Is this typical of other people's experiences of public sector or am I just in a bad one?

Sounds like Barclaycard to me, so not only public sector. I declined contract renewal because of all of this.

[ctdctd]

I've just done a year with an NHS trust.
Never again:-

Resistance to any change
Non technical multi layered management each guarding their own little department and not prepared to look beyond it
20% of the people doing 80% of the work
Some IT systems frozen in time and most skills to maintain them long gone
Minimal documentation - and when some could be found it was usually long outdated or just plain wrong
Blame culture
No budget until something blows up, then money no object

I was working on something that could affect patient care which was going titsup on a regular basis - management well aware but continued with implementation regardless.
There was no formal testing before implementation - only "Fred" who had been there for ever. He was not in any way a clinical user, but he knew all the test logins.

Each devolved NHS trust is doing its own IT - it seems blindingly obvious to me that they need a centralized solution as they all do much the same things.
As it stands, they are all trying to develop their own systems, usually purchased from multiple 3rd party "experts" and re-inventing the wheel many times.
Some of them appear to be implementing triangular or square solutions!!

[OwlHoot]

I've been working for about 4 months now on my first public sector contract and am still shocked at how bad things are, mainly with regards to the speed at which they all operate and the staggering amount of processes to be followed and forms to fill in just to get something done. Then you wait weeks for what you've asked to be done to actually get done and only after chasing several times will it get done.

Is this typical of other people's experiences of public sector or am I just in a bad one?

Yes, it is typical in my limited experience too. They over-curate everything to death, and progress at a snail's pace, and perhaps worst of all everyone wants to dip their oar in even if they have limited expertise of IT generally and the relevant system in particular.

Obviously a cautious approach is justified if one is developing and maintaining systems which will involve millions of people, especially if these people will be interactiing with it. But all the same, the developers and their stakeholders should pay more heed to the saying "Too many cooks spoil the broth"!

[oracleslave]

I've just done a year with an NHS trust.
Never again:-

Resistance to any change
Non technical multi layered management each guarding their own little department and not prepared to look beyond it
20% of the people doing 80% of the work
Some IT systems frozen in time and most skills to maintain them long gone
Minimal documentation - and when some could be found it was usually long outdated or just plain wrong
Blame culture
No budget until something blows up, then money no object

I was working on something that could affect patient care which was going titsup on a regular basis - management well aware but continued with implementation regardless.
There was no formal testing before implementation - only "Fred" who had been there for ever. He was not in any way a clinical user, but he knew all the test logins.

Each devolved NHS trust is doing its own IT - it seems blindingly obvious to me that they need a centralized solution as they all do much the same things.
As it stands, they are all trying to develop their own systems, usually purchased from multiple 3rd party "experts" and re-inventing the wheel many times.
Some of them appear to be implementing triangular or square solutions!!

As a PM - I look at environments like that and roll up my sleeves, try and deliver something of benefit in my time there and in most cases leave with a level of satisfaction knowing that despite all the roadblocks and challenges along the way, I did what I could.

Some people relish this type of challenging environment. It's not for everyone mind.

[DimPrawn]

I did one public sector contract in my long IT contracting career and it was one too many.

The only way to get through it is to totally kick back and join the others in becoming part of the problem, rather than part of the solution...

It would probably kill Suity.

[filthy1980]

[QUOTE=ctdctd;2269519]I've just done a year with an NHS trust.
Never again:-

QUOTE]

Yep this was my experience of the NHS 8 years ago

the single centralised system is never going to happen until each trust can agree on the same process by which to treat a patient, until then they'll waste billions in "IT Systems"

but the NHS is a glorious thing that we British should be proud of