Ah, company politics. They can be anything from mildly amusing to wrenchingly painful. In any case, they are at a minimum something you shake your head at. Unfortunately there are politics of some form in every work place and it really depends on the people involved as to how bad the politics can be.

The following story is one of company politics that to this day I still shake my head and laugh at. However at the time I admit I was pretty pissed off about it. It is a true story – one that I went through myself about a dozen years ago. The names of people in the company of all been changed to protect the innocent or feeble.

I was working in internal IT for a software company supporting the software and hardware for its public Web site and Intranet. Along came a major project where the company was going to implement PeopleSoft, an enterprise resource management or ERM system. As a result, everyone in IT was supposed to be working on the PeopleSoft project and not on anything else, including the work I was doing on our Web site and Intranet. Of course reality is always something different, as there was nobody else to technically support either of those projects, and I continued to support both.

One day I got a call about a major project the company was undertaking. It was going to go through a significant rebranding effort, keeping the same logo but rebranding all products and services including a new Web site. Although we had plenty of technical people in the company, I was the person to work on the new Web site as I knew it best, from the marketing team to the infrastructure to code behind it. The call had come from the marketing manager whom I had worked with since I've been there supporting the Web site. I then told her what the new “situation” was in IT, where I was not supposed to be supporting the current Web site, let alone build a new one. Needless to say this didn't make any sense to her, but she understood well how the company politics was, especially in IT.

Next up for her was to raise the “situation” up through her management, which then brought it up to the IT management and then came back down to me. I got a call from my manager who told me that after all I was supposed to work on the new Web site. But there was only one stipulation: I wasn't politically supposed to be working on this project therefore I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about it. So technically I was wasn’t working on the project, even though it was going to take most all of my time for the next several months.

Makes perfect sense right? I didn't think so.

Despite the insanity of the “situation” I had a job to do. A lot of work went into building the Web site, but it was something enjoyed doing very much and it didn't seem like a job at all. I was working very closely with our marketing manager, where I was located in Boston and she was in Vermont. Throughout the entire project we never actually saw each other, but despite that we were extremely successful at what we built.

In addition to building the Web site, I was also responsible for registering and acquiring new domain names for our rebranded products and services. As this was a publicly traded company, the rebranding was very secretive and very few people knew what the new product names were to be. But I was one of them. So that's a lot of faith and confidence in the guy that's not officially working on the project.

Overall the project was a success and we launched the new Web site on the day the company launched the rebranding. A lot of hard work and long hours went into it, and where we were very relieved when it was over, there was a lot of pride in the work we did. About a week after the rebranding, an email came out from the president of the company thanking individually all the people who worked on the rebranding. That is, all except for me. Of course this made complete sense because the president wasn't told I worked on the project because for political reasons I wasn't working on the project as nobody from IT was supposed to be working on anything else but the PeopleSoft project.

No sooner did the email come out from the president, I got a call from the marketing manager who was completely shocked that I was left off the list. I have to admit I was slightly irate I didn't get official recognition, but I knew the “situation” and took it for what it was. At least my immediate colleagues knew I worked on the project and I got kudos from them. Where I did not get credit from the president, I knew what I did and was just as proud as I was before the email came out.

Several weeks later we had an all-hands meeting for the IT organization. As I wasn't really in the mood for going to listen to this meeting in person, I decided just to dial into it from my desk. At the conclusion of the meeting the chief information officer, or CIO, brought up the rebranding project and even singled me out for the work that I did on it. What? Public recognition from the guy who had decided I technically didn't work on the project and made sure that I didn't get credit for it from the president of the company? Needless to say I was mildly irate and may have even made a gesture at the phone as I was listening to this. Interestingly, the CIO himself never personally thanked me for the work that I did on the Web site, and knowing how he operated even his public acknowledgment was very halfhearted.

It's one thing going into a consulting project or a contract knowing that for proprietary reasons you can't reference you worked on a project. When it comes to political reasons for not working on a project, they typically make absolutely no sense and are more to cover for someone than anything else. This was the case here, in a company with plenty of resources and a “leader” who would not acknowledge a significant company effort in order to keep to his marching orders that all-hands would be working on the ERM initiative. Of course by that statement alone there is no leadership shown.

Have you ever been in a similar situation? How would you have reacted if it was you? I welcome your thoughts in the comments to this post.

---

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

---

Did you enjoy this? Subscribe to The Hot Iron by RSS/XML feed or Read by Email.

  

---

Build • Business • Technology • Thrive • Web Development • (0) Comments • Permalink

Happy Fall! Or at least the first weekend of it.

Fall, also known as Autumn, is my favorite season. Why? Here’s my top 10 reasons.

10. Summer is wicked overrated. There is too much pressure to have your fun and vacation in the summer, when there is just as much to and plenty of time to do it in the fall.

9. Everything is cheaper in the fall, from hotel rooms to gas, as demand is higher in the summer due to the reason above. For what it would cost you to do what you do in the summer, you can do more – and more of it – for less in the fall.

8. It’s a lot cooler in the fall than in the summer. Walking from your front door to the car won’t cause you to sweat profusely. It’s a great season to get outside and have a nice cool breeze going for you.

7. Fall colors are amazing. Growing up in New England, for me a short drive to the shopping mall gave me an amazing view of some of the best foliage in the world. Not to forget the fall colors you wear are equally striking.

6. Crunching leaves make for a great sound.

5. Fall is all about heartier foods. The meats and vegetables, and the soups and stews and meals they make, warm on the inside and are a great compliment to the weather. Fall even has its own fruit, the pumpkin (yes, it’s a fruit, not a vegetable).

4. Halloween comes at almost the halfway point of the fall, and is a great celebration of fun and mischief for people of all ages. Plus the annual visit to the pumpkin farm prepares you for the night of bewitching.

3. Fall is when you go back to school. Where some kids like that and others don’t, most parents agree and like it.

2. When you change your clocks at the end of Daylight Savings Time in the fall, you get back that hour you lost in the spring.

1. It’s football season – the American kind! From playgrounds to the pros and everywhere in between, it’s the time to cheer for your gridiron champions, not to mention the tailgating parties that go along with it.

It was somewhat tough to choose what order to put some of these in, as they all contribute greatly to my favorite time of the year.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree on my favorite season? Or do you have other reasons to love fall? Please share your thoughts in the comments to this post,

---

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

---

Did you enjoy this? Subscribe to The Hot Iron by RSS/XML feed or Read by Email.

  

---

Business • Diversions • Thrive • (0) Comments • Permalink

Change can often be a very good thing. But when that change comes with moving – moving yourself and all of your stuff can be a burden and sometimes unbearable. The idea of packing up all your things, moving them to a new place then unpacking them, figuring out what you want to keep, what you want to get rid of and then buying new things to supplement them that work better in the new place… it is something that once it is all over it is fulfilling but during the process itself it can be arduous.

As I have hinted here in some of my recent posts at The Hot Iron, my family recently moved. We are not too far from where we lived before, but still a significant distance and significant effort involved in the process. In the past, I used to say that traumatic experience of moving comes only second to the death of a family member. As extreme of thought that that is, it was something I always believed in. But with this last move my opinion has changed.

As I write this we have completed our move, but there are still a TON – and I mean a TON – of boxes to unpack and things to put away or get rid of. As much as I'm not looking forward to that whole process, I know that going through it all is going to be something that I'm going to enjoy because it will allow me to take a fresh look at things I haven't looked at in awful long time. You see, the last time that I move over 10 years ago so I've been in the same place for 10 years accumulating stuff along with the stuff that never unpacked from our last move. That is something that I'm hoping to change with this move where as we go through things, box by box, analyzing and determining what is the best course of action to do for these things. So far I've gotten rid of a lot of things and consolidated a lot of things and I'm enjoying actually the process of going through everything and trying to simplify my life.

This is a type a change I feel is good for me now and is something I am looking forward to. It will also be a big part of my goal to simplify my life this year. Now let's see how long it takes to unpack and get down to the very last box.

---

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

---

Did you enjoy this? Subscribe to The Hot Iron by RSS/XML feed or Read by Email.

  

---

Diversions • Thrive • (0) Comments • Permalink

Available September 1, 2014 is a unique loft-style, 1 bedroom and a den condo for rent in the Chicago Loop with a storage unit on the same floor. This rental features high ceilings, modern kitchen, bath, Elfa shelving system in both of the walk-in bedroom and front closets, washer/dryer in unit, and a 6x9 storage unit perfect for storing bikes.

This rental condo is located at the corner of Wabash & Madison, at "L" stop for Brown, Orange, Green and Pink lines and main stop for CTA buses, and is around the corner from Millennium Park and short walk to Lake, Museums, shopping, dining and services. Heat, cooking gas and basic TV are included, and the tenant plays electric. Discounted parking for extra available at Grant Park North garage under Millennium Park.

For more information and photos, visit the Web site for this Chicago Loop loft condo at FiveNorthWabash.com. To schedule a showing, contact Ryan Newberry L'Heureux.

---

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

---

Did you enjoy this? Subscribe to The Hot Iron by RSS/XML feed or Read by Email.

  

---

Announcements • Diversions • Thrive • (0) Comments • Permalink

As the last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind for me, it’s only fitting I post them together, on a Friday no less and on time for the second week. Yes, on time!

• This flyer that came in my mailbox piqued my interest. Not only is it a divorce auction – which means there is such a dispute among assets that they have to be sold this way – but it is an urgent one as well. Why urgent?
• This past week I was formally elected to the board of directors of Barrel of Monkeys, a Chicago non-profit organization that teaches inner-city kids creative writing skills, then takes what they write and creates sketch comedy which is not only performed for the kids themselves but in a weekly show called, That’s Weird Grandma. It is an amazing organization and I am thrilled to be involved. How I got involved with them was through a LinkedIn search for local people who were interested in being on a board, which was only heightened by my good friend Linsey being one of the performing company members. You will be hearing more about BOM in future installments I promise you!
• My word for 2 weeks ago was lodgment. I was asked if this word was appropriate in describing when a mobile app was available in the app store. I admit I guessed the etymology of it, but still looked it up. I recommended simply saying it was available. Apparently lodgment is the preferred term in Australia.
• My word for this week was steganography. It is the concealment of a message within something else, or hiding something in plain sight. There are a lot of ways to do it, and it is a fascinating concept, and one which many of us – including myself – may have done at some point without even realizing it.
• Now that I am no longer building eCommerce sites with the technology, Miva Merchant is holding their next MivaCon conference in Chicago in September. As I would once again choose Miva Merchant if I were to build an eCommerce site, and it’s like fifty dollars to attend, I may still go. It would be an opportunity to meet some of the people I have talked with over the years, and I am sure I could score some cool schwag in the process.
• As I got a new work PC I had to once again lookup how to send a Word document as an email message body within Word.
• I found out a friend is a Dad by a random comment he mentioned on his podcast. Granted we aren’t all that close, but it was nice to hear. Got a picture of the little bundle of joy, and am overdue in replying to him. Why didn’t I hear? As much as my friend is on social media, he didn’t want to do that to his kid without their permission… something I do as well.
• The movie The Wizard of Oz premiered 75 years ago. It seems like only yesterday that the Munchkins were causing me nightmares as a child after watching it on a black and white TV no less.
• Tried the new Sofritas vegetarian option at Chipotle this week in a burrito, and I will definitely get it the next time.
• This week’s video is far from one I have learned in the past few weeks. It is a Sesame Street video about brushing your teeth featuring Elmo and several celebrities. Somehow we found this, and the song is long enough for them to fully brush their teeth as recommended by dentists. Sometimes it takes the start of the video to get the kids into the bathroom and loading up their brushes. Though not new to me, perhaps it is something you can learn for this week as well.

---

This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

---

Did you enjoy this? Subscribe to The Hot Iron by RSS/XML feed or Read by Email.

  

---

Announcements • Blogging • Diversions • Thrive • What I Learned • (0) Comments • Permalink