onetime2

Can anyone tell me how it can possibly be acceptable for a new department to say "It will take two to three years before we can give any definitive answers to business questions?"

Now I could understand it if the questions were about research or something that won't be completed until then but when the questions are just general business questions!?!

The policy in regards to questions like this:

"Did we get any other benefits from such and such project besides the scientific research it was meant to produce?"

is to give some generally vague information (like the project ran from Jan to Nov, the participants generally used more/less of our products than the general population, etc) in order to identify other areas we might want to look at in the future. This rather than trying to point out areas that the project helped like employee knowledge, more effective sales calls, increased sales, new customers, etc.

How can anyone get away with this kind of crap? I mean it's basically saying "Pay me for the next two years and then I'll tell you what you want to know, maybe."

Incredible. Just incredible. To make matters worse, I am a member of this department.

I know I should be thankful I have a job, it's really not that bad, there are far worse things in the world, etc, etc, etc. I apologize to those that are in worse situations but I just hate wasted opportunities and I hate that this department will likely fail because the heads refuse to make an effort.

Thanks for listening, just needed to get that off my chest.

__________________
Strive to be more curious than ignorant.

Cynthetiq

For some departments statics play a huge role in figuring out trends like what you mention. Jan to Nov isn't a complete cycle, and the whole methodology could be completely off base if they statistics collected don't give enough of the picture.

I do agree, with some of the knowledge that is there, some genralizations can be made, but nothing that could give any real business direction.

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

irseg

What the hell?! What line of work are you in? I know in the tech field, 2-3 years might as well be 50.

That is utterly ridiculous. You could singlehandedly build a house in that length of time, easily. Getting some general project stats should be a matter of days, at the most.

onetime2

The question was just an example and Jan to Nov was a made up time frame. Waiting to id a trend isn't an issue. The department heads won't go a cm out on a limb to make recommendations. They feel their role should be one of supplying information without any insight into why things are as they are.

The whole reason the department was created was because there was too much fighting between sales and marketing over what the trends are and the reasons for them. We were supposed to be a neutral third party yet "we" won't even offer an opinion (well, I guess we will in two to three years).

__________________
Strive to be more curious than ignorant.

onetime2

Believe it or not it's the pharmaceutical industry. Personally, I can't imagine not giving the best possible information as soon as possible that's why I'm having a real problem with it.

There are people here trying to make the best business decisions possible and they are getting absolutely no support.

__________________
Strive to be more curious than ignorant.

Cynthetiq

I worked for several pharm companies, they have lots of fighting and policatal maneuvering. I'm not sure what I would do if I was the manager of that new department. He sounds like he's in a damned situation since if he answers a speculation, he's going to be wrong, and if he doesn't he's still wrong.

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.