Armchair Dragoons Forums
The Reference Desk => Organizations, Vehicles, Equipment => Topic started by: panzerde on July 06, 2019, 10:34:12 AM
-
https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/5/18714713/us-army-first-audiobook-manual-doctrine-operations-training
-
Welcome to the 20th Century :P
-
By the time the US Army disposes of PowerPoint presentations, the Sun will have turned into a red giant.
-
By the time the US Army disposes of PowerPoint presentations, the Sun will have turned into a red giant.
That’s the truth. I got to the office about 0600 this morning and started working on charts. I lost track of the time until my wife called at 0800 and snapped me out of my haze. Then I switched to the classified system for another hour of power point. When I went back to the unclass side, in my inbox was another set of charts for me to work on.
Power point is the thing I will miss the least when I retire.
-
And watching PPT presentations is always riveting :D
-
There's plenty of ways to make PPT presentations more animated and interesting. Besides functionality within PPT itself, Articulate Engage helps a lot. Also just building it in Storyline 360 gives so many more options to make something engaging and interesting.
-
There's plenty of ways to make PPT presentations more animated and interesting. Besides functionality within PPT itself, Articulate Engage helps a lot. Also just building it in Storyline 360 gives so many more options to make something engaging and interesting.
I work for the Army, not a real estate company. Our briefings are not supposed to be engaging or interesting.
Usually we are not allowed to have our phones. A critical job skill I’ve developed is staying awake by counting the number of ceiling tiles or carpet squares in the room.
-
the central problem that I've seen w/ PPT's over the past 10-12 years is that they've moved from a "presentation support" tool into the "standalone info dump that keeps me from attending the presentation tool"
It used to be the slides were there to support your talking point, but now there's so many people that will reply to your meeting with "hey, I can't be there; can you just send me your slides?" so the presenters feel like they have to cram everything into them for the assholes that think they're too important to attend a meeting.
(it doesn't help that the world has waaaaaaay too many meetings)
-
(https://media2.giphy.com/media/ToMjGpJ1lQiQarAftaU/giphy.gif)
-
There are several problems with ppt and, by extension, the computerized office tools. We spend tons of time wordsmithing every damn word. Every presentation has to be reviewed by multiple layers, and each review reduces the time available to do a quality briefing. Say I have two weeks to do an external briefing. Read aheads are due two days prior. My senior leadership will want to see it three days before that, and my immediate supervisor a couple days before that. That means I might have two days to compile the information and just type it. Maybe make a graphic. Meanwhile I have my usual day job to take care of. The first review doesn’t go well because I didn’t have time to actually think about it. Then half way through the process I’ll get at least one (arbitrary) template change, and I spend a half day just reformatting the stupid thing.
I will not miss PowerPoint!
-
That's freakin' insane that there's so many layers. Or that it's even used in the first place. Nobody ever pays attention to it.
Basic rule of PPT - no more than 17 words per slide. Yeah right.
-
Pffft... yer doing it wrong. Minimal info on first three slides the something controversial on 4th... guaranteed to cause a ruckus. The crowd spends the next 40 min, on arguing amongst themselves and you get to stand and adjudicate. Job done.
Works really well with physicists..... ;)
-
There are several problems with ppt and, by extension, the computerized office tools. We spend tons of time wordsmithing every damn word. Every presentation has to be reviewed by multiple layers, and each review reduces the time available to do a quality briefing. Say I have two weeks to do an external briefing. Read aheads are due two days prior. My senior leadership will want to see it three days before that, and my immediate supervisor a couple days before that. That means I might have two days to compile the information and just type it. Maybe make a graphic. Meanwhile I have my usual day job to take care of. The first review doesn’t go well because I didn’t have time to actually think about it. Then half way through the process I’ll get at least one (arbitrary) template change, and I spend a half day just reformatting the stupid thing.
I'm in ppt hell right now, working on no less that 5 briefings, including a briefing about one of the briefings (seriously). Today I sat through a two hour meeting in the Pentagon going through charts. Pretty painful. There were about 20 people in the room, mostly O5 and O6 level, and about that many dialed in from outstations. Death by ppt committee. This is the third or fourth weekly meeting on this briefing, and I think we're halfway through. My input is pretty minimal, and we spent all of 0.5 seconds (the time it took to push the down arrow twice) on my slides. So I had 119m59.5 seconds listening to other people talk. Sometimes that can be interesting if it's a new subject, but not in this case. Phones aren't allowed at these meetings. The key is to drink lots of coffee, but no water, and really drain your bladder beforehand, trying to maximize the state of dehydrated caffeination. Or is that caffeinated dehydration? Hmm...something to ponder for 119 minutes at my next meeting.
-
Better do a PPT presentation on this.
-
Yesterday afternoon I sat through a 3 hour briefing. I had one slide, which took me perhaps 3 minutes to brief. No questions, no comments. My slide was the 3rd or 4th slide in the deck, so for the next 2 hours 45 minutes I sat in an E ring conference room. I was all the way at the front, right in front of the huge TVs that were projecting the slides and the outstations, so I couldn't fall asleep or even slouch mightily. Sometimes I don't mind sitting through a briefing because it might be an opportunity to learn something, but not this one.
For my 3 minutes of talking and one slide, I estimate we spent at least 20 hours on it, tracking review and coordination meetings. Researching and typing the slide probably took me 1 hour.
We have another one of these, but I am on a special assignment for two weeks (not nearly as exciting as it sounds) so someone else will brief my slide.
-
It's nice to know there are others who have to go through this. (http://www.aarcentral.com/emoti/new/bulji.gif)
-
It's nice to know there are others who have to go through this. (http://www.aarcentral.com/emoti/new/bulji.gif)
This describes half the DC workforce. That's why the metro at 5:30pm looks like a scene from The Walking Dead.
-
My meeting today devolved into 12 people trying to work on a PowerPoint briefing. The most productive thing I can do is to remain silent.
-
My meeting today devolved into 12 people trying to work on a PowerPoint briefing. The most productive thing I can do is to remain silent.
I find this is often the case, and something more people should learn.
-
(https://assets.amuniversal.com/54fabe4020db0138e21a005056a9545d)
-
:-X
-
(https://assets.amuniversal.com/54fabe4020db0138e21a005056a9545d)
(https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/029/191/cover6.jpg)
-
Trainer: Hey could you re-design my PPT to make it cleaner/cooler?
Me: Sure!
Me: (later) *delivers PPT*
Trainer: "Wow, cool! Thanks! This is GREAT!"
Later: *trainer still using old version*
-
Or, more likely, he is using your version and claiming that he made it.
-
I think more they just take what I make and re-do it. I'll sometimes see it back again to 'fix' something or other and it's totally different from what I made for them, or something that is just their original again.
And don't get me started on clip art...ugh.
-
OK
-
Wow, people still use clip art.... :o
-
...and counter corner clippers!
-
Wow, people still use clip art.... :o
Yup. People with supposed years of training experience.
There's SO many free resources out there that can be used in lieu of that stuff. I mean, clip art is all well and good for non-business use, but it irks me to see it in a professional workplace presentation...
-
My meeting today devolved into 12 people trying to work on a PowerPoint briefing. The most productive thing I can do is to remain silent.
One of the things we discussed at the meeting was the development of the thermal protection system. I sat on my hands for the entire first day, but on the second day I couldn't take it any more, so I asked: when they test these systems, are the results summarized in a TPS report? I didn't get a chance to ask about cover sheets because everyone was laughing so hard.
-
My day:
0800
I get an email to perform some calculation. Due by noon.
This is far outside my area of expertise and experience, and if asked, the SMEs who do this daily could give me an answer in 30 seconds, but I'm not allowed to ask the SMEs (because politics). I have no idea what this calculation is for or what the big picture is. Just do it. I also asked to show my work, as if I'm back in undergrad.
I do the calculation exactly as asked and send the result by 1000.
1015
Boss doesn't like the answer. Tells me to check it against something else. I had already done that once, so I do it again, and verify that my number is right.
1030
Boss realizes he didn't ask me to do calculate the right thing. Tells me he needs an answer, dammit! Tells me that he thinks the answer should be xxx because he sorta thinks he heard that somewhere at sometime. He likes the number he has in mind because it would help him make the case he's trying to make. According to The Wire, that's called "juking the stats."
1045
I tell the boss I have no data on the system he is asking about and can't do the calculation he wants.
1055
Boss tells me failure is not an option. Tells me to come up with a number.
1115
I ask my wife to think of a number between one and a million and to defend her choice. She ignores me and goes for a walk.
1130
I ask my other boss for guidance (and maybe some top cover). I ask him if I can ask the SMEs. He tells me to use google.
1230
By some stroke of luck, I find a paper that if I wave my hands around and assume this and that and some other things, might give me a barely defensible answer. However, there are many key differences between this paper and what I'm trying to do, and as I said, I was outside my area of expertise, so I don't know what I don't know. I have no idea of this is right from a physics standpoint, but the boss wants an answer dammit, so I do the calculation.
1300
I have a new answer, but it's not close to the answer the boss thought he heard. But, given the information I have, and my five hours of experience in this field, it's the best I can come up with.
1315
Redo the calculation. Type an email and cite my references as if I was submitting a paper for journal publication. Redo the calculation again. Water the new grass seed. Redo the calculation again, download the report.
1345
I send the email with the new calculation.
By the time I logged off at 1530, I had not heard anything back. I'm dreading tomorrow morning because I am expecting to see an email that says "I told you the answer I want is xxx. Go check your math."
-
That sounds a lot like how the Vietnam war was fought.
-
Funny you should say that, because I thought the same thing - made we want to read 'A Bright Shining Lie' again.
-
You sure you're not dealing with salespeople?
-
That sounds a lot like how the Vietnam war was fought.
Or how 2010 soccer was played.
-
That sounds a lot like how the Vietnam war was fought.
And yet we think we're so smart now.
34 months, 2 days to go.
-
...
1115
I ask my wife to think of a number between one and a million and to defend her choice. She ignores me and goes for a walk.
...
:2funny: Sounds like we're married to the same person.
-
By the time I logged off at 1530, I had not heard anything back. I'm dreading tomorrow morning because I am expecting to see an email that says "I told you the answer I want is xxx. Go check your math."
I am absolutely sure that this is going to happen. What you didn't talk about is the next step, where the entire thing turns out to have been pointless anyway because priorities have shifted and now they want something completely different.
-
This guy shows up tomorrow
-
Vader is at least competent.
-
And he eliminates incompetence
-
He lifts people up. He doesn't tear them down
-
I am absolutely sure that this is going to happen. What you didn't talk about is the next step, where the entire thing turns out to have been pointless anyway because priorities have shifted and now they want something completely different.
I used to work in the AF LtCol's office. BTW, nothing in this movie is wrong.
-
I had to go in to the office today to listen to approximately 250 PowerPoint slides. Same thing tomorrow, but at least I won't have to put on pants (I can work from home).
I can't complain. It was better than going to Fort Sill or Picatinny Arsenal for the meeting.
BTW, this was my first time back in the office since 9 March. Did not miss it.
-
Purell. Use lots of Purell.
-
It was better than going to Fort Sill or Picatinny Arsenal for the meeting.
Ft Sill has 2 pleasant months: April & October. Outside of that, it just sucks
-
Four days of telecoms this week. 696 ppt charts. At least I don't have to wear pants or get on an airplane.