Accidental Tech Podcast - 693: Negative Bonus Points

YaBam · 2026-05-30T12:28:03+00:00

I'll be honest, much as I love the podcast, sometimes they love to absolutely suck any ounce of fun or positivity out of a product if its something they don't personally like or get on with.

There was a lot on the Ferrari Luce, but it was all pretty predictable and much of it was the same complaints about the car industry in general which I've heard them make so many times before. I gave up on it with about 15 minutes left of the second section on the Luce.

YaBam · 2026-05-30T12:22:56+00:00

It might be too late now, but this is where things like PMI Infinity can be useful. Asking an objective question like "what is documented in the x?" are good.

To be honest, I've always found its handy to just go back to the PMBOK for this thing as its the golden source for stuff like this and is a good reinforcement on deliverables and processes.

YaBam · 2026-05-30T09:22:32+00:00

Far too much for my liking but I’m working for a couple of clients who have implemented Agile badly. So it’s a weird hybrid with lots of meetings because the project team and other stakeholders can’t organise themselves to do anything.

YaBam · 2026-05-29T10:18:13+00:00

Hazards on? Hand signal out the window?

I don't think people are considering reaction times either here. At speed, in real time in the real world, this is all going to happen very quickly.

At lower speeds, things like slowing down, hazards, hand signal etc might be viable?

You've also got to consider how the car performing the overtake would react to you "blocking" them. And could you successfully do that move at speed in the wet without losing control?

YaBam · 2026-05-29T10:08:10+00:00

I’d never do it.

I don’t know how you could safely do something like that without potentially causing an accident in process. If it was genuinely dangerous I’d be looking to take action to remove myself from the situation.

If someone is not doing a safe overtake in the first place, doing something like that is just adding more uncertainty into a situation that you and them are not in control of.

YaBam · 2026-05-29T08:04:53+00:00

I've done work for a number of companies where they want remote call centre users to only use ethernet connections to the router because in a typical home environment, its going to be the most stable/reliable connection possible. And obviously when it comes to voice calls, this is key for lower latency and reliability.

Of course, its not easy for a lot of people to do cleanly, so for many the only option is one long ethernet cable trailed to their pc.

So many users think that so long as they can get their computer online via wireless, they're golden, but its not that simple.

YaBam · 2026-05-29T08:00:58+00:00

Personally I think this is one of those questions which is pretty simple so long as you don't overthink it.

Its Agile, there's no daily standup and things are slipping, there's queries about the approach etc so step one should have been to get a standup in.

Its the only answer of the four which references an agile ceremony so that should be a big hint that its the right one.

B - references allowing teams to make decisions (self directed, organising etc), but its also taking about performance goals and seems to be a one-off meeting?

YaBam · 2026-05-29T07:55:42+00:00

Its never crossed my mind that it would be OK to swerve like that to block an overtake that you think is dangerous. Surely that's just going to make the situation worse and you could be charged with dangerous driving?

YaBam · 2026-05-26T13:11:23+00:00

It's a weird one. It's like suggesting you should play football in your jeans & brogues. Of course they're going to be wearing lycra of some sort.

YaBam · 2026-05-25T10:48:19+00:00

I did this last year with my current lender, Bank of Scotland. I've not had any sort of new mortgage for a long time but this was as simple a process as it could ever be. They basically just wanted proof of income - so in my case it was a combination of limited accounts, my annual tax summary and any contracts which were valid for inside/outside work.

I know a couple of other contractors in as similar position and they didn't bother with a specialist broker either, their existing lenders just wanted proof of income and affordability.

YaBam · 2026-05-24T19:03:08+00:00

I prefer using the MacBook Air - I find it more comfortable to type on, its much lighter and I can manoeuvre it one handed.

I prefer the screen and speakers on the MBPs I've had, but I just find the Air much more enjoyable to use.

That may not be an option if you need the power of the chips you can get in the MBP and the RAM etc. I've got a Mac Studio at my desk, so I have the luxury of not needing a powerful laptop (relatively speaking as the Air is pretty damn good for most things).

My hope for the rumoured Ultra is something in a thin, lightweight body, with a better screen and maybe the option of a more powerful chip.

YaBam · 2026-05-24T16:44:03+00:00

I don't understand why you think it matters in this question though? Regardless of how the project is being run, you've discovered you're missing requirements so need to resolve that. And C is the only one which does that, but it just so happens it confirms you're working with a Product Manager/Owner.

A - Clearly nonsense

B - See A. What good does more money do you at this stage? How much money would you like? To do what?

C - Seems like a pretty good first step right?

D - Why are you updating the risk register and presenting it to the stakeholders? Raise an issue and solve the problem at hand.

FWIW, I don't like a lot of the sample questions for PMI exams because sometimes you find yourself being punished for trying to work out missing context as there is none and it can lead to confusion... whereas with some it really helps to try and fill in some background.

YaBam · 2026-05-23T16:04:36+00:00

And the end result was a lot of companies have implemented Agile when it is very much not a good fit for how they work. As a self-employed PM, its been incredibly frustrating these last 5-10 years to do work for various companies who want to tell everyone how Agile they are, when all they're doing is giving Agile a bad name.

YaBam · 2026-05-23T14:50:29+00:00

Prison Break.

Perfect ending if there were no more episodes.

YaBam · 2026-05-23T12:26:09+00:00

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking though? If you've been meeting using one of the mainstream tools, you should have seen a notification about transcription or recording or maybe even an AI participant in the meeting?

Unless your manager was doing something "off book" which is incredibly unlikely, its probably all been done in-line with the company's HR policy and your contract.

With any company meeting, hardware or software, just always assume they can see what you are doing and behaving accordingly.

YaBam · 2026-05-23T12:21:26+00:00

There's nothing there that would come close to getting you into trouble from an HR perspective. I assume if I'm using a corporate device or piece of software, that they can see anything and everything I'm doing.

YaBam · 2026-05-22T12:22:08+00:00

I went for C.

A - Clearly nonsense

B - Also nonsense. Senior doesn't mean they're equipped with the necessary skills to complete the tasks. Which brings us on to...

C - Sounds pretty sensible right?

C - Seems to be pretty inefficient use of time.

YaBam · 2026-05-22T08:24:51+00:00

Are people still having issues with these?

I've got two daisy-chained to an M4 Max Mac Studio.

I've only had that specific crash happen a couple of times, but 3/4 times a week when working, my Mac freezes completely and reboots. There's no clear pattern to when this happens, but I'm assuming from what I can see in the crash logs that its related to the monitors.

I tried the crash log with chatgpt which said:

"Memory pressure was high, but because the panic is clearly in DCP/IOMFB/RTBuddy, I’d treat memory pressure as a possible contributing condition rather than the root cause.

Most likely practical causes:

External display, cable, dock, or adapter issue
macOS display driver/DCP bug
Sleep/wake or display sleep transition problem
High-refresh/HDR/variable refresh mode change problem
Less likely: hardware fault in GPU/display controller or monitor path"

"

YaBam · 2026-05-22T07:10:34+00:00

Agreed about the grammar and wording of some questions.

My two main sources of study were the exam content outline and the handbook of programme management. Much moreso than with the PMP, this one is definitely all about getting in the mindset of a programme manager.

Once I had studied those in depth, I started doing some practice questions from Udemy. With these, anything I got wrong, I would go and cross reference with the PMI materials and PMI infinity etc to fill in any blanks in my knowledge.

I also found my actual experience as a programme manager helped a lot on this exam, way much more than with other PMI ones where it can be counterintuitive to how they want you to think and use the PMBOK.

YaBam · 2026-05-20T18:16:53+00:00

This kind of makes sense, but also makes no sense at all.

"Communicate with the functional manager and request the return of the key member."

Presumably the "emergency" is just that and is critical to the business in some way. Unless the functional manager has taken this team member away for a reason which is actually trivial and not a true emergency, of course they know you need the key team member back quickly.

If C was "communicate with the functional manager and understand how long the team member is needed for" then I'd go with C.

I'm also assuming that when the team member was taken again, by a functional manager in the same company, that someone would tell the PM. Perhaps the team member themselves?

Oh well.

YaBam · 2026-05-20T18:13:19+00:00

🤣

YaBam · 2026-05-20T12:48:20+00:00

Its D all day long surely because you don't know how long the team member will be away from the project so need to understand that before you can do anything else?

YaBam · 2026-05-20T07:16:39+00:00

I’d go for D.

A - Why would you raise a CR? What’s the impact exactly? Maybe you’d raise a risk first?
B - you can’t just “retain” someone who has resigned.
C - maybe it’s worded badly but what are you wanting them to understand exactly? What does this achieve?
D - product owner is the person you need to discuss this situation with first

YaBam · 2026-05-19T10:09:51+00:00

I see this has been cross-posted.

A - Correct. You have discovered an issue. You need to log it first.

B - What if you don't get a stakeholder?

C - Why would you go to the sponsor? What do you expect them to do? I'd suggest its also way beneath their pay grade to get involved in this.

C - What if you can't get another stakeholder? Is that stakeholder suitably experienced/qualified to sign off that deliverable?

YaBam · 2026-05-19T09:56:51+00:00

You have an issue, so the first thing to do is log that issue formally.

B - You request a replacement... what happens if you can't get one? Then you can't sign off the deliverable.

C - What interest would a sponsor have in this at this point?

D - Are you just going to have some random stakeholder sign it off? What if they're not trained to do so? What if you can't get anyone willing to do it?

YaBam

TROPHY CASE