Thanks. Yeah, it's crazy. I wonder if my boss secretly hates me. He gives no clue, if that's the case. And, I don't think it's a gender thing, as our team is actually mostly female. It's just... really bad management.

We actually had a team meeting to talk about all the new work, and he mentioned the idea of getting our business analysts involved to take notes. The idea being that they're used to that role, somewhat, since they often capture requirements. I piped up and said it was a fantastic idea, because honestly, note-taking is a waste of skills if we use anyone on our team.

Nobody else agreed though I was told that it's more than just straight dictation, that it's actually listening, and processing, and figuring out what's important to write down, and they were afraid the BAs might miss something important. Ugh. It still feels like taking notes to me.

Our first one is coming in a couple weeks. It sounds like I won't have to travel, I'll be doing a tele-presence thing, which is actually fine with me, since I really don't travel well, and since all I'm doing is taking notes, I'm sure it's not going to matter.

Oh and my boss is going to be out for a bit before the trip, so he wants me to gather info about the company and prepare a "briefing" for him. But we don't seem to have anything internal, it's all just searching on the internet. He wants something that will get him up to speed quickly... and it's just... I don't know. It's a little overwhelming, although, he doesn't seem to have the highest standards, so maybe whatever I can pull together will be fine.

Yeah, my job is pretty demotivating Thanks for understanding!!!

Oh and you are right, I don't know that a man would be OK with this. I don't know that a lot of people would... we've already had a lot of very smart, talented people leave the group. The people who are left aren't... you know, the strongest.

Ha! And you're right about saying stuff like "dialogue with". Though he does love his brainstorming. I'm not sure why, but any excuse to get us all in a room together to brainstorm and whiteboard, he's there. That's a big part of his process. Sometimes we have to gently reign him back in, because not everything requires 10 people brainstorming in front of a whiteboard! He is pretty decent at running a brainstorming/focus group type session. He's sociable and has a good sense of humor, so he's good at running those big conversations and making sure everyone gets to talk and keeping people involved without feeling defensive. I'll give him that, especially with clients.

Wow - that really sucks that your boyfriend isn't take your professional advice seriously, and is putting his business at risk by taking bad advice from someone else. I don't understand why he's not listening to you, that's so bizarre... does he not believe that you know what you're doing? I can see how that would be confusing, but also... frustrating and crazy-making. I'm sorry

Oh and my mom is going to be visiting sometime this summer. With her friend. It's so stressful... I did manage to convince her to stay in a hotel, but I have enough stress trying to find things for the two of us to do, trying to also hang out with someone who is a complete stranger to me, is just making my stress go bonkers. You have no idea how much I want to plan a vacation for that time period, and just not be here when she shows up! Especially since I haven't been able to get a straight answer about dates from her!!!

At least it's almost the weekend!