[Annoy] What's something small that really annoys you?

Forums › Off topic › [Annoy] What's something small that really annoys you?

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#3189755 2-Feb-2024 22:13

Rikkitic:

networkn:

Speaking of wasting money. I was very annoyed this morning to see taxpayers spent $228 + ~10M to lay exactly 0 meters of light rail. Only in Government can you spend $240M, get nothing, and stay out of prison!

Did all of that go on consultants? Is there any breakdown of expenses?

From what I've read the number may be more like $190m but of course it's politically attractive to present it as bigger.

From what I've been able to read there's about $30m spent on land, and contractors and consultants were chewing up around $1.2m a week, which is relatively reasonable during the design and mobilization phase.

There's literally no way to build a project like this without consultants, it's a specialist discipline to design these projects and NZ inc doesn't have the pipeline to build up capacity.

neb

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#3189766 2-Feb-2024 23:43

The fact that the otherwise excellent Ozito PXC mowers come with a "safety key" without which the mower won't start which is the same size and colour as a cat toy and which comes with no means of attaching it to the mower.

neb

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#3189767 2-Feb-2024 23:49

Handle9:
There's literally no way to build a project like this without consultants, it's a specialist discipline to design these projects and NZ inc doesn't have the pipeline to build up capacity.

Friend of mine works in a business that finds the right people for specific things like this and it's amazing hearing both how specialised some of the requirements are and that you can get someone in NZ who has the qualifications to handle it. So I can see that it could end up costing a bit if they're pulling together a bunch of specialists where there's one or maybe two people in the entire country available in that field.

Handle9

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#3189768 3-Feb-2024 01:34

neb:
Handle9:

There's literally no way to build a project like this without consultants, it's a specialist discipline to design these projects and NZ inc doesn't have the pipeline to build up capacity.

Friend of mine works in a business that finds the right people for specific things like this and it's amazing hearing both how specialised some of the requirements are and that you can get someone in NZ who has the qualifications to handle it. So I can see that it could end up costing a bit if they're pulling together a bunch of specialists where there's one or maybe two people in the entire country available in that field.

Those types of specialists usually aren't interested in a job for just one project either, they want to work for a company that does this sort of work consistently, and with people who know what they're doing.

That's aside from the preference on the client side to only employ them for the duration of the project, which naturally leads to consultants and contractors.

Jase2985

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#3189777 3-Feb-2024 07:41

networkn:

Regardless of what it was spent on, we have nothing to show for it.

they have a sweet website 😅

https://www.lightrail.co.nz/

Handle9

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#3189782 3-Feb-2024 07:45

networkn:

Regardless of what it was spent on, we have nothing to show for it.

That's what happens when you cancel a project during design.

geoffwnz

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#3189783 3-Feb-2024 07:56

If it's anything like most Govt projects, then the org chart looks like a diamond instead of the previously traditional triangle. So you have the CEO at the top and one actual worker at the bottom. In the middle are layers of managers (mostly contractors and consultants) reporting to each other and providing zero value for the millions being spent on them. That's where the money really goes.

MotorDrive Rallying

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#3189785 3-Feb-2024 08:04

geoffwnz:
If it's anything like most Govt projects, then the org chart looks like a diamond instead of the previously traditional triangle. So you have the CEO at the top and one actual worker at the bottom. In the middle are layers of managers (mostly contractors and consultants) reporting to each other and providing zero value for the millions being spent on them. That's where the money really goes.

It was a construction project not an it one. Most of the design and construction is done by consultants and contractors. Government, or most organisations, don’t really know how to build things, they kind of know what they want and contract out the nasty stuff that involves designing or building stuff.

networkn

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#3189798 3-Feb-2024 09:05

Handle9:

networkn:

Regardless of what it was spent on, we have nothing to show for it.

That's what happens when you cancel a project during design.

So do you actually consider spending 6 years and 220+M on a project and getting nothing for it (except a shiny website) a good use of tax payers time and money, or are you just arguing for the sake of it?

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#3189808 3-Feb-2024 09:55

When you forget to preorder a game that you were looking forward to, remember it exists the day after its release, and find that it's out of stock.

networkn

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#3189885 3-Feb-2024 12:49

Long wait times for banking customer services. With BILLIONS in profits every month, you'd think they could spare 200K a year for a few extra people to man the telephones!

Handle9

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#3190024 3-Feb-2024 18:09

networkn:

Handle9:

That's what happens when you cancel a project during design.

So do you actually consider spending 6 years and 220+M on a project and getting nothing for it (except a shiny website) a good use of tax payers time and money, or are you just arguing for the sake of it?

I think that the project scope was fundamentally flawed.

The actual costs incurred seem relatively reasonable for the scale of the project.

I think your post is nakedly political and belongs in a different place.

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#3190037 3-Feb-2024 19:04

Handle9:

I think that the project scope was fundamentally flawed.

And that's the crux of it. The political ideology continued it in that direction believing its what was needed.

Handle9

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#3190042 3-Feb-2024 19:18

Jase2985:
Handle9:

I think that the project scope was fundamentally flawed.

And that's the crux of it. The political ideology continued it in that direction believing its what was needed.

I don’t believe that it was ideology that made it fundamentally flawed. I believe it was the coverage of the disruption from the CRL.

Anyway this discussion belongs somewhere else.

neb

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#3190046 3-Feb-2024 19:49

Handle9:
Those types of specialists usually aren't interested in a job for just one project either, they want to work for a company that does this sort of work consistently, and with people who know what they're doing.

In this case it's people who are kept on the books by consulting companies who apply them to whatever work turns up in their field. So someone needs people with expertise in X, Y, and Z, so they go to ABC Engineering Associates who pull in whoever they have on the books for X, Y, and Z. An example of X might be something like "exercise facilities for a maximum-security prison".

You're getting quite specialised civil engineers and the like with this, but it'd presumably all appear on the accounts as consultants.

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