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Recently I started a contract and after joining I was told that we have to work using remote desktop, so I use my PC to login to another PC in the city they are which has made development slow as hell. I have tried to tell them if I can use my mac and do development to save time. But due to their IT policies I cannot do that or install any program that isn't being used by team e.g. I wanted GUI for Git but they force me to use Git by terminal.

This hinder my performance and already making me fall behind deadline. How can I discuss with manager that current setup in effecting my performance and ability to do tasks, I know his answer will be that is that the best we can do, should I discuss or start looking else where?

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    Does this answer your question? Convincing Employer/Manager to use Better Software OR Use my Devices
    – gnat
    Feb 10, 2021 at 16:19
  • Could it just be simply that your or their bandwidth is way too slow? I often have to use TeamViewer or similar to work on remote machines (even flip side of the world) regarding machinery etc, and for other reasons. I've never had a problem. Would this be solved if both ends had superb bandwidth? @localhost
    – Fattie
    Feb 10, 2021 at 21:26
  • @Fattie I shared the same experience with OP, TeamViewer, RemoteDesktop, etc. screw often IDE shortcut and special keys, some IDE autocomplete box render locally but not to the remote machine, scrollbar on some windows, depending of the organization, multi display support is not awesome, there are some latency between command and results. I do not mind pair with somebody but working all day all week this way ... hell-ish :)
    – Tom Sawyer
    Mar 23, 2021 at 15:21
  • all true, @SebastienDErrico !
    – Fattie
    Mar 23, 2021 at 15:22
  • I would consider any competent programmer familiar with a Git GUI able to pick up command line Git without much effort. If this is the worst thing they have asked you to, you are pretty lucky. That said, developers should have developer machines with local administrator rights (and IT services allowed to fix things by reinstalling the machine).
    – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
    Mar 28, 2021 at 0:12

3 Answers 3

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A manager one time was passing on a bit of wisdom to me.

If they ask me to saw this table in half, and will not give me a saw, but only this pen, I'll do it, but I will be very clear about how long it will take me. If they're good with that, then I'll get going.

Explain the limitations, ask for accommodation. Be concise, precise, and detailed. Quantify, and make a costs-benefits presentation to them.

If they cede to your recommendations, problem solved.

If they do not, make it clear to them that this inhibits you. Then, find workarounds to make up for the inefficiencies of their way of doing things. Do everything you can to avoid deadlines, even if it means working late hours.

If this requires more effort from you than you are willing to put up with, put out your resume, and work with a company more in line with your way of doing things.

In the mean time, do everything you can to meet your current responsibilities with the tools you have.

Edited to add:

Get out in front of this: If you let management know what's happening BEFORE a deadline, it's "raising concerns", after a deadline, it's "making excuses".

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  • I love your answer. Problem is that the deadlines were pre-defined before me joining, I assumed it would be simple setup but the setup is way too complex and things out of my control put me in a bad spotlight as I don't see I can make things go fast.
    – localhost
    Feb 10, 2021 at 22:48
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    @localhost, Bring the bad spotlight on you now when it's still early, not when you miss the deadlines. It will be easier if you do this early. No one can guarantee that you won't get fired doing for doing that, but if you explain things well enough, they should see that they'll probably miss the deadlines either way, whether they fire or not, if they don't solve these underlying technical issues.
    – Stephan Branczyk
    Feb 11, 2021 at 1:04
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    In IT, there's always going to be an obstacle. Whether it's a software extension being denied, or a new version of something before you are ready, all you can do is raise your concerns as soon as you see them (in writing). If the boss blows up later, just refer back to when you first said something and basically say I told you so.
    – John Herbert
    Feb 11, 2021 at 14:39
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    @JohnHerbert just do it diplomatically. "Yes, we were aware of the difficulties, as I pointed out on (date well ahead of the deadline) " When I was a project manager, I always told people to alert me to things as soon as possible, so I could protect them from managerial blowback
    – Old_Lamplighter
    Feb 11, 2021 at 15:40
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    @localhost then update your resume, and move on. Don't wait for the axe to fall.
    – Old_Lamplighter
    Feb 11, 2021 at 16:24
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How can I discuss with manager that current setup in effecting my performance and ability to do tasks, I know his answer will be that is that the best we can do, should I discuss or start looking else where?

Still, send a formal meeting invite, have the conversation, describe the pain points and note the provided answers, then send a MoM email after the conversation. This way, you'll establish the fact that you conveyed the problems, but (for whatever reason) there is no solution.

Meanwhile, if you feel that this is a deal-breaker and the situation is not going to change/ improve in favor of you, there's not much option left - is not it?

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  • no it is not but I want to let him know why the work will get delayed and good to have such reference so in future such problem arise.
    – localhost
    Feb 10, 2021 at 16:16
  • @localhost that's exactly the thing mentioned in first paragraph.
    – Sourav Ghosh
    Feb 10, 2021 at 16:57
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Big companies are very cautious, often with good reason. They won't allow untrusted software to be installed on machines. They won't like their intellectual property downloaded to machines they have no control over. If you're a big target, then hackers are a constant problem, not some theoretical threat that happens to other people.

If you can't live with that, and follow the procedures, then you're probably working at the wrong place.

I'm working from home at the moment. If I want to do any development, then I remote desktop to my machine at work, because it's much faster to do it that way. The company seems to have paused their plans to get rid of those desktops and get people developing on their laptops. The reason is that my desktop machine is on the same gigabit LAN as the servers. My laptop is at the wrong end of a home broadband link, with a VPN to slow it down even more.

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