Shell praise of its arch critics – the Donovans

Uncle Tom: John Dear My comment on Shell HR. USELESS Other synonyms . . . . Non-Existent, Know Nothing, Won't Help - Keep Redirecting, No experience, Every Question looked upon as Confrontation, Should I say more! Why have a local HR group who is useless? Bottom line, you end of getting frustrated and quit asking questions after going thru all that BS!

johndear: Would anyone like to comment on the HR organisation within Shell? I've had a fair few run in's with them so far- they all seem to be blimmin' useless! But perhaps that is like most HR organisations in big corporations (?). It seems like they really do not care about the individual. I've been pushed from pillar to post when I ask for clarification on a particular policy. We are told to contact the outsourced help desks sitting in Poland, KL etc. as HR in the business don't seem to either have the time or skill to deal with local employees. What has Shell become?? Any advice please on how to deal with HR and actually get them to help me would be most gratefully received.

EXSF: Pensioner 009, First, I am a long time user of this web Site myself. Second, I am sure I am not not the only one who has not taken kindly to his condesending and obviously inflated opinion of himself and his put downs of others on this site. His so called "advice" was more of an insult than advise. His "advice" to "primoregggazz" and his Range Rover were thinly disguised insults, not advice. This was not his first time to do this. If you like and respect him, that is your choice but I am sure there are others that do not agree. Read back on how primoreggazz responded to his co called "advice. I will not be commenting further on this issue or Musaint. those that respect his opinion and methods can read his comments. I will not.

Pensioner009: Musaint, those who have been viewing this blog for longer than just a few weeks know you as a respected contributor, so pay no heed to the recent comments. As to Shell Diesel quality, I got shot of my Disco years ago - far too unreliable always breaking down. For 5 years now my deisel X5 has run on nothing but Shell Diesel and is just fine. I would more likely suspect contamination in the filling station tanks - possibly water in the tank. This is far more common than many people realise. Trouble is you only find out after you have driven away. As for new formulations of diesel - that's driven by EU regualtion - the UK should NEVER have joined.

IT4me: GSAP/GPMR and the HOUSE OF CARDS When the GSAP project started up in 2003, we were soon drowning in Powerpoint slides. One image in particular stood out. It depicted the existing Legacy MI systems as a "house of cards", on the point of collapse. And here was GSAP, to the rescue ! The next stage is well documented. GSAP got nowhere trying to replace the MI, and within 4 years had to be rescued itself. The saviour was a new MI project called "GPMR", which curiously set off using almost the same methods and technologies that had just failed. You can't keep a good "strategy" down. 3 years later, GPMR itself looks in need of rescue. Delivery to date consists of 2 humble 'pathfinders', both plagued by performance problems, and using different client technologies because of an architectural cock-up. The rising sense of panic is unmistakeable. Developers desperately clone whole chunks of legacy structure without really understanding it, while their seniors trim scope and push back delivery dates - in spite of which efforts, published plans still show GPMR finishing the rest of job (a magnitude more than they have done so far) in little more than a YEAR. Meanwhile, the original MI (the "house of cards") is still there. 7 years on death row have done some damage, but systems are still running and generally outperforming GSAP/GPMR. Almost nothing has been decommissioned. Credit where it is due. 7 years of pitiful delivery would have sapped the morale of lesser teams, but GSAP/GPMR have remained true; true to the sense that "strategy" is what counts, not results; true to the belief that if you continue spending shareholders' funds for long enough, success will one day come your way. And they are still on-message: open a GPMR 2010 slide pack and you find the original 2003 "house of cards" graphic is still there !

EXSF: I am sure we were all suitably impressed by your condescending attitude and your bragging about your car. Frankly, sir, if you are trying to impress folks, you might want to try a different tactic than condescension and bragging. Oh yeah, you do not help your credibility by bragging as most who do that do it to cover their shortcomings. From the way you write, i am convinced you must have many to cover.

MUSAINT: Well my poor little munchkin (EXSF), my comments were aimed at someone who (a) spouted on about poor performance with a Shell product, for which I merely asked some questions to help understand his problem, (b) on his response & pontification about having a Landrover tractor, merely explaind what car I had and that it had improved with the Shell product. We don't all dislike Shell on this website.

EXSF: Musaint, it is only fair to tell you that the reason I found your remarks offensive was your clear strategy of casting aspersions on others comments. You give them no respect at all by casting aspersions on the intelligence of people you do not even know. I am giving you the same respect that you gave them. If you want your comments to be respected, then you should try treating others with the same respect you might want. Right now, you seem like a Shell Troll to me.

EXSF: Het Musaint, does doing commercials for Shell pay well? Just wondering and I would guess I am not the only one.

MUSAINT: Forgot to add that my car is a Audi Q7 V12 TDI. It's well tuned and runs on Shell. Any time you want to test your tractor against a Shell run vehicle please let me know.