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Stuart Baggs was a decent PM in this week's task |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Nov 2010
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Stuart Baggs was a decent PM in this week's task
I thought Stuart got a lot right tonight.
Their product was much better than Sandeesh's team. The uplift in the price point is what appears to have given them the victory, questionable though it may have been. The calls Stuart made were proved to be correct. He didn't get everything 100%, 35 DVDs was a bit low considering the other team sold 55, and of course there were the obvious interpersonal issues between him and his team, which didn't really reflect well on any of them. Joanna deserves credit for selling well and for getting the Ferrari car. She didn't like the Brands Hatch idea and made this known, she was wrong but made up for this later in the day. Stella on the other hand was the most disappointing on that team and went down my estimations (though I haven't yet seen enough to consider her to be a strong enough candidate anyway). It's clear she had problems with Stuart's management which may be justifiable. What I didn't like particularly was that when she made a mistake with the production, rather than accept responsibility she tried to push the blame on to Stuart, claiming that in his QC role he should've picked up on her mistake. No producer of DVDs is ever going to sit there and play every one from beginning to end to check quality and this was just silly to expect to Stuart should be taking his time to do this. I don't know much about video editing, but I have done lots of audio editing and the nature of the problem with the DVD indicated that it may have not been a mistake and could well have been sabotage. Stuart handled this well and offered a part refund, but it was obviously a disappointment to the customer and her child. Laura did nothing of note as usual other than to reinforce the opinion that she doesn't really have a clue what she is doing. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Jul 2009
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He won yes,
but i wouldn't say he was a good PM, lets be honest the mans utterly clueless and has no idea how to work with other people, it took him about a day to work out that the target audience would be children lol. sums him up |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Nov 2008
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Quote:
He won yes,
but i wouldn't say he was a good PM, lets be honest the mans utterly clueless and has no idea how to work with other people, it took him about a day to work out that the target audience would be children lol. sums him up |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Aug 2007
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Quote:
Stuart Baggs was a decent PM in this week's task.
I actually have a soft spot for the guy, which surprises me - but last night he made very few educated decisions and seems to think that flying by the seat of your pants makes you a successful entrepreneur. |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Jun 2004
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He mnay have won, but even his own team members looked like they would have preferred to lose.
as they obviously found him obnoxious. |
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#6 |
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Join Date: May 2010
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His team won despite of him not because of him.
By far the most obnoxious idiot ever to be appear on The Apprentice, and there's been some strong competition for that title. |
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#7 |
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he was an appalling PM - his team won because of Stella and Joanna
it's like he bought a book on 'management for utter cocks' and was following it to the letter |
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#8 |
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His team won despite of him not because of him.
By far the most obnoxious idiot ever to be appear on The Apprentice, and there's been some strong competition for that title. Agree with first part, but you could level same criticism at Liz and Marine man who were both awful PM's but won....sure have been others |
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#9 |
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I think another important aspect which is always forgotten is that it is virtually impossible to manage your competitors in a "team" environment (which made Stella's efforts all the more impressive as she is the only PM i can think of this series where people genuinely liked working for her and weren't negative and sulky)
I thought the only reason he was forcing Joanna to vote for example was because he knew she was just having her hand half up to give her an extra "out" in the boardroom if it went wrong. And I also agree they waste too much time on aimless chat, so probably somewhere in middle would be happy medium. |
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#10 |
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Join Date: May 2010
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Blind, inaccurate and lazy comments in second line imho
Agree with first part, but you could level same criticism at Liz and Marine man who were both awful PM's but won....sure have been others |
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#11 |
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I thought the only reason he was forcing Joanna to vote for example was because he knew she was just having her hand half up to give her an extra "out" in the boardroom if it went wrong. And I also agree they waste too much time on aimless chat, so probably somewhere in middle would be happy medium.
Quote:
it's like he bought a book on 'management for utter cocks' and was following it to the letter
However he did show a lot of decisiveness, and even though his 'I make things up as a I go along' methodology was suspect, I think he had a point to the extent that when you're under time pressure making any decision so you can move on is often a good strategy. Eg the decision about the target audience was easily reversed so did not really need to be thrashed out at great length before they started preparing the task. |
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#12 |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
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The bloke is an utter waste of oxygen, completely up himself and disconnected from others. His ego is totally out of control and if he gets to the interviews Claude and Paul will chew him up and spit him out
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#13 |
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The bloke is an utter waste of oxygen, completely up himself and disconnected from others. His ego is totally out of control and if he gets to the interviews Claude and Paul will chew him up and spit him out
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#14 |
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Join Date: Feb 2007
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Are you havin' a laugh OP?
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#15 |
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Join Date: Oct 2010
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I think another important aspect which is always forgotten is that it is virtually impossible to manage your competitors in a "team" environment (which made Stella's efforts all the more impressive as she is the only PM i can think of this series where people genuinely liked working for her and weren't negative and sulky)
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#16 |
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I would most strongly disagree that he was a good PM. He was loud, arrogant, brash, single-minded, blinkered, He listened to no-one, offended everyone, changed his mind halfway through the task (he originally intended to aim for the adult market and then suddenly "decided" they'd go for the kids instead --- which was a no-brainer anyway!). His management style was to bully, browbeat and embarrass his team-mates, and in the end, the only reason his team won was due to errors on the other side, not his "brilliant leadership".
The guy's a tool. Any sympathy or understanding he gained over the last few weeks, when he seemed to be mellowing out a little, was blown out of the water this week as he revealed himself to be, without question, a grade A tit. Interested only in himself, in how great he thinks he is, basking in self-praise and his expression at the end made it look like he thought (as he probably did) that he had won the task single-handed. He's a total that, with the h being replaced by a w.... |
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#17 |
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Stuart did make some good decisions, but his people skills are awful. Hopfully it's just his youth and he'll develop these with age.
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#18 |
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Quote:
I would most strongly disagree that he was a good PM. He was loud, arrogant, brash, single-minded, blinkered, He listened to no-one, offended everyone, changed his mind halfway through the task (he originally intended to aim for the adult market and then suddenly "decided" they'd go for the kids instead --- which was a no-brainer anyway!). His management style was to bully, browbeat and embarrass his team-mates, and in the end, the only reason his team won was due to errors on the other side, not his "brilliant leadership".
The guy's a tool. Any sympathy or understanding he gained over the last few weeks, when he seemed to be mellowing out a little, was blown out of the water this week as he revealed himself to be, without question, a grade A tit. Interested only in himself, in how great he thinks he is, basking in self-praise and his expression at the end made it look like he thought (as he probably did) that he had won the task single-handed. He's a total that, with the h being replaced by a w.... think you are being very harsh, when have those first brainstorming sessions ever worked well?! And bar a few slightly brash statements and actions during this meeting he was no better or worse than other PM's in this series.Sorry to keep going on about it but I am still in shock at Laura not being sacked during the book-eze task when she did everything wrong, practically had a nervous breakdown and then snatched defeat form jaws of victory when Boots offered exclusivity deal and also at Marine Man actually "winning" a task with that tosh of an advert badcially cos his team picked a yellow bottle!! So i think when you put Stuart up against that kind of comparison he was nowhere near as bad as them imho. I could work for him I reckon. |
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#19 |
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I agree - but I think it was Laura wasn't it?
Ha ha - I think he probably wrote the book. However he did show a lot of decisiveness, and even though his 'I make things up as a I go along' methodology was suspect, I think he had a point to the extent that when you're under time pressure making any decision so you can move on is often a good strategy. Eg the decision about the target audience was easily reversed so did not really need to be thrashed out at great length before they started preparing the task. |
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#20 |
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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I thought Stuart got a lot right tonight.
Their product was much better than Sandeesh's team. The uplift in the price point is what appears to have given them the victory, questionable though it may have been. The calls Stuart made were proved to be correct. He didn't get everything 100%, 35 DVDs was a bit low considering the other team sold 55, and of course there were the obvious interpersonal issues between him and his team, which didn't really reflect well on any of them. Joanna deserves credit for selling well and for getting the Ferrari car. She didn't like the Brands Hatch idea and made this known, she was wrong but made up for this later in the day. Stella on the other hand was the most disappointing on that team and went down my estimations (though I haven't yet seen enough to consider her to be a strong enough candidate anyway). It's clear she had problems with Stuart's management which may be justifiable. What I didn't like particularly was that when she made a mistake with the production, rather than accept responsibility she tried to push the blame on to Stuart, claiming that in his QC role he should've picked up on her mistake. No producer of DVDs is ever going to sit there and play every one from beginning to end to check quality and this was just silly to expect to Stuart should be taking his time to do this. I don't know much about video editing, but I have done lots of audio editing and the nature of the problem with the DVD indicated that it may have not been a mistake and could well have been sabotage. Stuart handled this well and offered a part refund, but it was obviously a disappointment to the customer and her child. Laura did nothing of note as usual other than to reinforce the opinion that she doesn't really have a clue what she is doing. Quality control is there to ensure just that and he didn't do it. It was Stella's mistake, yes, but the point was, Stuart was to be watching her back and he fell through. He tried to dismantle Stella by telling her to do things by memory. Where in the heck would you ever find a boss who would break down a system that is reliable and guarantees accuracy? It meant he wasn't taking into account in the slightest any perspective but his own, NOT the qualities you would want in someone managing you. The task success was driven by the women on his team, not him. He was sloppy and unpredictable and not taking into account the merits or skills of his team. Stuart's team won not because of greater success, but only because the other team lost. He was lucky, that was all. |
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#21 |
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Stuart did make some good decisions, but his people skills are awful. Hopfully it's just his youth and he'll develop these with age.
No, he made some lucky decisions based on very little. He wasn't listening to anyone and put down anyone trying to act sensibly. Lucky for him Joanna and Stella didn't want to be in the boardroom, so they worked hard to try and win. Laura seems to have been stuck with the role of 'audience'. Thanks to Stuart they wasted hours on the first day while he went happily awol. He showed he's not above trying a fast one on customers. Forget they get BBC1 in the IoM did he? The other team sold 55 dvd's. That shows what's possible. Why did his team only do half that? In any event it could only do half that as he plucked the stock figure (which controls the upper sales possible) from out of his @rse. Makes you wonder if in the IoM customers pay for stuff and are kept waiting cos He Who Knows Best hasn't thought to order enough. Funny thing is, I think he thinks this is exactly how Sugar does things. It isn't. Business people who've met him have been stuck by his insistance on having all the information to make a decision available there and then. Not we'll find out and get back to you. That's how he's made some clever property and company buys from under the noses of others. |
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#22 |
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Join Date: Nov 2010
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Just to clarify a few points on the episode.
Both Stella & Jo initially wanted to do waterskiing and voted for this at the brainstorm, Laura police chase. Waterskiing would have been probably even worse than the skiing idea chosen by the other team. Police chase would have not been appropriate for mothers with kids for obvious reasons. Stuart then pushed his idea through and the team were not behind him. Stella & partcularly Jo were still dismissive even when the video was produced. They thought he was wasting his time at Brands Hatch but at the end of the day it was clearly the better product. So it's obvious that Jo and Stella did not carry the task for him. If Stuart had gone with their idea they wouldn't have had the better product and probably lost. As for the video production, Christopher on the other team produced far more DVDs without any problems. They didn't appear to need Sandeesh to QC every item even though they had an extra man. In any case, QC should only be about checking the DVD works, not playing each and every one to the very end to check for production errors. Don't get me wrong, as I said in the first post the ladies were probably justified to some degree in their lack of respect for the PM, but I just think it reflected as badly on them as it did on Stuart. |
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#23 |
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Join Date: Nov 2008
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spacecube makes some fair points and Stuart did indeed make some good calls.
On the other hand, he originally chose the car race theme to aim at adults and only later realised it would be better to target children – as the girls had originally suggested. And, obviously, Stuart has no people skills whatsoever, which could prove counterproductive in any task. |
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#24 |
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Just to clarify a few points on the episode.
Both Stella & Jo initially wanted to do waterskiing and voted for this at the brainstorm, Laura police chase. Waterskiing would have been probably even worse than the skiing idea chosen by the other team. Police chase would have not been appropriate for mothers with kids for obvious reasons. Stuart then pushed his idea through and the team were not behind him. Stella & partcularly Jo were still dismissive even when the video was produced. They thought he was wasting his time at Brands Hatch but at the end of the day it was clearly the better product. So it's obvious that Jo and Stella did not carry the task for him. If Stuart had gone with their idea they wouldn't have had the better product and probably lost. As for the video production, Christopher on the other team produced far more DVDs without any problems. They didn't appear to need Sandeesh to QC every item even though they had an extra man. In any case, QC should only be about checking the DVD works, not playing each and every one to the very end to check for production errors. Don't get me wrong, as I said in the first post the ladies were probably justified to some degree in their lack of respect for the PM, but I just think it reflected as badly on them as it did on Stuart. And he was wasting his time at Brands Hatch. There was no reason at all for him to be driving the car, for hours on end, out of range of communication. He specifically asked to do it, when presumably they could have got a professional driver, just because he was such a petrolhead. At the very least, if it were task-mandated that someone had to participate in some way to the video in an on-screen role, it should have been Laura (so long as she can drive) to avoid the Project Manager being incommunicado all day. He did very little on either day apart from make random decisions based on specious logic that he then went back on. He failed at the one practical role he designated himself, and made his entire team want to stab him in the face. He was lucky his sales force sold his crappy product, which he spent all day filming and in which the children turned into ghosts half-way through and other children towards the end, as well as it did. |
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#25 |
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Don't get me wrong, as I said in the first post the ladies were probably justified to some degree in their lack of respect for the PM, but I just think it reflected as badly on them as it did on Stuart.
When Stuart came out with his "I have excessive masculinity" comment, I had to clean my coffe table after splurting water all over it!
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think you are being very harsh, when have those first brainstorming sessions ever worked well?! And bar a few slightly brash statements and actions during this meeting he was no better or worse than other PM's in this series.