Azure Jane Lunatic (Azz) 🌺 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
azurelunatic) wrote2006-08-09 03:12 am
azurelunatic) wrote2006-08-09 03:12 am
Entry tags:
A well-trained browser
Star Trek themed motivational posters. Or anti-motivational, if you want to consider "Expendability".
Cosmic sideswiping justice, as related by Sailor Jim. (Boingy, boingy, boingy...)
Work today was a bit of poking at database, a lot of confusion, and the eventual decision that Q4 is to be used for testing purposes only, and it's otherwise merely archival. I am not sure what stuff my predecessor was smoking, but it was evidently either the good stuff or the bad stuff.
There was also a lot of writing up. I am sure I wrote up the equivalent of a good long blog post, except it was a business e-mail. LJ has done wonders for my ability to write a business e-mail when I'm on cordial terms with Management. (When I'm on cordial terms with Management and she likes my way with words, I can get away with a rather lot more than I could on a strict business e-mail. It's possible to inject humor into even the dullest dry stuff with lively metaphor and incisive observation.)
The rest of the day was mostly working up a plan of attack. I had several pages of notes. I condensed the rambling and expanded the elisions into a checklist/plan of attack. All that stuff they tell you that you need in design class that you think you won't need? You'll need. Oh gods, you'll need it. Maybe not formally, and it's a lot easier to dash off some random stuff first as a mockup, a prototype -- but after you've done that, set everything down in order and then work on it; it's so much easier than keeping track of the steps in your head if it's anything bigger than a breadbox.
Fedora Guy, the guy who was caught in the briefing closet and explained that he'd been "sent by a supervisor for candy" wanted to know where the motivation-candy came from. I explained the uncharitable hypothesis of the shared deck of cards to Snarky Lady, who appreciated it for the deep wisdom it was.
The long e-mail was full of questions and requests for bells and whistles to be added to existing apps. I like bells and whistles, especially when we are importing foreign data from other apps and it lacks the bloody primary key that we're using. Now, we could painstakingly separate out the names and just match up the key by names, but that is "technically 'ugly'," as I phrased it to Management (scare quotes included around the 'ugly') and not recommended.
I started entering in the planned production rates, and found that there were a lot of dodgy productions out there. Dendarii Brewing has a dodgy production, having a production for the sum of the two sides, but not one for each side of the job. This is worse than useless to me from my end of things.
I wrote out a list of standards. Snarky Lady had thought that we had no standards, but after reviewing the list with me, she realized that I was right. (We have a lot of shouting matches. This results in us starting to talk in unison and finish one another's thoughts. When Management had been reading off the "Bottom 10 List" ((the worst-performing/refusing/attending/monitor-scoring crowd)) we'd taken to saying "Gone!" when we heard a name we knew was no longer with us. At certain names, we chorused "Gone!!!" with particular glee, like the guy who'd walked off shift to watch basketball.) By the end of this, we're either going to be getting along fabulously, or be really ready for some space.
Extreme Programming is a lot easier when one person is less experienced but a good typist/mousewoman, and the other is more experienced, but has poor typing skills. The typist winds up getting the practical experience, and the experienced programmer gets the luxury of having essentially a voice-activated machine that will code what you mean, not what you say.
... This really has turned into a "what I did at work today", hasn't it.
To counteract some of that: I did laundry today (Tuesday), I called in our lack of hot water (the pager was full, so I called the office and told them that the pager was full, dammit), and I got some insurance paperwork settled away. (Bank wanted to make sure that yes, there was bloody insurance. So e-mail and I got to be good friends, and my company is going to talk to their company. Did, in fact. Hooray for fax machines, and for giving the insurance company the fax number that the bank included as part of my initial query. I will probably call the bank on like Thursday to make sure that communication did happen.)
No more actual writing, just random business junk. Well, one line popped into my head in the shower the other night, and I did get it written down. Hooray for writing down. I've also got to get caught up on my love letter writing -- Darkside didn't get to speak with me this past weekend, so he deserves a particularly sweet e-mail (though as always, we don't get to attempt to scare the poor young man with actual mush).
Cosmic sideswiping justice, as related by Sailor Jim. (Boingy, boingy, boingy...)
Work today was a bit of poking at database, a lot of confusion, and the eventual decision that Q4 is to be used for testing purposes only, and it's otherwise merely archival. I am not sure what stuff my predecessor was smoking, but it was evidently either the good stuff or the bad stuff.
There was also a lot of writing up. I am sure I wrote up the equivalent of a good long blog post, except it was a business e-mail. LJ has done wonders for my ability to write a business e-mail when I'm on cordial terms with Management. (When I'm on cordial terms with Management and she likes my way with words, I can get away with a rather lot more than I could on a strict business e-mail. It's possible to inject humor into even the dullest dry stuff with lively metaphor and incisive observation.)
The rest of the day was mostly working up a plan of attack. I had several pages of notes. I condensed the rambling and expanded the elisions into a checklist/plan of attack. All that stuff they tell you that you need in design class that you think you won't need? You'll need. Oh gods, you'll need it. Maybe not formally, and it's a lot easier to dash off some random stuff first as a mockup, a prototype -- but after you've done that, set everything down in order and then work on it; it's so much easier than keeping track of the steps in your head if it's anything bigger than a breadbox.
Fedora Guy, the guy who was caught in the briefing closet and explained that he'd been "sent by a supervisor for candy" wanted to know where the motivation-candy came from. I explained the uncharitable hypothesis of the shared deck of cards to Snarky Lady, who appreciated it for the deep wisdom it was.
The long e-mail was full of questions and requests for bells and whistles to be added to existing apps. I like bells and whistles, especially when we are importing foreign data from other apps and it lacks the bloody primary key that we're using. Now, we could painstakingly separate out the names and just match up the key by names, but that is "technically 'ugly'," as I phrased it to Management (scare quotes included around the 'ugly') and not recommended.
I started entering in the planned production rates, and found that there were a lot of dodgy productions out there. Dendarii Brewing has a dodgy production, having a production for the sum of the two sides, but not one for each side of the job. This is worse than useless to me from my end of things.
I wrote out a list of standards. Snarky Lady had thought that we had no standards, but after reviewing the list with me, she realized that I was right. (We have a lot of shouting matches. This results in us starting to talk in unison and finish one another's thoughts. When Management had been reading off the "Bottom 10 List" ((the worst-performing/refusing/attending/monitor-scoring crowd)) we'd taken to saying "Gone!" when we heard a name we knew was no longer with us. At certain names, we chorused "Gone!!!" with particular glee, like the guy who'd walked off shift to watch basketball.) By the end of this, we're either going to be getting along fabulously, or be really ready for some space.
Extreme Programming is a lot easier when one person is less experienced but a good typist/mousewoman, and the other is more experienced, but has poor typing skills. The typist winds up getting the practical experience, and the experienced programmer gets the luxury of having essentially a voice-activated machine that will code what you mean, not what you say.
... This really has turned into a "what I did at work today", hasn't it.
To counteract some of that: I did laundry today (Tuesday), I called in our lack of hot water (the pager was full, so I called the office and told them that the pager was full, dammit), and I got some insurance paperwork settled away. (Bank wanted to make sure that yes, there was bloody insurance. So e-mail and I got to be good friends, and my company is going to talk to their company. Did, in fact. Hooray for fax machines, and for giving the insurance company the fax number that the bank included as part of my initial query. I will probably call the bank on like Thursday to make sure that communication did happen.)
No more actual writing, just random business junk. Well, one line popped into my head in the shower the other night, and I did get it written down. Hooray for writing down. I've also got to get caught up on my love letter writing -- Darkside didn't get to speak with me this past weekend, so he deserves a particularly sweet e-mail (though as always, we don't get to attempt to scare the poor young man with actual mush).
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Make your own motivator posters 8 )
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