Truely Stupid Corporate Tricks #1

I live a corporate life from about 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday - Friday... thought it would be time to share some truly stupid corporate tricks.

Trick #1.
Problem: Not enough resources to do QA for a software product....
Solution: Fire QA

Yes, friends, it is true. A rocket scientist at my office decided about a year ago that the resolution to the problem of not having enough QA resources available to QA your software product quickly was to fire the resource you had and "have the developers do their own QA". If you have worked in software development of any stripe, you know how ridiculous that is.

Fortunately, the pay off for my team was, we got a kick-ass QA resource... and for the other person's team, the "developers do their own QA". Unfortunately, the end users of the other team get to do the QA the developers don't do.

UK July 2009

Had to share a link to pics from my recent work trip to the UK... I had to fly out on a Wednesday, back on a Wednesday. I stayed near the Heathrow Airport because the office I was visiting was in Stockley Park. However, I did get a weekend to spend on my own time... did a tour on Saturday, spent the day with a co-worker/friend on Sunday...

Saturday's travels: London, Leeds Castle (Kent), Dover, Canterbury Cathedral, Greenwitch, Thames River Cruise, Westminster (viewed the outside of Westminster Abbey and Big Ben)

Sunday's travels: Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeer's birthplace), Tintern Abbey (Wales) - absolutely beautiful.. want to return there and spend more time, Bristol (to see Clifton Bridge) and finally a traditional Sunday Roast at a pub in the english countryside near my co-worker's home.

All was very good. Here are the pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/nissaRLTW/UK_July_2009

Now I lay me down to sleep...

Do you remember this prayer?

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take

I have always hated that prayer. Sleep should not be linked with death.. but with life, regeneration, restoration, peace, healing even, REST for Chrissake! ... not Lord take my soul. Yes, I know.. its not supposed to be about death.. it supposed to be a supplication that the Lord watch over you... but I could never shake the other connotation.

I've never taught my daughter that prayer.. I never will.

That's all.

re-engineering self (or how to get used to cognitive disonnance)

Some things to catch up on... little brother.. no cancer! Father-in-law, cancer, but treatment doesn't seem to be so bad, BUT he sends a cryptic note saying he just got out of the hospital. Me, no cancer.. but it could have become cancer if we didn't catch it and remove it.

My "no cancer" experience (plus a combination of work, autoracing and my husband's work) have conspired to set me back again on my running... it seems every time I start to get my running feet back under me, something happens to shut me down for a couple weeks again. I've been knocked down so many times, I'm starting to get used to it.

I read an AWESOME book the last time I was laid out on my ass recovering from general anesthesia and minor surgery.. this one was called Born to Run. It is exactly what I needed. In my usual fashion I was panicking and thinking that I would not be able to run anymore because I'm not getting any faster (long story, tell ya later). AND I knew when I had to have the surgery (and found out the other half would be out of town for two weeks) that I would not be able to do the Olympic Distance Triathlon that I had been training for. AND I was starting to feel like my other half wasn't as supportive of my running as he used to be. ... so depression was setting in. I was going to have to quit running, exercising, everything I love.. because my body and my husband and my life were conspiring against me. Then I read Born to Run and I got inspired. That book reminded me of what I love about running... just the feeling of it. I still remember the first really hard and hilly 16 miler I ran 5 years ago, and, after conquering the last switchback and climbing the last hill.. I was running down the single track trail, feeling like I was flying, arms out like wings. And another thing I love, the camaraderie of the run, the way people take care of each other and support each other, through race and training run. I've been on both ends of that equation and they are both great.

So I've decided this year to re-engineer myself, my goals. New goal.. stay sane. New goal.. just run. New goal.. run with two of my brothers and hope they'll stay slow enough to run with me, and if they don't or can't (its hard to run slow) I'll enjoy the scenery... and finally, New Goal, skip Tuscon and just run the Valley of Fire Marathon.. not for speed (its not a fast course and not even a USTAF certified course) and not to compete with my friend (I finished 4 minutes ahead of her last year in a 30k.. I'll be eating her dust this time), nope. Just to run, in the desert, the climate that reminds me of home... though I've never lived in desert just like this.. desert just like this has always been home. I'm setting my expectations back to my 2nd TNT season.. I know what to do, I'm out of shape, and I'm just gonna run.

And, if for some reason, life strikes again, that's OK. As long as I'm healthy enough to run into town for dinner once in a while... that's better than not running at all.

What do you do when you run out of space on a hard drive... really, what do you do?

well... you (or at least I HOPE YOU) do NOT e-mail your customer that is paying top dollar for your consulting software development services and say "I can't install any software, the drive is full." and then go away because it is no longer your problem.

And.. if you are the manager of that person, you don't email the person that hasn't been on the project for 6 months (PTHBOTP - that would be ME) and say. "Help, we can't go forward with this project! we got an error message." and then when the PTHBOTP finds you contacts to work on the issue (and give you more space) and the contacts can't help because one was laid off and the other had a death in the family and the other - other one has never heard of the box... You don't email the PTHBOTP again and say "Help Us Please". At which point the PTHBOTP has this sinking feeling and suggests the terribly obvious and say "Why don't you help yourself and delete some files?" and then when you get that helpful advise you don't say "We'll try, if there's nothing else you can do." And then wonder of wonders... it actually.... wait for it... WORKS!

I mean.... why the HELL couldn't they figure out that they might want to delete their own code and temp files BEFORE halting development for a freaking DAY while they are critical path for a critical project??? WHY!?


For those of you that are reading this.. I work in high tech.. I don't like to talk about it. I prefer to be running.. but this had to be let out.

This too shall pass...

"If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy."

Too true that "this too shall pass". How fleeting anything, everything, is. "Good" news and "bad" news... always so intense and immediate, then time passes and life goes on. Run down the hill, its easy, run up the hill, its hard, but then you run down the hill again. Get the job you want, your co-worker, part of why you want the job is laid off, stress for a week.. go ahead with the job. Some little things like work, running, etc... so small compared to the real important things in life... which is life.

Little brother may have cancer, have to remove his testicle to find out... wtf? There is much hope for my brother... cancer doesn't appear to have spread, we'll know in a week what the next steps are and his prognosis is very very good. Father-in-law fights off colon cancer and it comes back into his lungs but maybe there's hope for him.

Of course, health is potentially fleeting too... from hard experience I've learned. I don't assume good health anymore. I have gratitude for being able to run, or swim, or bike... just to feel the feeling of manual motion.

This is a rambling note... things have been very upheaved for me... but, because of my family's struggles with the really important things... I'm learning to let the smaller upheavals go. slowly.

Smart Kids

A certain smart kid I know... who is now a very smart grownup... blogged about this:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids
cool.

For myself... being one point short of genius, I know the value of hard work *laugh*

Much going on... will blog more later.