Getting Lax

I've been a little lax recently about blogging but I am trying to remind myself to stick with it. It is somewhat odd in a way because it seems like the times I have the most going on I blog the least. I have actually made a number of blogs that haven't shown up on Blogger recently. I love my IPod Touch and I was previously using it to blog while I was on the go. The app I was using was called LifeCast. However it seems the author of the app decided update it with a "new" version that no longer supports Blogger at all. Wonderful update thanks. Still in keeping with my other resolutions I must admit the fault is my own. If I deemed it important enough I should have "found a way" to make the time. Its late and I'm tired at the moment. I've been studying UML, design patterns and software product lines all night for an interview I am really looking forward tomorrow. This is when I really need to try and remember my "Less is More" credo. Instead of overwhelming with volume I am going to try and choose my words carefully and concisely so that I put forth exactly the message I want to convey. I'll explain more about why I am interviewing in another post soon.

Frustrated!

I will apologize upfront for what may seem like a nonsensical rant. Where I work frustrates me greatly. The root of the problem is a mix of passive aggressiveness and simple laziness. I suppose most people can relate to following example. I am currently assigned multiple projects. This is the nature of my job and I have no problem juggling multiple deliverables. The problem is that the time lines are incompatible. Recently one of my projects was moved to another developer. The problem is the project manager made the decision and informed me but not the receiving developer and for some reason she still comes to me for updates and deliverables. My typical work week goes very similar to the following. Projects A, B, C, D all have a documented estimate of 24 working hours to complete.

• Monday Morning - Begin working on Project A
• Monday Afternoon - Directed to change focus to Project B items only
• Tuesday - Directed to work on Project B only
• Wednesday - Directed to stop work on Project B and work on a Project C item
• Thursday Morning - Continue work on Project C items
• Thursday Afternoon - Directed to stop work on Project C and resume Project B
• Friday Morning - Directed to work on Project D

*** To this point although the constant change is annoying I actually just fine Friday Afternoon (Here's the punchline) I am approached with the following:

• Have you made any progress on Project A?
• When will Project A be complete?
• Why aren't you finished with Project B?
• Its really important that Project D is finishedfor client
  Publish Post
  review today, and you need to at least migrate something for Project C to review.

I know some of you may be saying, "Well perhaps she doesn't understand or realize the time lines are overlapping". She does, I've mapped it out before. Even in the face of logic there is an almost will full ignorance. I have sat down and said, "O.K. we have an 8 hour work day here but you have slated for delivery these three items with a combined estimate of 32 hours". All I get is a blank stare. It's not that shes dumb, she knows. Its as though she is simply hoping against hope that hope alone will somehow make it possible. In a nutshell my frustration is the willful and deliberate continued ignorance in the presence of enlightenment. end rant

A New Day cont

Well its mid-afternoon now and I am feeling much better. Work is slow and quiet and I am lamenting not bringing my space heater back to work with me. At least the office is no longer in the high 50 to low 60 degree temperature. The atmosphere at work today seems to make the day appear to drag on. I find myself the victim of one of my vices, a vice I have made note to work on this year. I sometimes get frustrated with the people I work with and in the past that frustration has caused me to speak out from time to time. My frustration is in regard to the lazy "it can't be done" attitude, when the real answer is usually that they either don't want to do it or they don't know how to do it. I've seen a lot of good ideas never given a second glance because the person being asked gave some excuse about why it was a bad idea. I know different departments don't always get along but I hate it when I see how it affects the business as a whole. The attitude seems to be, "how dare they have the audacity to want something we haven't given them". Anyway to apply this to my situation my company often markets the addition of blogging features to our clients. Interesting enough though when they accept we don't really seem to have a direction in mind. Furthermore it was noticed that our company does not have a blog itself. What better way to illustrate the very points we try to sell than to set our own example? Right from the start the response was negative. "You can't do that", "There's too much involved" etc... The excuses for why it couldn't be done abounded. No one wanted to entertain the possibilities. So I spoke up. For the most part I was a met with a "your full of shit, I don't believe you" attitude. So I did what I usually do and proved the worth to my words. I have come to realize my folly and fully understand just how much I have been consistently duped. The challenges to what I say never stop, I never get anymore credibility for the effort. Why would I? Its genius. As long as they continue to question, I continue to do, and in the end they avoid exactly what they wanted to in the first place. I know my own worth, I don't need their agreement to validate it. In the past I continued to meet the challenges not because of personal pride or merit because I believed that it was just a matter of someone not knowing that it could be done. I viewed it more as a learning / teaching experience (not in a condescending way). After a time though constant lack of creditability wears on you. So here I set cleaning up the last remnants of a blogging project that was added to my normal workload, while I wait to attend a meeting for yet another project that is also a result of this vice. These projects are too far along to walk away from, but these will be my last. Each moment of added stress will only serve to help drive this lesson home. I have nothing to prove to anyone other than myself.