It was a nice day to be outside. The sun was shining, not too brightly, the clouds were floating up in the sky like tufts of cotton, and the weeds were taking over the landscaping like they were on steroids. Then the neighbor called.
"My irrigation system isn't working!" she sobbed. "I've turned on the water, but it just sprays out the pipe on the side of the house, and I'm afraid of being washed away in the ensuing flood!"1
We immediately 2 sprang to her assistance, seeking to discover the source of the problem. It was relatively easy: the draincocks were still open on the pressure relief valve, allowing all the water to simply spill onto the ground. So a simple application of torque using my handy-dandy screwdriver solved it. As a reward for our help, she gave us a tour of her house.
And what a house!
Everything so neat, so tidy, so orderly. This particular neighbor is an interior decorator by trade, so naturally everything looked wonderful. She's also lately completed some fundamental work on her basement, with walls and fixtures and cabinets installed, and has most of the painting done. It's simply waiting for some additional touch-up work ... and the flooring. There was an incredible amount of airness, roominess; the light shining through the big picture windows high above the fireplace mantel lit up the living room and gave everything a warm, cozy glow.
It was quite disheartening to walk back to our house and down into our basement and look around at the clutter, the debris, the lack-of-doneness that is the hallmark of someone too busy to work on it. Massive guilt dropped like a stone on my head. it made me want to move into a closet and write sad songs about dying of consumption.3
To try and cheer myself up, I started working on catching up with all the office-related tasks which had piled up in my absence (reviewing and updating schedules, budgets, planning documents, etc.), with a break here and there to play Heroscape with Adam4 and eat an occasional snack.5
Later on tonight, I hope to play my guitar and come up with an appropriate tune entitled, "Our House May Not Be Done Yet, But At Least The Cats Are Well-Fed."6
1Not her actual words. I'm paraphrasing.
2After lunch. About an hour later.
3Or being eaten by weevils.
4I lost.
5A healthy snack, of course.
6Very well-fed.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Weary Week
Neda Agha-Soltani. Ed McMahon. Farrah Fawcett. Michael Jackson. And Kenneth Van Prooyen, Sr. (You don't know the last one, but he's the father of one of my best friends at work.)
All dead.
It's been a weird week. We got back from our Yosemite trip on Sunday morning at 3 a.m. and didn't know about anything that was going on locally until the late news on Sunday night. We didn't realize that we'd come in on the heels of a major rainstorm which had caused major flooding on the western lake shore. We didn't realize until later that our seemingly random choice of one road over another kept us from seeing all the damage (and possibly being stuck in traffic for hours).
There was a box sitting on our front porch when we got home; it was a refurbished DVD player / TV tuner to replace the one which went bad just before we left on our trip. We hooked it up so we could catch the late news, and the first thing we saw, was a field full of cars which were swamped by rising river water. Seems a bunch of people went to this radio station-sponsored party, parked their cars in a big open field, only the big open field happened to be situated next to a bend in the river, and when the river overflowed its banks, it bypassed the bend and essentially encircled and then flooded the field. And authorities would not allow the owners access to the field in order to recover their personal property.
The cars are still sitting there, nearly a week later, while authorities try to figure out how to get them out.
The weather turned hot and humid while we were gone, so we're trying to adjust the ventilation to keep the house normalized. But the pipes just weren't designed for that, so it isn't working quite right. The upper story is still too hot, and the basement is still too cold.
The kids are starting their summer schedule, which we set up at our weekly family meeting on Sunday night, but it's been difficult to switch over. I've had to be at work early every day to cover for another Software Lead who is on vacation, so I'm not available to get everyone up and going. Guess we'll have to review our alarm clock User Manuals.
I haven't had time to go through all the trip pictures yet in order to post them.
The dogwood is floating all over the place outside, and all the other plants are going crazy, so the allergies are on full-blast.
It's almost Friday.
I can't wait.
All dead.
It's been a weird week. We got back from our Yosemite trip on Sunday morning at 3 a.m. and didn't know about anything that was going on locally until the late news on Sunday night. We didn't realize that we'd come in on the heels of a major rainstorm which had caused major flooding on the western lake shore. We didn't realize until later that our seemingly random choice of one road over another kept us from seeing all the damage (and possibly being stuck in traffic for hours).
There was a box sitting on our front porch when we got home; it was a refurbished DVD player / TV tuner to replace the one which went bad just before we left on our trip. We hooked it up so we could catch the late news, and the first thing we saw, was a field full of cars which were swamped by rising river water. Seems a bunch of people went to this radio station-sponsored party, parked their cars in a big open field, only the big open field happened to be situated next to a bend in the river, and when the river overflowed its banks, it bypassed the bend and essentially encircled and then flooded the field. And authorities would not allow the owners access to the field in order to recover their personal property.
The cars are still sitting there, nearly a week later, while authorities try to figure out how to get them out.
The weather turned hot and humid while we were gone, so we're trying to adjust the ventilation to keep the house normalized. But the pipes just weren't designed for that, so it isn't working quite right. The upper story is still too hot, and the basement is still too cold.
The kids are starting their summer schedule, which we set up at our weekly family meeting on Sunday night, but it's been difficult to switch over. I've had to be at work early every day to cover for another Software Lead who is on vacation, so I'm not available to get everyone up and going. Guess we'll have to review our alarm clock User Manuals.
I haven't had time to go through all the trip pictures yet in order to post them.
The dogwood is floating all over the place outside, and all the other plants are going crazy, so the allergies are on full-blast.
It's almost Friday.
I can't wait.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Sunday, June 07, 2009
On the Road Again
Thursday. We finally got started on our trip right after Deb's graduation. Just us boys.
Stay Tuned.
James is ready to face the blazing sun of the western states. Plus he looks cool.
Adam is ready to kick back and listen to some awesome books-on-CD while we go merrily along. He picked out quite a few, plus some of his favorite music albums.
Dad is not really ready to go yet -- there's too much left un-done at the house and at work, but it is way past time to get the kids to Yosemite (the Most Beautiful Place on the Planet), so he's just going to bite the bullet, ignore work, and drive til his eyes fall out.
Hmmm. Seems to me those girls look awfully happy to see us driving away. What weird and wonderful girly things do they have planned during our absence??
Stay Tuned.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
TV go boom
Perfect time for the digital tv tuner / DVD player to go on the fritz. Right before we head out the door.
I seem to recall this happened before, right before we were about to go on a trip. The DVD player -- or was it the VCR? -- died, stopped doing whatever it was that it was supposed to be doing.
Weird.
The unit is less than a year old. By about two weeks. This is what freaks me out. I hadn't realized it was that long ago. I was thinking it was less than six months old. My brain is still somehow in the Twilight Zone, six months lost like it never happened. How can it be that the receipt (which we dug out of the ether) shows the purchase date of 6/21/08??
Now I'm seriously doubting my sanity.
There's definite reason for this vacation.
Tonight! We leave tonight!
I seem to recall this happened before, right before we were about to go on a trip. The DVD player -- or was it the VCR? -- died, stopped doing whatever it was that it was supposed to be doing.
Weird.
The unit is less than a year old. By about two weeks. This is what freaks me out. I hadn't realized it was that long ago. I was thinking it was less than six months old. My brain is still somehow in the Twilight Zone, six months lost like it never happened. How can it be that the receipt (which we dug out of the ether) shows the purchase date of 6/21/08??
Now I'm seriously doubting my sanity.
There's definite reason for this vacation.
Tonight! We leave tonight!
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Panic in the Streets
The days / hours are counting down. It is almost time.
I pulled the car-top carrier down from the loft this evening, and spent half an hour chasing down the keys so it could be opened. Also spent half an hour gathering up flashlights, radios, batteries and other assorted paraphenalia for the trip -- and reminding the kids that they need to have everything packed and ready to go tomorrow night. I don't want to be in an even bigger panic Thursday night!
There's still a ton of work to do -- at work -- before I'm ready to leave, and then there's a farewell party for one of my guys tomorrow. And then there's a big meeting I'm supposed to be putting together to review our readiness to test the software. Lots of things to do, not nearly enough time to do them in. But I'm beyond caring now.
All I can think about is The Trip.
Driving to Colorado to see Craig. (Are you ready, Uncle Craig?)
Driving to Yosemite to see Mom and Dad and Ron and Eileen.
Driving to Tucson to see Jeanne and Brendon.
Driving to Derbe to see Judy and Shane.
Driving to Abilene to see Jan and Kel.
Stopping in St. Louis and Springfield for some historical tours.
Being away from work for two whole weeks!!!
And then, after getting back home, just a few more weeks and we'll be down in Bloomington for the Downs Reunion!
Excitement!!
I pulled the car-top carrier down from the loft this evening, and spent half an hour chasing down the keys so it could be opened. Also spent half an hour gathering up flashlights, radios, batteries and other assorted paraphenalia for the trip -- and reminding the kids that they need to have everything packed and ready to go tomorrow night. I don't want to be in an even bigger panic Thursday night!
There's still a ton of work to do -- at work -- before I'm ready to leave, and then there's a farewell party for one of my guys tomorrow. And then there's a big meeting I'm supposed to be putting together to review our readiness to test the software. Lots of things to do, not nearly enough time to do them in. But I'm beyond caring now.
All I can think about is The Trip.
Driving to Colorado to see Craig. (Are you ready, Uncle Craig?)
Driving to Yosemite to see Mom and Dad and Ron and Eileen.
Driving to Tucson to see Jeanne and Brendon.
Driving to Derbe to see Judy and Shane.
Driving to Abilene to see Jan and Kel.
Stopping in St. Louis and Springfield for some historical tours.
Being away from work for two whole weeks!!!
And then, after getting back home, just a few more weeks and we'll be down in Bloomington for the Downs Reunion!
Excitement!!
Monday, June 01, 2009
Monday, Monday
It almost felt good to be at work today. Almost.
Part of it was a feeling of recklessness. I was ready to make some decisions, and make the right decisions, and make them for the right reasons, and ignore the flack that was guaranteed to explode in my face. It didn't matter. The decision had to be made. The course had to be set. The right course.
It seems there's a constant struggle between doing what is right for the product and doing what is best for the Company's bottom line. As an engineer, I lean towards doing what is right for the product, no matter the cost to budget or schedule -- within reason. Obviously, I don't want to put the Company into a bad situation, financially speaking. But I cannot condone abandonment of engineering principle in order to maintain a fantasy that the software is "good enough". There are simply too many unknowns, untested areas, undocumented behaviors.
There's a quote that Management bandies about: "The perfect is the enemy of the good enough". That quote drives me absolutely nuts. What they're trying to push is the idea that engineers are too idealistic, and will pursue a bug into the ground until it consumes all the schedule and budget for the project.
Engineers are not stupid. We realize that the product has to ship before it makes any money for the Company, and it is that money that allows us to go back and create more wonderful projects.
But when there are obvious problems, or areas of the product (especially software) that are not well documented or understood, there is a fear that drives the engineer to dig deep into that problem in order to bring it to close. This is the fear that somewhere, somehow, an oversight on his/her part will bring about a calamity, and that calamity will be traced ultimately to a failure on the part of the engineer with regard to his knowledge, skill, or ability.
Engineers pride themselves in their work. It is where the majority of their self-esteem comes from. Engineers, especially software engineers, have been known to work on software for free in order to impress other engineers with their prowess. Indeed, if this Project were made Open Source, most of the problems would be resolved relatively quickly as a horde of self-righteous, convinced-of-their-own-superiority programmers would descend on the code like Texans to a barbecue and beat it to death until they had resolved every single one of the issues which plague us now.
(Naturally, they'd also introduce a horde of new problems, but that would just give them more impetus to keep going...)
Managers care about the quality of the work, but not so much as they care about meeting the budgets and schedules laid down in the agreements between the Company and the Customer. Why? Because managers pride themselves on their ability to predict an outcome, and then guide the team towards that outcome. In effect, they are proving their prowess in herding a team of cats down a narrow path within a specific time constraint, knowing that success will bring a big reward -- but more importantly, it will prove that they are powerful, capable and respected leaders.
This is why one often hears managers speak about upgrades and updates and patches and nice little buzzwords like that which allow them to get the current job "done" and leave the fine-tuning for later. Even if they don't accomplish all the goals, they will have proven that they can get the product to market in a timely fashion, and that is what business in our capitalistic society is all about, especially in the embedded systems niche. Time-to-Market is what guarantees success, because typically the first one out the door gets the brand recognition, and people will generally stick with the brand they know in the hope that the quality will improve over time.
This is why I will probably never make a good manager, unless my sole focus is to manage people, not products. I care about the people more than the products, actually. I want the people to have fun, to take pride in their work, to be able to look back on a project and declare that they did their best and the product is good. (Not perfect, but good.)
I want to be a part of a great team that has a great time making great products.
Part of it was a feeling of recklessness. I was ready to make some decisions, and make the right decisions, and make them for the right reasons, and ignore the flack that was guaranteed to explode in my face. It didn't matter. The decision had to be made. The course had to be set. The right course.
It seems there's a constant struggle between doing what is right for the product and doing what is best for the Company's bottom line. As an engineer, I lean towards doing what is right for the product, no matter the cost to budget or schedule -- within reason. Obviously, I don't want to put the Company into a bad situation, financially speaking. But I cannot condone abandonment of engineering principle in order to maintain a fantasy that the software is "good enough". There are simply too many unknowns, untested areas, undocumented behaviors.
There's a quote that Management bandies about: "The perfect is the enemy of the good enough". That quote drives me absolutely nuts. What they're trying to push is the idea that engineers are too idealistic, and will pursue a bug into the ground until it consumes all the schedule and budget for the project.
Engineers are not stupid. We realize that the product has to ship before it makes any money for the Company, and it is that money that allows us to go back and create more wonderful projects.
But when there are obvious problems, or areas of the product (especially software) that are not well documented or understood, there is a fear that drives the engineer to dig deep into that problem in order to bring it to close. This is the fear that somewhere, somehow, an oversight on his/her part will bring about a calamity, and that calamity will be traced ultimately to a failure on the part of the engineer with regard to his knowledge, skill, or ability.
Engineers pride themselves in their work. It is where the majority of their self-esteem comes from. Engineers, especially software engineers, have been known to work on software for free in order to impress other engineers with their prowess. Indeed, if this Project were made Open Source, most of the problems would be resolved relatively quickly as a horde of self-righteous, convinced-of-their-own-superiority programmers would descend on the code like Texans to a barbecue and beat it to death until they had resolved every single one of the issues which plague us now.
(Naturally, they'd also introduce a horde of new problems, but that would just give them more impetus to keep going...)
Managers care about the quality of the work, but not so much as they care about meeting the budgets and schedules laid down in the agreements between the Company and the Customer. Why? Because managers pride themselves on their ability to predict an outcome, and then guide the team towards that outcome. In effect, they are proving their prowess in herding a team of cats down a narrow path within a specific time constraint, knowing that success will bring a big reward -- but more importantly, it will prove that they are powerful, capable and respected leaders.
This is why one often hears managers speak about upgrades and updates and patches and nice little buzzwords like that which allow them to get the current job "done" and leave the fine-tuning for later. Even if they don't accomplish all the goals, they will have proven that they can get the product to market in a timely fashion, and that is what business in our capitalistic society is all about, especially in the embedded systems niche. Time-to-Market is what guarantees success, because typically the first one out the door gets the brand recognition, and people will generally stick with the brand they know in the hope that the quality will improve over time.
This is why I will probably never make a good manager, unless my sole focus is to manage people, not products. I care about the people more than the products, actually. I want the people to have fun, to take pride in their work, to be able to look back on a project and declare that they did their best and the product is good. (Not perfect, but good.)
I want to be a part of a great team that has a great time making great products.
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