Software engineer’s concern:

We have run into some unexpected problems integrating (or designing, or implementing, or testing) the software.

Translation into management terms:

Our estimate of the time and budget required to complete the software is no longer valid. Futhermore, because we didn’t see these problems coming, we aren’t sure what other problems might be imminent. We’ll give you a revised estimate as soon as we have enough information to do so. In the meantime, please begin changing the customers’ expectations so they won’t expect so much so soon.

Dorothy McKinney, Six Translations between Software-speak and Management-Speak, IEEE Software, November/December 2002, (Vol. 19, No. 6)

I have not found any insurmountable barriers building an accessible site in Movable Type. And every time I discover a new accessibility-enhancing technique, I find that I can easily implement it. And yes, the calendar output is completely configurable using Movable Type

Not yesterday I learned to know
The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
And they are better for her praise.

– Robert Frost

It was dark when I got to work yesterday and dark when I left.

I’ve just ordered a copy of the Back To The Future Trilogy on DVD.

At BlackStar this costs

I went to a UGC cinema tonight. It was horrible. The foyer was covered in litter and popcorn crumbs. The counter were I bought my sweets was covered in a sticky substance. The staff were unfriendly. My shoes stuck to the floor of the theatre. The sound cut out during the adverts and the lights came back on. Unfortunately, this happened during the film as well so we had to leave ten minutes after it started.

I recently suggested to a manager that if he wanted more productivity from his experienced programmers, he should spend more time, attention, and money to training. He replied, “Why bother sending them to expensive classes? The experienced ones just leave here for other shops, so I’d just be training them for other people.”

When I interviewed two of his top programmers, they confided that they were seriously considering leaving, which tended to confirm the manager’s pessimistic view. But when I asked them why they were leaving, they independently said that “management doesn’t value our work.” What evidence did they have? Both told me that they had repeatedly been turned down on requests to attend courses!

– Gerald M. Weinberg, Overstructured Management of Software Engineering, Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Software Engineering, September 1992

Why am I always kept waiting when I go to see a lawyer or an accountant? It’s not as if I drop in out of the blue. All the appointments are arranged in advance and I’m usually paying the person I’m meeting. Sometimes people have legitimate reasons for being late but I don’t think there has ever been a time when I’ve been met promptly.

Issues of time are a major source of offense in our culture. Keeping people waiting is a petty power play that usually insults the one kept waiting.

– The Niceties of Negotiating

I contribute to this problem because I rarely complain about being left waiting. What is the best way for me to handle this situation? I don’t like to complain at the start of the meeting. It causes bad feeling and the person I’m meeting with can become defensive and annoyed. So what should I be doing?

The first line of defense is accepting that the new system will fail, possibly in several ways. When I find myself thinking, “I must have this change because I can’t afford failures,” then I’m in big trouble. If I can’t afford some failures, a new system won’t help. And neither will an old one.

Nothing new ever works, but there’s always hope that this time will be different.

– Gerald M. Weinberg, The Secrets of Consulting, Chapter 9

The office has been very quiet today. Could be something to do with Marc being on holiday.

Lately, I have been meeting with various people who work for professional service firms. They all seem to lack the same thing – passion. I want to meet people who are passionate about the job their doing. I don’t want to meet lawyers who are less interested in company law than I am!

Success comes from doing what you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy it, how can it be called success?

– David H. Maister, True Professionalism