March 4, 1994
Dear Everyone:
First, an addendum to last week's letter, regarding the infamous Fourth
of July Molotov Cocktail lesson. I
just want to point out that, before we began the proceedings, we made
sure that the garden hose was turned on and nearby, just in case we
needed it to put out any unintended fires.
After all, we were responsible
little hooligans.
Last Saturday, I finished the third of a 3-part Pilot Project, in which
CITC (Company Information Technology Company -- the Computer People)
offered PC software classes on three consecutive weekends. They called it the "Weekend
Certificate Program" and if needed, you stuck it out for three Saturdays
in a row, you got a Certificate, even if you didn't learn anything in
the classes.
However, we did learn a great deal in the classes. I, for one, couldn't wait to get
back into the office to start using the software once I had an idea of
what I could do with it. ThThe
Windows
class in particular came in handy when “Miranda’s” Applications Group up
and disappeared on her and we had just learned how to set up (or
replace) a Group in Windows. I
confess, in spite of how long I held out against it, I am becoming
inordinately fond of Windows.
I was not, however, fond of giving up my Saturdays for three weeks. The classes were good, but the
weekends were just too darned short. I
am especially looking forward to sleeping late tomorrow.
Very late.
After which, I am looking forward to opening all the doors and windows
to let in the fresh spring air. Two
weeks ago, Mount Diablo was sporting a dusting of snow in its peaks.
Now, the wild mustard is
knee-high, the trees are budding their ducky little hearts out,
“Jeannie's” daffodils are showing, the "golden" (brown) hills are green
(for the moment). In other words,
spring has sprung. Here, anyway.
My RMSTIC* Team had its 2-day "kick-off" meeting this week. Our primary purpose was to try to
identify all the issues and potential problems that were likely to come
up during the testing process. We
want to get as much resolved as possible up front, before the software
is purchased and the 60-day money-back-guarantee clock starts ticking.
By the end of the first day, we
had accumulated eight flip-chart pages of "issues."
Everything from Big Hairy Issues
to Small Fuzzy Issues.
Yesterday we categorized and prioritized them and found "volunteers" to
"take ownership" of making sure that each issue is resolved before
testing, which is beginning to look like it will take place in July,
rather than April. The actual
testing will probably require only a few weeks; but the last thing we
want to have happen is to get into testing and then discover something
we hadn't thought of before that would take weeks to resolve.
Having thus planned ahead as much as possible, we "empowered" ourselves
to finish work early and start again next week.
I am seriously looking forward to not waking up tomorrow morning…at
least, not before 10:00-ish.
Love, as always,
Pete
PS. I understand “Alice” and
“Kelly” are canvassing for possible names for "TK" (The Kid).
How about these?
Polonius Byron "Harlequin" (Polly for short)
Polonius
is from Hamlet. Byron is from one
great-grandfather and one uncle.
Antipholus Andrew "Harlequin" (Andy for short)
Comedy of
Errors. One uncle; one aunt.
Rosalind Elizabeth Harlequin" (assuming TK is a girl)
The name
Rosalind appears in no less than three of Shakespeare's plays. Elizabeth
covers one great-grandmother, one aunt and one cousin.
*Records Management Software Testing, Implementation & Conversion
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