October 18, 1996
Dear Everyone:
Took another stab at
working at home this week.
We weren’t getting anywhere with identifying and cataloging data
elements for the Information Inventory Management Project (IIMP) trying
to work on it at the office.
Don’t you just hate when that happens?
We have four
separate software systems, all maintaining an inventory of information
about different things. One
manages the library. Another
manages the forms and supplies.
Still another manages the Records Centers.
And the last manages legal requirements and considerations
regarding records retention.
And our Manager
thinks we should have one humongous software system to Manage
Everything. Guess who’s the
Team Leader on that one. My
Team and I (the Team consists of two other people, plus anyone else we
want to rope in as a “consultant”) decided the first step was to
identify what the different systems have in common and what’s unique
about each one. Hence the “data
elements”.
A data element is
simply any field in any screen and what does it do, and can you search
on it, report on it, sort by it, or do anything at all with it.
We decided to start with
Versatile,
since that’s the one I’m most familiar with and
somebody has to get the ball rolling on this.
Once we had all the data elements
in Versatile identified, we
could start looking at the other systems and find similar elements in
them.
Trouble is, there
are over 1000 elements (fields) in
Versatile alone and there just was never any time to work on it
during the day. Too many
interruptions. So I finally
decided to lug all the documentation on
Versatile home and work there.
Spend the whole day on it and get it done once and for all.
Well, sort of.
Actually, it took more than one day; it took the better part of
two. But Step One is
completed.
As for working at
home, it has some definite advantages.
The commute is a
breeze. Roll out of bed and
you’re there. As for the
dress code, “casual” doesn’t begin to cover it.
More like “optional”.
And there’s all the time you save by not fussing with hair and make up
and deciding what to wear (see above).
I figure I save
three hours a day by working at home.
A person could get used to something like that.
On the down side:
Doing the same thing
all day long can get pretty boring.
If you have a question and need to pop into say, Spectrum (forms
and supplies), you can’t do that the way you can at work.
And, most importantly,
there’s no one to talk to!
Cutting down on interruptions is one thing, but this is
ridiculous. I had to resort
to turning the TV on to
A&E just to
have some noise in the background.
Shades of when I painted my condo last April.
Also, your average dining room chair isn’t ergonomically designed
for working at a computer.
After two days, I’m
glad to be back in the office.
However, next year, when we’re all fully settled in at the
“Livermore” office, I’m going to have to take a hard look at possibly
trading the condo for a place closer to work.
Two of those hours are devoted to commuting.
In other news...
Saw
Extreme
Measures last weekend.
This is one of those medical mysteries similar to what
Robin Cook keeps churning out.
What this one is, is extremely predictable.
You know who the villain is as soon as you see the opening
credits. Why else would an
actor of that stature be in a movie like this?
Hugh Grant plays
an emergency room doctor who, on the basis of a single patient, decides
to track down another man in order to Find Out What’s Going On.
He does a passable job of looking earnest.
That’s it. Consider
this one extremely skip-able.
Love, as always,
Pete
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