June 3, 2010
Dear Everyone:
Work continues on my
Computer Based Training (CBT)
for the
document management system.
Recording the voiceover using "the box" has become so popular
that there is actually competition for time to use the box.
I will have the whole place to myself tomorrow, so I am hoping to
get a lot of recording completed.
In other news...
I do have other projects and customers.
One project is decommissioning a very expensive
accounting system. After the
third of three Decision Review Board (DRB) meetings, we are finally in
Phase 5. (We had to meet
with each of the DRB members separately because they were never
available at the same time.)
Phase 5 is the final Phase of the project.
It contains such concepts as “Look Back” and “Lessons Learned”.
With 20/20 hindsight, can we see where we got off course and how
and/or why? Can we learn
anything from that which we could apply to any future projects?
It also contains the concept of "Evergreen".
Most projects are about creating some software
solution to a customer's problem.
Once the project is completed, the solution becomes "evergreen"
and part of the "run organization", meaning it is just one more
application that is supported by the organization.
This is sometimes referred to as “tossing it over the wall”,
assuming someone is on the other side to catch it.
However, this project is about shutting something
down and maintaining an archive of the old information for 25 years.
In electronic format.
25 years. Let's think about
this for a moment. 25 years
ago was 1985. Hands!
How many people were using
Personal Computers then?
Not me. I had access
to the company Mainframe, but that was it.
Two years later, I had a PC on my desk, but the only thing I
could use it for was to simulate a "dumb terminal" to the mainframe.
Then I started being able to use some applications,
Word Perfect
and Lotus 1-2-3, but I stored everything on 3-1/2-inch
floppy disks.
Technology has changed radically in the last 25
years and can only be expected to accelerate in the next
quarter-century. So there is
little wonder when you look at the "Evergreen" section on the project
website and it reads, "There are no tools available at this time."
Zip. Nada.
We are making it up as we go along.
And we are not the only ones.
I have heard of several other projects (I am on call for one of
them) that are in the same boat, so to speak.
Except we are all in different boats, all paddling in various
directions, wondering which way is the Right Way.
At least someone is asking the question.
There are rumors of a new project to tackle this whole
How-Do-We-Archive-Electronically-Stored-Information?
I keep bringing the subject up, but I cannot tell
if I am preaching to the choir or a voice crying in the wilderness.
In the meantime, even though we had a torrential
downpour last Thursday, last weekend I officially put away the
winter-weight down comforter and replaced it with the summer-weight one.
Everyone can officially stop praying for rain and lots of snow in
the mountains. Until
September.
Love, as always,
Pete
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