October 12, 2012
Dear Everyone:
We had our “Test ID” meeting last Monday.
My little “matrix” never saw the light of day as “Ludmilla” and
others blithely decided to eliminate most of the IDs, regardless of
which tests they are used in.
In fact, they decided to “wipe out” one whole set of “Service
Requester” IDs because “anyone” can request a Service.
True enough. Except
that there are no designated “anyone” IDs to use.
So now I’m using a “Project Manager” to request a
move for various “people”.
And that’s how we found out that the “Project Manager” must have a
“Primary Location” (something “they” never needed to run a “project”
before) in order for the software to make the obligatory
“notifications”.
In the meantime, in a classic
The-Inmates-Are-Running-The-Asylum maneuver, the developers changed the
parameters on all the remaining Test IDs.
Bottom line: On
Wednesday morning, I discovered that the test I was “running” at the end
of the day Tuesday had “gone away”.
So I started over…and ran into a number of roadblocks thrown up
by the aforementioned “Inmates”.
It took a mere 24 hours for me to get “back” to
where I started by Thursday morning.
Par for the course, as it were.
On the Plus Side, once all the roadblocks were moved out of the
way, a second run-through took less than an hour.
One hopeful note:
I was able to “slip in” a “suggestion” at the “Test ID” meeting
to set up “Ad Hoc” IDs for the developers to use when they needed one,
instead of hijacking the “Test IDs”.
The (real) Project Manager pounced on the idea and, when last
seen, the developers were happily setting up “Ad Hoc Users” every which
way.
On the downside, something “wonky” happened to
“Work Tasks” associated with “Move Projects”.
Evidently, someone decided it would be a good idea for the system
to “automatically” assign as many as 10 “Work Tasks” to any given Move
Project.
Things like “Pickup boxes and crates”; “Deliver
boxes and crates”; “Move furniture”; Repaint walls”.
And, just in case, “Generic Task 1” and “Generic Task 2”.
Then the “Move Coordinator” can pick and choose which Tasks to
use and add more Tasks if he/she feels the need.
Seriously.
I’ve been through any number of “managed moves”.
The movers show up.
They grab anything and everything with a colored label stuck to it.
Even half-filled waste baskets.
The one thing you really
want them to move is the one thing that the colored label won’t
stick to. So you tape it on.
With lots and lots of tape.
The one thing I’ve learned, through painful
experience, is you never, ever let them “move” your computer equipment.
It’s not the movers, per se.
It’s really the “Information Technology” (IT) people who come in
after the movers and “set up” the computer.
They have their own way of doing things and they
“know” better than you how your desk should be arranged.
For instance, if you have a “tower” computer, it should be set up
on the right side of the desk because everyone is right-handed, right?
And if you have a laptop, it should be shoved as far back “out of
the way” as possible, right?
Only not everyone is actually right-handed.
And not everyone has arms as long as an
orangutan to reach the
laptop, which won’t work unless you stick your “Smart Badge” into the
tiny slot in the side. So
your best bet is to let the movers do the moving and keep the IT people
as far away as possible.
In the meantime, the system has decided that it
only likes “completed” Tasks and what should you do with “Generic Task
1” if you don’t want/need it?
The only person who really understands it all is on the
“9/80”
work schedule and is therefore not in the office today.
So that question will have to wait until Monday, when she gets
back.
In the meantime, I’ll play around with Move
Requests and Tasks and see what happens.
(What happens if I click here?
Global Thermonuclear War!
Oops.)
Love, as always,
Pete
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