The Spider.
He could no longer tell if he was being drawn to the light, or if the light was being drawn to him.
Archives by Date.
June 29, 2006
June 24, 2006
discarded.
I had trouble waking up, that day. The sleep wouldn't fall from my eyes. Driving in to work, I had to remind myself to watch the road, and the coffee I'd made was not helping. It started to rain as I pulled into my normal parking spot, and the dull grey of everything was overwhelming.
June 23, 2006
apply what you've learned!
After reading How NOT to Lead Geeks by Alexander Kjerulf, it dawned on me exactly how right he is. It's a post that's stuck with me in a really solid way, and I hope to be able to apply what it says, not just as an employee, but as a leader. Kaizen, right? Constantly improving.
I don't aim to make this a kvetch session, or a bitch-blog. My last rant stemmed from a frustration most members of the IT department I'm in are having, and I've seen it happen throughout the technical world. The bottom line is that IT people as a whole are expected to support everything thrown at them, but get little to no support, themselves. I'm not talking about technical support - we've got that covered - but I'm talking about the things that make an organization a joy to work for.
Things like managerial back-up, where the lines of communication are clean and open. That way, when an order comes from on high, everyone knows and understands why that order was made. Even if everyone doesn't agree with it, at least the reason is there. It's not uncommon for my colleagues and I to hear the phrase "that's the way it is," or "that's what the University decided." We've never been clear on who, exactly, was involved in deciding for the University. I doubt we ever will be.
Also, things like a clear model of how processes work. While we've been working diligently over the past two years at clarifying every process we're involved with, it's a daunting and time-consuming job; a job that could easily be a position unto itself. However, we can't get enough staff to properly support the campus. We've lost 9 people in the past nine months, at least five of whom were techs. In a staff as small as ours each person gone is an impact felt by many. When you add to it that two guys were all of our server-side support for several major services (Citrix, and VPN to name only the two biggest ones). And, to top it off, the only other technically adept Apple person. Things got hairy, quick.
But, management sees the crew jumping ship and expects the ship to keep on, right as rain. In fact, instead of picking up more techs, the answer is to hire two more managers! Nothing's going to get done when there's nobody left to manage.
Ok, yeah. I'm doing it again. While this trend is becoming less common in the corporate world, it's becoming more common in academia! In a conversation with a colleague just yesterday, he brought up that the theme in Colleges and Universities world-wide is that the school is a business, and the students are clients. I heard this as a student several times, and there's nothing more disheartening. Because that means that the professors are salesmen, and education is a product. Thanks, guys.
Yeah, I've passed Alexander's article up the food chain. I'd love to see it cause a couple waves. And I think anyone who is in a situation similar to this one should do the same.
We're moving in the wrong direction, and I think that a controlled exit off the side of the boat might be safer than staying on this crazy roller-coaster.
June 21, 2006
usability? bah!
Imagine yourself in an organization. Actually, you're employed by this organization. And the organization is a Univeristy. You know, where learning happens, and ideas are exchanged. Yeah, you got it.
Now, you are responsible for the technology used by the faculty and staff of the University. That's you job. Dig? I thought you might. It's pretty cool. You primarily work on Apple stuff, focusing on Apple users, and occasionally work on some of the PCs, too. It's just how you roll, and you're pretty good at it. You've been the only technically-adept member of the Apple support team for the past several months, and have by default been put in what's an unofficial leadership role. You've got some support, but the support you have is primarily versed in older versions of Apple OSs, and newer versions of Microsoft OSs, so while they rock, and I mean rock, there's a lot that goes over their heads. And that falls to you.
You really like this position, 'cause you feel like you're doing something that makes the experience for Apple users on the campus better. You work hard to make sure that the growing Apple user-base is well supported, and feels like there's forward motion. While you've been there, they've advanced from being the red-headed step-child to Daddy's favorites, the PC users. And they're thrilled.
But, now you've hit a wall. You're expected to make the experience better for the users, and you're expected to provide support, but as one person there's only so much you can do. There's only so many application suites you can fit into your head. There's only so much time you can spend on this stuff before it litterally leaks out of your brain. And you've been asked to build a registry. Initially, it seems like a daunting task. Recording who uses what Mac, where the office is, when the computer will be up for trade-up. Yeah, sounds like a friggin' blast.
Then, a good idea actually trickles down the managerial tree: Harness Apple user's natural tendency to form communities, and use it to your advantage!! Yes! Brilliant. Suddenly, you're a stream of ideas! You're thinking that message-boards tied to Active Directory authentication, tied to user-profiles which are user-maintained, and which contain the info you need in the registry. That way, the users can interact with each other! Someone's having a problem moving from Quark to InDesign? Cool! Check the message board! Create a thread. Other Apple users will look, offer advice, and you can learn from it all!
Then the boss comes in. No, he says, that's not what he wants. You're doing too much. Just the registry. They can call each other if they have a problem. But you know they won't. They'll call you.
See? That's your problem. You want to build in too much functionality. Why waste effort on a user-experience? Why encourage real community. The users need us more than we need them, afterall. Why try to make things better? This is just a job.
June 19, 2006
sixth-grade dreams
cellophane and markers and latex paints. also, girls, rockets and racecars. it's funny how little things change.
sometimes we'd all skip class and sneak out through the boiler room
we knew it was wrong. that's what made it so much fun. or we'd sneak in right after school and make out. our parents used to go under the bleachers, but this was better. dirtier. our innocence didn't make it 'till 20. we didn't even give it a chance.
note: this is the photo from which the banner was made.
st. elsewhere
I know the entire blog-o-drome is talking about it, but if you have ears, you should be listening to St. Elsewhere by Gnarles Barkley. The product of a collaboration between Dangermouse and Cee-lo Green, the album has more twists and turns than Mullholland Drive (I was referecing the road, but the David Lynch movie will work, too). Lyrically, some songs are better than others, but when you're looking at weak points like "The Boogie Monster," you know that the highlights are gonna be amazing.
Dangermouse is more on target on this album than he was on his collab with Danger Doom, more varied than when he's working with the Gorillaz, and more refined than the Grey Album. My vote, right now, is with these guys for hip-hop album of the year. It's just hard to pigeonhole them into "hip-hop" when the album really takes it to a new level.