Rocky Pufflenuggets

Man, it's been a week!

Once again, I had a meeting with two workers, two consultants, and three managers. What is happening to this place? And as you'd expect, the majority of the time was spent not talking about the issues, but rather what the goals were.

I knew what one manager thought the should be, and after talking to another for 5 minutes, it was very clear that his thoughts were the exact opposite. One wants the two of us to get the vendor's software and play with it to make sure that it'll do what we need. The other wants us to get the software, have it running alongside the existing application we have and then be able to compare and contrast what's in the new vendor's product versus the old.

I can see the value in both, but they really do need to get together and make one decision: Who in this place is in charge of this thing?

There's no reason for all the managers. None. There's always going to be one that wins, anyway, there's an implicit pecking order, and while it may appear that they are equals as managers, they really aren't. So just fess up and and let the alpha manager take over. That's it.

The one that wanted the parallel system also wanted us to look into conversion strategies and testing verification schemes and all that. The one that just wanted a stamp of approval will want his people to figure all that out.

Interestingly, which is fine with me, the latter is the one that's going to win.

So rather than really do anything, we're simply going to get the software and play with it for a while and verify that it can do what we need. Then it's done, and the next phase will be a massive Project Plan with assignments, etc. and all the conversion docs and strategies, etc. Whatever. It's a paycheck.

I wish that hypno-therapist hadn't died in Office Space, I'd set up an appointment with him. Just ignore the management... this is just a paycheck...

At work there are several applications - some I deal with a lot, some a little, and some not at all. About a year ago, one of the not so nice developers here was 'let go' and one of the apps he was working on got handed to me because it needed a new data feed socketed into it, and I'm the guy that built the new feed adapter to replace the old. So that's how I got 'ownership' of this one app. It happens.

So now I find that there's an effort afoot to rewrite the app. Good news to me. I've said from the start that it's more than a decade old with untold number of hacks on hacks to get it to where it is. A clean rewrite with today's machines in mind, and today's visualization tools is in order. Good choice.

Another developer was tasked with the re-write - and good for him. I think it's a great opportunity to give this new guy something that's manageable, do-able, and good for the business. It'll be a good thing for him to work on and refine over the coming months. Good choice.

Here where it gets a little odd - to me.

For all the time they are spending talking to others about how to show the data, how to update the data, etc. the one person they haven't spent 5 minutes with is the current maintainer of the code - me. That's very odd, in my book. Were I the one doing the port, or re-write however you look at it, I'd want to know at least a little something about how the data feed is socketed in - if nothing else. But there's probably a lot more I would want to try and pull out of the current maintainer, if I had the chance.

But not these guys. Which, I have to say, includes the management.

I look at this one of two ways: they either think I have nothing of value to add, or they don't want to bother me and think that they can pick up anything I've learned easily. I'm not very happy about the first, and the second isn't much better.

If the current maintainer is a valuable developer, as they say I am, then why on earth wouldn't you spend at least 5 minutes talking to him? I can't figure that out save one of these two possibilities?

In one case, they are saying I'm valuable, but acting as if I'm not. And in the other case, they are thinking that all I've done for this app in the year I've had it is easily seen by the code - which after looking at the code, I can say that's a stretch and a half.

So I'm coming to the opinion that this is nothing more than a slap in the face. No respect for the maintainer - not even 5 minutes. They talked for an hour and a half with another developer about including this table applet in the final product. But not 5 minutes for everything I might know? Yeah, I'm coming away that this is one more Dilbert moment where I'm talking to Dogbert saying how this is a slap in the face... and then he slaps me again - for comic effect.

Wish I were laughing.

Work is getting downright depressing these days. There's not a lot that hasn't been said in a thousand Dilbert comics, but it's another thing to have it happen to you. And it's not like it's an isolated incident or two... or fifty. It's a long train of abuses and acts of stupidity (forgive me Thomas J.) that have convinced me that the cycle for this phase work is in is not short-lived. It's going to be close to a year to see this particular lunacy through. During that time, it's going to be important to lower my expectations of work appropriately.

There will be no sense of corporate justice. The last good person we had in management has been moved aside, unfortunately, and without him I have very little hope that those remaining will do anything more than cover their behinds.

There will be no good flow of communication. There's a serious of political moves going on, and in that climate knowledge is dangerous - loose lips sink plans, as it were. And you never know who's listening.

There will be no sense of the Team - it's every man for himself. This is happening more and more these days because of the 'trickle down' effect of the political maneuvering and jockeying. It makes it hard to even find a friend in the shared foxhole.

I'm not used to working in places like this for an extended period of time. In the past, I've simply moved when I was really convinced that this was a long-term state of the workplace. I still enjoy the work, but I'm at this place 12 hours a day and that's too long to be depressed and wishing work simply didn't exist.

But it's a paycheck. I have to say I'm a little disappointed at myself here. I believe that if I had a little more courage I'd leave and let them know why. In doing that they may see "Hey, this is serious, we need to do something" and things might change for those left. But I"m not that courageous. I could walk out of here and into another place just like it and get paid less - what would that have gotten me? Nothing.

So I'm trying to lower my expectations so that I can stand to work here in the "bad season". If I can stand it, it'll be nice(er) on the other side. But I tell you, it's close... this place is bad. Really bad.

In the last week, I've had to deal with a major change of a reporting system and it's not been all that easy. Thankfully, I've gotten all my stuff working and I've mentioned in a previous post that there are others in the group that have not had it as easily and have made their problems my problems because of their weak skills.

Well, today was yet another amazing realizations that it takes almost nothing to be considered a 'decent' developer - if these guys are employed in this industry. And I'm almost ashamed to say I work at the same place they do.

Today it was simple - they said the interface I wrote wasn't working. I knew it was, but I listened to their problem. I asked them to pull up this monitoring site where they could watch their logins be accepted. Why they didn't think of this, I don't know... they knew of it's existence, and I guess they just thought that they shouldn't have to, or something like that.

So when they looked at this and ran the test app, it was clear that it was getting connected. So, the issue wasn't why it was broken it was why was their request failing. To that, I answered "Timing".

In the new release of this reporting system, there is an unfortunate problem that the instant the login is accepted, it's not really ready to accept requests. You have to wait a bit - or listen for a call-back, in order to know when it's ready.

They weren't, and so they were issuing the request immediately after the login was successful. This request was getting dropped, and therefore not handled, and then the test program was exiting. They assumed my stuff was broken when they really hadn't done any real debugging of the problem on their own.

Where do these guys come from? It's like they read Teach Yourself Java in 21 minutes and then called themselves 'developers'. Oh, I'm sure it might not be that bad, but what did they expect? What happened to the simple skill of debugging? Trying to figure out what's going on inside the Black Box.

It's a lost art, I'm afraid. I fear that with the advent of all the IDEs, the new developers are simply single-stepping their way through code and that's only going to find the logic errors - not the threading and timing errors. It's amazing that they don't even really try.

I could teach my Mom to be this kind of developer... we ought to expect more.

I know I'll never change, I'm too old to really change my personality - short of some life-altering event, but somedays I'd really like to be able to tell a few folks what I'm thinking as opposed to just sitting and staying quiet.

Case in point: Work has changed to the point that I'm really pretty unhappy now. There are several reasons - Death March project... horrible morale... and then the thing that's bugging me the most right now: unrealistic (almost to the point of insanity) management. Allow me to explain.

If you ask someone to build a bookshelf and give them the tools and things they need, that's a job. You have the direction... the tools... the materials... away you go. But what if I asked you to build a bookshelf but told you that you had no tools. Now it gets a little interesting.

Maybe you can borrow the tools from someone, but you're at their schedule then. Maybe you can get help putting them together, but again, you have to ask nicely, and maybe they can help, and maybe they can't. Now let's say in addition to no tools, they say "Don't build it like this... build it like that." where one manager says this and another says that.

It's right out of Office Space again. One manager says "Keep track of these machines. They are your responsibility." Another says "Hey, we need machines here" and orders them. I am forced to realize that I can't make both happy - if I sit back and let the one order the machines, then the first will get angry that I wasn't keeping track of things. If I don't - well... that's impossible, isn't it? My manager ordered them - what right or authority do I have to countermand that order? Zippo. None.

So the machines sit there for a year or two and then the first manager asks what's up and I tell him. He then tells me to keep track of these things, like he told me before. I explain that I didn't order them and had no power to reverse the second manager's decision.

"Oh... yes, I see... well I'm not trying to place blame, but you need to keep track of these machines."

Well, Mr. Dufus... I can't do that, can I? You tell me how I'm going to reverse a manager's decision and I'll gladly do it. But where I come from, that's impossible. After all, he's higher on the org chart and all that. And if you're not placing blame, then why the lecture on what I should be doing? Seems we need to take an elementary logic class and see what logically consistent means.

So where am I the patsy? In that I'm too timid to say this to them directly. I should. They deserve it, but again, they are "the bosses" and I'm the "developer". I think "Hey... just let them vent, take the paycheck and walk away laughing about the silliness of it all" But that's hard to do when you're getting a "stern talking to" about something that's within your power to change.

The ultimate choice is mine - stay or leave. And if I leave they'll soon see what it's like to be without me, and I'll see what it's like to be without them. I have a feeling that there's a lot of this going around - more or less. This is stupid... dumb... dumb... dumb... but it's not really something you quit over. At least not on it's own. But I tell you, I'm getting really fed up with this crap, and someday soon I'm liable to say what I feel even if it costs me a bit. There's just so much insanity I can take without saying something.

We're in the midst of a big conversion from one reporting system to another, and this weekend is the big cut-over for all our stuff, so it's a bit stressful at work, but not too bad - if you've planned ahead. Well, I work with a guy, let's call him 'Joe', and Joe isn't happy that things aren't working out they way he wanted them to.

He's got to work out how to authenticate his stuff with the new system, and he's not having an easy time of it. Sure, it's not really all that hard, and it's not trivial, but if you stop and read what the reporting system group put out, it's easy enough - just a few details.

Well, Joe asked me what the password is for his app. I told him, and since he couldn't get it to work, he came back to my desk and asked me what the real password was. I told him it was what I had originally told him, and proceeded to plug that into my app and show him that it worked just fine.

He goes away and then later comes back and accuses me of doing something tricky.

Yeah, like thinking, you nimrod.

Anyway, he and another guy try to get his stuff working for about 3 hours, and then I finally overhear that they got it working and someone else asked him what it was.

"Uh... we had the wrong server for authentication."

Yeah... my fault. I felt like walking over and saying "I accept your apology" - even though they didn't offer one. It's the point that blaming someone for your mistakes is bad... and then not apologizing for it afterward is just plain bad manners.

But hey... that's the kind of guys I work with.

OK, it's a a stretch, but this morning there was a memo sent out (email, thank goodness) addressing the changes around this place. What it was meant to address is the complete lack of any hope and happiness in this place - it's like a place where they put you to die - hospitals are a more fun place to be than this place recently.

Anyway, the problem stems from a lot of us looking at what's going on, and wondering "Who's at the wheel of this truck?" If there's a sense that there's no one at the wheel then the troops can get a little nervous. It's been like this for months... decisions explained with all the reasons only to see all the reasons later nullified and still we press on. Why? If there's a new set of motivations, then let's here about them. It also does not help to hear management people badmouthing the choices... Hey, if they aren't behind it then who is?

So we're supposed to get this memo about what's going on, and all it says is that there are a few org chart changes, and a slight shifting of responsibilities. Nothing on point about the miserable morale here... nothing about the practice of running people into the ground.

It's like stories of the game industry where they burn people out working them 20 hrs/day and then fire them after the product ships. It's getting to the point where I can see a lot of people leaving - just for a little sense of stability.

Crazy times... and to not address them with even a silly "Go Team!" motivational memo, or a bag of cookies for the Team, seems like a gigantic opportunity wasted. Then again, maybe their plan is to turn this place into the Pit of Despair, and if that's it, they are right on track. Wonder if I'll get to run the "suck your life away" machine like The Princess Bride?

Hey, I'm as human as the next guy... I want to be appreciated for my contributions, and certainly stand up and take my lickings when I've done something that was wrong. I think that's the honorable thing to do, and I do my best to speak up about my mistakes because I really try not to make the same ones again. You know... learn from you mistakes and all.

But there's been something going around work that I find really annoying. It might not be as bad as it is if work were a fun place to be - or at least if I was really liking the work I was doing. But work is at an all-time low, and the morale and sense of optimism has left the building a few weeks ago, and there's no feeling that it's going to be returning any time soon.

We're trying to integrate this crappy enterprise risk system, and by 'crappy' I mean that it's really circling the bowl and I wish I had a plunger. It's horrible. We've dumped tens of millions of dollars down this sinkhole, and it's not expected to replace one of the 'many' systems it was targeted to replace. It's junk.

I'd say the name, but I know they'd come after me - legally. We're in a non-disclosure agreement about any of the terms/conditions/facts of the integration. We can't say 'boo' about it or they march in the lawyers. Not surprising for a Big Company, but from where a lot of us are sitting, it's yet one more humiliation heaped on top of all the others.

Just admit that it's not perfect, and that it's not going to do all the things they said it would do. It won't replace all these systems. In fact, it's not going to replace even one. Admit it. Then we can schedule time to finish the integration at a reasonable pace. But now they're acting like it's a mere hour or two away from working and doing all these wonderful things, and it's burning all of us out.

Not one person in the halls is happy. It's like we're in some prison. Or worse. (I can't say much about prisons as I've never been in one, but you get the idea.)

This is turning out to be the worst three months of the last decade of my professional life. There's just no end to it. There's no happiness in the other people - we're all doing the same thing, so you can't even enjoy someone else's work - it's all the same crap. No, this is like nothing I've ever experienced.

And then there's the management issues.

Holy Cow! They must be drinking something in their Kool-Aid, I gotta believe... I can't imagine why on earth they'd be in such total denial about this. But that's not the end of it. A few months ago - when the changes started to get really bad, I got "re-orged" and while I'm technically in the same place, there's no one with my responsibilities at the same level in the org chart as I am. Not even close.

So I'm not doing anything different than I was months ago, but I've got a new 'manager' that doesn't have a bloody clue about what I do on a day to day basis, and has no interest in monitoring my work, or being involved with anything I'm doing. I've just got another boss... just like Office Space.

Someone else to get reports to... someone else to get approvals from... someone else to ask for my cell phone number - as if he'd even know what to call me for. It's insulting. It's Office Space, and I hate it.

I know... I know... office politics. It's something we all go through. But it doesn't mean we like it, or that we think it's a 'good thing'. It's stupid. It's counter-productive, and it's draining the life out of me.

I think I want to get a new job - as much as I've liked this one for the years I've been here, I can't take a lot more of this. And unfortunately, I'm not alone. A ton of folks are in the same boat... there's nothing good about this place now. And that's probably the saddest thing of all.

I've been dealing with a Vendor at work for the last several months and the more I deal with them the more I am amazed that they are in business. Not just in business - these dingleberries have managed to get a multi-million dollar contract for their incredibly lousy software. I mean we'd be better off without it. It's almost like a virus... no, a virus is successful... this is more like an albatross around our necks. It's crazy.

Anyway... the latest is that they are shipping this software component for linux and solaris and it's got basic start/stop scripts - pretty routine stuff. The problem is in the start and stop scripts. I suppose it's in their code as well, but I'll give them a pass on that because they wrote the start and stop scripts to keep the software out of a 'bad' state.

Here's what's happening: you start this component and for some reason it gets to thinking that it's stopped and so it tries to restart itself. The problem is that it hasn't really stopped. It's still running. Given that it's listening on a socket, when it 'restarts' it sees that it can't get the socket and not only fails on the restart, it takes the running instance with it as well.

This last little bit can be avoided easily enough by making the app see if anything is listening on the socket before trying to set up the listener, but that's something that not everyone would think to do, and it's a little more than I'd expect from most vendors. But the script thinking that the app died when it hasn't is a serious lame brain duh.

I went into the script, spent about 15 mins clearing out a bunch of the junk and putting in a simple restart sequence that I've used in a lot of linux services I've built and started that puppy up. Previously, I couldn't get the component to stay up for 8 hours, and now we're well past three times that.

Their basic components are decent - not worth the money, but they aren't horrible, either. But the scripts are crap. And let's not even get into the tech support that's half way around the globe. After three days and countless explanations of the problem from me to them, the best their tech support could say was You must have started two - stop them all and start just one and the problem will go away.

Now, if I was a junior dufus just completing the How to Program in 24 Minutes book, then I'd see that it might be good advice. But since my first email pointed out that I had done just that, this was not the most helpful of advice. Then, they had their guru that's in town have a look at it, and he took the changes I made to the script and said "Well... I don't really know the linux scripts, but the guys back in Greater Gufendorf will have a look."

Yeah right. I've got stability and as long as I'm forced to use this garbage, at least I can make it decent enough to use. Holy Cow! What a bunch of goobers.

OK, it's not often I look at people and wonder what they have been drinking, but I just had a talk with someone I looked upon as having both feet on the ground, and I realized that the combination of denial, rationalization, and schedules are a deadly combination and my company is standing to loose a boatload of dough because of it.

If a system technically works, but takes every person on staff to support it - is it really working? Some would say "Certainly." - after all, it is working. But if there are other things to do and the staff can't get to them because of the constant attention required to keep even the simplest of things running, then you've got something running, but it's the only thing that is. Maybe that's a 'success' in someone's book, but in mine it's a disaster.

But I've come to realize that the people here looking at the schedules aren't really looking at the cost. They're only looking to cover their behinds and make sure that "their part" is done on-time - regardless of the cost. I guess if that's what you've got to do, then do it. But it seems like more than a little bit of a waste to do that. How are you going to look at yourself in the mirror when someone eventually asks (and they always eventually ask) So could no one see that this was headed towards an untenable position?

"Um..." is a bad answer to that question. If you could have seen, you should have seen. And said something. But that's not how things are working in my company now. Those who have tried to say something are given the lines "Hey, we all had a chance to say something, but that time has passed, and now we're stuck with it." Horse Poo! I wasn't given a chance to say anything, for if I had, I'd have said something.

No... it's "I had the chance to say something, and now we're stuck with it." That's a lot closer to the truth. But even that's not right on the money. This is a colossal waste of time and people and while it may "work", it'll never "work well enough" to justify the cost in dollars and time.

You've just got to wonder why on earth they are continuing to forge ahead and waste even more time and money. I guess they are still in the Emperor's New Clothes bit... they think we just don't see the fancy new threads, and it'll look great when we get this last little bit in place. Yup... a dangerous trifecta.