Wednesday, November 28, 2007

inemuri - Are you getting enough?

At last! The excuse I've been looking for, and one that Joe should have heared about long ago to explain his extended naps at the keyboard!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7114661.stm

I think I'll try it out now...

...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The Art of Feedback

One day, an IT Manager from another company saw the Help Desk Samurai at a coffee shop. Approaching the Samurai, the manager inquired of him."I have just finished giving my yearly performance reviews to my staff. Yet instead of being grateful for my feedback, they are resentful and grumble against me. They say that I do not care about their development, and they feel blindsided by some of the things I said about their performance. What should I do?"The Samurai looked at the manager, but said nothing.Wanting a response from the Samurai, the manager continued to talk. "I spent weeks putting together those performance reviews from notes I had written throughout the year. Why don't they appreciate the work I did on their behalf?The Samurai still said nothing, but pulled out his Blackberry and began to type.After a minute, he looked up at the manager and said "Come back to me in December, and we will discuss this further."The manager was crestfallen. "But I hoped for your direction today. Is there a reason I need to wait until December?""Of course there is." the Samurai replied, "and it's an excellent reason." He held out his Blackberry. "But don't worry, I am already taking notes about you. I will look over them right before we meet again."Upon hearing this, the manager was enlightened.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Welcome to the Dark Side

Well, I have just been transferred to the Dark Side and have achieved enlightenment. I now see the Light Side for what it really is - a bunch of no-hope cowboys who should be sent to India sooner than you can say "Single from Bradford to Bangalore, please." Already I have been asked to bypass the change control system and monkey around in the live system. Considering the implications of dismissal for a nonosecond, I replied, "Raise an emergency change like everyone else!"

Mrs. M. is back from ginger-procreation leave. A welcome addition of sanity to the floor.

I popped up to the top floor to see how the Wippets were doing: they are a sea of blackness, with a tall, 6' blonde german lady as an island in the middle! Yes, Frau Blücher is back! I had a chat with her this morning, which was quite enlightening... Our implementation of CRAP is the worst she's ever seen, being an international CRAP AG consultant. And now we're offshoring our IT to Bradford (!), she thinks the lack of knowledge transfer will be catastrophic for future support - especially in the "change" "space."

Oh, and after a briefing with Twat Can't-Waistcoat, it seems that we're now in the same "space" and he's "supporting" "me" "every" "step" "of" "the" "way."

That's all for now.

Enjoy MI5.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Day One

Well, it's day one after the sad and unnecessary departure of my old friend, Sian.
Not much has happened in the meantime. No change there.
Borat is back in his desk behind me, so I'm seriously considering jumping into Sian's coffin while it's still warm.
Bob Hoskins is still bumtroubling, so things are desperately quiet.