Re: The Drama of Being a Developer IV - Quality is something else altogether

in reply to The Drama of Being a Developer IV - Quality is something else altogether

When I worked at Motorola (back when a 300M drive took two men to carry and was the size of a beer fridge), I was the Design Engineer for a couple of data communications products called statistical multiplexers. That meant I was the Engineering guy in charge of the paper work. What I typically did at least once a week was go for a walk around the plant.

That meant I'd wander over to Shipping/Receving where the parts came in the door and the finished product went back out, the Stock Room, Manufacturing, Purchasing, the Heat Room (units were burned in for 72 hours at 40C, about 105F), Final Test and Field Service. Along the way I'd chat with people about how things were going. That would give me a heads-up on issues before they become Full-Blown Crises.

If you're not in a Manufacturing setup and it's just you and 1,499 other cubicle dwellers, you can still do the same thing .. drop in on your boss's colleagues and chat, maybe come across a VP in the hallway. You gotta stay plugged in to what's happening. Get plugged in to the gossip network, not so much as a contributor but certainly as a subscriber. An organization is composed of many personalities, and each personalty has its own set of criteria and priorities.

Hopefully that doesn't sound too Zen for you. :) Let us know how it turns out.

--t. alex
but my friends call me T.

Comment on Re: The Drama of Being a Developer IV - Quality is something else altogether

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Re:(2) The Drama of Being a Developer IV - Quality is something else altogether by cacharbe (Curate) on Oct 01, 2002 at 14:39 UTC
It's funny. I've had lunch with the two people that put me in this position (my boss and the Quality Manager) a number of times since their meeting, and not once was this part of the project discussed. Not in passing, not even a good-humored "Had enough yet?" My boss told me, what would probably be 2 or 3 days after their big meeting, that my biggest priority was the portal now that the project was moving forward (see parts 2 and 3 for more details), and that everything else was secondary. When I approached him about that statement, and asked him how he could, in retrospect, knowing I had that deadline, have made that comment, he shrugged and commented that he didn't know that it was going to be so much work. Of course, I didn't know that it was going to be ANY work. He also said that he thought it strange that I hadn't commented on that particular piece of the project at that time either, but chalked it up to me being a team player. WTF?!? Since when have I been known as a team player, especially when it comes down to me being someones b#!@%? I have to laugh at the situation, otherwise, cf. my "Freeing Organs up to Donors lists" comment in the CB. C-. --- Flex the Geek	[reply]

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Re:(2) The Drama of Being a Developer IV - Quality is something else altogether
by cacharbe (Curate) on Oct 01, 2002 at 14:39 UTC

My boss told me, what would probably be 2 or 3 days after their big meeting, that my biggest priority was the portal now that the project was moving forward (see parts 2 and 3 for more details), and that everything else was secondary. When I approached him about that statement, and asked him how he could, in retrospect, knowing I had that deadline, have made that comment, he shrugged and commented that he didn't know that it was going to be so much work.

Of course, I didn't know that it was going to be ANY work. He also said that he thought it strange that I hadn't commented on that particular piece of the project at that time either, but chalked it up to me being a team player.

WTF?!?

Since when have I been known as a team player, especially when it comes down to me being someones b#!@%?

I have to laugh at the situation, otherwise, cf. my "Freeing Organs up to Donors lists" comment in the CB.

C-.

---
Flex the Geek

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