test please delete

[WTFH]

The best bit is if you stick around somewhere, watch your advice ignored, then watch when the exact crisis you predicted happen.

I had a client I did some work for who chose option 2, ignoring advice. I was brought in to work on another project and they asked me my opinion on changing to option 1. I got a 3 month extension explaining to them why it was a difficult thing to do and they would be better to fix the problem in their manufacturing plant. They asked me to document the process to make the change. I documented it, every step of the way saying that it was a complex process and I'd prefer not to do it.
Roll forward 3 years and I'm back at the same client working on another project. It went in better than expected and the hypercare period was reduced from 6 months to 1 month.
They said "we have 5 months extra of your time, remember that thing you said shouldn't be done, well we want you to do it"
I got their IT management to sign off full responsibility, accepting my reservations and that they as the client accepted full liability, etc.
After the project finished, they asked me why I was so reticent to do it, given how well it went in the end. I said it went well because they didn't see what had to be done - we SQL updated 170 production tables including historical ledgers that are "never touch these".
I showed them the SQLs and after they picked themselves off the floor, they asked why I was so calm about it because they finally realised how stupid/risky/dangerous it was.

[eek]

I had a client I did some work for who chose option 2, ignoring advice. I was brought in to work on another project and they asked me my opinion on changing to option 1. I got a 3 month extension explaining to them why it was a difficult thing to do and they would be better to fix the problem in their manufacturing plant. They asked me to document the process to make the change. I documented it, every step of the way saying that it was a complex process and I'd prefer not to do it.
Roll forward 3 years and I'm back at the same client working on another project. It went in better than expected and the hypercare period was reduced from 6 months to 1 month.
They said "we have 5 months extra of your time, remember that thing you said shouldn't be done, well we want you to do it"
I got their IT management to sign off full responsibility, accepting my reservations and that they as the client accepted full liability, etc.
After the project finished, they asked me why I was so reticent to do it, given how well it went in the end. I said it went well because they didn't see what had to be done - we SQL updated 170 production tables including historical ledgers that are "never touch these".
I showed them the SQLs and after they picked themselves off the floor, they asked why I was so calm about it because they finally realised how stupid/risky/dangerous it was.

Reminds me of a job 15 years ago where I stayed for 9 months as the only person trusted to bypass JDE's interfaces and update the database directly....

Money for old rope which given the market at the time I wasn't going to turn down...

[MrMarkyMark]

I had a client I did some work for who chose option 2, ignoring advice. I was brought in to work on another project and they asked me my opinion on changing to option 1. I got a 3 month extension explaining to them why it was a difficult thing to do and they would be better to fix the problem in their manufacturing plant. They asked me to document the process to make the change. I documented it, every step of the way saying that it was a complex process and I'd prefer not to do it.
Roll forward 3 years and I'm back at the same client working on another project. It went in better than expected and the hypercare period was reduced from 6 months to 1 month.
They said "we have 5 months extra of your time, remember that thing you said shouldn't be done, well we want you to do it"
I got their IT management to sign off full responsibility, accepting my reservations and that they as the client accepted full liability, etc.
After the project finished, they asked me why I was so reticent to do it, given how well it went in the end. I said it went well because they didn't see what had to be done - we SQL updated 170 production tables including historical ledgers that are "never touch these".
I showed them the SQLs and after they picked themselves off the floor, they asked why I was so calm about it because they finally realised how stupid/risky/dangerous it was.

I'm surprised no one had explained the risk to them before?

Or did you and they totally ignored it?

[WTFH]

I'm surprised no one had explained the risk to them before?

Or did you and they totally ignored it?

I'd explained it so many times (and documented it), they decided I was being a careful contractor who was probably trying to get a few extra days billing from them.

[SueEllen]

Chicken sandwich from M&S, ginger beer and a free banana. Though I'm eating crisps.

[NickFitz]

To the petrol station for lunch, but the main road from ClientCo in that direction was at a standstill, with traffic backed up past here back towards town. So I went the wrong way, townwards, and then doubled back through a residential street that comes out the other side of the bottleneck

So the car has had a drink, and I have M&S sausages and orange juice for lunch

Coming back, the traffic had started to move again, though very slowly. I suspect a van that was by then off the side of the road into a car park and in the early stages of having a tyre changed was the culprit.

[zeitghost]

Getting worried.

Staggered down the hill at lunch time.

Only just about managed to stagger back up again.

I think I'm getting a bit old & knackered.

In other news, another £5 went into a collection for someone retiring.

Just found this about the Xerox PARC:

Contrary to the original plan, PARC computer scientists refused
to cooperate with SDS, the new computer subsidiary to which their
research could be expected to apply.

When Xerox refused the PARC
staff’s requisition for a DEC minicomputer, on the grounds that they
were expected to use an SDS computer, the PARC research staff built
their own superior version of the DEC PDP 11, the reigning academic
computer of the time.

With the mordant humor that characterized PARC’s attitude to most other parts of Xerox, they named their computer
MAXC, after the SDS CEO.

That they achieved this feat in just a few months permanently soured the PARC–SDS relationship.

In other
ways, however, the new lab was incredibly prolific.

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/659052/pdf

(which is mostly about the demise of RCA with a bit tacked on about Xerox).

[FiveTimes]

wholemeal cob with roast chicken and salad and mayo
followed by an apple.

Now having a sprite zero to quench thirst

[Alias]

Getting worried.

Staggered down the hill at lunch time.

Only just about managed to stagger back up again.

I think I'm getting a bit old & knackered.

In other news, another £5 went into a collection for someone retiring.

Just found this about the Xerox PARC:



https://muse.jhu.edu/article/659052/pdf

(which is mostly about the demise of RCA with a bit tacked on about Xerox).

Xerox use to be innovators (they also invented the computer mouse), not so much nowadays...

[zeitghost]

Xerox use to be innovators (they also invented the computer mouse), not so much nowadays...

I'm rather impressed that the s managed to build themselves a better PDP11 when the bean counters wouldn't buy them one.

And so, the time has come to stagger off down the hill again.