Reply to: People behind me calling themselves ‘The A Team’

[Sysman]

Think they've been taking this a bit too seriously:

You called?

[threaded]

There were a couple of girls at a London college who had had the football team and the rugby team, and were setting their sights on the cricket team.

Yeah, that's the movie.

[TheFaQQer]

Oh dear. I’ve seen lots of puerile, macho madness in the IT business in my time, but this takes the biscuit. The gang of admins behind me are now calling themselves ‘The A Team’ and have just announced that they can solve any problem for anyone anytime, and they 'don't even need a black guy with a van’.

Think they've been taking this a bit too seriously:

[TheFaQQer]

Nobody ever names their software "Bag of old toss". Funny old thing, gives plenty of scope for morons (oxy or otherwise)

I worked in the BAD team one one project. It was awful.

[Sysman]

And what do you think of a hooker having a rugby team?

There were a couple of girls at a London college who had had the football team and the rugby team, and were setting their sights on the cricket team.

[threaded]

And what do you think of a hooker having a rugby team?

Do you want the title so you can Google it, or the URL so you can just click?

[doodab]

I think it's stupid that Rugby teams have a Hooker

And what do you think of a hooker having a rugby team?

[Drewster]

A law unto himself by the sound of it! I got on well with him, but I wasn't working directly on the systems.

On a personal level I had no problems with him.... but "professionally" he was a PITA.....

He "objected" to what we were doing.... and cos he had been there longer than forever he moaned to the senior guys and got their backing.... particularly unofficially....
We arranged a meeting to identify his "issues"......
We addressed/resolved the "issues".....
He came out with more....
We arranged a meeting to identify his "issues"......
We addressed/resolved the "issues".....
He came out with more....
We arranged a meeting to identify his "issues"......
We addressed/resolved the "issues".....
He came out with more....
Credit where credit is due - he was persistent!!
and the main problems weren't him "defending his patch" it was the fact that the Management "supported" us in public but undermined us in private and none of them had the balls to tell him to JFDI..........

Hey Ho..... Still paid the bills for a while!

[Doggy Styles]

Mr Lally hated me/us - because as OPAL Guru he was also Adabas/Natural Guru and had outrageous access (Admin level in Prod)

A law unto himself by the sound of it! I got on well with him, but I wasn't working directly on the systems.

I forgot about Holborn, I worked there too, in HSS as it was then, putting together a Natural/Adabas/TableBase guide for the rest of the developers. What about Martin Willis, who was profoundly deaf but still a good PM?

Sorry, I'm going off topic.

[Sysman]

Mr. T may be the most well known for his jewelry and accessories. He was always seem with a large number of gold necklaces on as well as rings, bracelets, etc. Few of us know that this style originated during his days as a bouncer. He would work at the club outside the door controlling who was allowed into the club and who wasn't. When patrons would leave jewelry at the club or take it off before a fight, or lose it in the fight, they were blacklisted from the club. Mr. T would stand outside wearing the discarded jewelry, so that if the owner happened to return, there was no need for him to reenter the club to claim his lost jewelry. Most often those who lost their jewelry there never returned for it, so he ended up with a lot of gold chains.

Source: Mr T Costume Guide - Become Mister T in a Few Easy Steps

[Scrag Meister]

No comment on the topic, but this thread made me laugh.

[Drewster]

Oh yes, the great Tom Lally. The company's OPAL Guru who somehow remained a contractor.

Mr Lally hated me/us - because as OPAL Guru he was also Adabas/Natural Guru and had outrageous access (Admin level in Prod) and we were implementing ENDEVOR and (automated) controlled promotion.... which (obviously) didn't require anyone (even the great Tom Lally) to have Godlike authority even in Dev........
Do you think he recognised this as good practice?
Do you think he welcomed it with open arms?

Fraid the names don't ring any bells.....
What about Malc ??? and Roy Young - Printing/CSF guys.... I remember them from "another large insurance type" company (that used to have a HQ just over/down the road from this one - in Holborn)

[BoredBloke]

Lock them all in the stationary cubboard and see if they can fashion a drawing pin firing tank out of post its and pens from the many varied contents. Obviously that wouldn't happen here as stationary is as rare as rocking horse poo!

I aint gettin in no cupboar sukka ggrrr

[DiscoStu]

One large Insurance type company had a major system called OPAL - some bastardised acronym like Online Pensions And Life allegedly.

the nightly batch run on the system was called FRUIT........ I don't think anyone was sad enough to have invented a dodgy acronym - they just liked it!

Anyone from there who remembers me

My favourite ever application name was a new reservation system Travel Inn introduced about 10 years ago, it was called BART:

Big Awesome Reservation Thingy

[Doggy Styles]

I was in Euston...... plus many visits to Reading.......

<Drewster scratches head.......Thinks of some names....>
Tom Lally??
errrrr........
Oh Tulip.... the brains are going soft........
errrrr........

Oh yes, the great Tom Lally. The company's OPAL Guru who somehow remained a contractor.

I was in Euston too, then Reading on the WOOFY project.

I remember loads of people, any of these ring a bell? At Euston I worked with Jill Hill, Steve Davis and Fergus McLaughlin. And a bloke called Terry Mason who made me laugh a lot, but sadly died not long after I left. At Reading Des Foster was my PM. He was an amusing bloke too.