08.19.00
Posted in General
at 12 pm
Aug 19 Sat (12 PM)
It seems like changes in my life make for my most prolific entries here. And the latest one is a doozie.
One year and 8 months ago, a person (X) hired me to work with him at this new company that was part of his cousin’s other company. For the first year or so, we formed the core of this company. He brought work in and I did the work. A few others played roles in this, however, it always seemed to me that these two roles formed the basis of the organization.
As the company grew we both took on more responsibility, as the owner kept his hands off of the new baby and let X run the company pretty much as he saw fit.
Last November/December I think X lost confidence in my work. The situation leading to this was the responsibility of a lot of people, but the largest rift came between X and myself. (At least from my perspective.) At that point, X’s loss in confidence in myself extended to the entire development crew. More and more of his work was outsourced to ‘professionals’. These moves threw me back on my heels and made me angry. X began to lean ever more heavily on another person in the company (Y).
By late May of this year, X and Y were the only people bringing in work as the other sales reps had either moved on or been refocused on the more established side of the company. Over the following months the number of projects coming in fell further and further, until in one month, July, only one project came in of any decent size.
Faced with time on my hands and an edict from the owner to setup the Development group to be the best it could, I began developing a handbook, a set of documents that detailed the steps that needed to be taken in order to have a successful project. The workbook was based off notes I’ve compiled over the past 5 years of interactive development. Over the course of three months, these notes were distilled, focused and formatted into what is today a usable, if half-completed, workbook that lays down the entire process from initial sales call to the post-launch marketing and wrap up.
I had it approved by the owner and other interested parties and took it the sales staff. The new sales guy (Z) felt it was exactly what the company and he needed. Y had concerns about details but was happy to see it as well.
However X was nonplussed. He continued to use his old inefficient methods, methods that kept the client and the company management in the dark about the progress of jobs, mostly because of the outsourcing issue. His accountability was reaching all time lows and the company was in trouble. His projects became drains on the company to the point where clients were calling the owner directly seeking satisfaction.
Over the last few weeks after some difficult confrontations, heated discussions, poorly timed vacations and non-work actions (like my classes at PSU), X had been lobbying heavily for my removal. From every whisper I’d heard, X felt that the company’s problems were directly related to my lack of skills and my inflexibility. This was never stated to me directly by X. My salary was ‘simply chewing up the profits that the company could be generating.’ I had little hope in defending myself. A phrase kept finding itself in my thoughts: “Blood is thicker than water.”
The owner began asking people around the shop about this. What value was I adding? Was I doing real work? Was I just producing a lot of heat and smoke?
After far too long of no communication between me and the owner, I asked if we could talk. I’m not one to toot my horn, but after some prodding and some thought about what I needed addressed, I finally had this talk. Over the course of three hours I fully laid out the workbook, the processes, showed the sign-offs and approvals that I had gotten, stated precisely my position in relation with each member of the company and told the owner where my value fit into the overall company structure.
The owner began to see the other side of the coin. I believe it was about this time that the questions X had been lobbing in my direction began to be asked about him.
Sales were gone. X and Y had been focusing on what they termed ‘business development’ which included taking potential clients from the other side of the continent rock climbing on company hours. After demotions, salary cuts and a multitude of warnings, X showed no signs of stepping up to take full on the responsibility of his position. In fact, he eventually gave the owner an ultimatum.
It did not go well, and in fact, the threat behind it was largely non-existent. X was no longer an employee of the company.
On one hand, I’m relieved. The political and social tension that this rift was causing in the company and in me was ripping things apart. I began looking up old co-workers, establishing contacts that I felt would be necessary once A) the company was dissolved or B) I was let go. Now that’s unnecessary. My organization and methodology can continue to blossom and grow. The work that I’ve put into the workbook will be tried and tested in the exact circumstances it was developed for. The pressure has been lifted and I can feel a lot of stress draining away. My cold sore, a constant companion in the last two high stress weeks, has even begun to recover.
On the other hand I’m torn. X and myself had a very good thing in 1999. It was a time where we were about to take over the world and we knew how to do it because we could rely on each other. I know that today I am able to rely on the incredibly strong group that is there. As one said, “It’s your chance to shine.” I’m happy to have that confidence back. But it different.
X and I were never close friends. But I do mourn loss of the comradery that came from those first few months of the birth of this company. I know where I will be looking for it. I feel sorry for X. I hope he can find his way as well.
Funny, I’m trying to think of a song lyric that would close this entry, yet nothing seems to fit the sentiment of that last statement in a business context.
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08.15.00
Posted in General
at 11 am
Aug 15 Tue (11 AM)
Take a look at: <http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2000/aug/15bod.html> and answer the following question:
How much smaller can a Mac get? 🙂
Can having a biotech company CEO on your board of directors bring an interest in Biotech to Apple? I can only imagine the great possibilities and great problems that this could bring.
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08.14.00
Posted in General
at 2 pm
Aug 14 Mon (02 PM)
I just gave my class an assignment. Create the American Flag in a table that is liquid enough to fill the browser. It should use cell backgrounds, cell colors and a nested table.
I love this example…
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08.13.00
Posted in General
at 11 am
Aug 13 Sun (11 AM)
From the catching up on old stuff department, Amy and I watched Casablanca last night. It was a Kozmo rental that’s due back today or tomorrow, I forget which. It really is amazing to see just how many cultural references refer to this film: ‘I think this is the begining of a beautiful friendship’, ‘Here’s looking at you, kid’, ‘Play it Sam’ (often referred to as ‘Play it again, Sam’), ‘The problems of three people don’t amount to a hill of beans’.
And on and on. I was really disapointed by the VHS release which has a 45 minute tribute to the film, which gives away major plot points which could have just as easily been placed at the back of the tape, and hinted at at the top of the video. After the first 20 mintues, I fast forwarded through it and got on with the film. Then I went back and watched the tribute. A much better sequence.
—
Yesterday was transportation day as I picked up the following at Fred Meyer: A steering wheel cover, a bicycle pump and a pair of shoelaces. Oh yes, I am a man on the move.
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I’m going through a box of old Macworlds circa late 93, through 96. It’s interesting to read articles on QuickDraw GX, Taligent and ‘The Information Superhighway’ which had just become coined by Gore. However my favorite by far, and which I’ve clipped out to save, in a November 1994 column by Guy Kawasaki. In 1994, Michael Spindler was the head of Apple, The PowerPC had just been introduced. It’s a flight of fancy, a column that describes impossible events. It’s headline?
Steve Jobs to Return as Apple CEO
“Said Jobs, from the headquaters of Next, ‘At first I dismissed the idea whent the Apple board contacted me. However, because I’m now a father, I needed a steadier income source.'”
Nice shot, Guy…
<http://www.garage.com/background.shtml#execs>
<http://www.google.com/search?q=guy+kawasaki>
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08.08.00
Posted in General
at 12 pm
This may seem really strange, but Scott Adams’ book ‘The Dilbert Future” is mildly funny, and overly self-depreciating humor, that in the last chapter turns very strange.
If you ever see this book in the bookstore, grab it and read just the last chapter. While the rest of the book is just funny musings and exerpts from his Dilbert comic strip, the final chapter takes a right turn and heads right outside of this universe.
<http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/books/html/future.html>
I’m not a huge fan of Dilbert, though I do think it’s pretty good, but the gem of this book is that last chapter.
For those of you who have read it, I’ll share this little story. One of the things that Adams talks about is the potential effects our thoughts can have on the world around us.
This intersection at 20th and Hawthorne is sslllooowwwww. The traffic on Hawthorne gets much much higher priority over the traffic on the other three streets that meet there. I travel on 20th, the slowest of the lights.
Sceptically thinking about Adams’ final chapter of the book, I sat at the light. “Well,” I thought to myself, “if there was any credibility to the book, I ought to be able to and have the traffic light change to let me through.”
I looked up, and the light was green. I laughed as I drove off.
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08.04.00
Posted in Tech, Transport
at 9 pm
It’s finally happened. I have a new VW Karmann Ghia. Well, new in the sense that I got it on Monday. In reality it’s a ’73 Covertible. It’s a convertible. Did I mention that it’s a convertible?
Silly little sound system in order to keep people from wanting to rip through the cloth top, a motor that sounds like only a Volkswagen can sound, and an aura that makes people compliment it as they walk past it.
I’m extatic. I smile each time I walk out of a long day at work see what I get to drive home in.
<http://www.insurgentcountry.com/cake_prolonging_the_magic.txt>
‘But under my hood is internal combustion power…’
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Posted in General
at 2 pm
Making billions apparently depends on smoking lots of crack. <http://www.redherring.com/mag/issue82/mag-gates-82-home.html> How else do you explain some of these comments?
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07.31.00
Posted in General
at 8 pm
Jul 31 Mon (02 PM)
Viva La Ghia!
More info (+ pictures) soon… 🙂
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07.30.00
Posted in General
at 12 pm
Jul 30 Sun (07 PM)
No such luck. There’s quite a bit of upheavel at work over the past week. Sales have been really slipping over the past couple of months. I’m not sure if it’s a lack of focus, leadership, or skills in the sales dept. It’s really a combination of all three, in each of our sales people.
My department is great. We’ve been kicking out each of the very small jobs we’ve had in in record time, even with having been short two people, one on vacation and one laid-off. I’ve been writing up tons of documentation and stream-lining our department’s methods and workflow. It’s tight as a drum but… What good is a development department without projects to develop.
It’s all incredibly frustrating, and that’s becoming evident to everyone in the shop. And here at home.
The stress of this whole situation is really starting to wear on me. My cold sores are my first red flags. I’ve had them non-stop for three weeks now. I’ve been going through Sucrets so fast that I’ve had to find new uses for the plastic boxes they come in. So far: containers for misc. screws and bolts, and a container for paperclips. <http://www.korlin.com/folio/09sucre.htm>
My second level stress warning is this unnatural pain that I get on my shoulders, chest and upper arms, where my skin just feels like it’s on fire. The only thing I can do is lay my entire body weight on that side, on the floor and wait for it to disapait. It came on last week on Thursday as I was on my way home. I had just sat through an incredibly tense meeting with the sales staff and management. As I was walking to the car, it hit me like a gun shot and stuck with me all the way home. By the time I had gone the 20 blocks home, I was nearly in tears and seriously nausious. Amy helped me calm down and relax, which was the first thing I needed to do.
Coming home most days, my brain feels like mush and it takes all weekend to get it cleared out. Then it’s back to the grind again on Monday. I only hope that the decisions that they’re finally making at work will come to fruition. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.
Hell, I’m not sure how long Amy can keep this up.
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07.21.00
Posted in General
at 10 am
Jul 21 Fri (10 AM)
It’s been a rough few weeks. Things have been prety hard at work, and we’re still getting settled in from the move. Amy’s been putting a lot of work into etting the kitchen setled in, and now I can set up the boxes for the recycling and such. Now it’s time to get the Bathroom organized, then we can tackle the small bedroom/office/personal room/whathaveyou that has our old bed (that we’ll be taking to Goodwill), a desk, the cat’s chair (it’s an old chair that we’ve sacrificed to their claws), plus lots of other stuff. I’d like to setup my older Macs in there and have some room to play around with some networking ideas that I’ve got. I know amy would like to have a room that she can call her own as well. So we’ll work out something.
Then we can turn our attention to the closets. Oops, I forgot that we’ve still got some stuff in storage that we can get out, now that we’ve got more room. That’ll take $50 off of our monthly expenses.
—
Apple’s news about the Dual Processor G4s and the G4 Cube was pretty good. I’ve caught bits and pieces of the keynote on Quicktime, and it woulds like it was a good presentation. It’s cool to see the new stuff, but i think Apple’s dropped the ball on the mouse still. Optical’s nice, but the scrollwheel and the extra buttons are good stuff that has been rejected by Apple, to their detriment. However, maybe they’re just trying to open the market to third-party mice.
I would like to get one of the new keyboards to use at work. The USB->ADB converter has been pretty flaky, so I figure the getting an actual Apple Full size USB keyboard might be just the ticket. But I want to have a hands-on first. I’ll be checking out at one of the local retailers before I make up my mind.
Amy and I have been looking for something to replace her 6400, which is surprisingly slow. I think there are some serious bottlenecks with the processor and the hard drive access. That G4 Cube is looking very very cool. I think, though it’s not got any room to upgrade the internals, we sould be able to do just fine with the USB and Firewire ports. We’ve got a SCSI Zip Drive and Scanner that would be out of the loop, though one of those SCSI -> FireWire adapters might handle them.
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I’ve finaly got back on track organizing my to-do list and getting things wrapped up. I’ve got my notes collected into a single pile and soon I’ll have my filing system set up in the new apartment so I can keep things clean and such. Lack of organization is a serious bad thing for me. I’ve noticed that the more disorganized things are, the more stressed out I get. I think I’ve got a focus problem. If there are too many things for me to focus on, I get overwhelmed on a subconcious level. Claning things up usually means organized stacks of chaos, and once I’ve gotten that far I can tackle things easier.
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