We were writing a Unix program to parse transactions from some specialized terminals that read customer invoices and the checks that accompanied them, writing the transactions to digital tape to carry over to the mainframe system. During testing our tapes were compared to tapes generated by the legacy IBM system. Our team lead got a call from the customer liaison *early* on morning saying "Do you realize one of your batches was 5 MILLION DOLLARS SHORT - yes, she was shouting. Turns out that the $5 million transaction was the largest we'd ever tested with so far. All others were less than $999,999.
It was my bug - I'd put the sign nybl (half a byte) on top of the most-significant digit of the packed-decimal payment-amount field on the test tape, dropping that digit from the field. Trivial fix - I had just been auditing the relevant code the previous day.
Something that I did as a manager was to have an HR person that everyone
trusted be the recipient of anonymous evaluations. Can't remember who made
up the questionnaire - I think that I and the HR person collaborated. Then HR
summarized the results and I had some good info.
I think that every manager's review process should include such a subordinate
evaluation. You may be able to "manage up" and keep a good reputation with
your bosses, but it's hard IMO to fool your subordinates.
This (potentially) builds on your relationship with Bob and has the potential to improve both it and the storage system.
AND, it may be that you've picked up subliminal signs that Bob is unhappy and may leave, so BACK IT UP first.
Then do the above, and you're covered. Unless you already have a regular, tested, backup process. Oh, Bob runs
it?... Trouble.
He's a rollicking adventure writer and can be very funny as well. All his works to date
are on fsand.com as e-books. Here's an excerpt from "AI Wars - the Big Boost" Trent
the protagonist speaking to his boss, Melissa:
Trent: Listen,” he said in a confidential voice, “you tell the Elite Commander everything is
under control, and he’s not to worry.”
Melissa: “ ‘Everything’s under control, and he’s not to worry.’ ”
Trent: “Exactly. We like the hardware, and the hardware likes us. We have mutual respect
and admiration.”
Melissa: She stared at him. “You have mutual respect and admiration. With the hardware.
And this has trimmed seventy-seven days off your completion estimates.”
Trent: "And the new people, of course."
Get the omnibus edition to have all of them.
No, I didn't get paid for this endorsement.
I've heard several speakers on this topic recently, including
Dr. Michael Osterholm of Univ. of Minn., and it's just a matter
of time before avian flu, specifically H5N1, comes to your town
(and everybody's). Several city administrations that I'm familiar
with (including Plymouth and Minneapolis, MN, and Alameda, CA)
are making specific preparations, mainly around "how do we operate
the city when 30-40% of our staff are out sick themselves or
busy at home caring for their family members". Alameda is preparing
centers to distribute vaccine, once one is available.
We run TWiki here, and we each get a personal homepage. I use that page to remember (the answers to) all those repeated questions that folks ask, favorite reference URLS, etc. Then I've set my browser's "home" button to that page. Now my personal database is only one click away.
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We were writing a Unix program to parse transactions from some specialized terminals that read customer invoices and the checks that accompanied them, writing the transactions to digital tape to carry over to the mainframe system. During testing our tapes were compared to tapes generated by the legacy IBM system. Our team lead got a call from the customer liaison *early* on morning saying "Do you realize one of your batches was 5 MILLION DOLLARS SHORT - yes, she was shouting. Turns out that the $5 million transaction was the largest we'd ever tested with so far. All others were less than $999,999. It was my bug - I'd put the sign nybl (half a byte) on top of the most-significant digit of the packed-decimal payment-amount field on the test tape, dropping that digit from the field. Trivial fix - I had just been auditing the relevant code the previous day.
Something that I did as a manager was to have an HR person that everyone trusted be the recipient of anonymous evaluations. Can't remember who made up the questionnaire - I think that I and the HR person collaborated. Then HR summarized the results and I had some good info.
I think that every manager's review process should include such a subordinate evaluation. You may be able to "manage up" and keep a good reputation with your bosses, but it's hard IMO to fool your subordinates.
This (potentially) builds on your relationship with Bob and has the potential to improve both it and the storage system. AND, it may be that you've picked up subliminal signs that Bob is unhappy and may leave, so BACK IT UP first. Then do the above, and you're covered. Unless you already have a regular, tested, backup process. Oh, Bob runs it? ... Trouble.
He's a rollicking adventure writer and can be very funny as well. All his works to date are on fsand.com as e-books. Here's an excerpt from "AI Wars - the Big Boost" Trent the protagonist speaking to his boss, Melissa:
Trent: Listen,” he said in a confidential voice, “you tell the Elite Commander everything is under control, and he’s not to worry.”
Melissa: “ ‘Everything’s under control, and he’s not to worry.’ ”
Trent: “Exactly. We like the hardware, and the hardware likes us. We have mutual respect and admiration.”
Melissa: She stared at him. “You have mutual respect and admiration. With the hardware.
And this has trimmed seventy-seven days off your completion estimates.”
Trent: "And the new people, of course."
Get the omnibus edition to have all of them.
No, I didn't get paid for this endorsement.
The picture in the original article is incorrect. Here's an accurate drawing of an Iridium satellite. I speak from first-hand knowledge, having seen one in a lab at Lockheed in Sunnyvale, CA. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=17e53224-a6f9-458b-8e74-7b4943acbede Great tech, IMO!
Actually, there is a very similar home treatment recommended here: http://www.fluwikie.com/uploads/Consequences/NewGu ideOct7b.pdf
It's called Oral Rehydration Therapy, and I'm getting together
the ingredients this week.
t rol/maskguidance.htm
l m-were-screwed.html
Another preparation that's recommended is that you have a surgical face mask to avoid breathing in the virus, and to avoid spreading it if you're infected but not showing symtoms. Here's a reference: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/infectioncon
I've heard several speakers on this topic recently, including Dr. Michael Osterholm of Univ. of Minn., and it's just a matter of time before avian flu, specifically H5N1, comes to your town (and everybody's). Several city administrations that I'm familiar with (including Plymouth and Minneapolis, MN, and Alameda, CA) are making specific preparations, mainly around "how do we operate the city when 30-40% of our staff are out sick themselves or busy at home caring for their family members". Alameda is preparing centers to distribute vaccine, once one is available.
Here's an interview with Dr. Osterholm: http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/2005/06/osterho
I'd like a copy of the .wav file, please.
We run TWiki here, and we each get a personal homepage. I use that page to remember (the answers to) all those repeated questions that folks ask, favorite reference URLS, etc. Then I've set my browser's "home" button to that page. Now my personal database is only one click away.