The usual problem is bosses who either don't want you to follow a process, or they don't want to have to bother with the work that they would have to do.
How many times have you been told to forget updating the documentation or specs (or worse, "what documentation?"), or you're told to "just make it work"?
Or you've sat in a meeting during a review of the current project, and it's just a waste of time because it's like management is just filling up their buzzword bingo card by spouting various processes that could be used to improve things - and you should implement them and then tell them how (or if) they work. (as long as THEY don't need to be part of it beyond reading a half-page summary every once in a while)
Often, these are the same guys who will demand a 120-page report on the current state of the project "and it needs to be in my inbox in 48 hours" - and then "tl;dr" it.
In many cases, their reluctance to follow process is because it would show that they don't have the understanding to make a meaningful contribution to the process. If they don't tell you what to do, it's not their fault when the horse pucky gets into the HVAC. They'll blame you for not following their ad-hoc "management process."
Like the boss who dumps 3 different emergencies on you at the same time, and then gets all snarky because you didn't fill in the detailed spreadsheet of what you did every 10 minutes... because now he can't use it to figure out how to fill in his time sheet of what he did all day, because he never keeps track of his time - just works it out backwards from yours.
Most developers would be more appreciative of processes if they weren't used as a weapon by the same management who refuses to adhere to sane processes themselves. For them, it's just CYA all the way down...
"stamp out trolls" will never happen, because one persons troll or flamebait is another persons insightful.
It's one reason that moderators are encouraged to browse at -1, to help balance out the people who abuse mod points by suppressing opinions contrary to their beliefs, whether it's evolution vs creationism, or same-sex marriage, or vim vs emacs.
About the only thing people can agree on is that someone really ought to shoot the hairy alien nesting on Donald Trump's head. And that if they aimed 6 inches lower, the average IQ of TV viewers would go up several points..
Right now, we're just unable to train, because the guys weâ(TM)ve hired are out billing'â said David Marceau, vice president of Ridgefield One, a Connecticut staffing company that specializes in IT. Ridgefield employs three full-time IT professionals and has another half-dozen IT consultants out working. 'As long as they're out billing, I'll keep them out. If we ever get them back, I'll try to line up work as soon as possible,' he said.
I don't believe it, if only because actions speak louder than words. If they're not out billing, they're redundant.
If he really believed in the value of training in staying competitive. he'd be hiring more developers to give everyone a chance to stay current and his business competitive.
And for those who would rather learn on their own, at least some time to pursue pet projects or do some research that might pay off at a later date, or at least enhance people's skills...
But no - it's "bid too low just to get the job, then work the coders insane hours and blame them if it goes pear-shaped."
I may have missed something, but are you saying manmade climate change isn't happening?
Considering that they can't even decide whether 'manmade climate change' would cause drier winters or wetter winters, I think the answer is an obvious yes.
Or maybe it's both. Adding energy to a system (turning up the heat) tends to make for wider excursions around the "norm". Some areas may have drier winters, others wetter winters.
The only problem is that there's only one way to find out - and we're all test subjects.
But by all means do NOT mention morality. Management is trained to be suspicious of such things, and you'll be on the shit list.
That part got my attention. May I ask what you mean when you say that they are trained to be suspicious of such things? Is this actually a component of formal training such as business classes or leadership seminars? Or is it more of a situation where it's unfortunate that lots of people who are actually up to no good have been known to such excuses to cover up their wrongdoing and managers just learn this by experience?
Judging from the banking and wall street crisis, it's probably darwinian... or for those who wish to use the alternative, maybe we could say "Intelligent Design?"
The stereotype is to portray all business-people as immoral money-grubbers. Like any stereotype, it has some truth in it, but many business-people are just like anyone else, trying to get by, make a living, do okay by their family, their employees, their customers, and sleep more-or-less soundly at night. In some industries, in some economic climates, and in some geographic locations, this isn't realistically possible. Over-selling internet bandwidth is one of them - everyone does it, so you either do it also, or you die.
For public access TV, at least in North America, the cable company gives you a 5 to 30 minute block of time and YOU decide how you want to present your stuff. No ads.
they usually end up putting in code that modifies parts of the filesystem or registry
There's the problem - developing on Windows. *nix developers usually have more of a clue as to what can go wrong, and set up their own testbeds - but they also know enough to make live changes when there simply is no other choice, or, alternatively, to know that they don't understand the system enough to "get away with it."
Most developers are just too lazy (at least on the Windows environment) to code it that way.
Exactly, but its not their fault - they're just following Microsoft's "best practices" over the years. ("best practices" - another term for "we made this up as we go along").
television is not a forum. A forum is interactive, whereas television is a provider of information and adverts, with no immediate feedback. You are just a consumer of television.
Public Access TV channels, live call-in shows, etc.
I was taught the same thing, but I now think its wrong.
Pardon the pun, but it (dropping the comma) just doesn't "add up"
"a, b and c" seems almost like "a, (b and c)" - 2 items, like in your "ham and cheese" example...
whereas...
"a, b, and c" is obviously "a, b, c" - three items.
Its sort of like the problem with a date like "07-10-2006". Is it today, July 10th, or is it October 7th? Sometime the only way to tell is to try to find a date that has a day greater than 12 in it and work it backwards. Much easier to write 2006-07-10, but if someone abbreviates the year, we're back to the same problem, but worse. Is 06-07-10 July 10th, 2006, June 7th, 2010, or what?
I don't have room in the kitchen for a computer. I don't even have room for all my appliances as is..
convection oven
fridge
microwave
toaster oven
coffee maker
kettle
can opener
toaster
hand mixer
stand mixer
sandwich machine
waffle maker
deep fryer
rice and vegetable steamer
sherbert maker
crock pot
slicer
popcorn maker
... and I'm sure I left some out...
... never mind all my pots, frying pans, pizza stones, and other cookware. There's over 20 baking pans, for all sorts of stuff - muffins, cakes, breads, cookies, baked chicken, etc...
I don't need a computer in the kitchen - I need more kitchen in the kitchen:-)
Bacteria might be resistant to antibiotics, but soap still kills them fine. All soap makes a great "anti-biotic", even the ones that don't say so. So if you still want to keep eating dirt, just wash your mouth out with soap - which would be a good idea in any case.
After all, otherwise you're going to be talking dirty all the time:-)
Now why anyone would want to eat dirt is beyond me. Is that what dirt farmers grow?
You could argue that cooking is prior art unless you come up with a unique way to do it like the George Foreman USB iGrill:
I bought one of these gadgets a year ago and wouldn't be without it. It's really revolutionized cooking.
Gee, I thought all you geeks cooked using the heat sinks from your computers.
I think I'll stick to my old-fashioned cookware, thanks. A PC does not belong in my kitchen. ("I'm sorry that this last batch of cookies didn't turn out so well. My oven has a virus...")
That may actually be possible "if" the US patent reform bill is passed. In the name of reducing the number of lawsuits it grants the rights to first-to-patent rather than to any actual inventor, so it seems that anything not already on the books will be patentable.
Cooking, the wheel, your favorite sex position...
That's just patently insane (okay, bad pun) But now that I think of it, I could patent:
cooking, so the patent nuts can starve to death,
the wheel, so that they learn that what goes around comes around
my favourite sex position(s), so their only option will be to "go ***k themselves"
It would also keep them from reproducing, removing people with obviously genetically inferior brain cell from the gene pool.
You know, this could end up being a "Good Thing":-)
Yes, something like that.:-)...except I don't remember the part about geek's breaking women.
Well, you did say this:
# if we don't understand it
# then it is a challenge until it is broken and then it is a challenge to fix it
That's okay - almost all men are "fixer-uppers" by nature - the problem is, they are too busy playing with their latest gadgets to notice the really important things that need attending to until the "we have to talk" stage, at which point its pretty much beyond "fixing." Men don't understand that you can't "fix" a relationship - it grows or dies depending on how you tend to it.
So if I understand you correctly, "normal" men think women are "broken", because they don't understand us, and "geek" men want the challenge of breaking and fixing us. Ouch:-)
No wonder there are so few good men out there - they would have to be "abnormal". Oh well, one of these days...
Slashdot Mirror
The usual problem is bosses who either don't want you to follow a process, or they don't want to have to bother with the work that they would have to do.
How many times have you been told to forget updating the documentation or specs (or worse, "what documentation?"), or you're told to "just make it work"?
Or you've sat in a meeting during a review of the current project, and it's just a waste of time because it's like management is just filling up their buzzword bingo card by spouting various processes that could be used to improve things - and you should implement them and then tell them how (or if) they work. (as long as THEY don't need to be part of it beyond reading a half-page summary every once in a while)
Often, these are the same guys who will demand a 120-page report on the current state of the project "and it needs to be in my inbox in 48 hours" - and then "tl;dr" it.
In many cases, their reluctance to follow process is because it would show that they don't have the understanding to make a meaningful contribution to the process. If they don't tell you what to do, it's not their fault when the horse pucky gets into the HVAC. They'll blame you for not following their ad-hoc "management process."
Like the boss who dumps 3 different emergencies on you at the same time, and then gets all snarky because you didn't fill in the detailed spreadsheet of what you did every 10 minutes ... because now he can't use it to figure out how to fill in his time sheet of what he did all day, because he never keeps track of his time - just works it out backwards from yours.
Most developers would be more appreciative of processes if they weren't used as a weapon by the same management who refuses to adhere to sane processes themselves. For them, it's just CYA all the way down ...
Texas A&M University
http://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=canada
What the heck, now we can blame Canada for stupid stories about 1970s tech making the front page.
Ballmer: "Can you hear me now?"
Microsoftie linux tester: "Yes, Master."
Ballmer: "Keep working. Skype ain't done until Linux won't run!"
Or they could just not bother updating the Linux client at all, and it will fall by the wayside.
... a process known as fracking
Quick - blame it on the fracking Cylons!
"stamp out trolls" will never happen, because one persons troll or flamebait is another persons insightful.
It's one reason that moderators are encouraged to browse at -1, to help balance out the people who abuse mod points by suppressing opinions contrary to their beliefs, whether it's evolution vs creationism, or same-sex marriage, or vim vs emacs.
About the only thing people can agree on is that someone really ought to shoot the hairy alien nesting on Donald Trump's head. And that if they aimed 6 inches lower, the average IQ of TV viewers would go up several points..
I don't believe it, if only because actions speak louder than words. If they're not out billing, they're redundant.
If he really believed in the value of training in staying competitive. he'd be hiring more developers to give everyone a chance to stay current and his business competitive.
And for those who would rather learn on their own, at least some time to pursue pet projects or do some research that might pay off at a later date, or at least enhance people's skills ...
But no - it's "bid too low just to get the job, then work the coders insane hours and blame them if it goes pear-shaped."
Or maybe it's both. Adding energy to a system (turning up the heat) tends to make for wider excursions around the "norm". Some areas may have drier winters, others wetter winters.
The only problem is that there's only one way to find out - and we're all test subjects.
Judging from the banking and wall street crisis, it's probably darwinian ... or for those who wish to use the alternative, maybe we could say "Intelligent Design?"
The stereotype is to portray all business-people as immoral money-grubbers. Like any stereotype, it has some truth in it, but many business-people are just like anyone else, trying to get by, make a living, do okay by their family, their employees, their customers, and sleep more-or-less soundly at night. In some industries, in some economic climates, and in some geographic locations, this isn't realistically possible. Over-selling internet bandwidth is one of them - everyone does it, so you either do it also, or you die.
Or the article could be titled Men Take Math/Science Careers To Avoid The Work Of Having Families
And now that most families are two-income, so much for your theory ...
For public access TV, at least in North America, the cable company gives you a 5 to 30 minute block of time and YOU decide how you want to present your stuff. No ads.
There's the problem - developing on Windows. *nix developers usually have more of a clue as to what can go wrong, and set up their own testbeds - but they also know enough to make live changes when there simply is no other choice, or, alternatively, to know that they don't understand the system enough to "get away with it."
Exactly, but its not their fault - they're just following Microsoft's "best practices" over the years. ("best practices" - another term for "we made this up as we go along").
A Ph.D. and he couldn't spell? No wonder he washes bottles :-)
You pir8te stuff (QA Software Tester - "I'm just testing it ...") (Localisation Support Specialist - "I'll convert this movie from PAL to NTSC")
Public Access TV channels, live call-in shows, etc.
Sounds like some TV *IS* a forum.
No, they should have called it "MySpace", same as "My Computer" - Bill Gates wants you to think he owns the net, same as he owns your computer.
Of course, when was the last time Microsoft "innovated"?
I was taught the same thing, but I now think its wrong.
Pardon the pun, but it (dropping the comma) just doesn't "add up"
"a, b and c" seems almost like "a, (b and c)" - 2 items, like in your "ham and cheese" example ...
whereas ...
"a, b, and c" is obviously "a, b, c" - three items.
Its sort of like the problem with a date like "07-10-2006". Is it today, July 10th, or is it October 7th? Sometime the only way to tell is to try to find a date that has a day greater than 12 in it and work it backwards. Much easier to write 2006-07-10, but if someone abbreviates the year, we're back to the same problem, but worse. Is 06-07-10 July 10th, 2006, June 7th, 2010, or what?
You'd have to be an Einstein to figure it out :-)
Why not just look at "George Lucas in Love"?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5058529870 025933880
8 minutes and 44 seconds - its the last few seconds that you want to look at.
At least now there's one LESS remote for you guys to hog!
I don't have room in the kitchen for a computer. I don't even have room for all my appliances as is ..
I don't need a computer in the kitchen - I need more kitchen in the kitchen :-)
Bacteria might be resistant to antibiotics, but soap still kills them fine. All soap makes a great "anti-biotic", even the ones that don't say so. So if you still want to keep eating dirt, just wash your mouth out with soap - which would be a good idea in any case.
After all, otherwise you're going to be talking dirty all the time :-)
Now why anyone would want to eat dirt is beyond me. Is that what dirt farmers grow?
Gee, I thought all you geeks cooked using the heat sinks from your computers.
I think I'll stick to my old-fashioned cookware, thanks. A PC does not belong in my kitchen. ("I'm sorry that this last batch of cookies didn't turn out so well. My oven has a virus ...")
It would also keep them from reproducing, removing people with obviously genetically inferior brain cell from the gene pool.
You know, this could end up being a "Good Thing" :-)
I'm going to patent cooking! And all the idiots who want to have crazy patent wars can just starve to death!
Well, you did say this:
That's okay - almost all men are "fixer-uppers" by nature - the problem is, they are too busy playing with their latest gadgets to notice the really important things that need attending to until the "we have to talk" stage, at which point its pretty much beyond "fixing." Men don't understand that you can't "fix" a relationship - it grows or dies depending on how you tend to it.
Such is life ...
So if I understand you correctly, "normal" men think women are "broken", because they don't understand us, and "geek" men want the challenge of breaking and fixing us. Ouch :-)
No wonder there are so few good men out there - they would have to be "abnormal". Oh well, one of these days ...