v28.3: D-Day

Good morning folks,

-slurp-

No, I didn't invent a time machine and take us back to June 6th.  Today is D-Day for me here at work where the last 6 months of development, bug fixes and testing all come together to form Voltron!  Am I ready?  Mentally I am prepared to get my ass kicked.  The product is mostly ready but I fear by the end of the day it still won't be production.  It has been nice working with you all.

-slurp-

Of course I'm being a "Drama Rale" here.  I doubt my job is in jeopardy though my boss tends to joke around with it.  For example, we had a meeting a couple months back and he started it off with, "Well, it has bee nice working with you.".  The expression on my face was enough to send him into a laughing fit; even better, the look on his face when I shrugged and started to get up.  Ahh the good times.

-slurp-

This project has been going down the wrong road since day 1.  The requirements have been under constant change and I have been pulled in many directions.  I was managing two teams for the first half of the project and for anyone who has worked in an UNIX operations team before, you know that having half a manager just isn't going to cut it.  As a result, my devlelopment team was left to its own devices for a time allowing the project to take a shape I didn't really want.  The end product is beautiful; I just wish I could release the entire thing today to make up for some of the short comings.

-slurp-

Of course I can't put the blame on my team; they were following what little direction I could give them.  I have no project management experience so I wasn't prepared for the job.  Of course my boss knew this and intended to help me along the way but he was caught up in other things as well meaning I was left to manage a project by myself.  It was a rough road and I learned quite a bit.  I think I could do well in this role if I could just get a hold of some basic project management skills and maybe a bit of training.  I am starting to leave the working tech behind and embrasing the "leader" inside me and moving toward that path.  I've had a lot of experience in the past few years and I have many examples of good and bad management styles that I can use to hopefully make myself a good manager.

-slurp-

I haven't had a chance to go through all the answers to the questions from last week.  At a quick glance I would say my Sister won the "contest" but then an old friend of mine (Hey Travis) jumped in there on Friday's musing so I decided to give it a few days to see if any other entries come in (hint hint).

-slurp-

Well folks, I need to run and get the ball rolling today.  With any luck, I will have a great day today and this project will launch with little to no issues.  Remember friends, a comment a day keeps the doctor away so feel free to comment below.

-slurp-

Cheers,

Al