From an email I got today. These were originally from a paper from an international SE conference. Yes the reality can be harsh...
1. Change the deadlines: The students should be told part way through that the customer requires the product at a date earlier than initially specified. There should be room for negotiation on scope, with only some [of the functionality ] to be delivered. However the students should not be offered any compromise in the first instance, all flexibility coming only through negotiation.
2. Present a 'different truth': The customer should say one thing one day and something else the next and deny that anything different has been said.
3. Present customers with different personalities: ...
In the [industry] training projects, one customer would be very enthusiastic, readily accepting any suggestion put forward [by the team] while another would be very reluctant to deviate from his original ideas. Of the two, experience has shown that it can be the enthusiastic customer who gives the most problems, leading the students into commitments they could never achieve with statements such as "Oh yes, that is a good idea and we could do the same thing with X,Y and Z too, couldn't we?" The students can be drawn into commitments well beyond their abilities to deliver.
4. Crash the Hardware: This may be a trick held in reserve in case any project team is doing too well....
5. Swap 1 or 2 team members across team - in the middle of the project.
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
AUSCERT
Went to AUSCERT. It was great! Over 900 delegates turned up and I got to meet a lot of interesting people and some old friends, like Ben and this guy from computer forensics class who got a job at AUSCERT straight after he graduated. How I envy him!
Most of the speakers that I listened to were good, some were great, like Bruce Schneier, Simon Singh and Jesper Johansson. There was one really interesting speaker that I have to talk about. She nearly picked a fight with another speaker at the panel session, but she is one smart cookie; she's in her mid 30s (I think), had 15 years of experience in IT, started her own company (research based at a uni) 10 years ago and got her PhD in 94. But the most funny thing about her is how fast she talks. She told us how she was at another conference and the person doing the transcription is one of the best and can keep up with the fastest talkers. That person couldn't keep up with her and she was clocked at 280 words per minutes. That's roughly 4.5 words per second!
Apart from the talks, there seems to be an endless supply of food there. All-can-eat ice-creams, nice lunches, morning/afternoon teas, and an abundance of alcohol at night. And then there were the freebies and competitions. No wonder why the lecturers want to publish papers because they get to go for mini holidays.
Pity I have to go to work tomorrow. The conference finishes on Thursday. It was a great experience and I would love to go there again next year. (Not for the eats and drinks of course :P )
Most of the speakers that I listened to were good, some were great, like Bruce Schneier, Simon Singh and Jesper Johansson. There was one really interesting speaker that I have to talk about. She nearly picked a fight with another speaker at the panel session, but she is one smart cookie; she's in her mid 30s (I think), had 15 years of experience in IT, started her own company (research based at a uni) 10 years ago and got her PhD in 94. But the most funny thing about her is how fast she talks. She told us how she was at another conference and the person doing the transcription is one of the best and can keep up with the fastest talkers. That person couldn't keep up with her and she was clocked at 280 words per minutes. That's roughly 4.5 words per second!
Apart from the talks, there seems to be an endless supply of food there. All-can-eat ice-creams, nice lunches, morning/afternoon teas, and an abundance of alcohol at night. And then there were the freebies and competitions. No wonder why the lecturers want to publish papers because they get to go for mini holidays.
Pity I have to go to work tomorrow. The conference finishes on Thursday. It was a great experience and I would love to go there again next year. (Not for the eats and drinks of course :P )
Saturday, May 21, 2005
May the farm be with you, Cuke Skywalker
Takes a while to load, but it's worth the wait. Go to download the movie if you don't like the pauses while it loads.
http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html
This reminds me of an older production - The Meatrix
http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html
This reminds me of an older production - The Meatrix
More friends are leaving
Went to dinner with Martin and co and Michael. Make a complete micky out of myself by thinking that dinner was at 8:30.
6:20
Got home from work
6:30
Started dinner as I was starving.
6:45
Phone rang.
Mike: Cindy where are you?
Me: At home.
Mike: We're waiting for you.
Me: What dinner's at 8:30!?
Mike: No it's 6:30.
Me: 6:30!! (Dad laughing out real loud in the background)
Mike: When can you get here?
Me: Ummm 30 minutes...
Everyone's orders were ready by the time I got there.
Anyway, Martin's leaving Brissy for Sydney in search for a better job. So there's going to be one less s701er hanging around. Our times at s701 were undoutedly the best at uni - the scribbles on the board, the music that Eason plays, Ben's debate on politics in Kenya, CyberCity, chatting on MSN while we were all within 3 meters from each other... We even set up our own print servers and gave them names. And who can forget our own "multimedia presentation" that went through the night. For those who were there, there was also the story of the little red ball.
Those were good times and they will stay with me for years to come. I'm sure it's the same for all that were there.
6:20
Got home from work
6:30
Started dinner as I was starving.
6:45
Phone rang.
Mike: Cindy where are you?
Me: At home.
Mike: We're waiting for you.
Me: What dinner's at 8:30!?
Mike: No it's 6:30.
Me: 6:30!! (Dad laughing out real loud in the background)
Mike: When can you get here?
Me: Ummm 30 minutes...
Everyone's orders were ready by the time I got there.
Anyway, Martin's leaving Brissy for Sydney in search for a better job. So there's going to be one less s701er hanging around. Our times at s701 were undoutedly the best at uni - the scribbles on the board, the music that Eason plays, Ben's debate on politics in Kenya, CyberCity, chatting on MSN while we were all within 3 meters from each other... We even set up our own print servers and gave them names. And who can forget our own "multimedia presentation" that went through the night. For those who were there, there was also the story of the little red ball.
Those were good times and they will stay with me for years to come. I'm sure it's the same for all that were there.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
First aider Cindy
Finished my first aid course today. Couldn't help but fall asleep on a few occasions.
I don't think I can remember much of what I am taught if something does happen, but most of the time, common sense should suffice. I think I am particularly bad at reviving babies. Baby Anne would have been a lot better without me if she was alive :P
I'm still only half way through my reading for the M$ exam. Will be doing lots of cramming tomorrow and over the next week.
I don't think I can remember much of what I am taught if something does happen, but most of the time, common sense should suffice. I think I am particularly bad at reviving babies. Baby Anne would have been a lot better without me if she was alive :P
I'm still only half way through my reading for the M$ exam. Will be doing lots of cramming tomorrow and over the next week.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Big bug
Leopards stage 2 is now in its final days of testing and as usual, there's a mad rush to get as many defects out before all the contractors go away.
Yesterday I devoted myself completely to deployment. I did 8 builds/migrations and am pretty sure that I have broken the record. I have also come to the conclusion that we are in great need of a better, more efficient process.
Today is mostly UAT so only one build was done. But just as I was planning to go home early today (at 5pm) , I got a request for one more build, at 4pm. Now that really ruined my afternoon! So off I went and got started. Then about 5 minutes into it, I heard someone talking about a big bug in the testing pod. I was instantly gratified, because that meant I can leave the build till the bug gets fixed and that won't be until tomorrow. Yay! Poor M though cause he had to stay and get it fixed before he goes home on a plane on Saturday.
Yesterday I devoted myself completely to deployment. I did 8 builds/migrations and am pretty sure that I have broken the record. I have also come to the conclusion that we are in great need of a better, more efficient process.
Today is mostly UAT so only one build was done. But just as I was planning to go home early today (at 5pm) , I got a request for one more build, at 4pm. Now that really ruined my afternoon! So off I went and got started. Then about 5 minutes into it, I heard someone talking about a big bug in the testing pod. I was instantly gratified, because that meant I can leave the build till the bug gets fixed and that won't be until tomorrow. Yay! Poor M though cause he had to stay and get it fixed before he goes home on a plane on Saturday.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Sitar
Another project is coming to an end at work. To celebrate, we had dinner at Sitar and it was the most beautiful Indian food I've tasted.
This time I discovered chicken tikka (or something like that). It was a mild curry with a heavy tomato flavour to it. At first I thought it was going to be hot as it was fairly reddish in colour, but it wasn't at all. In fact, "mild" really meant no chilli and to me that was good. I can't take chilli hot. It burns my tongue and throat and won't go away even if I drown myself with water. I didn't touch that vindaloo when offered.
We had Indian contractors at the dinner and I noticed that they only eat with their right hand, even when they're breaking up naan bread. I wonder if there's some cultural background to that. We tried eating like them and it did taste better... or maybe it was our imagination, we did after all had a few drinks across the road before we had dinner.
This time I discovered chicken tikka (or something like that). It was a mild curry with a heavy tomato flavour to it. At first I thought it was going to be hot as it was fairly reddish in colour, but it wasn't at all. In fact, "mild" really meant no chilli and to me that was good. I can't take chilli hot. It burns my tongue and throat and won't go away even if I drown myself with water. I didn't touch that vindaloo when offered.
We had Indian contractors at the dinner and I noticed that they only eat with their right hand, even when they're breaking up naan bread. I wonder if there's some cultural background to that. We tried eating like them and it did taste better... or maybe it was our imagination, we did after all had a few drinks across the road before we had dinner.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)