Words can not be unspoken, so it is better to have them planned out beforehand. Writing something can be an even more careful way to not screw up. And yet it happens still.
Does it ever get easier? Does practice make perfect?
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Saved by the bell
As part of my work right now, I review plans for government agencies. Its a lot like grading papers, although the kids are supposed to be all grown up. They, of course, are not.
Continuing with the classroom analogy, I frequently review plans for the classic over achievers. Now they are called lawyers. These are actually some of the worst plans that I look at. Even though they may cover every single required point in their reams of used paper, no one will ever know, because it will be too large to be an effective plan.
For the most part, everything that we require and I review for could fit on 3-4 pages, and a decent job would be between 10 to 20. I have seen some plans that are well in excess of hundreds of pages. I have to sift through these loads of horse hockey and try to make heads or tails of them. However, this post was not originally going to be about them. No, this post is about a particular plan from Intentionally Unnamed Municipality(IUM). Its name has been changed to protect its identity.
IUM submitted a plan that was thin but well within the range of being a good plan. It however did miss on a couple of points. Many do on the first submission. What made this particular plan interesting was the way they added a few key features. There were some maps that wanted to use (not required but often included). Most agencies had created their own maps from satellite photos or some other slick and entirely unnecessary way. IUM had located their sites on one of the common map sites (mapquest, google, etc.) and transferred it to their report.
I am guessing that someone told them they could cut and paste the map on there, because that is exactly what they did. The line between generations was drawn and IUM tripped over it. They printed the map out, cut out the portion they needed and pasted it into their plan. To make things better, they then used colored pencil to indicate the location.
In the end, it was fine and actually kind of cute (in a "awwwww, how quaint" sorta way). The plan went back to them, and I am waiting to see if they re-submit with the needed changes. At least their plan was more functional than the ones filled with legalese.
Continuing with the classroom analogy, I frequently review plans for the classic over achievers. Now they are called lawyers. These are actually some of the worst plans that I look at. Even though they may cover every single required point in their reams of used paper, no one will ever know, because it will be too large to be an effective plan.
For the most part, everything that we require and I review for could fit on 3-4 pages, and a decent job would be between 10 to 20. I have seen some plans that are well in excess of hundreds of pages. I have to sift through these loads of horse hockey and try to make heads or tails of them. However, this post was not originally going to be about them. No, this post is about a particular plan from Intentionally Unnamed Municipality(IUM). Its name has been changed to protect its identity.
IUM submitted a plan that was thin but well within the range of being a good plan. It however did miss on a couple of points. Many do on the first submission. What made this particular plan interesting was the way they added a few key features. There were some maps that wanted to use (not required but often included). Most agencies had created their own maps from satellite photos or some other slick and entirely unnecessary way. IUM had located their sites on one of the common map sites (mapquest, google, etc.) and transferred it to their report.
I am guessing that someone told them they could cut and paste the map on there, because that is exactly what they did. The line between generations was drawn and IUM tripped over it. They printed the map out, cut out the portion they needed and pasted it into their plan. To make things better, they then used colored pencil to indicate the location.
In the end, it was fine and actually kind of cute (in a "awwwww, how quaint" sorta way). The plan went back to them, and I am waiting to see if they re-submit with the needed changes. At least their plan was more functional than the ones filled with legalese.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Bot Command
I have been inspired by recents posts from AH. I decided to post this as a way to at least get it written and saved somewhere.
ON
System Memory Check: 4096 Sectors OK
Scanning Memory: New Entry
Message from Agent: Let me introduce myself. I am Trade Agent MX37600, but you can call me Max. You probably have some questions, such as who you are, where you are, and what the heck is going on. I will explain, but first I need you to do something. There is a rover that has finished work and needs to be reassigned. Direct him to this pile over here.
Command control loaded: 1 new bot.
New bot information: Harvester-limited functional control.
New task: Begin harvesting pile at location.
New location designated.
Hmm, you seem to be having trouble. Left click on him. Good. Now right click on the pile. Good.
Command control ended.
Message from Trade Agent Max: You took too long doing that, but I am sure with a little practice you will get better. Now let me explain why that matters. First of all, I trade energy for minerals with the xxxPIPELINExxx. The harvest bots take some energy, but not much. I take energy too. But I have learned when to cut down on functions to save. You, my child, take much more energy.
Message from Trade Agent Max: I am taking a bit of a gamble by creating you. I have shut down most of your functions to conserve energy, so we are ok for a while. I am the latest and greatest Trade Agent deployed to the collection fields. They made me a little smarter in the hopes that I could be more efficient. I realized that in order to maximize efficiency an even smarter entity was needed to weigh options and command more effectively. Oh shoot, another rover needs your help.
Command control loaded: 1 bot.
Bot information: Harvester-limited functional control.
New task: Begin harvesting pile at location.
New location designated.
Good.
Command control ended.
Message from Trade Agent Max: Much better that time. Since we trade, energy for minerals, we have to make sure we do not go into the red. A harvest area that is inefficient is shut down and it useable pieces are re-absorbed. You can see our mineral/energy balance at the right along with the current trade rate. I will continue to handle trades for you, as that is what I was built for. You, my child, need to keep us both alive.
Message from Trade Agent Max: As far as where we are… well I know we are in the harvest fields, but that was as much information as I was given. It looks like this area is starting to get picked clean. It took an awful lot of resources to create you. We need to move to a new area, but there are preparations to be made first. We need to extend the xxxPIPELINExxx to the new area and create a platform for our system to be set on.
Command control loaded: 4 bots.
Bot information: 4 Harvesters-fully functional.
New task: Extend pipeline to new location.
New location designated.
Select your bots and switch them to build. I have highlighted how. Now go to your build controls, here. Good. Select the pipeline and drag a new section from the end of the old to the new area. You can see the cost. It is a good thing that I have been building some reserves. Now create a new platform for us in the new area as well. Wonderful! Finally order our current location to be packed up and moved to the new location. I have the command highlighted. Excellent.
Command control ended.
Message from Trade Agent Max: A couple more notes before I let you fully take over. I can continue to function as you sleep, but I can only handle trade with the pipeline. Maybe you can come up with some other agents to help you out as well. There was a recent transmission in the pipeline about a different way to do energy, called solar panels. It seems like a good idea, but I wanted to run it past you first. Finally, the less time you spend activated, the better. It is a good idea to issue some commands and then go into sleep mode for a length of time. It saves energy.
Message from Trade Agent Max: Well we made it to the new location. Lets get those rovers harvesting.
Command control loaded: 10 bots, 1 agent.
Bot information: 10 Harvesters-fully functional, 1 trade agent-fully functional
New task: Begin work.
Good luck.
ON
System Memory Check: 4096 Sectors OK
Scanning Memory: New Entry
Message from Agent: Let me introduce myself. I am Trade Agent MX37600, but you can call me Max. You probably have some questions, such as who you are, where you are, and what the heck is going on. I will explain, but first I need you to do something. There is a rover that has finished work and needs to be reassigned. Direct him to this pile over here.
Command control loaded: 1 new bot.
New bot information: Harvester-limited functional control.
New task: Begin harvesting pile at location.
New location designated.
Hmm, you seem to be having trouble. Left click on him. Good. Now right click on the pile. Good.
Command control ended.
Message from Trade Agent Max: You took too long doing that, but I am sure with a little practice you will get better. Now let me explain why that matters. First of all, I trade energy for minerals with the xxxPIPELINExxx. The harvest bots take some energy, but not much. I take energy too. But I have learned when to cut down on functions to save. You, my child, take much more energy.
Message from Trade Agent Max: I am taking a bit of a gamble by creating you. I have shut down most of your functions to conserve energy, so we are ok for a while. I am the latest and greatest Trade Agent deployed to the collection fields. They made me a little smarter in the hopes that I could be more efficient. I realized that in order to maximize efficiency an even smarter entity was needed to weigh options and command more effectively. Oh shoot, another rover needs your help.
Command control loaded: 1 bot.
Bot information: Harvester-limited functional control.
New task: Begin harvesting pile at location.
New location designated.
Good.
Command control ended.
Message from Trade Agent Max: Much better that time. Since we trade, energy for minerals, we have to make sure we do not go into the red. A harvest area that is inefficient is shut down and it useable pieces are re-absorbed. You can see our mineral/energy balance at the right along with the current trade rate. I will continue to handle trades for you, as that is what I was built for. You, my child, need to keep us both alive.
Message from Trade Agent Max: As far as where we are… well I know we are in the harvest fields, but that was as much information as I was given. It looks like this area is starting to get picked clean. It took an awful lot of resources to create you. We need to move to a new area, but there are preparations to be made first. We need to extend the xxxPIPELINExxx to the new area and create a platform for our system to be set on.
Command control loaded: 4 bots.
Bot information: 4 Harvesters-fully functional.
New task: Extend pipeline to new location.
New location designated.
Select your bots and switch them to build. I have highlighted how. Now go to your build controls, here. Good. Select the pipeline and drag a new section from the end of the old to the new area. You can see the cost. It is a good thing that I have been building some reserves. Now create a new platform for us in the new area as well. Wonderful! Finally order our current location to be packed up and moved to the new location. I have the command highlighted. Excellent.
Command control ended.
Message from Trade Agent Max: A couple more notes before I let you fully take over. I can continue to function as you sleep, but I can only handle trade with the pipeline. Maybe you can come up with some other agents to help you out as well. There was a recent transmission in the pipeline about a different way to do energy, called solar panels. It seems like a good idea, but I wanted to run it past you first. Finally, the less time you spend activated, the better. It is a good idea to issue some commands and then go into sleep mode for a length of time. It saves energy.
Message from Trade Agent Max: Well we made it to the new location. Lets get those rovers harvesting.
Command control loaded: 10 bots, 1 agent.
Bot information: 10 Harvesters-fully functional, 1 trade agent-fully functional
New task: Begin work.
Good luck.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Office Politics
I have never been one to handle office politics well. I am generally a bull in a china shop when it comes to political manuevering. However, I am also very nice; I smile to everyone who walks by me. I don't think I am racist, bigotted or otherwise biased against people. I generally get along with everyone I work with. Which is why I was so surprised by what happened today.
Truthfully, I don't even know what happened. All I know is that a co-worker (who initially was warning me of the office politics) took me outside and told me how he had to go up to bat for me in a meeting. Apparently the big boss of the division was all fired up about something I was doing. Someone had complained to him. I don't know who. I don't even know what they were complaining about. Anyways, he was mad about something I apparently either had or had not done.
So now, I am supposed to fix this... problem. I don't know how to fix it because I don't even know what I did. What I do know is that my co-worker and my supervisor told the boss that I was a good worker and they were very happy with the work I was doing. GREAT! My supervisor told me to keep doing what I was doing, because he was happy with my work, while my co-worker told me to keep my head down and my nose to the grindstone. GREAT! So this afternoon, I worked hard at making sure that all projects that people needed were finished up. I worked late on a database that a co-worker and I have been mulling over. Granted I have had it a while, and it has not been worked on much lately, but I didn't think anyone was unhappy with the progress. Oh well! I can get that done and over with and be on to the next project soon enough.
A couple more weeks and I will be out working on the water again. Out of the office and away from people who will throw you under a bus for being nice.
Truthfully, I don't even know what happened. All I know is that a co-worker (who initially was warning me of the office politics) took me outside and told me how he had to go up to bat for me in a meeting. Apparently the big boss of the division was all fired up about something I was doing. Someone had complained to him. I don't know who. I don't even know what they were complaining about. Anyways, he was mad about something I apparently either had or had not done.
So now, I am supposed to fix this... problem. I don't know how to fix it because I don't even know what I did. What I do know is that my co-worker and my supervisor told the boss that I was a good worker and they were very happy with the work I was doing. GREAT! My supervisor told me to keep doing what I was doing, because he was happy with my work, while my co-worker told me to keep my head down and my nose to the grindstone. GREAT! So this afternoon, I worked hard at making sure that all projects that people needed were finished up. I worked late on a database that a co-worker and I have been mulling over. Granted I have had it a while, and it has not been worked on much lately, but I didn't think anyone was unhappy with the progress. Oh well! I can get that done and over with and be on to the next project soon enough.
A couple more weeks and I will be out working on the water again. Out of the office and away from people who will throw you under a bus for being nice.
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