August 2007 - Posts

Tech bloggers: Heads up

I received an interesting email a few days back. The sender isn't important - the text is:

Hi ,
I am interested in purchasing textlink advertising on your website Let me know if you are interested and we can discuss further details. I can make a good offer to make it worth your time.

Let me know!

Thanks

No one had ever asked about advertising on VSTeamSystemCentral.com before, so I responded positively.

The conversation took a couple odd turns - enough to raise red flags.

I eventually refused politely, and then not so politely (begging, the final red flag). Compare the message I received to the one received by the blogger at phillsacre.me.uk. Again, I had a different name, but the same pattern of email domains - for me first it was Yahoo, then Gmail.

I'm not sure what these folks are up to but after the problems suffered by job boards last week, I'm sticking with the Google Ads for a while.

:{> Andy

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Testing With VSTS Sample Chapter Available



The cool people at Wiley (Wrox) allowed the cool people at Solid Quality Mentors to post my chapter, Testing The Database, from the upcoming Wrox release !

:{> Andy

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Penny's Blog!

My daughter Penny started a blog: From the Help Desk!

I love the first entry, and not just because I'm in it. :)

Penny stopped by this weekend to meet her new brother Riley Cooper and we got some cool pictures. My favorite is below!

80% of my kids...

From left to right there's Stevie Ray, Penny, Emma Grace up top (aka "Mini-Penny" - she looks just like Penny when Penny was 2), and Riley Cooper with his I-love-my-big-sister face (also seen here).

Congrats on the new blog Penny!

:{> Andy

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Getting Lucky

I was recently reminded how lucky I am.

It's true, pure luck has played an important role in my life, defining where I am today personally and professionally. Well, maybe not an important role, but it's been there.

How?

Mostly in the form of opportunities. But I then had to act on these opportunities to get the most out of them.

This is starting to remind me of a joke a pastor once told:

A local minister rides out to visit Farmer Brown one fine summer day. As he pulls off the main road onto Farmer Brown's acreage, he admires the tall corn and plush rows of tomatoes and beans. When he greets the old farmer, the minister says "You and the Lord are running a fine farm here!" To which Farmer Brown replies "You should've seen it when the Lord was running it Himself."


I can show a direct correlation between the number of 75-hour weeks I work and how lucky I am.

I can also demonstrate an inverse proportion between the number of mornings I awake completely rested and how lucky I am; as well as a positive ratio of 20-hour days / "luckiness".

So yep, I'm a pretty lucky guy.

:{> Andy

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Stevie and Riley

Dada's boys.

Stevie Ray and Riley Cooper, 9 Aug 2007

Bad IT Project Management

My sister-in-law recently passed the PMP certification (congratulations Heather!). I'm waiting for a call from her asking if we need to add resources.


The resources comment above is a joke, but it isn't really that funny. It's indicative of my decades of experience with bad IT project managers.

I believe and hope I have worked with some of the worst project managers on the planet. Why do I hope? I'd hate to think anyone has had to deal with folks worse than the poor project managers I've dealt with.

As I type, we're experiencing a heat wave in Farmville, Virginia. It was 107 degrees Fahrenheit here yesterday. It's the "dog days of summer", as my Granny used to call them.

Somehwere, you will find 30 or more push mowers lined up wheel-to-wheel along one axis of a lawn. On command, the 30+ operators will start their mowers. On cue, they will push them across the lawn, maintaining the wheel-to-wheel alignment, cutting the entire area in one pass.

This, my friend, is the home of an IT project manager.


My experiences have led me to a couple thoughts:

  • Frederick Brook's should be required reading for all project managers.
  • Proof of callouses should be required for the application process.

(The same can be said for MBAs, but that's for another post...)

Inspired by the book, Brook's Law states "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later." It is perhaps best summed up by the following statement by Brooks himself: "The bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned."

As an IT professional, you can learn to detect when you're about to be "managed". I share the following indicators and advice from my years of experience:

"Do we need to add more resources?" This question in and of itself is harmless. It's actually the way project managers greet each other and has no more meaning to ordinary folk than "How are you doing today?" or "How about this weather?"

The best answer to this question is a non-answer. After years of trying to correctly answer this (as though it were a meaningful question), I stumbled across an answer that works for me: "I don't know." Why does this work so well? The last thing a bad IT project manager wants to do is make a decision - at least one traceable to them.

"I am (or used-to-be) a software developer." If you hear this, you're in trouble. Big, big trouble. My advice to you is to vacate the project - and the premises - as quickly as possible. This isn't a fire evacuation, it's a bomb evacuation. You may wish to consider jumping out a window if you're on or below the third floor.

Why? You are dealing with a person who believes they were promoted because they were such a good developer. Mind you, this is true in less than 25% of my experience. And even then, odds are their resume includes COBOL or they aren't nearly the project manager they believe themselves to be. At best you have 1/3rd of a 25% chance that you're working for someone who knows a definition for delegate - a definition that isn't "someone who attends a convention."

The truth of the matter is this person was likely promoted before they could delay or otherwise further damage the software project to which they were assigned.

"What do I tell my boss (or the stakeholders)?" This question is the prelude to a demand. Your answer isn't important, the demand in the mind of the IT project manager is important. And that demand is for you to do something no sane developer would ever do.

There are a couple options. If you're feeling froggy, you can document the fact you were asked to take this ridiculous course of action by your IT project manager, and then do it. Be sure to address the issue in writing and as soon as possible. CC someone else - anyone else. If you can CC the project managers' boss without looking like you're trying to make them look stupid, that's best. If not, CC someone else at your level on the development team (and allow the bad IT project manager to continue their work of making themselves look stupid unassisted).

Note: Never BCC. BCC'ing the boss is the equivalent of placing a bold, red, flashing banner across the top of your message which states "I'M INSECURE". The boss will get this message, loud and clear. Go ahead and CC them if you believe it's warranted - those dogs need to wake up eventually.

Make sure it's in writing and someone else sees it - that's the point.

The other option is to simply ignore it and do what you know to be right and good. There's risk here too. Some bad IT project managers will call in bigger dogs to shout you down. It's good to have your mugshot and name on a book somewhere if you're going to exercise this option.

"Umm yeah. I'm going to need you to come in Saturday. Sunday's not looking good either..." People are people. Bad IT project managers don't get that. They call people "resources". People aren't resources, we use resources, but we're separate and distinct from resources. People are people.


Bad IT project managers are the reason we have IT Project Leads. After all, someone who knows what they're talking about needs to have some authority if any software project is to stand a chance of succeeding.

:{> Andy

PS - This post inspired a new category at Applied Team System: Expensive Management Practices - gotta love the acronym. :{>

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Frank's Trying To Plan A Wedding

Frank La Vigne is trying to plan a wedding (Congratulations Frank and Roberta!) but ran into an error that appears SQL-related (in method name, at least):

:{> Andy

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More About the Hospital Maternity Experience

Having five kids has its advantages - even if they span a quarter-century. For one, you learn your way around the hospital and get to know what to expect.

You also learn what to avoid, which brings me to Lactation Consultants.

Lactation Consultants ostensibly help new Moms learn more about breast-feeding. My experience with them has not left a positive impression.

From my experiences, the information they share can be categorized as either insults or inaccurate. If you're not insulted, the information is likely inaccurate.


Christy's first experience with a Lactation Consultant left her in tears. And it was completely un-called-for. There's more to this than just the Mom - there's the baby and lot of physiology.

This time, when asked if we'd like to meet with one Christy answered "No" and I added emphasis to my "No."

There are probably fantastic folks out there in this field, it's just been my misfortune to meet some of the less qualified or friendly types...

:{> Andy

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The Birth of Riley Cooper Leonard

From the day we learned the due date for our third child was 10 Aug 2007, we pretty much knew the baby would be born 3 Aug 2007. Why? We live in the sticks - Farmville, VA. Although Farmville has a regional hospital with a brand new birthing center, I did not want my wife and child to patronize the facility. Bad reputation is one thing, bad experience is another. My father nearly died at Farmville Hospital while doctors debated whether he had a kidney stone or appendicitis (he had both).

So we knew we were going to Richmond or Lynchburg to have this baby.

Our first two children - Stevie Ray and Emma Grace - were born in Jacksonville, Florida. They were delivered by the same doctor at the same hospital and, as fate would have it, in the same delivery room.


We got everything at the house ready in the two weeks before Riley's scheduled arrival. I am very fortunate to work with the people I work with. Solid Qulaity was awesome about understanding our schedule. I worked from home starting 23 Jul 2007, planned paternity leave for three weeks, followed by a couple / three more work-from-home weeks before returning to the road.

Christy is such a great organizer. She had ideas about what needed to be done when and a logical flow and order. It was easy for me: get one thing done, then find out what was next. :)

We got a room ready for her mother, who is staying with us for a couple weeks. We re-arranged the car-seats in the Odyssey. Stevie Ray went from behind the passenger seat to the third row. Emma moved from behind the driver to behind the passenger - a "promotion" to Stevie's old spot. Riley's seat sits behind the driver. Odyssey's have the frame-mounted clips for car seats - even in the third row for Stevie's seat - gotta love that for safety.


I slept maybe 2 1/2 hours the night/morning of 2/3 Aug. I awoke at 2:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. I blogged some, worked a little, and mostly tried to keep busy waiting for 5:00 AM when we would leave for the induction in Richmond.

5:00 AM arrived and we loaded up and left. We arrived around 6:20 AM - early for our 6:45 AM appointment. The nurses ushered us to a quiet corner birthing suite in The Atrium - a newer part of Johnston-Willis Hospital in Richmond.

I overheard someone say there were seven inductions scheduled for this day - it was gonna be busy!

We got settled in and Christy was IV'd and ready. In no time at all, a doctor popped in and broke her water. Next the Pitocin started and we were off to the races. Christy had a nice measured labor for a couple hours and then the pain started, so we paged the anesthesiologist for the epidural. After that, things slowed down a bit and Christy even napped some.

I was also able to catch a nap and eat a bit. At lunch I was able to catch up on a little business (not everyone realized I was at the hospital today) - making a few calls in between bites of a Subway turkey sub.


Pushing time started around 4:30 PM. Christy did a great job, but the baby wasn't moving past station 0. He would move down some, rather, then retreat. After 20 good minutes of pushing this way, the doctor decided to use suction.

Have you ever seen the suction device? It's small - about 1.5 inches in diameter at the suction end. That end is attached to the body by about 1/4-inch a steel cable surrounded by a vacuum hose. The suction end is attached to the head of the baby. And then there's pulling.

Riley "rounded the corner" after one suction-assisted contraction. The reason for the lack of progress became clear nearly immediately - the cord was draped around the front of Riley's neck, and very tight.

The doctor tried to work with it, couldn't, and cut it right there. Riley was born about 10 seconds later.

But he was ash gray from head to toe.

And he wasn't breathing.

The baby nurse took over and started suctioning out his airways and some fairly vigorous massage. After about a minute of this work - while maintaining a focused, non-panicked expression - the baby nurse brought Riley around.

That was, hands down, the longest minute of my life to date.

Christy got to hold Riley for less than a minute and I got a few pictures while they were wiping him down, and then he was rushed out of the room.


Christy is amazing. My oldest daughter Manda stopped by to visit a few hours later. She looked at Christy and said "You just had a baby?!?" Christy is the strongest person I know.

Manda is a chaplain at the hospital where Riley was born. She made sure we knew we could visit him in the nursery any time we wanted, we just may not be able to touch him or hold him. They had been in a hurry when they left with Riley, and left us thinking they would get back to us when we could see him, but it may be 12 hours or more.

No one came back to tell us anything.


The nursery nurse brought Riley in around 1:00 AM the next morning and we got to hold him for the first time. He'd just had his first bath and his hair was brushed and he had that baby smell. We got to visit with him for about 90 minutes.

I got to hold him for the first time and Christy took this picture of the event.

(Yes, I'm wearing a ThinkGeek t-shirt: the "Select * From users Where clue > 0" one...)


Riley is fine now. In hindsight we got all worked up for nothing, but at the time we didn't know if it was all for nothing or if our son was going to have trouble breathing for the rest of his life. Not hearing anything from the folks who knew didn't help.

Manda really helped. She actually called her Mom (my ex-wife) who also works at the hospital. She told Manda to let us know we could see Riley anytime we wanted.

Manda and Riley


Other than a touch of jaundice Riley's fine now. He's busy spoiling his grandparents and learning to get along with his brother and sisters. He has a good disposition and likes to sleep a lot - thank goodness.

:{> Andy

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SQL Server 2008 July CTP

The SQL Server 2008 July CTP has been released at !

Read about new stuff in this CTP at .

The pillars themselves shed some light on the improvements in store with SQL Server 2008:

I can't wait to dig in!

:{> Andy

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