Category: Asides

I was on a video conference and chat room today. Someone on the video conference asked what to do about some issue with management. At few minutes before someone had typed into the chat window asking how to delete tasks. I responded with, “You have to kill them.”

My chat popped up on everyone’s screen right after the management question. The person talking on video conference said, “Well, Mark, I suppose that is one option.”

A sign that said “Park Courageously” inspired me to park like I had never parked before. Turns out it actually said “Park Courteously.”

Mark Shead has worked as a system administrator, network administrator, IT director, and software engineer in a variety of industries. Currently, he works with startups and on startup style projects within larger organizations. His focus is on getting better business results by improving software engineering processes–paying particular attention to the human element. This includes helping teams follow Agile principles, using DevOps to drive the delivery of business value, and engineering process improvements.

(Posted here so I can find it again next time I need it.)

Years ago when I was taking a typing class, there were certain tests that were designed to test speed not accuracy. It didn’t take me long to realize that, since there was no detriment to making mistakes, the logical action was to mash on the keys in order to get 700 words per minute for that type of test.

Some IT organizations design their issue system to focus only on the speed of closing issues and not on accuracy. Working with these organizations gives me a lot of empathy for how the typing teacher felt when I turned in a page of random letters and got the highest score.