Finally the torture comes to an end... the application stays in production!
Category Software Development
So *this* is what it's like to live without a knot in your gut 24/7... I nearly forgot how nice it was. :)
So yesterday I did some more significant "tuning" in my application, hoping to cut down on db lookups, recalcs, and writes. I had to make a few concessions on the nice interface we had, but a "nice interface" is useless if the app won't run. Finally, I made the suggestion that we "auto-register" everyone in order to cut down the number of new documents coming in at the same time everyone was trying to pick team members and such. It was also a nice gesture to give the 100 points to everyone for putting up with the inconveniences.
So this morning I was seated at my desk, bright and early at 6 am, watching the app run. We have one office in a time zone one hour earlier, so there was a small bit of activity. The first hour looked to be OK, so we opened up the navigation path feature around 7. People started joining teams, rosters started forming, and views kept refreshing. By 8:30, I was tentatively convinced that we had finally gotten the application to a point where it was behaving well enough to call it "live" for good.
The sense of relief is overwhelming...
I spent the afternoon monitoring the app and writing a "lessons learned" paper. That one is more focused on what we as a team should do differently next time to make the whole process run more smoothly. This includes user interface choices we made, discarded during "tuning", and perhaps could have kept after all. I could have done a better job making the Team Roster and the Individual Logsheet have stronger separate identities in the views, as there were some issues on removing people from teams. We had the concept of substitutes who could be used during the program if an original member dropped out. Unfortunately, some teams thought they needed their subs immediately, thereby giving them more than the 10 person limit... At least by noting all this, we'll have a much better module for the next team event in a couple of months.
The other post-mortem goes here... What did I learn from this event?
It's easy to say, in the midst of all the madness, that soon you'll look back at all this and laugh. Rationally, I knew that would happen. Emotionally, I was having second thoughts. So rather than throw away what I paid dearly to learn these last four days, I'll be able to come back here and say "here is where I grew as a developer."
So *this* is what it's like to live without a knot in your gut 24/7... I nearly forgot how nice it was. :)
So yesterday I did some more significant "tuning" in my application, hoping to cut down on db lookups, recalcs, and writes. I had to make a few concessions on the nice interface we had, but a "nice interface" is useless if the app won't run. Finally, I made the suggestion that we "auto-register" everyone in order to cut down the number of new documents coming in at the same time everyone was trying to pick team members and such. It was also a nice gesture to give the 100 points to everyone for putting up with the inconveniences.
So this morning I was seated at my desk, bright and early at 6 am, watching the app run. We have one office in a time zone one hour earlier, so there was a small bit of activity. The first hour looked to be OK, so we opened up the navigation path feature around 7. People started joining teams, rosters started forming, and views kept refreshing. By 8:30, I was tentatively convinced that we had finally gotten the application to a point where it was behaving well enough to call it "live" for good.
The sense of relief is overwhelming...
I spent the afternoon monitoring the app and writing a "lessons learned" paper. That one is more focused on what we as a team should do differently next time to make the whole process run more smoothly. This includes user interface choices we made, discarded during "tuning", and perhaps could have kept after all. I could have done a better job making the Team Roster and the Individual Logsheet have stronger separate identities in the views, as there were some issues on removing people from teams. We had the concept of substitutes who could be used during the program if an original member dropped out. Unfortunately, some teams thought they needed their subs immediately, thereby giving them more than the 10 person limit... At least by noting all this, we'll have a much better module for the next team event in a couple of months.
The other post-mortem goes here... What did I learn from this event?
- Perspective - I take customer service and support extremely personally. If I don't deliver on what I said I would, I failed. This particular group is one I really enjoy working with, and it hurt to not have performed up to my expectations. On the other hand, 100000 people died in a storm in Myamar, and I'm stressed over a four-week employee wellness program that's not getting off to a stellar start. Even though we all shared that feeling, it didn't help me feel any less responsible.
- 100% involvement - When you've done something for a long time (10+ years of Notes development), there are some times when you tend to go into "auto-pilot" mode. You've built widget X a dozen times, you pull the code from a prior iteration, and in short order you have a functional app. But did you *really* need to have "NoCache" on those dbLookups? All 20 of them? That get refreshed on every field change? Did you even freaking NOTICE you had done that???? That lack of attention on my part is not acceptable to me. There's little difference in delivering something in 4 hours vs. the 6 hours you should have taken to review field settings, hide-when formulas, duplicate code, unused fields, etc. It's not the user's job to find and report that stuff in testing. It's my job to give them something to test that is as close as I can get it to "go live" based on their request. This whole subject is probably the biggest personal issue that I've internally dwelt on during the week. Consider it a wake-up call...
- The Notes community is an incredible thing - Before I go further, I should note that I'm due for a slight adjustment in my SSRI meds. It's the whole "Prozac poop-out" tolerance issue. One of the side effects of going back to "the old Duffbert" is that I can easily get more emotional (read: wet eyes) than normal. Having said that... I was incredibly touched this week by all of you. From feedback and encouragement via Twitter, to Skype calls for consultation and support (and more encouragement), emails, IMs, etc. Incredibly funny poetry that made me laugh at work, when all I really wanted to do was curl up in the fetal position. People remembering my birthday (which is tomorrow) with cards, gifts, and even a phone call from New Zealand where it was already May 9th, serenaded by Mr. Sampson's family choir... For those who are part of this community, cherish it. It's a rare thing, and it's something that I can't imagine not being part of... Thank you all.
It's easy to say, in the midst of all the madness, that soon you'll look back at all this and laugh. Rationally, I knew that would happen. Emotionally, I was having second thoughts. So rather than throw away what I paid dearly to learn these last four days, I'll be able to come back here and say "here is where I grew as a developer."
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Comments
We are very fortunate that we work with some very talented and giving people.
On a much better note: Happy Birthday. Enjoy your day. You deserve it.
Posted by Gregg Eldred At 19:49:52 On 08/05/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Rob McDonagh At 20:15:05 On 08/05/2008 | - Website - |
May 9 is also a special day to me, as I gave birth to one of my twin daughters on this day.
Tomorrow is her sister's birthday and somehow MY twin daughters being difficult and having their own birthdays never surprised me.
I hope you have a special day today!!!
Posted by francie At 21:53:41 On 08/05/2008 | - Website - |
Sun Yat Fai Lok! (Cantonese)
Vsechno nejlepsi k Tvym narozeninam!! (Czech)
Breithla Shona Dhuit! (Irish)
Fortuna dies natalis!(Latin)
Janam Din Mubarak (Urdu)
Quchjaj qoSlIj!(Klingon)
...basically Happy B'day mate and as my Granda used to say
I raise a glass to your coffin. May it be built from the wood of a hundred year old oak tree that I am am planting tomorrow.
PS Good to hear whilst your project's journey to production was subject to some unusual vicissitudes of fortune that all is nicely normal now :)
.o0(Yippee i got Vicissitude into a sentence today!)
Posted by Steve McDonagh At 04:26:24 On 09/05/2008 | - Website - |
Happy Happy Birthday!
I wondered why it wasn't on my calendar, but then I realized that my calendar entry was set to repeat for only 10 years. I set it up in 1997 !! Pre-Prozac years, as you say.
Nice learning experience and it doesn't even look like I can add it to my "Tom's Bag of Blackmail Stuff".
Have a great day !!
Jo Ann
Posted by The Token At 06:02:16 On 09/05/2008 | - Website - |
Thanks for all your giving to the community.
Good to hear the project worked out.
Have a great birthday and relaxing weekend!
Posted by Curt Stone At 06:27:05 On 09/05/2008 | - Website - |
you automatically rock.
Posted by John Vaughan At 14:28:16 On 12/05/2008 | - Website - |