Friday, October 22, 2004
Two things are infinite
HUGE RANT ALERT!!
Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity. Yes. Even here.
Continuing on a point in my last post about "progress".
Here's my thought process, in a 3 minute block, after being told of its features, or perhaps the huge lackthereof.
Lemme see how i can phrase it:
What does this automation provide?
- Automatic file copying, decompression and checks.
- Wow.. automatic file copying.... i can do that with a batch file in 2 mins. Automatic decompression WOW!!! i remembered Shreejesh did a few hour quick code in .Net and it did ALL these. a 50 dollar job as i recalled 8)
So now we have AUTOMATED checks. 24x7 processing. What do we check btw?
Oh... we check for our FILENAMES!! Making sure that the filename conventions are properly adhered to. Hooray!! Let's celebrate and put this on all our reviews forms! Forward the announcement to the whole world!! HOORAY!!
er... what else does it check for?
Oh... a process will check for files to have correct color information as the meta data (aka specs). Wow.. isn't that a technological barrier to break?
er... what else does it check for?
Oh... a process to check that the files can actually be used. WOW.. that's cool. You've thought that it would be rocket science to do this "feature".
so what does the automation do now??
---> Easy. In summary: If a properly named file that has the correct number of colors properly linked to its meta data can be printed, it will be complete
What's the problem then?
1st question - so do we even need the team anymore? No humans are needed to handle all these high-tech checks.
2nd question - what about its content?? No.. that's too randomized to be checked. We dont check it. Anyway, we dont control content.
What this means is that if a properly named file that has the correct number of colors properly linked to its meta data can be printed, screw you guys even if the content is for the wrong product language version etc. Too bad. We dont control content. Out of scope. Not our responsibility. Other people are accountable.
3rd question - re: 1st question... so what do we need this team for?
4th question - so what does this actually do? Transferring the costs of the work from one dept to another, from one division to another. The place is big enough that one place can suddenly look good (and cheap) while the costs are transferred.
5th question - The end result? same, most probably higher costs for doing the same old thing (aka putting boxes on shelves), since more people in other departments/divisions will have to do checks that the automation remove, and more delays as more confirmations are required. It doesn't benefit the company AT ALL.
Additional points: with this automation, the possible break points of the process has gone from 3 to 8 (might be more... stopped thinking about it after 8). WOW this is PROGRESS.
Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity. Yes. Even here.
Continuing on a point in my last post about "progress".
Here's my thought process, in a 3 minute block, after being told of its features, or perhaps the huge lackthereof.
Lemme see how i can phrase it:
What does this automation provide?
- Automatic file copying, decompression and checks.
- Wow.. automatic file copying.... i can do that with a batch file in 2 mins. Automatic decompression WOW!!! i remembered Shreejesh did a few hour quick code in .Net and it did ALL these. a 50 dollar job as i recalled 8)
So now we have AUTOMATED checks. 24x7 processing. What do we check btw?
Oh... we check for our FILENAMES!! Making sure that the filename conventions are properly adhered to. Hooray!! Let's celebrate and put this on all our reviews forms! Forward the announcement to the whole world!! HOORAY!!
er... what else does it check for?
Oh... a process will check for files to have correct color information as the meta data (aka specs). Wow.. isn't that a technological barrier to break?
er... what else does it check for?
Oh... a process to check that the files can actually be used. WOW.. that's cool. You've thought that it would be rocket science to do this "feature".
so what does the automation do now??
---> Easy. In summary: If a properly named file that has the correct number of colors properly linked to its meta data can be printed, it will be complete
What's the problem then?
1st question - so do we even need the team anymore? No humans are needed to handle all these high-tech checks.
2nd question - what about its content?? No.. that's too randomized to be checked. We dont check it. Anyway, we dont control content.
What this means is that if a properly named file that has the correct number of colors properly linked to its meta data can be printed, screw you guys even if the content is for the wrong product language version etc. Too bad. We dont control content. Out of scope. Not our responsibility. Other people are accountable.
3rd question - re: 1st question... so what do we need this team for?
4th question - so what does this actually do? Transferring the costs of the work from one dept to another, from one division to another. The place is big enough that one place can suddenly look good (and cheap) while the costs are transferred.
5th question - The end result? same, most probably higher costs for doing the same old thing (aka putting boxes on shelves), since more people in other departments/divisions will have to do checks that the automation remove, and more delays as more confirmations are required. It doesn't benefit the company AT ALL.
Additional points: with this automation, the possible break points of the process has gone from 3 to 8 (might be more... stopped thinking about it after 8). WOW this is PROGRESS.
