Bring back the Boss Key

So the other day I was doing a little personal research on the internet and had to alt-tab to other programs when I saw a manager or senior member of the team walk by. This made me think back to much earlier days of the personal computer at work and of a hot key that seems to missing from newer software. What ever happen to the boss key? Not everyone knows about the boss key. It’s not like the any key and really on savvy workers new of existence. Well at least the smarter of the slacker’s knew of it anyway. The boss key was a key combination programmed into video games. Back before windows when computers were dominated by the use of MS-DOS you could only run one program at a time. So if you wanted to use the computer at work for amusement and not get into trouble there needed to be a solution.

The better game programmer’s provided this. When you hit a key combination a fake excel sheet with generic formulas and number would be displayed on the screen. This was great. You would load the game using the 5 and ¼ inch floppy drive, taking time to load 3 or 4 disks to run the program. The last thing you would want to do is reset the computer with ctl-alt-del when your boss comes by. This way everyone wins. You get to play your video games and work goes fast. Your boss is happy because he always sees that you are working. I guess now days you could consider the Alt-tab function to be a Boss Key. The problem with this is that you have to actually have an excel sheet running with your own made up data to switch to, and your taskbar still shows the game is running. Solitaire for instance displays a nice obvious deck of card to let anyone know it is running. So no one is happy. Your boss thinks you are a slacker and you have to accomplish more at work.

So I say bring back the boss key. With today’s technology we could improve it, make it better. First it could randomly create a power point, excel, and work documentation. It could scan works already on your computer to have subject titles that would make sense for you occupation. Next it could hide any web browsers, games, or other time killing software at the same time and keep them from being displayed on the task bar. Finally a RFID system could be sold that you could plan on your boss so you computer would automatically switch modes when your boss approaches. This would keep you from having to continually be on the lookout! There could even be an upgrade that answer’s your email for you by randomly forwarding work to other coworkers. Why not? Life is to short not to have diversions, at least once in a while, even at work….

12 Angry Minnesotans

Most people in this country have seen the movie Twelve Angry Men. The premise is simple. What happens in the jury deliberation room of a murder trial? I personally have seen the movie several times. Recently I took some time off work to fulfill my own civic duty and answered a summons for jury duty. I was at the service of the Hennepin County Court system for 2 weeks; I even sat on a jury for a felony trial. While it was not a murder case it was a serious offense and a very taxing ordeal. And what happen in the jury room was very reminiscent of the above mentioned movie. It even had some similar characters. I found the whole experience emotional, a little unnerving, but over all reassuring about the system.

First I should talk about the boring part. The part of jury duty that is made fun of by many comedians and on countless sitcoms, waiting to be and being selected for a jury. It’s better in some ways then it used to be. For one I started and ended my service on a call in basis. I simply had to call a number and listen for my jury group number - if I wasn’t called I was free to do what ever I wanted. I had to call in twice a day and ended up not being called in until the second day and then I was again ok for the last 3 days of service the following week. Once called in however the process is pretty standard. You go to the court house, check in, and wait in a room until judge calls for a jury. There is an hour and ½ for lunch and you can leave for 5 minute breaks from time to time. However there is absolutely nothing to do. Most people read or play cards. There is no internet connection, cell phones don’t work, and there is no TV. So the day I spent in the selection pool was very, very long.

Once a judge calls for a jury the computer random selects up to 26 people, everyone is screened for weapons, and then we were led to the court room. Once in there everyone is given a quick orientation and then asked generic questions. No one was excused at this point. Then all but 2 people were brought the jury box and asked questions by the judge and only one person was excused at this point. Finally the attorneys asked questions of the jury and no one was excused for cause. After that the attorneys literally passed a she of paper back and forth and crossed off names until there were only 14 people left of the original 26; 12 jurors and 2 alternates. After the first day of the trial a final person was excused because she has a connection, though loose, to the case. So we were down to 13. The case was slow moving and took 3 days or so. The only surprise was how slow and procedural everything was. No nearly as fast moving or interesting as TV would have you believe. Finally the closing arguments were completed, the remaining alternate was excused, and it was time to deliberate.

We were not sequestered so we didn’t have to stay in a hotel or keep away from family or friends, though we were not allowed to speak about the case. This was a small point of contention between my GF and myself. She wanted to know more and I would tell her. When were at the court house we could not talk about the case except in the jury room and were escorted everywhere during the day. We ate together, went out to smoke together (well we watched the 2 smokers through a window), and took breaks together. We took more than a day to deliberate and it was interesting to see the mood of the group change from time to time. I was interesting I think that everyone probably felt that their own view was a slam dunk and were surprised when other’s disagreed. The general mood overall was civil and everyone was respectful and listened to everyone else’s views. In fact the behavior was amazing. The differing views in my opinion and the way people approached the process amazed me.

First of all while the deliberation reminded me of the Twelve Angry Men there was no Henry Fonda and no set of ‘hang em for it all no matter what’ jurors. And of course now women and people from different races are all part of process, compared to the 12 middle aged white men form the movie. However there were people I thought had racist views, and I thought a few people were willing to throw out the process in favor of their own version of justice. This scared me. A lot of the strength of this Country is built into its rule of law and due process. For people to be willing to go on gut feelings and ignore facts or lack of facts because the think someone is scum and needs to be punished frightens me. Luckily for me I did not have to put up the majority of the fight in this situation. We had two people that put up most the fight for process, assumption of innocence, and due process so I only needed to add a certain level of support.

At this time a little back ground on the case may help. The case involved two suburban white kids (the victims) with their two high school friends, and two slightly older black men crashing at a house in that suburb. The crimes revolved around a drug deal gone bad where the white kids were going to sell weed to the black men, and one of the black men robbed them. The trial was for only one of the black men, and he was not the main offender in this case. However in Minnesota you can be charged with the full crime if you aided, abetted, conspired or counseled someone in connection with that crime. So our defendant was charged with a crime his brother committed, with the DA asserting that he helped it happened and that it was planned.

The evidence consisted only of the testimony of the two white kids involved, the defendant, and a couple of police officers involved in the case. The stories were remarkably similar and left out a lot of the story. Because of this we did not have any real hard evidence for two of the crimes the defendant was being charged with and only slight better evidence with the third crime. Because of this the jury room was fraught with speculation and very creative story lines that could not be corroborated with evidence.

To start deliberations we first selected a foreman, a mid level manager for Gander Mountain or Dicks Sporting Goods. Then we each went around and summarized our thoughts. The first six people were already set on guilty on all charges. Then it came time for me to speak and I had to disagree with them on several points. The next person agreed with me, followed by two others that also wanted to go the all guilty route. Then we rounded with a man who disagreed with all the counts, a woman with serious doubts, and the final two really wanted (yes I say wanted) to find this man guilty of every thing. In fact the last four people to speak were the spear heads of both sides of the arguments that pursued for the rest of the time.

At this time we argued over and over about the definitions of the crimes, and then about the evidence presented. Just like in the movie some of the hard cases started to see the doubt other’s had. It was not proved that there was any plan or collusion to rob these kids so most of us could not find him guilt of two of the charges. Then we argued over the third charge and convinced the guy that didn’t see guilt anywhere that he was guilty of the third charge. Then we went to a set of lesser crimes and found him guilty of 1 case and not the other. However during this entire process the arguments continued to stray from the fact to the land of suppose. Suppose the defendant did this, suppose he did that. I think this type of debate hit its peak when the most adamant proponent for guilty literally slammed his fist down on the table. As if a theatrical gesture would change our minds. He also kept making distinctions of how these career criminals were taking advantage of these kids.

Come on the white kids were the drug dealers in this situation! The difference is that they were clean cut and white, not that they were less of criminals. Also how can you convict someone on evidence that doesn’t exist? This wasn’t the only case of what I think was racism coming into play. The foreman also made some similar comments but I think they were more guarded, less blatant, and I’m not sure he realized he was making decisions based on who these people were rather than what was proven to happen. Another problem I had was that one woman just couldn’t understand how it wasn’t an all or nothing decision. There were 5 possible crimes and we could find guilt or not guilty with any combination we wanted. She could not understand how the defendant could be guilty of robbing one person and not the other. Forget the fact that he only took things from one person while his counterpart took everything else. And forget that he received voluntarily before his counterpart committed the real crimes.

I did break at one point. Again the most racist (I think) and the most adamant person for guilty finally after most people were agreed with a verdict tried a last ditch effort to sway people back his way. He literally said “We need to consider the questions that were not asked and why they were not asked”. This is counter to all of the instructions the judge gave us and all of the material we were given to consider. I lost it for a second and yelled at him that we could under no circumstance do that, that it was specifically spelled out by the judge not to go there. That we could only consider the evidence presented and could not suppose beyond that. Circumstantial evidence is one thing. Making up a completed time line with out support is another.

So we finally did find the defendant guilt of one of the major charges and one of the minor charges, but we just did not have the evidence to convict on the more serious charges. I was happy to see that we came to this based on the assumption of innocence and thorough examination of the facts and evidence. The case really hinged on the lack of evidence and even if we thought he probably was guilty of more the DA had not proved it. I was very satisfied with this. I thought we behaved in a manor (at least at the end) I would want a jury considering a case against me would behave. Though I was a little emotionally drained by the day and half of arguing and the blatant racism and what seemed like vigilantism of some members of the jury. Now I know why there are so many people asked to decide something. You get a very thorough argument from many, many points of view.

Go-Live

So I have now gone through my first go-live. This is as major of an event as can really occur in this line of work; it is essentially the main event. All of the months of work, configuration, and testing lead up to “flipping the switch” and turning on the system. The old system is shut down and users now finally get to see all the work that has been done. On top of that this is also the time when things are going to go right or when things are going to crash and burn. Because of these things this is one of if not the most stressful time in the project. No two go-lives are the same and none goes 100% smoothly. Especially, in this day and age when all projects are on a shortened time frame and crunched budgets.

So I have been on my current project since last July. I was originally brought on to help with integration testing. Integration testing is not really that technical it is trying to use the new system to test a new process end to end. An example of this is running an expense report from importing the credit card data through to cutting a check to the employee. This type of testing validates the configuration, should include any custom code, it also tests integration between modules for the first time, and verifies that the system can actually handle the business process. The key to successful testing is coming up with as many scenarios as possible that are likely to happen and to quickly resolve issues and move on. Normally on an SAP project there are 3-5 cycles of testing. Each cycle becomes more complicated.

At this client we had 503 test scripts (the step by step instructions for a sub-process), 221 test scenarios (the different ways processes may need to be handled), and 1477 test cases (the actual test it self). So there was a lot of testing. In fact we tested from August until mid December before we started cut over activities. I personally think testing is the most stressful time for most people because it is when all the bugs are found in the system and there is the most work to be done. Later, at go live it is more stressful for the consultants and managers because it is their necks on the line.

Cut-over activities are pretty routine build the production environment, run the conversions, switch on the interfaces, and finally start using the system. However these are extremely important and when they have problems or issues they are what make going live hard. In this case we didn’t really have a lot issues beyond some table updates (no big deal) and some conversion problems. However the conversion problems caused more that 30,000 records to need to be changed in the new production system before going live.

This issue resulted in a week of sleepless nights for your’s truly. I actually ended up writing several scripts to automate these changes. Many times we had as many as 8 different PCs running automated scripts to update the information. One night I was on site until 3 am and back at 7:30 am the next day. By the end of the week I was burnt out. I thought I was done, and then 10 min before I left I found out I had another 3-5 hours of work to do. Because go live was scheduled for Monday I couldn’t do much about it. I stayed an extra day worked that night, then took the first flight in the morning. It was certainly a new experience that I assume will have to be repeated in the future!

Post go-live I had just as much fun making similar changes. Thought the system was live and working over the next weeks we continued to fix issues with POs. The problem was actually that the business never cleansed there data and we brought in all open POs for the last 15 years. In the old system these just sat there and did nothing. In SAP they have financial impact and are very visible because they created new liabilities. I also had the fun of manning the Help Desk for a while. I thought after four years of college and working with a prestigious firm would shield me from such duties. Nope. The client had failed to staff it properly and I had extra bandwidth. Next time I need to make sure I am on a team with more important post go-live activities to avoid doing more than one or two shifts. All in all my first go-live was very interesting, a lot of hard work, but I don’t think it was as bad as many people have made out.

NYE

Well there are a few events every year that I think are pretty typical subjects. These are normally the major holidays: Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. There are a few other’s that get press time as well: Memorial Day weekend, Labor Day weekend, sometimes MLK, Mother’s day, or Father’s day. So I thought I would just write a couple quick paragraphs on New Year’s Eve 2006. This event has changed quite a bit for me through my life and I assume it will continue to change. This year was one of those times.

Originally New Year’s Eve I think for most people is an abstract thing. When your young your parents dress up hire a baby sitter and go out. You go to bed and the next day is a new year. A couple years later you are allowed to stay up late and watch people on the TV in Times Square watch a ball of lights fall, you go to bed and the next day is a new year. When I got older I used it to make money by watching other peoples small children, though I still watched the ball drop on TV, got a nice tip, then went to bed and the next day was a new year. So up through middle school, while I understood what was going on, I wasn’t really affected by New Year’s much.

In High School this did change a lot but I did start to celebrate more. This is when my friends and I had figured out that we like to party from time to time and any excuse was good enough for us. So for a few years New Year’s became a good excuse to build up to a huge all night party with friends. Though some people were dating at this time the craziness I think came from everyone having no real commitments, challenges, or responsibilities. We smuggled in campaign and though I didn’t really find it that tasty I had a glass with everyone else. At this time New Year’s became a big deal because of the celebration. The changing of the Millennium was cool. Seeing and entire century and millennium tick by certainly was interesting.

Once I was finished – at least for the first time – with school New Year’s started to become a demarcation point. My life no longer revolved around School years. Up to now the last day of school every year marked a change for me. I would refer to times when I was in 3^rd grade, or Eighth grade, and then when I was a High School Junior or when I was a freshman in College. I certainly didn’t say back in 85 or 92 or even 97. So the changing of the school year held a lot more weight as a marker in my life. I think this changes though when you get into the so called “real world”. Then you start to see what happed during a given year.

So this was very evident in the only New Year’s I really spent on my own. In 2002 when the year changed to 2003 I was in Iowa. While I went out for drinks with 2 friends for work it really didn’t seem like a celebration. It marked the end of a year that I really felt outcast and on my own. So as I felt detached and a little bit on my own I really notice the changing year. It was also the shortly after that I decided to change jobs, move home, and go back to school. So at that time I saw 2002 as my “away” year and 2003 as a “new start”. And for the past few years every year seems to hold new events and challenges. So New Year’s has become for me, what I think many people also see it as; that is as a demarcation point and a time of reflection.

This was no different. This year I noticed that there was only one person at the party with out a date and who wasn’t in a serious relationship. It was the first time I realized that we (my friends and I) as a grouped have moved into a new place in life. Every one is into their adult careers and are starting to get into, though most are not completely there yet, the family or at least married/seriously committed mode. This was further evident but the people who didn’t show up. AP and MP had just had a baby and had to stay home to take care of the little tyke. The party was fun a simple house party at my buddy’s. There was more wine than beer, there were appetizers beyond bags of chips, and the music was played on low value so people could talk and play games. It was a very nice night. It went to 3 in the morning and a couple of people I guess did stay over night but compared to even 2 years ago it was much more subdued. 2006 was a great year bring on 2007!