Kithop @kithop@social.kithop.ca

*eyes the last/peak CPU usage*

Nice.

While I'm waiting on parts for the Athlon machine, I moved the old P133 box over.

Dug out a copy of Winamp 2.95, and while it doesn't support FLAC, it's handling 320Kbps MP3s just fine. Even playing them directly off a modern Samba share!

...I mean, the lack of MMX is... painful, but it's working?

Luke was so skittish when him and his sister Leia moved in here with my girlfriend, but my Lita (tortie) has warmed up to him over the past year and they're buds now. <3

I've been feeling really gross and sluggish all day. Off and on chest pain, headache, fever, trouble breathing and dizzy spells when trying to exert myself *at all*.

Then I look out the window and realise everywhere is covered in a heavy layer of smoke from the wildfires in the province.

Oh, and there's health warnings/advisories telling everyone to stay inside and don't do anything.

Well, at least it makes sense now? x.x

@Sir_Boops FreeBSD? You know already, same thing. ;p

@alice I tend to think of this along that oft-posted comic: 'We should improve society somewhat!' 'Oh, but you participate in society, hmmm?'

It's OK to want change, even if you don't have the means to affect it right now. Being conscious of it is the first step.

@crazypedia A lot of people will say, 'automate all the things! Automation saves everything!' without realising that finding people who know *how* to properly automate is tough, and automating a flawed/broken process is just as bad.

We did some stuff around 'LEAN' sort of recently here, and I can see where they're coming from - you take a look at your processes and go 'are there steps we really don't need to be doing that can be cut out? Does this team *need* to be CCed on everything by hand?

@crazypedia Growth phases in companies are always hard.

I worked for one place that went from 10 employees to 200 in a couple years...

...and then back down to ~10 as everything collapsed.

Startups are notorious for this, but it can happen anywhere.

A lot of it really can only be mitigated by having well-defined onboarding processes, project management, etc. All business stuff, though there is definitely underlying tech that can help.

@crazypedia External forces being 'well, we need this by this date because if we don't, we lose this big opportunity that could make a huge difference for the company'.

But there are definitely times that managers push too hard without articulating that in any fashion, and projects seem to come out of left field. That's a bad sign. :/

@crazypedia If you find that you're struggling with getting traction on this, unfortunately it can be a sign that there's other, similar issues going on with other groups at the company, and might be a sign to start polishing your CV and looking elsewhere.

Managers need to trust that their staff understand the day-to-day better than they do, but both sides need to understand at least a little about what's driving each other.

Most of the time, external forces are at play, but not always...

@crazypedia Had this happen to me personally more times than I can count.

A couple meetings with my own manager later, and some empassioned 'please remember to include us earlier in the process so we can help serve you better!' e-mails sometimes help, sometimes not. (Pro tip: Always write from the perspective of 'if you do this for us, we can help you / serve you better / save the company money / etc. - "What's in it for me?")

I have left employers for greener pastures over this, however.

@crazypedia Yeah, 'hitting the ground running' is something that happens *a lot* in IT, whether it be onboarding new staff or having projects in use, *in Prod*, before the feature set is even complete!

Can your projects be broken down into smaller deliverables? 'I can get you features X Y and Z soon since you need those first, then these other ones a little later as we ramp up'?

@crazypedia ...don't be surprised if management always, *always* picks the quick/cheap option. In many cases, that's their job - they're being hamstrung by someone else's timelines themselves.

It's not a good situation to be in, and one reason why I actually wouldn't even recommend this career path for many people who aren't prepared for the stress.. :/

@crazypedia One thing I learned really quick is that if you need to push back, or clarification on how to proceed, management types love having clear options presented to them. They're trusting you to understand the technical side of things, and you're trusting them to make informed choices that benefit everyone where possible.

That means you may need to take some time writing quick proposals. Try to limit to no more than 3 or 4 options, with one 'quick/cheap' and one 'good/long term'...

@crazypedia ...and those could range from 'we need X budget and Y ramp-up time to build a new team of people dedicated to supporting projects A B and C' to 'if X budget is not available, then the realistic timeline with current resources is more like foo, and we need to understand what is most critical and what can be delayed'.

As much as I love the *tech* side of sysadmin work, it's actually very much a business position.

@crazypedia Former #sysadmin, now in a bigger group doing weird Sys/Op straddling.

If you're having resourcing issues, being clear with management is key - they're going to give you a bunch of 'we need it yesterday' projects, but if it's genuinely unrealistic when combined, you need to (gently, professionally) push back.

'Out of these projects, what is the list of priorities?'

Basically, your incoming queue sounds like it needs triaging, and management needs to know their options...

@adeptomega I'm not sure going union would fix much; our clients are free to shop around (and do) for their services and their margins are so razer thin these days that 'the cheapest that works' is the name of the game.

It would have to be as part of the entire industry going union, and as neat as that could be, I don't see it happening in tech any time soon.

The member-owned co-op thing feels like one of the 'as close as we can currently get' ideals.