Life of a Contractor

From the “A little bit of Info can mean a lot” Dept

Hi All,

Just wanted to write about something that happened to me today.

I had written a really nice blog last night about what had occured over the first part of the week, but I accidentally lost it.

Anyways, I’m on the bench right now, trying to drum up some more work with my favourite employer, Critical Path Inc.

I’m in the midst of writing a proposal for testing of a new product. Actually, this is the third time I’m writing it.

“Third time? Why are you writing it a third time?”

Good questions.

You see, I want to talk about how not having all the facts straight really makes life difficult. Here goes.

My first proposal for work was based on stuff from the corporate intranet. It featured a demo using TellMe’s VoiceXML parser and speech recognition software solution.

The general outline followed this flow chart:

Simple enough right?

No problem.

So Wednesday I’m chatting with my Mike, UI guru (and my boss). I was on my PC, so I don’t have an exact log of what was said, but this is the basic gist.

Tai: Hey Mike, I have a few questions about the vXML demo.
Mike: What demo are you talking about?
Tai: The vXML demo on the Intranet, and the flow diagram. I’m using it for the proposal.
Mike: You are? That stuff is ages old.
Tai: Oh.
Tai: Well, could you send me something current, then.

Great. Scrap one nearly done proposal and start another with the updated porfolio.

This first time, I feel I was partly at fault. The flow diagram was way to simple. Here’s an edited copy of what the real flow diagram looks like.

And that’s only for a small component of the login procedure.

Eek.

No problem. So I start writing a new proposal for testing. Things are going smoothly, almost done—just need to clear a few more questions with Mike.

Tai: Hey Mike, you there?
Mike: Hiya.
Tai: Got a few more questions…
Mike: Shoot.
Tai: Will TO have a working version of this when I’m there?
Mike: Working version?
Tai: Yeah.
Mike: There is no working version….
Tai: What?
Mike: Yeah.
Tai: Oh. <LONG PAUSE>
Tai: So the flows [flowcharts] are it, eh?
Mike: Yippers. We’re getting usability from the start.
Tai: I guess that’s good. Great really <LONG PAUSE>
Tai: Uh, Mike
Tai: I need some more time with that proposal.

Life is certainly an adventure when you’re a contractor.

STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!

Sigh.

And that is how I miss dinner with some friends.

So I learned an important thing today:

Get the facts straight.

Cheers,

Tai