August 30, 2017 at 9:07 am
jasona.work - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:01 AMSean Lange - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 7:40 AMEd Wagner - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 7:23 PMSean Lange - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 2:48 PMSadly....yes.....yes it is. We are replacing one truly awful ERP with a much newer and equally truly awful ERP. But we spent a ton of money and time on this so we are going live. :angry:Going live, no matter how bad it is or how much it costs, right? I've heard that "management directive" before and don't envy you. Be sure to keep the last backup of the old one safe. 😉 Best of luck with your production release. I hope you have time for BBQ this weekend.
The quote from the top decision maker is "we will never be fully ready so we are going on this date". Then after that announcement was made they decided to start looking at what is required to go live. Ready - Fire - Aim!!!
I may not have time for BBQ this weekend but I will certainly find time for a couple of refreshing drinks.
You know why management is fine with setting a date without actually being ready, right?
Because when the go live rolls around, they'll all be home that weekend having BBQ and brews while their "resources" are busy doing the work (for which the managers will get nice bonuses and atta-boys) while the resources spent the entire weekend living on day-old pizza and flat soda trying to fix the major problems before the next workday.
Then, when everyone returns to work and there's still problems (often littler things that don't outright break functionality, but are visible,) the "resources" are brought to task for not having them already fixed despite having sent many, many e-mails and such to the managers telling them these things weren't ready, wouldn't be ready, and couldn't be ready by the mandated go-live date.Or is that just me being cynical?
No, that's you being realistic.
August 30, 2017 at 9:28 am
jasona.work - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:01 AMYou know why management is fine with setting a date without actually being ready, right?
Because when the go live rolls around, they'll all be home that weekend having BBQ and brews while their "resources" are busy doing the work (for which the managers will get nice bonuses and atta-boys) while the resources spent the entire weekend living on day-old pizza and flat soda trying to fix the major problems before the next workday.
Then, when everyone returns to work and there's still problems (often littler things that don't outright break functionality, but are visible,) the "resources" are brought to task for not having them already fixed despite having sent many, many e-mails and such to the managers telling them these things weren't ready, wouldn't be ready, and couldn't be ready by the mandated go-live date.Or is that just me being cynical?
Seems legit.
I remember one company where the senior IT boss type would always book two weeks holiday around the time of any major deployment.
Thomas Rushton
blog: https://thelonedba.wordpress.com
August 30, 2017 at 9:54 am
jasona.work - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:01 AMSean Lange - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 7:40 AMEd Wagner - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 7:23 PMSean Lange - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 2:48 PMSadly....yes.....yes it is. We are replacing one truly awful ERP with a much newer and equally truly awful ERP. But we spent a ton of money and time on this so we are going live. :angry:Going live, no matter how bad it is or how much it costs, right? I've heard that "management directive" before and don't envy you. Be sure to keep the last backup of the old one safe. 😉 Best of luck with your production release. I hope you have time for BBQ this weekend.
The quote from the top decision maker is "we will never be fully ready so we are going on this date". Then after that announcement was made they decided to start looking at what is required to go live. Ready - Fire - Aim!!!
I may not have time for BBQ this weekend but I will certainly find time for a couple of refreshing drinks.
You know why management is fine with setting a date without actually being ready, right?
Because when the go live rolls around, they'll all be home that weekend having BBQ and brews while their "resources" are busy doing the work (for which the managers will get nice bonuses and atta-boys) while the resources spent the entire weekend living on day-old pizza and flat soda trying to fix the major problems before the next workday.
Then, when everyone returns to work and there's still problems (often littler things that don't outright break functionality, but are visible,) the "resources" are brought to task for not having them already fixed despite having sent many, many e-mails and such to the managers telling them these things weren't ready, wouldn't be ready, and couldn't be ready by the mandated go-live date.Or is that just me being cynical?
Not cynical. Sounds like experience to me. 😉
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Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/
August 30, 2017 at 9:57 am
ThomasRushton - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 9:28 AMjasona.work - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:01 AMYou know why management is fine with setting a date without actually being ready, right?
Because when the go live rolls around, they'll all be home that weekend having BBQ and brews while their "resources" are busy doing the work (for which the managers will get nice bonuses and atta-boys) while the resources spent the entire weekend living on day-old pizza and flat soda trying to fix the major problems before the next workday.
Then, when everyone returns to work and there's still problems (often littler things that don't outright break functionality, but are visible,) the "resources" are brought to task for not having them already fixed despite having sent many, many e-mails and such to the managers telling them these things weren't ready, wouldn't be ready, and couldn't be ready by the mandated go-live date.Or is that just me being cynical?
Seems legit.
I remember one company where the senior IT boss type would always book two weeks holiday around the time of any major deployment.
I've experienced the same thing, but not with an IT boss. A project manager would book vacation for the whole week of deployment. The first year could be chalked up to scheduling, but 3 years in a row is a definite pattern. With how flippant they were about specifications, requirements and everything else, It was a miracle the work ever gone done to even be launched.
August 30, 2017 at 6:51 pm
Sean Lange - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 9:01 AMJeff Moden - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:12 AMSean Lange - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 7:40 AMThe quote from the top decision maker is "we will never be fully ready so we are going on this date". Then after that announcement was made they decided to start looking at what is required to go live. Ready - Fire - Aim!!!Hold the phone a minute.... didn't you say that they've been working on this for 3 years and still aren't ready? I hate to be the rock in the snowball but the decision maker might be right.
LOL. To be fair we have three divisions. One has been live for about 1 1/2 years. They are super small and have very little need for anything out of the ordinary. Our second division is our manufacturing division, they have been live for about a year. It is our distribution division that is crazy. As you can imagine there are zillions of exceptions to every rule. The exceptions have exceptions and the rules are not consistent which has made this a nightmare. Yes to some extent the realization that we will never be fully ready is accurate. But we had UAT in March of this year and the mandate was to "test only those parts that you know will work". Meanwhile we were still gathering requirements for segments of the system and designing processes. Now just how did we complete UAT before the design was complete??? We are almost done implementing all the software requirements for the UAT that was done several months ago. Also, keep in mind we are moving from a mainframe app that has been in use for nearly 30 years with dozens and dozens of external applications to "fill in the gaps". For example I received a brand new project last Friday for a whole segment that was just overlooked. The three years could have been cut in half if there had been any project management. But everything is done seat of the pants. For example, we are 2 1/2 working days away from going live....there has not been a single meeting with the IT staff to discuss a deployment plan. It is just assumed we will all do whatever it is to get it working.
Sounds like you are having to deal with a broken process and have little ability to fix it.
UAT sounds like tossing a prototype at them, then getting fixes / enhancements.
Maybe when the dust settles everyone can have a productive discussion on improving the whole process.
Big project or small, the process is basically the same. Just the number of tasks change.
We had an IT head that was a programmer before moving up. Fix was not all on the programmer - Business signed off UAT at some point. And Enhancement came with some questions if it should have been a core requirement from the start. So he brought a lot more of the importance of getting things right the first time into our process, from both business and IT perspectives.
I will have a Castle Danger for you over the weekend. Probably while drowning a minnow.
Hope it goes well.
August 30, 2017 at 7:22 pm
Jeff Moden - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:12 AMSean Lange - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 7:40 AMThe quote from the top decision maker is "we will never be fully ready so we are going on this date". Then after that announcement was made they decided to start looking at what is required to go live. Ready - Fire - Aim!!!Hold the phone a minute.... didn't you say that they've been working on this for 3 years and still aren't ready? I hate to be the rock in the snowball but the decision maker might be right.
Almost every major project I've worked on has been 3 - 5 year development cycles and never ready to go live.
But... These have all been AAA video games. Anyone who knows video games, most all are never ready for launch.
To be fair though, it's not as easy as I'm making it sound to pick a launch date on something that requires that long to develop with a 200-man development team and about 50 million+ dollars in budget.
August 31, 2017 at 6:42 am
Greg Edwards-268690 - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 6:51 PMSean Lange - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 9:01 AMJeff Moden - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:12 AMSean Lange - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 7:40 AMThe quote from the top decision maker is "we will never be fully ready so we are going on this date". Then after that announcement was made they decided to start looking at what is required to go live. Ready - Fire - Aim!!!Hold the phone a minute.... didn't you say that they've been working on this for 3 years and still aren't ready? I hate to be the rock in the snowball but the decision maker might be right.
LOL. To be fair we have three divisions. One has been live for about 1 1/2 years. They are super small and have very little need for anything out of the ordinary. Our second division is our manufacturing division, they have been live for about a year. It is our distribution division that is crazy. As you can imagine there are zillions of exceptions to every rule. The exceptions have exceptions and the rules are not consistent which has made this a nightmare. Yes to some extent the realization that we will never be fully ready is accurate. But we had UAT in March of this year and the mandate was to "test only those parts that you know will work". Meanwhile we were still gathering requirements for segments of the system and designing processes. Now just how did we complete UAT before the design was complete??? We are almost done implementing all the software requirements for the UAT that was done several months ago. Also, keep in mind we are moving from a mainframe app that has been in use for nearly 30 years with dozens and dozens of external applications to "fill in the gaps". For example I received a brand new project last Friday for a whole segment that was just overlooked. The three years could have been cut in half if there had been any project management. But everything is done seat of the pants. For example, we are 2 1/2 working days away from going live....there has not been a single meeting with the IT staff to discuss a deployment plan. It is just assumed we will all do whatever it is to get it working.
Sounds like you are having to deal with a broken process and have little ability to fix it.
UAT sounds like tossing a prototype at them, then getting fixes / enhancements.
Maybe when the dust settles everyone can have a productive discussion on improving the whole process.
Big project or small, the process is basically the same. Just the number of tasks change.
We had an IT head that was a programmer before moving up. Fix was not all on the programmer - Business signed off UAT at some point. And Enhancement came with some questions if it should have been a core requirement from the start. So he brought a lot more of the importance of getting things right the first time into our process, from both business and IT perspectives.I will have a Castle Danger for you over the weekend. Probably while drowning a minnow.
Hope it goes well.
I wish the process was broken. That would mean it is fixable. We don't have a process, it is just "cowboy it up". Quite frustrating. Thanks for the beer in my honor, looks like a great brewery.
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Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.
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Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/
August 31, 2017 at 7:39 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:58 AMGilaMonster - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 2:46 PMSeptember's a horrible month for me. I've got the three local SQLSaturdays on consecutive weekends, a trial SQL event next week wednesday (to see if there's enough interest in Port Elisabeth to run a SQLSat next year), and then my company's internal dev showoff event the week after the 3rd SQLSaturday, which I'm also presenting at.8 presentations in 20 days.
Someone remind me why I do this again...
For the kitties.
and to pay the book bill
Kitties are going to be ready to disown me by mid-November.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
August 31, 2017 at 8:00 am
Sean Lange - Thursday, August 31, 2017 6:42 AMI wish the process was broken. That would mean it is fixable. We don't have a process, it is just "cowboy it up". Quite frustrating. Thanks for the beer in my honor, looks like a great brewery.
You have a process, even if it is just "cowboy it up". I kind of have to wonder if the one who set the date is open to suggestions and has any influence to move things in the right direction.
When I worked in Operations, the head of IT considered me their worst nightmare, Many times when they were too slow to respond to the business, I was asked to build something to fill the gap. So I was the cowboy. Landed in the Data Warehouse group after the manager had lost a couple people in a cutback. He had HR evaluate what I did on a daily basis - was it Operations or IT work?
I went from the chaos of everyone depending it tailored to them, to build scalable flexible solutions. So I think I have a pretty good idea of what you are dealing with, and can see the frustration.
Castle Danger actually started up in a garage about half a dozen years ago. To see the growth - place overlooking the lake (which has already been expanded) and distribution in cans pretty widely statewide in such a short time, has been amazing. Almost easily understood once you sample some of the offerings.
If you get up to Minnesota, give it a try. My brother in law, who is kind of a beer snob, walked out of the garage with a couple growlers stating "that's the best IPA I've ever had".
August 31, 2017 at 8:11 am
Greg Edwards-268690 - Thursday, August 31, 2017 8:00 AMSean Lange - Thursday, August 31, 2017 6:42 AMI wish the process was broken. That would mean it is fixable. We don't have a process, it is just "cowboy it up". Quite frustrating. Thanks for the beer in my honor, looks like a great brewery.You have a process, even if it is just "cowboy it up". I kind of have to wonder if the one who set the date is open to suggestions and has any influence to move things in the right direction.
When I worked in Operations, the head of IT considered me their worst nightmare, Many times when they were too slow to respond to the business, I was asked to build something to fill the gap. So I was the cowboy. Landed in the Data Warehouse group after the manager had lost a couple people in a cutback. He had HR evaluate what I did on a daily basis - was it Operations or IT work?
I went from the chaos of everyone depending it tailored to them, to build scalable flexible solutions. So I think I have a pretty good idea of what you are dealing with, and can see the frustration.Castle Danger actually started up in a garage about half a dozen years ago. To see the growth - place overlooking the lake (which has already been expanded) and distribution in cans pretty widely statewide in such a short time, has been amazing. Almost easily understood once you sample some of the offerings.
If you get up to Minnesota, give it a try. My brother in law, who is kind of a beer snob, walked out of the garage with a couple growlers stating "that's the best IPA I've ever had".
That person certainly has the influence but the ego gets in the way of taking suggestions even when delivered in the most courteous way possible. The upside is that overall this is a great place to work (I have been here for 9 years) and retirement is not far away for that person. In many aspects things have steadily been improving in my tenure here but occasionally things go south like this project.
I would have to argue with your brother in law...there is no such thing as a good IPA. 😉 Not really sure when it happened but hoppy beers like IPAs have become really popular. I personally can't stand hoppy beers, but I am definitely a beer snob.
_______________________________________________________________
Need help? Help us help you.
Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.
Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/
August 31, 2017 at 8:20 am
GilaMonster - Thursday, August 31, 2017 7:39 AMSteve Jones - SSC Editor - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:58 AMGilaMonster - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 2:46 PMSeptember's a horrible month for me. I've got the three local SQLSaturdays on consecutive weekends, a trial SQL event next week wednesday (to see if there's enough interest in Port Elisabeth to run a SQLSat next year), and then my company's internal dev showoff event the week after the 3rd SQLSaturday, which I'm also presenting at.8 presentations in 20 days.
Someone remind me why I do this again...
For the kitties.
and to pay the book bill
Kitties are going to be ready to disown me by mid-November.
If your kitties are anything like ours, they really don't care.
August 31, 2017 at 10:56 am
Lynn Pettis - Thursday, August 31, 2017 8:20 AMGilaMonster - Thursday, August 31, 2017 7:39 AMSteve Jones - SSC Editor - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:58 AMGilaMonster - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 2:46 PMSeptember's a horrible month for me. I've got the three local SQLSaturdays on consecutive weekends, a trial SQL event next week wednesday (to see if there's enough interest in Port Elisabeth to run a SQLSat next year), and then my company's internal dev showoff event the week after the 3rd SQLSaturday, which I'm also presenting at.8 presentations in 20 days.
Someone remind me why I do this again...
For the kitties.
and to pay the book bill
Kitties are going to be ready to disown me by mid-November.
If your kitties are anything like ours, they really don't care.
With the family away for the summer and me travelling for work, only seeing the kitten once in a while, I agree with Lynn, the kitten is ever so friendly when it needs something, otherwise does its own things.
😎
August 31, 2017 at 10:57 am
Lynn Pettis - Thursday, August 31, 2017 8:20 AMGilaMonster - Thursday, August 31, 2017 7:39 AMSteve Jones - SSC Editor - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:58 AMGilaMonster - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 2:46 PMSeptember's a horrible month for me. I've got the three local SQLSaturdays on consecutive weekends, a trial SQL event next week wednesday (to see if there's enough interest in Port Elisabeth to run a SQLSat next year), and then my company's internal dev showoff event the week after the 3rd SQLSaturday, which I'm also presenting at.8 presentations in 20 days.
Someone remind me why I do this again...
For the kitties.
and to pay the book bill
Kitties are going to be ready to disown me by mid-November.
If your kitties are anything like ours, they really don't care.
With the family away for the summer and me travelling for work, only seeing the kitten once in a while, I agree with Lynn, the kitten is ever so friendly when it needs something, otherwise does its own things.
😎
September 1, 2017 at 2:02 am
Greg Edwards-268690 - Thursday, August 31, 2017 8:00 AMMy brother in law, who is kind of a beer snob, walked out of the garage with a couple growlers stating "that's the best IPA I've ever had".
*snigger*
Thomas Rushton
blog: https://thelonedba.wordpress.com
September 1, 2017 at 6:56 am
Man the editor is just so bizarre. When posting links it tends to extend the link to text beyond what you type in the link popup and then you can't fix it. And it seems like everytime a link is posted it does that strange behavior of moving the cursor to random spots in the text window.
_______________________________________________________________
Need help? Help us help you.
Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.
Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/
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