Leave It Behind > Brian Bailey

Progress

Today was a long day that I'm happy to say ended well. We had another great time at the ballpark watching Ben, and he rewarded us with his second double in two games! It was another great hit down the left-field line that nearly reached the fence. He also made the second-to-last out on a great play at pitcher. His team is now 5-0.

And late in the evening I finally finished the requirements document that has been weighing on me for the past week. Of course, calling it a requirements documents does a disservice to requirements documents everywhere, but it was my best attempt at summarizing an upcoming software project. I am comfortable admitting I was completely out of my comfort zone with this project; I'm thrilled to be moving on to the actual development process.

Press(ing) Conference

Tonight, President Bush held a primetime press conference, primarily to address the situation in Iraq. I'm disappointed to say how, well, disappointed I was in his performance. Though I support the president's policy in Iraq, his lack of clarify and general defensiveness is not helpful. Not only did he give the impression of being unprepared, he gave a number of terrible answers, particularly when asked if losing the upcoming election would change his conviction on the war. Incredibly, his first response was, "I don't think I'll lose," which he followed with a lengthy speech on why he was going to win in November. Only at the very end did he talk about the soldiers and their families. Here is the answer I was looking for:

If I lose this election, and Iraq is free, I will have served my country with honor. If I lose this election, and America is a safer place, I will have served my country with honor. If I lose this election, and civilizied nations are united in their determination to defeat terrorisim, I will have served my country with honor.

I was elected President of the United States to serve and defend this country, and that is what I have done. And far greater than my service, is the service of each and every member of our Armed Services, who have given so much of their heart, passion, patriotism, and in far too many cases, their lives, to serve this great nation and free millions from tyranny.

I did not become President to win elections. I became President to preserve and project this country, and that is what I will do until my final day in office, which will be at the people's choosing.

Next question.

The Waiting Game

Will Apple ever update the PowerBook and PowerMac lines? This has been one of the quietest quarters at Apple in a long time. Almost as significant, I don't remember when I have seen the homepage remain the same for this long. Of course, this can only mean that great things are just around the corner, right?

Easter Sunday

Today was such a wonderful rarity - a long, peaceful day at home with just the three of us. We had a wonderful Easter Sunday together as a family, filled with great food, conversation, reading and warmth. Ben enjoyed his Easter basket, including the traditional pack of baseball cards.

I have to admit that it was not only holy and serene...we did watch Trading Spaces: Home Free in the evening!

Better Saturday

The weather turned surprisingly cold and dreary today. Ben's sleepover was extended until nearly 2:00 in order to include yet another Easter Egg hunt and lunch. He had a great time.

We went to the excellent Easter service in the afternoon and then volunteered afterward. Ben and I watched a great Ranger victory into the evening. We are all looking forward to a quiet day together tomorrow.

Good Friday

Today began the first of 9 identical Easter services at Fellowship. It should be an incredible weekend.

Even after working at a church for nearly 4 years, I still find it strange that the holidays for most everyone are, for us, the church-equivalent of the day-after-Thanksgiving sales for the retail world. I always have to remind myself that there is little reason to ask a church employee what their plans are for Easter or Christmas, for the plan is always the same; to retreat into a sleep-filled coma on Sunday afternoon following 9 or more services. And unlike nearly every other profession, the weekend after is just as important, if not more. I think most church leaders would say that it isn't terribly difficult to get people to attend during Easter and Christmas. The true challenge is to get people to come back the next weekend.

Baseball

[Archive post from 10/5/2003]

This has been a wonderful baseball weekend with Ben. On Saturday morning, he played his best game of baseball ever. For the first time, he was 4 for 4, with 4 singles and 3 runs scored, one all the way from first base. He made a good play at third base for an out, and then, we he was playing second, he was part of a triple play! There was a man (well, boy) on first and second. The batter hit a pop fly toward third. The third baseman caught it and then threw to Ben at second for the second out. Then Ben threw to first for the third out! It was quite a play. After watching baseball all afternoon, then church and shopping, we celebrated his accomplishment with an awesome milkshake at Tin Star.

Unfortunately, Ben wasn't able to stay up late enough to see Trot Nixon's extra-inning home run last night to win the game for Boston. But we were able to watch the entire game today and it was definitely one of the best playoff games we've watched. We can't wait for tomorrow's 5th game.

Last Day

The moment I walked into the office this morning, I knew it was going to be a unique and challenging day. Thursday was both our graphic designer's last day and the last day before Easter and our nine services. There was a huge amount left to accomplish, but we managed to work through it fairly well. We also began laying the groundwork for an immense project that is heading our way, but I can't go into details on that just yet.

On the homefront, it was also Ben's last day before a 4-day weekend. He has a sleep-over Friday night that he is very excited about, and we should be able to enjoy a lot of reading, baseball, and relaxation.

Leap

[Archive post from 10/2/2003]

On Tuesday, we found out that Ben has been chosen for the Leap enrichment program at his school! We are so thrilled! He has been in Leap most of his first two years, but this is the first time that it is official. He has had to take innumerable tests over these years and we are so proud of him for doing so well and not giving up. We believe this means that he will be in the program for the rest of his elementary years, which makes all of us very happy. Hopefully today will be his first day and he will have exciting news to report.

To celebrate his achievement, he choose Sonic for dinner (as always) and we enjoyed a Family Movie Night with Holes. It was completely different than I expected, but really very good and highly original. Definitely recommended, at least for older children.

Requirements for Dummies

I have to admit that project management and requirements gathering are both fairly miserable experiences for me. Unfortunately, they are an essential part of technology work, particularly software and web development. What is it that is so frustrating?

With project management, I find it difficult to continually lead a process that I am not heavily contributing to. In other words, demanding results from employees, or worse yet, contractors, who are performing work that I am incapable of doing, yet being responsible for the project's timeliness. Mind you, I am fully aware that this is Management 101 and as common as work itself. I just find it more challenging than most.

I actually dislike gathering requirements more. I'm confident that the primary reason is I'm inexperienced at doing it right, but I have to say, I've yet to see it done successfully, even by those who know what they're doing. My primary frustration here is the same pattern is seen at the end of each project:

1. Some % of requirements were met perfectly
2. Some % of requirements were misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly
3. Some % of requirements were missed in the original scope
4. Nobody cares about #1
5. Customer will remain unsatisfied until #2 and #3 are fixed, not as part of an ongoing development process, but as a continuation of a failed project

How do you work diligently to improve something that is inherently inadequate?