Appreciation
There are times in all our work lives when we have an issue to resolve, that seems relatively easy and hence we don't pay too much attention to it......not neccessarily because we are lazy, but simply because we have other more important tasks to do. What happens, is that this particular task enters the pipeline of 'Things to do' and stays there for quite a while.
A few weeks back, I had such an issue. As usual, my first thought was:
'Ohh that's easy, shouldn't be much of a problem. I'll run my script and it should be taken care off. I'll sit and resolve other pending issues.'
The other issues were soon closed and to my disappointment, I find that 'task-A' hasn't shown any improvement.
'No issues.....I'll slightly modify my automated script and I shouldn't need to worry too much about it'
But all modifications and innovations fail to solve the problem and by the time I realize that, one week has already passed. The weekly report sent to the customer simply says 'still working on it'.
Another few days pass, before I realize that automation isn't the answer to the problem. Reports are sent out to the customer who replies with a very clear message - "You need to do a lot of work mate!!!"
I have a small meeting with my project manager who echoes the same message with a piece of advice - "Take up this task as first priority"
And so I set out to try and solve the issue manually. Another few days pass by the time I understand that, to really solve the issue I need to re-run the previous task since that was what caused all the problem!!!
This directly means a loss of 24 hrs of machine runtime and a weekend full of work to try and get hold of the problem. Soon, Tuesday arrives and the weekly update again says - "need to re-run previous tasks. Seems XYZ is the problem"
My Manager attends the weekly conference call and comes up next day and simply says:
"I can't hold them back for too long....we need results by this friday!!!"
That means that I have two working days to try and get some solution to 'task-A'.
This part of my life is called 'WORRY'...........
I start to put in extra hours of work..... to no avail......which calls for some inspiration in the form of a song to pump me up....
The following one from the movie 'Lakshya' was of special help -
"Haan .....yehi rasta hain tera....tune ab jaana hain.... ............................ roke tujko andhiyan....kya zameen ya aasman.....paayega, jo lakshya hain tera...!!!!"
Alas....All inspiration fails to find answers on Thursday and I go to some seniors for advice. They give me 5 possible solutions. I can't try all five by Friday and analyze it down to two or maximum three. Two late nights of work with multiple simulation runs show no signs, that would bring a smile on my face.
Finally, it's Friday and it is not untill early afternoon that I see a glimmer of hope. I am not sure of my findings....especially because I have been flooded with multiple tries of simulations and databases and this could just be a false alarm. I report this to my Manager, who confirms that this could be a problem with the code we recived from our customer.
Phew...........but it's still I have no solution!!!!
By afternoon, I discover two more issues which occured from my side. But the bug in the code, seems to now appear as the main culprit. My Manager asks me for a summary so that he can explain this to the customer in his friday night conf. call.
So I sit down and draft a brief summary of what bug there is in the code and what other issues we have seen. The aim is to try and explain everything possible to 'Mr. Manager' to ease his task in explianing it on the phone to the customer, who I expect to get back to us with the following response -
"How come you didn't catch this earlier....it's been almost three weeks now!!!!"
I send the mail out and leave for home.
Late on Friday night as I log-in to check my emails, I find that my Manager has replied to my email. I didn't know what to expect as I clicked on the email.
To my surprise, the reply is just a one-liner, which contains the following words:
"Excellent summary......Good work"
I look further up and see that the 'cc' list contains all the big-wigs in my company and also the same designates on the customer side.
After a long long time there is a smile on my face.
This part of my life is called 'HAPPYNESS'.......
Hard work doesn't go unnoticed guys......be inspired and keep walking.....
A few weeks back, I had such an issue. As usual, my first thought was:
'Ohh that's easy, shouldn't be much of a problem. I'll run my script and it should be taken care off. I'll sit and resolve other pending issues.'
The other issues were soon closed and to my disappointment, I find that 'task-A' hasn't shown any improvement.
'No issues.....I'll slightly modify my automated script and I shouldn't need to worry too much about it'
But all modifications and innovations fail to solve the problem and by the time I realize that, one week has already passed. The weekly report sent to the customer simply says 'still working on it'.
Another few days pass, before I realize that automation isn't the answer to the problem. Reports are sent out to the customer who replies with a very clear message - "You need to do a lot of work mate!!!"
I have a small meeting with my project manager who echoes the same message with a piece of advice - "Take up this task as first priority"
And so I set out to try and solve the issue manually. Another few days pass by the time I understand that, to really solve the issue I need to re-run the previous task since that was what caused all the problem!!!
This directly means a loss of 24 hrs of machine runtime and a weekend full of work to try and get hold of the problem. Soon, Tuesday arrives and the weekly update again says - "need to re-run previous tasks. Seems XYZ is the problem"
My Manager attends the weekly conference call and comes up next day and simply says:
"I can't hold them back for too long....we need results by this friday!!!"
That means that I have two working days to try and get some solution to 'task-A'.
This part of my life is called 'WORRY'...........
I start to put in extra hours of work..... to no avail......which calls for some inspiration in the form of a song to pump me up....
The following one from the movie 'Lakshya' was of special help -
"Haan .....yehi rasta hain tera....tune ab jaana hain.... ............................ roke tujko andhiyan....kya zameen ya aasman.....paayega, jo lakshya hain tera...!!!!"
Alas....All inspiration fails to find answers on Thursday and I go to some seniors for advice. They give me 5 possible solutions. I can't try all five by Friday and analyze it down to two or maximum three. Two late nights of work with multiple simulation runs show no signs, that would bring a smile on my face.
Finally, it's Friday and it is not untill early afternoon that I see a glimmer of hope. I am not sure of my findings....especially because I have been flooded with multiple tries of simulations and databases and this could just be a false alarm. I report this to my Manager, who confirms that this could be a problem with the code we recived from our customer.
Phew...........but it's still I have no solution!!!!
By afternoon, I discover two more issues which occured from my side. But the bug in the code, seems to now appear as the main culprit. My Manager asks me for a summary so that he can explain this to the customer in his friday night conf. call.
So I sit down and draft a brief summary of what bug there is in the code and what other issues we have seen. The aim is to try and explain everything possible to 'Mr. Manager' to ease his task in explianing it on the phone to the customer, who I expect to get back to us with the following response -
"How come you didn't catch this earlier....it's been almost three weeks now!!!!"
I send the mail out and leave for home.
Late on Friday night as I log-in to check my emails, I find that my Manager has replied to my email. I didn't know what to expect as I clicked on the email.
To my surprise, the reply is just a one-liner, which contains the following words:
"Excellent summary......Good work"
I look further up and see that the 'cc' list contains all the big-wigs in my company and also the same designates on the customer side.
After a long long time there is a smile on my face.
This part of my life is called 'HAPPYNESS'.......
Hard work doesn't go unnoticed guys......be inspired and keep walking.....
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