You know it will be a bad day in queryville when the director comes down and starts his request with, “get in your wayback machines!” My wayback machine consists of mIRC, Starcraft, and writing half-baked games on my TI-82 graphing calculator. Not queries displaying bad data to bad people. “Do you remember that report you made for us in early 2005?” No, and if you remember it specifically and without prompting or reference, you have problems. I make regular backups for a reason, but usually it’s not that bad. Loading a data snapshot from 3 1/2 years ago to look at it a little differently is too much. Too much. This is all data which exists today in the same form but with today’s numbers. Some bureaucrat had a harebrained idea. Go figure. Yes, that link is entirely unrelated, but you’re not supposed to be paying attention.
When I send an e-mail to a client I keep it relevant, concise, and direct. Replies are varied but usually reliable enough, considering. However, when a client becomes the e-mail black hole, they should not be surprised at a lack of productivity. I send you questions and requirements. You send me answers and resources. That’s the way this works. Unless of course you just want to keep paying. That works too. This brings me to my next topic: fickleness. Change your mind – it’s fine. Just don’t expect me to be done when you haven’t told me what you want. Mind reading is on my invoices.
Long week, and it’s not over. Stay tuned.
