Sucks like a Dyson
Sucks like a Dyson
I've been on one or two 'death march' projects during my years in IT. Each time I just buckled down and got on with it, and came out the other side saying "never again"
But no project I have ever worked on, no company I have ever worked for (even Razorfish, bless their little cotton socks) has ever treated me so badly as EA appears to treat its staff.
Please read this article by ea_spouse on livejournal.
Microsoft launched a beta of the new MSN search today. Almost quivering with anticipation, I headed over to http://beta.search.msn.com to try it out.
It barfed. Repeatedly.
For the last hour (13:00 to 14:00 GMT) the site has been returning "This site is temporarily unavailable, please check back soon."
Not a great way to start. I appreciate that the launch team are probably all at home tucked up in bed after pulling some very late nights, but you've got to care about how new products are perceived outside the US, as well as inside.
The msnsearch team have also launched a blog which suggests that the service is 'now available'. This is an interpretation of 'available' which I have not come across previously.
I will be 'checking back', but probably tomorrow.
Edit: Wim is also experiencing problems, but he got further than me.
This is a situation that some of you might have been in. Reacting to a requirement for a new project, you need to get some inside knowledge on a particular enterprise application - let's say a big content management system, for example. It's known that the app is fairly popular, but there's just not a lot of info on the web about it. Download all the docs, PDFs, and browse the website, but you don't feel like you're really getting to the meat.
It's a few weeks before you need to start working with this app for real. Oh, no time or budget for a training course. Nevertheless, you feel you'd really benefit from a demonstration of the app from one of the experts.
So I email the company and ask if I can come to their offices and see the app in action. Can't be fairer than that, can I? All I'm asking is for two hours of their time. Benefit to me - I get an insight to the system. Benefit to them - I'm more likely to be enthusiastic about the app when I work with it. Who knows, I might even blog nice things about it.
I contact one of the salesmen and being an honest sort of cove, explain my situation to him. His response? The sales team are 'maxed out' at the moment and can't respond to this kind of request.
I get it - if I have money in my pocket for a new 100 user licence, you'll talk. If I'm just a developer, you're not interested. Who the f*ck do you think makes your app work for you? Do you think it runs by magic? Sod them. Now I've got a downer on the company, and I'm starting from a negative viewpoint of the application.
Which company am I talking about? The more astute amongst you will have worked it out already from my subtle hints in the first couple of paragraphs.
Contrast this behaviour with Buzz Bruggeman and the team from ActiveWords - they'd get up at 4am to demo Active Words to your Grandma if you asked them. And they'd do it with a smile.
tridion
So I want to register for this MS event down in Reading that Tim Sneath mentioned. (it's "What's new in VS 2005", if you're interested)
Fine. Click on Tim's link. Get the event preview page. Click on Register via the web. Whoopee! Automation!
You have to sign in via passport to access this page.
Okay, I can deal with this. Except that the passport login thinks my email is [null] and is asking for a password. Even though I have previously said 'automatically sign me in, suckers'. Enter a password. No joy, red error messages. Click 'sign in with a different email address'. Nothing happens.
Start again. Reload the pages, click on 'sign in with a different email address' again. Succeed. Now I'm prompted to fill in a whole shedload of personal information that I have provided on at least 56 previous occasions. Name. Address. Job Title (choose from an encyclopaedic list of nonsense...shall I go as "Chief Knowledge Officer"? I'd rather be "Head of Misinformation" but it's not on the list)
Submit the form.
Telephone number format is incorrect.
Fine. So what is the correct format? I've entered it in the format 1234 5678, with the code in a different box. No joy. No guidance as to what the 'correct' format it. Try several combinations of numbers. I finally realise that the correct format is 'no spaces between the digits'.
Submit the form.
Oh joy! I'm probably registered. They'll get back to me. Stand by.
This is a Level 300 course. Is the painful registration process designed to filter out dunces who can't cut the mustard above Level 100? Or was it just designed by Marketing droids? We may never know.