Productive
Posted: Thu 26 April, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »Oh yeah, the meeting yesterday went fine – very productive, got a lot of stuff sorted out and now it’s all ready to go.
Well, I say “ready to go”, I mean “ready for me to start working on it to figure out how the hell everything will be working out”.
But all told, yes, very positive.
Out of Office
Posted: Wed 25 April, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Own Business, Work-related | 4 Comments »Updates are likely to be sparse today (well, sparser than normal) as I’m in a meeting with a different client today. This is the one I recently added to my portfolio (he says, sounding grand) which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
Basically, it’s a start-off meeting, laying out all the requirements and plans for the next month or three, and seeing where we go from here. It’s also a meeting with a supplier of tailored news feeds for the site in question, which should be interesting.
So yes, I’m out of the office (although signed up with a wireless account – God love wireless, it doesn’t half make life easier) and in a couple of meetings for the main part of the day. Have fun…
Awesome
Posted: Tue 24 April, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Work-related | 8 Comments »Out of interest, how impressed/despairing/sarcastic should I be when I discover that a company has hired a ‘webmaster’ who turns out to have absolutely no knowledge of HTML or CSS ?
And should I then take on any web-related work through that company?
Automatic Lighting
Posted: Wed 18 April, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Weirdness, Work-related | 5 Comments »A while ago, I wrote about the lighting in our office, which has automatic sensors, meaning that the lights go off if no-one’s around. All very useful and energy-saving I’m sure. These lights are also in use in the toilets, which makes life more fun. There’s a delay of a couple of seconds once you’ve walked in, where you’re still in darkness before the lights go “Oh, bloody hell, there’s someone in here – best get to work”
What I have discovered, though, is that if you’re bored or in a silly mood, you can evade the sensors. Yes, it’s pitch-dark in there, but still, you can evade them. It’s all a bit “Mission: Impossible”, and involves sneaking along, wedged right up again the wall, so that you’re out of the sensor’s range.
What I have also discovered though, is that if you’ve done that, and then someone else walks in, they give you a very strange “What the hell are you doing?” look…
The 12 Breeds of Client
Posted: Tue 17 April, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Own Business, Work-related | 3 Comments »(via Gordon)
The Twelve Breeds of Client, and how to work with them.
I think I’ve worked with all of them!
Stupidity 2 : Email
Posted: Mon 16 April, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Weirdness, Work-related | 1 Comment »It’s going to be one of those days where silliness runs rife…
I’ve just received this (at 10.20) by email…
Due to the continuing issues with the mail server we will be rebooting the server at 10:00 this morning. The service should be available again by 10:30. Again, we apologise for any inconvenience.
So, sending out an email to tell people that the email server is down…
Workload Chaos
Posted: Fri 13 April, 2007 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related | 1 Comment »At the start of March, I was doing OK. I had my normal full-time work, one client site that needed the final bits done to it now that the proof-of-concept had worked, and one ‘own project’ site that was coming together nicely. In addition, I was busy quoting for work, and sounding out a couple of potential clients – not in a stupid way, though, as I was fully expecting one to come in quite quickly, and the other to take a bit of time before it all got off the ground. It was at least semi-organised, and semi-planned.
Six weeks later, I think that it’s just possible I’m on the edge of a precipice above shit creek. As well as normal full-time work, which is ongoing, I’ve now got not one but two client sites that need working on. Like, right now. Both could (if not downright should) be full-time jobs in their own right, but they’re both part-time.
And that would be (just about) OK if it weren’t for the additional fact that there’s still that other client site that still needs the final bits doing (and a name to be decided upon). Oh, and another one from the same client that stands to be a useful little project, where I’ve got the domain name(s) sorted, and currently not much else.
And then there’s all the house stuff as well. Oops.
In the name of sanity, I’m not going to work on any ‘own project’ sites for a couple of months while I get everything else dealt with. (Well, I say that, but I bet it changes…)
Thankfully, at least one of the two client sites that needs working on is going to take a week or so in order to get everything set up satisfactorily in the first place. That might just give me the time I need to look at that longer-term-outstanding site, and get it sorted/finalised. That’s if I’m lucky.
I know, this is always the way it ends up happening, particularly with IT, websites, and, well, just being self-employed. That doesn’t make it any easier then things suddenly jump from ‘ambling along, doing fine’ to ‘holy crap, loads to do’ though, no matter how many times it’s happened before, or even with the knowledge that it’ll be absolutely sure to happen again. Best laid plans, and all that.