Information Technology Dark Side

Yesterday I had an irritating incident with ZenDesk, the SaaS provider of the help desk used at Collaborative Software Initiative (where I work) and TroopTrack.com (a hobby project of mine). I asked for a new feature in the public forums and got this terse reply from Jake Holman at ZenDesk:
Automations are for batch administrative ticket [...]

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Keith Owens, from East Aurora, NY sent this very intelligent response to my previous post Where are the Smart Caterpillars and Cool Humanoids?. This response came via Dave Harp, a friend and neighbor. Thanks to both Keith and Dave! Here’s Keith’s response in full:
First, taking the big picture, there’s no doubt at all that humans [...]

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I mentioned a few weeks back that this blog was going to have a broader focus than in the past. Well, this post might suggest that I now have a completely random focus! At any rate, it’s my first attempt at waxing philosophical on these pages.
Disclaimer: Don’t Blame Religion
First off, let me make a disclaimer: [...]

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This tip is based on my own experiences of late. I’m very curious how other testers/developers feel about this tip.
State the PROBLEM Clearly in a Single Sentence
It’s easy to confuse stating the CONDITION with stating the PROBLEM. Here are two simple examples, one states the condition, the other states the problem:
The Scout rank does not [...]

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Lo-Glo as You Go
Globalizing and localizing a Rails app isn’t hard work, but it’s mind-numbingly tedious if you have to do it all at once. Trust me. You’ll be happier if you lo-glo as you go, so just do it if there is the slightest possibility you’ll need to later on.
REST Along the Way
I’m not [...]

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A Goal to Dream On
How do you think a company should set it’s growth goals for a SaaS product prior to its launch? What do you think those goals should be? What criteria might you use to figure it out? Would you look at market size, price point, competition market share, etc?
When I [...]

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You are an extrovert.
You consider drugs, alcohol, porn, food, or video games an adequate substitute for human beings.
You value a clear distinction between work and life.
You already have marginal hygiene.
You can’t afford to buy 7 new pairs of pajamas all at once.

That is all. Happy Friday!
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For years, this blog has carried the sub-title “Corporate IT Survival Guide”. It was a testament to my efforts to find success and satisfaction in the oh-so-complicated social nightmare that is the corporate IT cost center.
Over the years, satisfaction became more important than success to me. I realized that hating my job was ruining parts [...]

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Sometimes I struggle, now that I’ve left the dark side (forever), to remember that the old rules don’t apply anymore. When things are going well, it’s easy, but there are occasions when the scars from my decade of toiling away in dysfunctional work environments makes it hard. Times like yesterday and today.
What’s weird about yesterday [...]

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Here’s the job description, from Pete Lacey:
Skills wise, Zend/PHP would be nice, some flavor of agile, plus SQL, Linux, etc. Needs to be someone who’s not afraid of things like Hadoop, graph databases, big-ass search, and the like.
Drop me an email if I just described you.
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