Black Hole
May contain traces of nut
I think that's going a bit far, even for my ego!It may be apt, in the context of this upcoming weekend, that BH is risen!
Thanks everybody who posted remarks of support, missing my input, welcomes back etc, it is very much appreciated. I did feel as if I was on the front line facing some kind of attack, but that's largely my fault for "living" on here and often being the first-responder! It didn't take much to make me take a break, and I could see it was likely to occupy a lot of my time trying to resolve - which I didn't have available last week (as it was, I became late travelling on the Monday it all kicked off and ended up hitting rush hour traffic I had planned to avoid).
We forum seniors have been sparring with each other for years now, we know what's what. Some time ago I made the comparison with the village pub: old timers in the snug, all bumping along amicably, any arguments well-natured, refined over many years - then some upstart comes along and expects to be welcomed into the circle without first biding his time and watching the lie of the land, all loud and "hail fellow" expecting to get attention. Attention alright: a swift boot up the arse and ejection by the landlord.
I think you all know I have a long background in design engineering - okay, not management but I have plenty of experience of good and bad management (the receiving end)! I'm a hardware man though, so although I can do (and have done) a little bit of software (and rather more firmware), it is inefficient for me to spend my time on it if I don't have to - other people here are much more adept. I can help by documentation and support, so I do, but also by providing systems guidance (like a Section Leader in management terms, providing co-ordination between the different ideas that may be floating around). We are informal, everyone does what they want regardless of suggestions, but I don't think anybody wants to waste their effort on a bad idea.
The best managers I ever had put themselves between the engineers and the customers / higher management. They took the flack and made sure the engineers were not distracted from the intellectual effort of what they were trying to do. That put them (and now me) in the front line.
Anybody who wants to be welcome here is perfectly capable of reading all the primer material and being appropriately informed and deferential. Somebody with an axe to grind will just ignore all the advice even if they read it. I think I have some additions to make in my Newbies Guide though, particularly the "first post please be gentle" idiocy... red rag to a bull!
Last edited: