SME-sense

As a person who this summer left the ranks of support for projects, I have a constant and urgent need for SME (subject matter expert) information. In general, I have received a lot of help from a lot of people to come close to succeeding. I'm not a newbie - I'm in my 50th yr of IT.

In that short time since I rotated, it appears to me that we are succeeding on the ability of team members to get their jobs done in spite of the system. There is a lot of information stored between team members ears and much information stored on servers. There is no knowledgebase that pulls it all together. Text search as a technology is, if I remember rightly, about about 5 decades old. Without information organization - a publishing event - one is constantly searching for what which someone else just searched for.

Silos of information have high local optimization of information storage, retrieval and usage. When tearing them down, there needs to be a replacement for the local community.

Going back to the movie Roots, when Alex Hailey found his ancestor in the memory of a local "library" resource, he wrote down the bits and pieces he wanted. Unless others did the same, it was lost when the resource died. Recording the memory would make it serially reusable. Publishing it, in the true sense, requires it to be organized - a rewarding task that only pays off other than in the short term.

a note from the boss on the current company reorganization

A man in a hot air balloon, realizing he was lost, reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended further and shouted to the lady

Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.

The woman below replied,

You're in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude.

You must be in IT,

said the balloonist. Replied the woman,

Actually I am, How did you know?

Answered the balloonist,

Well, everything you have told me is technically correct but I've no idea what to make of your information and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip.

The woman below responded,

You must be in Management.

Replied the balloonist,

I am, but how did you know?

Said the woman,

Well, you don't know where you are or where you’re going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s my f****** fault.

what part of NO don't you understand, the N or the O

[name of guilty party suppressed] wrote on 10/17/2007 4:45:04 PM

For those of you who haven't heard [fellow employee]'s father passed away last week. Even though he has requested that we don't send cards [bold added by editor] I think it would be nice to let him know that he is in our thoughts and prayers. I have a sympathy card at my desk if you would like to sign it.

Thank you,
[name of guilty party suppressed]
Administrative Assistant Sr.

What is the background?

• It is an easily observed phenomenon that some people have s--- for brains (sfb). Several celebutants who have crashed and burned lately come immediately to mind. You don't need links to their stories. Go to People or its ilk.
  
  
• When you have invested over a decade in a job and you mostly enjoy working at the company, you start to take ownership in it. You not only want it to exceed, you want it to excel.
  
  This company uses immense amounts of technology in providing the services to its clients -- some of the biggest and most powerful corporations in the world. Its technology is best of breed.
  
  
• I have decades of experience of working with computer technology. A goodly portion of that time has been working with information presentation.

So where is this all going?

We have an elaborate system for managing projects. One of the collateral results is some documentation of what changes were made to our software.

We have a group whose mission is to document everything for clients. They do a good job. There is some internal documentation. But there is all that information between ears of the techno-workers.

Some of that stuff makes its way into emails. Because there are no tools for storing and organizing information on an ad hoc basis, most people use the email system (Lotus Notes) for storing this information. Because, like all people in this kind of environment, we don't have enough time to keep our electronic plates clean, there is a buildup of e-dross and e-lint -- flotsam and jetsam of the electronic age.

The solution?

Some SFB has decided to enforce a one year retention policy on email. To do this as efficiently as possible less than 8 weeks notice was given.

Sampling the planning of my co-workers, the headline in the Wall Street Journal should read

Company jettisons intellectual property - disdains backup

[I'm out of time for this post. More later.]

So what set me off?

I am at work. A few minutes ago I got up and walked past a co-worker. She is a 2/3 level supervisor.

I think the minimum courtesy at work is to say "Good morning/afternoon/evening/night" the first time you see a person each shift. And do it with a smile. Smiles add beauty to the face. They say

I care enough about you to give you my best!

What she gave me was a mild version of the look. If you have (or have had) a mother, or a wife, or a girl friend, you have seen the look. The fiercest of them can pierce steel.

I know we are reorganizing the company and confusion is reigning supreme. But lighten up! Get with the program! Treat your co-workers as human at all time!