Mini rant #1

This is how I'm feeling today (in response to an innocent mail query of "how's things?")

Today? Crappy! But it's only issues with work that are pissing me off. I really cannot be arsed with this crap any more. I come off as the bad guy becasue I can't magically deliver in a timeframe that's been laid out by the casting of runes and then they ask me for some revised estimates. I point out that they will come when the DS is complete so they ask why it isn't complete yet. I point out that the estimate for the DS was a month so it'll be ready in 2 weeks. They say that makes them 2 weeks behind. I say not in my book because I'm not the one that thought he could conjure system interfaces to 3 new suppliers by farting magic pixie dust over the servers.

Oh, and I like the idea of a mini rant, hence it's #1 - it gives me the option for more.

Do they speak French in Pakistan then?

At the end of January Mark Boyle announced that he was going to walk from Bristol to India on a pilgrimage to Ghandi's birthplace. As part of this trip

He plans not to touch any money and is taking no credit cards or travellers' cheques.

And said that

"I will be offering my skills to people. If I get food in return, it's a bonus"

You'd really think that if he made a load of cash in the dot-com boom he'd be a little more intelligent than that.

But then again, this is typical of the don't-plan-anything-cross-our-fingers-and-hope-for-the-best school of project management that I see all the time. Point out a reasonable objection and it's heads straight in the sand. Come time to cough up the budget though it's the poor schmucks that take the fall for "overestimating". Yeah, right. We do that for fun you know.

If you want more, it takes longer. On a time and materials project that means more money.

Mark here seems to have fallen into just this trap, as there seems to be no mention of the practicalities of his trip.

So how far has he got so far?

Well, France, but now he's home again.

Apparantly, becasue he doesn't speak any French, he was having a hard time convincing people that he was on a spiritual pilgrimige and they thought he was a scrounging homeless immigrant.

According to Radio 4's "Today" program this morning he now plans to bum around the UK a bit and learn French before starting again.

Should be interesting to see what happens when he hits Italy, the Balkans, Turkey, Iran, Palkistan. Or does he think they all speak French as well?

Don't misunderstand me, this is a noble ideal (if you have a load of money and don't need to work, feel like something is sadly lacking for your life and desperately crave your 15 minutes of fame, that is). It's also a noble ideal that might actually have been possible with just the tiniest bit of thought behind it. Something he still seems unwilling to do.

I hope he sold his dotcom business early and isn't still involved in managing it. Must dash off and make sure I don't hold any shares ...