For the first time in nearly 3 years, I'm brushing up my resume and doing some job hunting. I don't have a job beyond the next few days and I really should explore my opportunities (w/ the new CDN$). Are salaries in Canada IT increasing/decreasing?

http://www.resumebay.net/resume.aspx/randymorin

I'm simply amazed how virtually every project misses their deadline. On October 9th, a new restaurant was opening in my area called WildWing. It looked good, so I showed up the following week. It was still closed and I was told it would open the next week. I've showed up 3 times now, including yesterday and each time they tell me they will be opening the next week. I joked with one of the stakeholders about how missing deadlines is a certainty these days.

This reminded me of a project at 724 Solutions. The manager and a developer originally estimated 160 hours of work for a task. After a month, I asked the developer how it was going. He said he was almost finished and was on training next week, but it would be finished immediately after he returned. When he returned from training, I asked again and he said "Two more weeks." For eight months, everytime I asked the manager, the VP, the developer, they continued to tell me "Two more weeks." By the end of the project, this small 160 hour task, turned into a team of one manager and 3 developers. It cost about 5000 man hours to complete, excluding QA and wasting of other people's time. Since most all other company initiatives were dependent on this task, everybody's deadlines were either cancelled or postponed for half a year. Dozens of developers sat around with little to do for 6 months. Amazingly, the managers, developers and all involved were either promoted or given raises for completing such an important task.

More and more people are sending large files via email. In order to save a bit of MS-Exchange inbox space some have resorted to compressing their attachments. I send ZIP files all the time myself. But some people are sending me all sorts of non-standard zip files, like BZ2 and zippy. I have no idea what these are, but if I have to install software because you are too lazy to use standard tools, then you are wasting my time and causing unnecessary delays on my project :-(

I always thought I was left brained until I took this test which says that I'm right brained. It's possible I failed the test. I can't even force myself to see the girl turn counter-clockwise.

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22492511-5005375,00.html

I'm beginning to realize that many people get so involved in the path towards their goal, that they forget completely about the goal. They continuous get sidetracked with issues they find along the path. It's like someone taking the path to grandmas and straying from the path to check out flowers. At times, smelling the flowers is important. But you have to weigh the enjoyment of the path against the importance of the goal.

For instance, while driving from Toronto to Edmonton, I stopped by a dozen campers, Mount Rushmore, my sister's house, Yellowstone, Mall of America and much much more. That's because enjoyment of the path to my goal was important.

On the other hand, at work, enjoying the path is much less important. But most workers get so involved in their trivial tasks that they actually do things that prolong the path to their goal. They miss deadlines doing tasks that are irrelevant to the goal. They demand perfection where good-enough is sufficient. They invent reasons why the goal is not urgent or important.

At work. Focus on the goal!