Posts by Doctor Syntax 42400 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Jun 2014
It's an impressive heritage, especially when the Ubuntu spin-offs such as Mint and Zorin are included.
Also remember Devuan - Debian freed from the clutches systemd. The Daedalus release, based on the latest Debisn stable, is just out. My daily driver is already updated. My test laptop had the RC release installed from the ISO a few weeks ago after Debian itself had been upgraded. SWMBO's laptop comes next.
This was also my experience. I also had the advantage of coming into IT as a user. If you were a scientist and wanted a program to do something you either wrote it yourself (my option) or asked somebody who could (me sometimes being the somebody). Back in those days the job title was very often "analyst/programmer". It seemed perfectly natural to sit with the users, listen to what they wanted, write up what I thought that was and then present it back. That rewriting in one's own words is an essential step in gaining mutual assurance that what was said has been understood correctly.
"The specification should include that a given sample of end users should be part of system acceptance"
If you don't bring users into the process before acceptance testing then you're doing so far too late for their input to be of use. It may well be so far askew from what they need that either it will have to be scrapped or, more likely., forced on them regardless of whether they accept it.
"Then run A/B testing on it with the users."
It's my belief that systems in general - but particularly web sites - should be tested by a team consisting of a user, a developer and an invigilator. The user has a series of tasks to carry out. The rules are the only question allowed to be asked by the user and answered by the developer is of the form "Where does it tell me how to ... ?". Officially the invigilator is there to enforce that rule and maybe score the performance. In reality the invigilator is there to stop the other two coming to blows.
"Go talk to a doctor."
Not just one, several. Several in each of the specialities you're supposed be covering. Sketch something out* and then take it back. Only when they've something in front of them will they remember some of what they missed out. What they tell you is likely to be what they were doing last, that's why you might need to keep going back.
* Lot's of ways for this.
-Some sort of RAD system might well serve for this even if it's not what you propose to use.
-Enterprise Architect has an diagram option that uses common UI elements you can arrange, then add what happens for each click or change. It can give you a sketch of what the screen will look like and a narrative of how it works.
- With Informix I could draft out what I thought the main tables the database was like and generate a default Perform screen on that. It was often enough to discuss with the users to get their agreement or refine as needed.
"I would not mind 1-2h on a non-crowded well functioning train as much as I would mind the same time spent on a bus or driving myself."
The reality is more likely to be:
1. Walk to station and wait for erratic train
2. Travel by train
3 Either
3.1.1 Walk from station to Underground station on same line as a station nearish to destination
3.1.2 Ride Underground
3.1.3 Walk to work
or
3.2.1 Go to closest Underground station
3.2.2 Ride to station which is also on a line which goes to a station nearest to work
3.2.3 Change trains
3.2.4 Ride second Underground train to station nearest to work
3.2.4 Walk to work
At end of day reverse except preface "erratic" with "even more" and the strategic decision as to whether to try for the more distant mainline station with a single faster train knowing that if you miss that train you'll have to make your way back to the other station.
Mainline train ride 35 to 55 minutes depending on which mainline station and which service. Total journey time 1 hour 30 minutes on a good day.
Time to think - nil. And you'll probably be standing on all trains.
"in the UK, converting office buildings to apartments is not simple or cheap. The plumbing is laid out all wrong and there are completely different H&S regulations for example. Usually it's cheaper to just knock the building down and start again."
So the owners have three alternatives:
- spend money converting to residential and get some income,
- spend money knocking down and rebuilding and get some income,
- spend less money maintaining an empty building and get no income.
It should be possible to reduce these to two alternatives with a bit of intelligent thought.
They'd probably need a meeting to consider it.
Seriously, it's something to raise with your line management. In plain English - "My status is 'permanently in meetings'. We* would make much better progress if something could be done about it." With "We need to do something about this." ready as a follow up. It then becomes his problem to get the meetings off your back. If it's your manager who calls the meetings then if he's any good he'll realise that it's a problem of his own making. If it's your manager calling the meetings and he isn't any good then it's difficult when you can't get him near a loose window or defective lift.
* Definitely "we" - this is his problem at least as much as yours.
"Our team arranged to all be in the office for one day and that day was spent talking, not coding. We made it a social day."
That doesn't need to be in an office. I worked for a body shop where staff were spread very thinly over the clients' premises. There was a monthly meet-up in a pub with company money behind the bar.
"But, I have also been in teams were the programmers were in the same office and you know what, the projects end up better versus ones where they are all WFH/remote. Why? Because they talked to each other, threw ideas about, overheard something very relevant, etc, etc."
Quite right. Nobody would ever dream of producing something like an operating system any other way.
"they were referring to the choice to change from assigned desks to hot desks"
My last permie job I had a desk with a lot of shelf space occupied by a lot of manuals within arm's reach. It needed to be an assigned desk, a hot desk and a mobile set of drawers wouldn't have cut it.
Of course the idiocracy can still mess up even the assigned desk. Some big-boss visited and said how the low screens in the call centre room made it easier for everyone to collaborate (why, let alone how a group of people in headsets whould be collaborating was never explained). This was taken as a hint by local ruling idiots and over a weekend our high screens were replaced, nothing to support the bookshelf and I found my manuals relocated sell away on a window sill.
"How far in the past do you want to go? Just far enough where the mill was the only place to work and was 15 minutes away (as was the mill owners shop)?"
I'm old enough to remember when the local mills were the main sources of employment and they were within walking distance with a good bus service to take others to work. There's a stretch of about 300 metres of road near here where there were once an independent butcher's shop, a Co-op butcher's shop, two independent grocers' shops a sweet shop, a newsagent/tobacconist a hair-dresser, a pub, a chippy, a joiner's workshop and a garage/filling station. The Co-op grocery was just off that road. Briefly there was also a green-grocer. No mill-owners' shop. It was sustainable.
Currently most of the shops, including both Co-op premises are turned into housing. The garage premises has been built over with several houses. The pub survives and there are two hair-dressers, one being run out of what was (and possibly still is) a house. Most of the local mills are also replaced by housing.
If you look at that road now you will see it lined with parked cars down each side - rather less than full lined during the working day but tightly packed evenings and weekends. The bus service is vestigial but obviously the choices there are work from home, commute by car or retire.
That isn't sustainable: roll on no more ICE private cars to commute and we're either back to work from home, retirement or hope that somebody quickly has a flash of inspiration and converts the remaining unoccupied mill building back into a place of employment.
"East of England generally refers to Norfolk and Suffolk. At least on the weather forecast, which is all that matters."
Context was post worrying about confusing Left-Pondians who won't be listening to UK weather forecasts. Taken literally by someone with no other context the East of England would literally* be anywhere from Northumberland to Kent inclusive.
* Literally literally.
"or are not given the appropriate training to ensure FOIA requests don't leak personal data"
More likely this. A further possible cause is someone being handed the job just before the deadline and not having time to do the job.
Whatever the factors there seems to be a collective lack of quality in this area. Perhaps the forces could join together to set up a central, properly staffed office to which it would be mandatory to send responses to review and release.
"He makes the rather elequent point that the UK's House of Lords reforms meant people with business and other specialised skills & experience could get enobled and given a seat in the Lords."
I'd like to see an arrangement where the president, or whatever the title might be, of the chartered professional institutions* automatically became members. Also far fewer political retreads and definitely no Dorries.
* The Royal Society, the various medical Royal Colleges etc.
"The US, and many countries rely on elections for a slew of official positions, or decisions."
Whoever you vote for you always get a politician. Having politicians make political decisions is inevitable. Having them rather than competent people implement the decisions is madness.
"Best of all, extremists get side-lined where they belong and those who shout loudest don't get any more exposure than they deserve."
Great idea but N. Ireland has shown it not to work. When PR was introduced I hoped and expected to see the moderates such as Alliance hold the balance Instead the Unionist vote migrated from the more moderate parties to the DUP and the SDLP vote to Sinn Fein. The result was power sharing between the two extremes.
"A jury does not rule someone innocent. Only 'not guilty'."
Maybe you need to understand the concept of presumption of innocence. Under English, Welsh and N Irish law (not sure about Scotland with their "not proven") one is assumed to be innocent* until pronounced guilty. I tale it the US adheres to the same principle. There is, therefore, no need for a jury to rule someone innocent - in fact it would be meaningless. If they are not guilty they remain innocent.
* Successive governments have been working on this in regard to justifying surveillance over the last few years but it still just abut stands.
"training people to use RHEL"
This is what the RHEL downstreams did and you see what thanks they got from it. As I understand it this effort is just the opposite: a statement that RHEL isn't needed as there'll be a non-RHEL enterprise standard with wide support with RHEL becoming an outlier.
