diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | assault.mdwn | 6 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | conflict.mdwn | 22 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | devsetup.mdwn | 14 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | negotiation.mdwn | 14 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | newhardware.mdwn | 28 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | origin.mdwn | 2 |
6 files changed, 43 insertions, 43 deletions
diff --git a/assault.mdwn b/assault.mdwn index 213004d..18d38c5 100644 --- a/assault.mdwn +++ b/assault.mdwn @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ # Assault -It's been a couple of weeks. It's late on Thursday evening. Anna is +It's been a couple of weeks. It's late on a Thursday evening. Anna is sitting in the subway train, on a bench. On the Helsinki subway the trains are orange, and the benches are orange. The benches are in pairs to form booths, ostensibly to get the famously asocial locals to @@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ avoid his dirty shoes. The train ride continues for a while. Dumber keeps accidentally kicking the Playstation, and trying to grab the food bag from Dumb. -Dumb keeps the bag out reach and complaining about the safety of his +Dumb keeps the bag out of reach and complaining about the safety of his gaming equipment. Dumber gets bored and starts looking at Anna, then poking her with his @@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ a while." She turns off her laptop, and packs it in her backpack, then slinks out of the office to go home. On the way she stops at a grocery store, -to fill up on foodstuffs: bananas, appled, pears, and pine apple for a +to fill up on foodstuffs: bananas, apples, pears, and pine apple for a fruit salad; eggs, milk, flour, and butter for pancakes. She fully intends to pamper herself with unhealthy food. diff --git a/conflict.mdwn b/conflict.mdwn index be0993c..bb298cb 100644 --- a/conflict.mdwn +++ b/conflict.mdwn @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ the middle of something, finish that, I can start on my own." In a minute, I hear Robin's combat boots stomping towards my office. She throws open my door, not bothering to knock. Oh good, I've upset her. Robin steps into my office and stands in front of my desk. In -addition to black, leather boots, she's wearing cargo trousers, and a +addition to black leather boots, she's wearing cargo trousers, and a photographer's multi-pocketed vest over a thin, green, army sweater and a uniform dress shirt. It's one of her favourite outfits, on days when she doesn't expect to have to deal with customers in person. @@ -226,9 +226,9 @@ chic. Andy is likewise dressed in a suit, though without a tie. The SmartHome engineers are slowly dripping into the room, in ones and twos. They are talking with each other, about other things they're in -middle of in their own jobs. Among the final ones, a couple of +the middle of in their own jobs. Among the final ones, a couple of 20-somethings, dressed in loud Hawaii shirts and ripped jeans, enter -the the room, stop, and look at Robin. +the room, stop, and look at Robin. One of them pokes the other in the arm, and speaks, not loudly, but loud enough to be heard over the quiet discussion of the others. "See, @@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ do?" Anders looks surprised. "I merely said she looks lesbian. You know, woman in a suit and tie and so on. Also, she's always so aggressive, -telling us to what to do." Robin keeps her face as stony as she can, +telling us what to do." Robin keeps her face as stony as she can, but it's clear she's fuming. Sam shakes his head. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave @@ -347,13 +347,13 @@ tell him to sit out of the meeting." I nod, and look Robin right in the eyes. "Andy's right, you didn't do anything wrong. It was Sam's job to handle the situation. He handled -it badly, that's not our fault. That said, and please don't take this is +it badly, that's not our fault. That said, and please don't take this as any kind of attack or complaint against yourself, I wish it would've -been possible to handle this in entirely privately. It might have +been possible to handle this entirely privately. It might have resulted in less confrontation." After an impressive grimace, Robin agrees. "Maybe I should've done -that. But I wasn't feeling like giving the buy a break. However, even +that. But I wasn't feeling like giving the boy a break. However, even so, I'm not out for his neck. Would it be possible for you to let Sam know that I'm OK if Anders isn't fired?" @@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ harassment to pass. Not even as a joke." spend the night getting angrier, and do something stupid." We hang up. It's getting late, but I have one more chore to do, and -I'd better to it while I still have things clearly in my mind. I write +I'd better get to it while I still have things clearly in my mind. I write a description of the incident in our company internal blog, which acts as an internal knowledge base. This will let everyone in the Team know what has happened. It also means we won't forget it, and we can use @@ -456,15 +456,15 @@ would've been fine to postpone the presentation by a day or two, to let everyone calm down, but sounds like Robin and you did it well." Andy finally goes home. Even he shows signs of it having been a long, -stressful day. Nobody like confrontations like that. Except maybe the +stressful day. Nobody likes confrontations like that. Except maybe the kind of macho brogrammer jerk that Anders seems to be like. -I do a final round around the office, and find everywhere to be dark. I get +I do a final round around the office, and find everything to be dark. I get my things, turn off the remaining lights, and go home. It's dark, and wet. The street is old cobblestones, shiny, and there's more rain coming down softly. The stones are slippery, but I'm dressed for the weather. It's late enough that it's long past rush hour, so while the streets -aren't empty, there's only occasional cars. At the same time it's not +aren't empty, there are only occasional cars. At the same time it's not early enough for the party folk to be out and about. Small groups of teenagers roam the streets, but aren't making a nuisance of themselves. I guess the rain dampens their enthusiasm for mischief. diff --git a/devsetup.mdwn b/devsetup.mdwn index 52fa909..aff80fd 100644 --- a/devsetup.mdwn +++ b/devsetup.mdwn @@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ to arrive by courier. The courier arrives by noon. Nina signs for the delivery, and carries the boxes to her lab, a large room with plenty of shelves and desks so there's room for spreading hardware -around. It is her sanctum, the rest of aren't supposed to +around. It is her sanctum, the rest of us aren't supposed to enter without asking for permission. The lab is filled with furniture and bits and pieces of @@ -260,8 +260,8 @@ Nina looks up from the laptop, and nods. "Pull up that chair and get seated next to me so you can see the laptop. Actually, let me move the monitor here." Nina gets up, goes to the lab desk, and unplugs the 24" monitor sitting on one -end. She carries the monitor to the island desk, and plus in -cable end a display cable. "There, that'll make it easier +end. She carries the monitor to the island desk, and plugs in +the end of a display cable. "There, that'll make it easier for both of us to see what's happening." Nick picks up a bar stool on the other side of the island @@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ ready, and that she'd be happy to give a demonstration and tutorial after she's had lunch. She goes out, and returns after fifteen minutes with take-out Indian food, and takes the food to the kitchen. She takes a carton of milk from a -cupboard, and sits down at the kitchen table to feat. +cupboard, and sits down at the kitchen table to feast. Nina doesn't usually care much what food she eats, but when she finishes a build or other project, she celebrates @@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ There is a murmur of approval, and much nodding. Nina looks satisfied. She goes to her laptop, opens up Inkscape, and quickly makes a drawing with the words "SmartHome Torture Chamber" laid out nicely and using a Germanic font. She -punches a key combination, and the printer in corner of the +punches a key combination, and the printer in a corner of the lab spits out a few sheets. Nina gets the sheets, which turn out to be A4 size labels, with the Inkscape design now printed on them. She peels off the labels and attaches them @@ -653,7 +653,7 @@ next." "Good, that's what I want to hear. While we do not track work hours here, we do not ever want to see someone burn -out. I and Robin have both done that at least a couple of +out. Me and Robin have both done that at least a couple of times each, and we won't let it happen to anyone in the Team." @@ -757,7 +757,7 @@ they need to think they have all the control, even if they can't be allowed to have any control. A project actually controlled by the client is doomed. They should have a little influence, but their control should be limited to -fairly loose setting of scope and constraint. +a fairly loose setting of scope and constraint. I'm going to have to deal with this, but it's getting late, and I'm tired. Diplomacy requires a lot of energy and time. diff --git a/negotiation.mdwn b/negotiation.mdwn index e7ded16..d1b3a88 100644 --- a/negotiation.mdwn +++ b/negotiation.mdwn @@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ her mouth. An evil glint shows up in her eyes. "I'm not saying they're good. But we should look at them and give them a chance." -Anna raises both of my hands, hands flat, palms outward, in a +I raise both of my hands, hands flat, palms outward, in a sign that everyone should be calm. In Andrew's case, that he should stay calm, since he's never anything else. "I sense a rough consensus that we should give them a second chance. I @@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ comfortable." I jump in. "Let's assume we can sort that out. I'll email you, Sam, our standard contract and you can review it with your people. Now, since we have Robin here, should we talk about -the technical problems that you need to solved? I know +the technical problems that you need to solve? I know you're not a techie, and before we take on this project, we'll want to talk to your people in detail about this, but we can get started. I think Robin already has some ideas for @@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ make sure the SmartHome guys understand they're being humiliated. The guy looks puzzled for a moment, then speaks. "Please?" Nina lazily turns to her laptop, and taps a key. The door locks click-clack again. -The big monitor also shows that the turned off the heating. +The big monitor also shows that she turned off the heating. I look at the old guy. He's still sitting in his chair, with his hands flat on the table. "Is there something you should say, sir?" He @@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ could you tell us the new password, please? If it pleases you." Nina is clearly enjoying the situation. "Sure. I'll save you the hassle of having to physically reset all the gadgets. The new password -is 'iabasaisfa', which is short for 'I am bad at security and I should +is 'iabasaisfb', which is short for 'I am bad at security and I should feel bad'. All lower case." The SmartHomers being now properly cowed, I walk the through the rest @@ -512,7 +512,7 @@ Anyway, Robin, how do you feel working with them?" "They're still brogrammers, and I don't think that will ever change. However, after today, they know we can humiliate them at will, and I'm -willing to assume they're behave out of self-protection, if nothing +willing to assume they'll behave out of self-protection, if nothing else." "We can't pull stunts like this again. Their fragile male egos won't @@ -532,7 +532,7 @@ Robin takes over. "That's an excellent point, Bert. Here's how I think we divide this up. Nina sets up and maintains a lab with their hardware so we have something to work with. Andrew does most of the porting, with help from Bert and possibly others. It'll be a good -learning experience for Bert. I and Nina help them redesign their +learning experience for Bert. Me and Nina help them redesign their applications to run on our platform, and review everything so it's secure and sensible. Anna, you keep track of everything and make sure we have what we need to work smoothly, as usual. OK?" @@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ also let's us avoid a lot of bugs, which saves a ton of debugging work, and thus time. We have a reputation of delivering quality, and this is one of the ways in which we achieve it. -"OK, Nina, if there's anything you to buy, you know what to do." +"OK, Nina, if there's anything you need to buy, you know what to do." "Are we working from our office, or theirs? Should I ready the portaserver?" diff --git a/newhardware.mdwn b/newhardware.mdwn index 85745b6..38737d9 100644 --- a/newhardware.mdwn +++ b/newhardware.mdwn @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ # New hardware platform "What the RUDE WORD, RUDE WORD, RUDE WORD is this?" Anna sits at her -desk, one hand one her mouse, speaking loudly. "ROOOBBIIIINN! Come +desk, one hand on her mouse, speaking loudly. "ROOOBBIIIINN! Come heeeereee!" In a minute Robin shuffles in through Anna's doorway. "What's wrong? You're upsetting the whole office with your screaming." Anna almost never raises her voice. When she does, it's upsetting to @@ -23,12 +23,12 @@ deadlines now?" Anna grimaces. "Of course he doesn't. If they actually do this, it may mean we lose the project." Robin nods. "And that means we're in a -trash compactor, the walls a moving inward, and something just touched +trash compactor, the walls are moving inward, and something just touched my leg. We were already desperate when we landed this project." Anna nods. "Exactly. I better meet with Sam to try to stop this." She buries her face in her hands. She sobs once. "I don't know, sometimes -it's just feels like too much. Clients seem to always try to shoot a +it just feels like too much. Clients seem to always try to shoot a project in the head, just when things start moving along well." Robin shifts uneasily in her chair, then gets up and stands next to @@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ fishing rod. The mugs had originally been bought a few years ago, when the Team was set up. When new team members had joined, new mugs had been made. -Over the new few minutes, team members were coming in, taking their -mug, and sitting down, until only Nina was missing. Robin puts her mug +Over the next few minutes, team members are coming in, taking their +mug, and sitting down, until only Nina is missing. Robin puts her mug down ("Robin, Lapsang, skimmed milk, sugar, picture of Lara Croft"), and goes knock on the door of Nina's lab. "Excuse me, Nina, we're having a meeting and we need you." Nina and Nick look up from the bench, where @@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ SmartHome have just let us know they want to update their hardware platform. I called this meeting to tell you that and for us to discuss the situation together." -The the room is filled with a cacophony. Anna lets it continue for a +The room is filled with a cacophony. Anna lets it continue for a moment, then raises her hand. The room quiets instantly. An outsider might mistake it for military discipline, but it's a habit borne from collaborating with the same equals for a long time, and from respect @@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ SmartHome asking where and when. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -The assembles at the office. It's 8 in the morning, and for most of +They assemble at the office. It's 8 in the morning, and for most of them this is unusually early. Anna arrives with a car, the team piles in, and they go to the SmartHome office. @@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ into SmartHome HQ and the large meeting room they've visited before. The SmartHome CEO, Lasse, and other members of top management are already there, as well as Sam, and several senior developers. -The CEO stands up. He's dressed in a navy blue suite, with a red tie. +The CEO stands up. He's dressed in a navy blue suit, with a red tie. In his late 50s, somewhat stout but not fat, looking serious, but calm, he coughs to get everyone's attention. "Welcome, everyone, I apologise for the abrupt meeting, but we need to resolve this issue of @@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ members take a deep breath, let their shoulders sag, and look at Anna and Robin. Robin stands up. She looks around the room. Those who know her, can -see she's angry from the say her lips form a thin straight line. "Sir, +see she's angry from the way her lips form a thin straight line. "Sir, if you hire experts and ignore what they say, you are an imbecile. In the current situation, your choices are to go bankrupt or to let us help your developers save your company. It seems you want to go @@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ you can just retire early. Very well, we don't wish to work for you. Have a good day." She pushes her chair back and steps away from the table. Sam puts his -hand on Lasse's arm, and whisper urgently in his ear. Robin reaches +hand on Lasse's arm, and whispers urgently in his ear. Robin reaches the conference room door, puts her hand on the handle, and looks back. The rest of the Team have quietly also stood up and are forming a queue behind Robin. Anna is red her face, and her hands are shaking. @@ -323,7 +323,7 @@ out. Sam and Nick stand still and look at the departing group. The exit doors closes, with the soft thump and click of its automatic mechanism. They continue to stand still for a moment. Finally, Nick -speaks. "I guess we need to back inside. But I really don't want to." +speaks. "I guess we need to go back inside. But I really don't want to." Sam's shoulders droop. He looks back at the conference door. Then at the exit door. "I have to go back inside. You can have a family @@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ medical emergency if you like." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -The Team drive back to their office in silence. They gather in the +The Team drives back to their office in silence. They gather in the kitchen. Robin makes a pot of tea. The silence continues while the tea is brewing. Bert takes out everyone's mug and puts them in a row on the kitchen table, and takes out two kinds of milk from the fridge, @@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ felt." Robin sits hunched, holding her cup with both hands. "Frankly, this wasn't a huge surprise to me. There were signs. But I think we did the the only thing we could do. We shouldn't feel bad about it. Not about -taking them on as a client, or for quitting today." +taking them on as a client, nor for quitting today." Anna nods. "Yes, I agree. We should feel good for standing up against bad behaviour. The only thing we should worry about now is what we'll @@ -440,7 +440,7 @@ overnight." The Team has gathered in the kitchen again. A new round of tea has been brewed and served. -"Okay, so this is bit of an interesting development. Sam called. He +"Okay, so this is a bit of an interesting development. Sam called. He says that SmartHost is having a civil war and he wants to know what it would take to bring us back, or least re-open negotiations with them. Assuming his side wins. What do we think about that?" diff --git a/origin.mdwn b/origin.mdwn index 96f3088..f4c7ec1 100644 --- a/origin.mdwn +++ b/origin.mdwn @@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ me right now." talk to the guy?" "I guess. I don't want to kill this, it'd be fun if it -worked out, but my head is full scary visions of the future +worked out, but my head is full of scary visions of the future right now." We change topic. It's time to not dwell on problems. We |