ineffective communication

I recently jumped ship on a project that seemed destined to hit the rocky shores of missed deadlines and then sink in the swirling eddies of communication breakdown. I wasn't on board for long - about a week and a half really - but during that time I spent far too many days trying to obtain critical information about the project's code structure and database from the engineers who had developed it.

What is a software application?

When we think of a software application, most of us will conjure up the image of some sort of user interface splashed across a computer screen. As far as most of us are concerned, whatever is on the screen is the software. Period.

Engineers will tend to look at it a little differently. They are of course very aware of what goes on 'behind the screen' that makes all this stuff appear as it does and do all the things it does.

As a software artist I am a beast with two heads. I am an artist by compulsion and I am a software designer/engineer both by choice and sheer determination to understand technology. Most people tend to address one head or the other, depending upon whether they meet me first as an artist or as an engineer. Some colleagues grasp the nature of my hybrid approach and they are a pleasure to work with. Some never grasp it at all.

The motto and the objective of The User Advocate Group is to:

"Bridge the Gap Between End Users and Engineers"

Last weekend we set the clocks back for the winter. It's always nice to have an 'extra hour' and to perhaps do something a little special: lay in bed, go for a leisurely breakfast, take a long walk in the park. It's one of the perks of living on a tilted globe.

For me, this time of year also means that I get to be an Occasional User for certain technology interfaces such as the button riddled panel on my car stereo and the monstrous web tool for managing expiring domain names.

I've temporarily suspended my humanity.

In case anyone has noticed that I've been rather uncommunicative lately (i.e. I haven't blogged for almost two weeks) it's because I've gone away. To Geekland.

My Girlfriend has certainly noticed. She's basically given up on me. Once in a while, through the haze of variables and conditional statements that fill my inner eye, I notice that she's in my office.

"How long have you been home?" I'll say.