April - the month of many faces

so while i've already mentioned that April is National Poetry Month and some of you may know that April is also Jazz Appreciation Month - it also seems that April is Make Your Employees Uncomfortable Month.

First, the poetry. Here's another quick one:

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

and a link to the Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot

Ok now for Jazz:
April 25th was the birthday of Ella Fitzgerald. Born 1918.

Here's a few music clips: (these are real player links)

Mack the Knife
Someone to Watch Over Me
Blue Skies

for more Jazz Birthdays click here







now we come to where i dig into my personal experience and dub this month "Make You Employees Uncomfortable Month" why? you ask. good question, mister, um, i'm sorry i didn't catch your name... well no matter.

Part 1
#1 way to make your employees not trust you: bring in a consultant to monitor them and don't tell them why or warn them at all.

here's the scoop: one of my jobs brought in a consultant to monitor the helpdesk. that magical place where a small army of two to three people, including me, buffer the rest of the IT department from the thousands of employees who often break their slightly intelligent rocks (also called computers) and then blame us. not "us" in a general sort, but very often "us" as in whoever is on the phone at the time.

Part 2
#1 way to scare the bejesus out of your employees: decide that the company is going to change over to a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software.

for those of you who are still learning, ERP software manages everything from purchasing to production to inventory to invoicing. YAY!

so, my other job has set up a week's worth of meetings with a consultant to determine how the new software has to work to fulfill our needs. this consultant then goes back to the software company (which he was hired by) and tells them how the software needs to work, then they configure it. seems to me like a ridiculous game of telephone - oh well, nothing can be as bad as using telnet for the software base.

well, that's enough ranting and informing, informing and ranting for today. i should probably get to work.

oh and happy hump day!
love,
mysfit