Agile vs. Waterfall: The wonders of Scrum

Scrum is part of the Agile Management ideology and it's awesome!

More to come in a bit...

OHdobe

Dear Adobe,

Why do you continue to make FrameMaker?  It’s the weakest link, the black sheep, the one that slows everybody down.  You have such awesome other products like Dream, Acrobat, InDesign, Photoshop…and just about everything else besides Frame.  And yet, you still send out this archaic, prone-to-issues software that we find ourselves yelling at, calling you about, and doing ridiculous workarounds to accomplish the things it’s supposed to do. 

Not much better is RoboHelp.  Here we have Frame’s sad, twisted twin that “generates” output…when it feels like it and only what it wants.  Is this because it relies on Frame?  Yet another example of the Adobe family being negatively affected by this one problem child.

We love you, Adobe, but we want to know WHY we have to accept this demented part of you.

Yours forever,

Writers across the world

Ebb and Flow of the Working World

Alright, folks, time to get back in the game.  We had layoffs recently which threw everyone off.  A lot.  And incited paranoia.  A lot of paranoia.  Constant small cube gatherings in whispered voices of what is to come next and what rumblings people had heard.  Are they using us for slave labor just to get rid of us when the product goes out?  Do we have to work 300% just to keep our jobs?  When’s the next?  We had a lot of survivor’s guilt.  A good one to two weeks of that will drive anyone crazy.  Luckily, we had a long weekend.  So now we’re back and things are normal again.  Thank goodness.

Our layoffs could not have come at a worse time, which I think made us even more upset.  We are and were in the final stretch…tons of doc to produce, edit, and prepare, links to fix, graphics to adjust, and bugs to be addressed…and then BOOM, cut the workforce down so that now we all have more work.  But you do it and it makes you feel better.  Now that we can see the end of the project (a 2+ year project!), we can breathe easier and have our little breakfast club where we get coffee and share stories and laughs.

Layoffs are an unfortunate part of working life.  Whether you’re one of the laid-off, or one of the survivors, it’s going to affect you at some point.  The good news is, there are still tons of jobs out there.  Plus, the connections you make, the experience you gained, and the references you keep from the job are a huge bonus and will help you out big time.  For those of you/us living with PTLD – Post Traumatic Layoff Disorder—well, mourn and then calm down because you still have a job.  And you know what?  It gets better.  You all heal and lunches with less people become less weird and you notice that no one talks about layoffs anymore.  And you know what?  You find yourself going out to lunch with those who were laid off anyways, so it’s all good!

Everything ebbs and flows, you just have to ride it out, because with almost everything, if you’re a good person and good at your job, things will work out…and often for the better!