I could blather on and on about the damn government shutdown but I think even those of us who are living in it front and center are sick of hearing about it, well, except for those who are having trouble paying their rent and putting food on the table, of course… 70% of the people disapprove of how the Republicans are handling this. Oh wait. It’s 38%. Or 44%. Or… Too many polls. Too much “information”. I admit that I don’t have a full understanding of the issues but I don’t think most other people do either. At least I’m not sharing every single blasted polly-tickal meme I see on facebook whether it’s been fact-checked or not (or I understand what it says).

I am not generally a polly-tickal aminal. On the job, this has probably impeded my progress toward becoming some high-powered CEO or whatever. I don’t care. I would rather slave away in the trenches doing something that actually makes even a small difference in the world. I can’t stand office politics. “Why did this happen?” “Why didn’t this work?” “Who made this horrible mistake?” Finger pointing often ensues. Instead of that, let’s do the research and get the facts! A long time ago in my “childhood” career, I learned that when you get the facts straight and figure out what the business rules are, you can educate people and once everyone is educated, mistakes don’t happen as often and a lot of the finger-pointing stops. Yes, there will still be “problem” personalities but if you know the business rules and can articulate them in a friendly manner, those folks are often easy to disarm and can even turn into allies. Often they just want someone to listen to them…

If you know me in life, you know how high-strung I am and you are thinking something like, “Whaaaaaaaat???” I am far from perfect but I pretty much nailed workplace relationships early in my “childhood” career. Unfortunately, family relationships still often flummox the hell out of me. But there are different things at stake with family than in the workplace and the rules are often emotionally driven.

Anyway, I spent the whole day trying to nail down the uber-complicated business rules for the prodject I am currently working on at work. I have narrowed theoe those [theoe?] down from thousands a couple weeks ago to hundreds now. I have a living, breathing functional spec going with some concrete business rules and hundreds of questions. We will nail down the answers to those questions before we implement the functionality my spec spells out and we will do it politely and with respect for all of the stakeholders, most of whom are folks who use our online banking product and not us! Sheesh!

There are some good things (for the GG and I) about the damn government shutdown. Yesterday we drove my cute little Ninja up to the Highland State Rec Area and the loverly little scheduled maintenance light lit. Since the GG has been idled for the time being, he was able to take it over to Howard Cooper Germain Honda and get the oil changed or whatever it needed. Because he did that, I got to drive the Frog Hopper over to work today, which randomly had the purple kayak up on the roof rack and that generated some fun. “Are you going to kayak at lunch?” Etc. I park next to a pond.

Not to end on a gloomy note but, whatever your polly-tickal persuasion, please consider whether you think a good way to run the government is to abruptly furlough 800,000 people, not to mention all of the contractors and grantees and peripheral businesses (breakfast cafes, anyone?) to make a point. Government employees will receive back pay (for not working). Contractors and other businesses who serve lots of government employees most certainly will not. If you prefer a smaller government, there has to be a better way to negotiate one. If you care, please contact your representatives and tell them to put federal workers back to work and negotiate in good faith with business rules in hand.

Good night,
KW

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