elizabeth grigg - the other fourth meal

I'm just starting to get enough done, that my vision is becoming broader and I'm starting to notice how much I could actually do. When you only have 4 hours of time, you can very efficiently get one sizeable thing accomplished. But if you have 8, you get your thing done and then you realize what else is out there with the other 4.

Weeks and weeks can go by with only 4 hours available, and so you never stick your head out of the sand to see anything else. You go to bed feeling all accomplished and efficient, when in truth your brain is in a feedback loop.

I can't speak with authority, because hardly ever am I above water in terms of time vs. accomplishments. However, I can imagine that the real brain quality time feels like wandering the streets of London in a fog, stepping into puddles and not noticing, scribbling equations on the back of your hand. It's standing in the shower and then hitting your hand against the tile wondering why it took you so long to come up with it, it's so obvious. It's sitting under the tree and the apple falls and hits you. If you're thinking about apples falling, you notice. If you're thinking about how to make money on the Internet, you don't. That's OK.

I believe Einstein credited his intelligence by saying he thought about the problems constantly. This is the state that I never get to, being so busy. That's the difference between 8 hours and 4.

Unfortunately, today is a day of being busy, and only 4 hours of it to boot. RIP.

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 09:24 AM | Permalink

One of the main goals for my packaging retreat (that's now, my 100 days) was to get a spec portfolio together. This is something I had no idea I needed until I applied for work sometime last year and the hiring manager called me to explain why I wasn't on the short list. Other candidates had sent in sample specifications for the product group they were applying for. So now, I'm all over it. Each time I apply, I spend 4 or 5 days constructing a sample specification that will accompany my application. It's hard work. Hopefully by the time I get to 5 or 6 complete, I can bind them together nicely and take a break from generating new content.

However, the next one on my plate is for WinFS. I'm both excited and scared. So far the two specs I have done have been corrective: here is a feature, it works OK, but in the next rev we should really do this. The WinFS spec is from scratch. Here's an idea that the most important rule in file management is no longer "location, location, location" but rather "metadata, metadata, metadata."

If anyone is interested in reading the existing specifications I've written for Outlook and SharePoint you can follow the aforementioned links.

(Title from David Byrne "The Catherine Wheel" referring to his big blue Plymouth, it doesn't matter at all...)

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 09:53 AM | Permalink

Me and my computer are finally speaking to each other. I have SP2 on there. There was a fairly major revision to the wireless internet access UI, if not the underlying technology. Of course, if it doesn't work, it seems like it's SP2's fault. The UI changes seem to involve a changed icon and a more detailed error message. However, the error message gives you no clue as to the remedy, which should be the primary criteria of quality for all error messages.

Other milestones: finally looking at the bills, getting good bites for prospective employers, cleaning the house and then cleaning it again, aleve starting to work to address my hands wanting to fall off. I want to be at my computer constantly, but domesticity pulls.

Looking forward to a good week.

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 10:41 AM | Permalink

Here are the motives I think Microsoft had for throwing a women’s conference:
• Helps make existing female employees feel more confident in a male dominated environment
• Make existing female employees feel like they are broadening the field for others like them

Here are the things I wish a women’s conference would do, but is not in Microsoft’s interest to do so:
• Open the doors wider for women getting into Microsoft. I’m not saying affirmative action, but I am saying there are subtle things at every step of the HR process that obviously does not result in enough female hires.
• Help invite women who might have one foot in technology to consider a lateral move to making it their career.
• Help invite women in school or just out of school to consider technology as a career to start out with.
The fact is, Microsoft does well with good employees of any gender. It doesn’t gain anything from a higher percentage being women, unless the remaining women are tragically unproductive and lonely (see list at top).

Here are my beefs with the women’s conference as thrown this year:
• Not open to women contractors, or women in technology, or women in general.
• Preaches to the choir: MS women employees are extraordinary and already have coping skills above and beyond the general women public when placed in an all male environment.
• The pr internal to the company made it seem like everything in my “not in Microsoft’s interest” list would actually happen. This was spin and actually caused me pain to realize this was not going to happen. Sniff.
• The actual end result of the conference is emotional. (see top list above). Obviously I’d prefer something more substantive.

With that said, two of my adored webloggers have written this conference up, and it seems they got something out of it, so my beefs should be taken with a grain of salt. Especially since I wasn’t there (obviously). I was relieved to see Gretchen's response to a comment on her weblog which said it was a shame contractors couldn't attend. Her response in effect was it's a shame everyone couldn't attend. This is great. There is a set of people who deserve to know that they can build anything they want with software, no matter what the culture, and this set deserves to be coached and encouraged. Then there was Betsy, who mentioned briefly the eye contact, tone of voice, and elevator speech (yes, I too forget not to screech when talking about something I’m excited about.) She also talked about dressing for the job you want, which is sage advice that’s been around forever. The dressing thing is a strange dilemma. I took this mantra with me to the mall one day to come up with something to buy. Then I realized I didn't know what job I wanted. Let me rephrase: I don't see my career on a ladder-type trajectory, so the job I want may actually be a horizontal move, or something at the same x/y axis but better furnishings and clientele. So wearing lots of Fendi might not work. Altogether finding out my career trajectory was a funny thing to find out in the mall inspired by clothing nonetheless. My impression for people who actually have ladder-type aspirations is: dressing New York (or grooming “LA”) in casual Seattle would be viewed as transparent and make everyone uncomfortable. Money is better spent on gadgets, more impressive, and more of a conversation piece.

Okay, here’s my wrap-up. Next year, Microsoft, go ahead and throw a women’s conference. But also hold a work-life balance conference for the men. This will have more of an effect of balancing the playing field than anything else. Don't be skeptical, it would be great. For example, Microsoft could send the following invitation to the home address of all male employees:

You are invited to the first annual conference on work-life balance for all male Microsoft employees. Topics include:
• How to have a real relationship
• How to go home for the night even though it won’t compile
• How to treat bug jail less seriously
• How to make it so it’s not a special favor to your spouse when you do chores around the house
• How not to brag about how you’ve never taken a vacation or sick day
• How to measure productivity in holistic terms
Daycare for all kids (infants to school age) will be provided onsite at the day-long conference. Gift certificate for your spouse to a Gene Juarez day of beauty enclosed.

Yeah, right.

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 10:12 AM | Permalink

to Brad Wilson on getting a gig with NewsGator.

The product brings up a bunch of interesting problems. Because it's a plug-in, there are scenarios where what's best for NewsGator isn't the way Outlook works. Take the "title" of your weblog, which is in your RSS feed. Folders should be created based on feed address, not title, but change your title and suddenly everyone has a new folder.

It's funny, little problems like that just endear me to the product more. Thumbs up to Brad!

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 08:47 AM | Permalink

I'm throwing together some ideas for a feature for SharePoint. I'm devling back into my old links, absolutely blown away that a) I learned so much in my one project, and b) there is so much left to learn. The security gradations, setting up the document management, managing exposure on a per user level. It is full-time calling yourself an expert on that segment of the industry, and I don't for sure.

Today I was on the phone with the maker of my coffee press. The glass decanter broke and I needed a new one. The web site was busted, and the gal on the phone was very chatty. "We're just a small company," she said, as an explanation for why shipping via USPS was beyond reach. I replied quickly "yes, I could tell you were a small company by your website." Then she asked for more, and I did the unthinkable which was completely forget why I got that impression in the first place. I mean, it's terrible to give negative criticism without backing it up. Of course once I hung up I completely remembered:
* The site obviously had every new product listed by hand in html. It was un-aligned in a perfect sort of way that definitely did not say "database."
* No search function, I had to guess that a coffee grinder was "kitchen" and not "tabletop."
* Lots of graphics and low functionality quotient per pixel

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 08:48 PM | Permalink

I poured a cup of coffee on my wireless/ethernet card. So it will be a few days...

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 08:02 AM | Permalink

We need help troubleshooting our router. It's a fancy one, and some former tennants decided to rewire it. Anyone know someone who would do this for free (such as college student, needing a reference or a line item on their resume)?

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 02:44 PM | Permalink

I created a new link blog today. I'm not sure I like it. I got it working technically, using kunaldas OutlookMT tool, but the reality of just listing a bunch of posts from other people started to make not so much sense once I looked at it. I was compelled to put something up there as a commentary, and that's what comments are for. Essentially, the need for the link blog is to cover up for the flaw in how comments are tracked.

Anyway, it's working, and if trackback ruled the world some folks might find themselves there first.

Thanks to Kunal who was on IM with me this morning getting things going.

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 11:50 PM | Permalink

I've ignored my home PC for the year I've been working. Not that I paid much attention to it before. However, today (silly me) I sat down to get something done and instead spent the day looking at progress bars. The first task was to convert my yahoo mail account to be read in outlook. I did an office service pack upgrade, and also a kb for something I didn't understand, from officeupdate. Then I realized, why does office get all the tlc, why not do windowsupdate too. I had completely forgotten about SP2. (Which should have been ok, had my automatic update come through like it should).

Upgrading to SP2 was a real chore. Half of me was like those newbies you watch in the two way mirror in the usability test: they're so completely convinced every software error is their fault. The other half of me was in the windows release manager's shoes, gazing at disbelief at my hitting on the one untested combination of pseudo dev and pseudo consumer configuration.

I do believe I caused my computer some real pain by forcing a hard reboot, unplugging the power and the battery when it hung at 910 out of 920 megs "downloaded." This I have to take some responsibility for. (What word did they choose, it wasn't downloaded, that was too simple, it was more like "processed" where there was obviously someting fishy going on too.) When all was done rebooting, I needed upgrades to both CLR 1.0 as well as CLR 1.1 (??? why ???). Then the official update for SP2, and the mystery kb. I was on a roll, finally, after two hours. Until...

Back to my original task of course, reading my yahoo mail in outlook. This worked fine, but I couldn't import my csv address book into outlook to save my life. C'mon guys, it's just a csv file, you want me to go and find my original office install disks in order to make this happen?

Thumbs up to microsoft for helping figure out the correct prerequisites for the office and windows updates. They were all possible to find. However, thumbs down for making people find their original install disks for anything. Here's way. The reason for not installing a colossal executable in the first place is a favor to us, the customer. You're doing us a favor by not hosing every bit of ram we have just to open an empty document. That's great. It's not meant to be a security system to rival music industry DRMs. (or public library accounts for that matter). When I want an "extra" feature, the design decision to make me find the disks to get the extra feature is passive agressive. It says "Fine, you didn't want a colossal executable, well see how you like hunting for your disks all the time." There's another alternative: provide me with the download. Obviously I have a working and registered copy. Let's not go over all that again. Let's make a favor a favor and allow success for the task at hand.

missing ms

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 11:29 PM | Permalink

How do you create a superterrific website, incorporating your own personal brand blah blah, WITHOUT looking like you're full of yourself? (No, this isn't your website).

Let's see. A website is not a job interview. You don't have to dress up and brag about your accomplishments. It's a piece of media. This means that it's better to air your dirty laundry because it's far more interesting than your job interview self. It also means readers should give you a break, that nobody comes out clean under the microscope, and things are more fun this way anyway.

So more dirt, people!

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 07:41 PM | Permalink

I love this amazing and daring web site about change at Microsoft. I especially love how judgemental it is! My plan for radical change in MS culture would probably involve giving everyone above a 3.5 the year off. Now that's an incentive!

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 03:53 PM | Permalink

If you're reading this, it means I'm somehow communicating through the vast wasteland known as Outside Microsoft. For those of you who don't remember, it's filled with your own junk. Boxes and boxes of it. And not just physical junk either, but emotional junk too. For example, I was completely prepared for my hiatus from the company, otherwise known as my hundred days. Until it happened, of course. Over last weekend I went trolling for boxes with my family inside my building. We made a huge caravan, stroller, toddler, beverages which couldn't be delayed, and a pocket knife for collapsing boxes. Obviously we were security's worst nightmare. Our standard for boxes was: no new boxes, no boxes with anything in them, and it must be in the hall or a common area. If there was an empty, used box, then facilities would just haul it away anyway, so it might as well be us. We had the flexcar parked outside, proudly bearing its "D" permit, something which it still bears because I managed to forget it when returning the car. I thought about getting it back, but (gasp) I realized I didn't need it anymore. We made it out of the building with our boxes without incident. Because even the folded boxes couldn't fit outside the doors on the cart, we had to hold the door open for short bursts - there is rumor of a timer that calls security if you hold the door open for more than appropriate - and fling boxes into the lobby. Little did I know at the time that my accounts were already canceled, and my keycard was not even supposed to be working. So we actually were security's worst nightmare, toting an invalid keycard to boot. I found this out on Monday, when I expected to come in to finish up a couple little things. I was able to come in just fine, but no login. Then it hit me, I was really leaving, and I proceeded to call my Mom to drive me home, ostensibly to pack our house up, but actually to suck my thumb and mope the entire rest of the day for no reason. I miss Microsoft, I'm sad to leave, but I had a really great run and I'm very thankful for it. So there's really no reason for all this emotional junk to be here.

It won't be until Thursday that I get any discretionary time to look for a job. Perhaps internet at home will come by then, perhaps not. We're still at the stage where the bed isn't set up, so 5 times a night my pillow falls off the end and I have to fish it back. The house is beautiful, the neighborhood very much not going to hell, people are sweet and bringing us things, everything they can, except time is what we really need and you can't bring that.

(Written from the internet cafe, reachable by the 43 bus from our new place).

Posted by Elizabeth Grigg at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)