Analysis/Synthesis

The analysis phase of a project is really part ‘analysis’ and part ’synthesis’. Analysis is breaking down what you know into its component parts. Into something small enough to get your arms around, simple enough to understand. Synthesis is putting what you know together, into a gestalt. When you’re talking to people, people tend to throw everything at you all at once: what they know, what they do, their feelings, their fears, their gripes, their wishes.

Your goal is to be able to break down their knowledge and figure out which is which. We need to compartmentalize this wealth and break them down into the bits that go into the requirement documents. But at the same time you need to building up your comprehensive picture of the company and the department and the operations. I suspect it would be better if you could do the synthesis first–understanding the whole–and then analysis, breaking it down into its components. But the learning process is too chaotic. And you won’t have near enough time to do it all, much less in a neat orderly way. So you’ll do both at once. But I think it helps for you to keep in mind that you are attempting to do both. That you are attempting to look in two contradictory directions, at the same time.

Lemmings

I was on a cruise to the Mediterranean and we stopped in Casablanca. I had been constantly told that it was dangerous ‘there’. And I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the prospect of wandering off in the Casbah by myself–more about getting lost and missing the boat than getting assaulted and forced to buy rugs to fit into my suitcase somehow. So I signed up for a tour group. Tour groups are an interesting phenomenon in themselves. In who joins them, how they are organized, what you get out of such a package. In our case we packed a little van with overweight Americans with their secret neck pendant wallets and whipped through the streets.  The historically European quarters are wildly different from the Arab quarters and if not segregated, the differences are still disturbing. Then again, is the Casbah a cute slum, kind of like American Chinatowns? Rick’s Cafe was in the European section, which I should have guessed. I assume it came after the movie, kind of like a one-off Planet Hollywood Restaurant. 

Then we piled out of the van and walked through the casbah. I’m tempted to say we all stuck closely together, but that wasn’t true. We even got rather spread out–mostly I suspect because a lot of us can’t walk very fast. They had a number of helper guides to try to keep the various bodies moving the the right direction. It would be easy to get turned around and completely lost. I didn’t feel threatened but I didn’t feel especially welcomed either. Mainly because we were getting in everyone’s way and acting like tourists. I sensed ‘they’ were muttering ‘d*mn tourists’ under their breaths, much as I do in San Francisco when I’m stuck amongst the tourists.

How to tell time?

Sometimes I try to figure out old something is, or how long I’ve been doing something, not by a date or even a decade but by what obsolete technology was involved: I was listening to this when I was still buying LPs, or CDs. Or when software came on a box load of 5.25 floppies.

Cherry Blossoms

The cherries are blossoming already. Now, yadah yadah global warming, yawn. But I was wondering the bees/birds whoever it is that pollinates cherries are around to do their duty. What is going to happen as the weather changes and the flowers bloom earlier and earlier. Has anybody told the pollinators to reset their clocks? Is there something like salmon spawning just in time for the bears to fatten up for winter? Do they all, we all, have enough time to adjust their clocks?

Back again

I’ve been thinking of going back to work. Well, I’ve even sent my resume to a couple of places. Now is obviously suboptimal–looks like I messed up my retirement savings in downturn, hadn’t planned it right, I’ve been retired too long, about three years, which looks bad. As a systems analyst my job skills also probably look obsolete. 

And I could use a few extra bucks. Think is, I actually liked what I did. I liked the challenge of analysis, of figuring things out. I’m the kind of guy who gravitates to computer programming because I’m not the most socially adept kind of guy, so the people challenge of analysis was a fun kind of stretch. And from what I read the New Retirement doesn’t mean stopping work anyway. So we’ll see. Meanwhile I’m still working on a couple of books. One of them is about business analysis. It’s interesting what a little perspective looks like.

Change

When Mr Obama won the Democractic primaries gave his speech, an emotion washed over me for what I hadn’t known was an issue. I am not black. I’m asian. I’ve had few racial incidents in my life. And I worked in a field were asians are not only welcomed but sought out. But as Mr Obama spoke, I felt for the first time in my life, fully enfranchised. 

I came from a rather conservative part of the country. And from a recent visit I can attest that it is still rather conservative. I hadn’t the heart to point out that from where I stand Mr Obama is a centrist. What I think needs to be done for this country would sound like the ravings of a Martian. Mr. Obama is inspiring. To fill with spirit. To breathe again.

I don’t know what I’ll feel tomorrow, Martin Luther King Day. This day too seems suffused with special meaning. I don’t know what I’ll feel Tuesday. I can’t wait.

Universal Incompetency, Inc

I’ve been reading that the government should be careful getting into bed with banks, auto makers and the like because the government has a terrible track record managing businesses. Like this recession is proof businesses know how to run businesses? OK, sarcasm aside, nobody knows how to do it right every time under every circumstance. Being a lefty, my first impulse is to shout out that that proves the failure of capitalist ideology. But after taking a breath I have to admit I don’t trust socialism or communism either. If I were more of an optimist of human nature I might, but I’m not. A plague on all your houses.

hi mom

 

One of my original intentions was to blog about retirement. Well, it’s been almost three years now and I haven’t written all that much about retirement. Because of the current financial mess many retirees, including myself, have worried whether our savings will last. If we have savings. I am fortunate that I’m in good shape.

But I have been thinking I should go back to work anyway. To shore up my finances, sure, but also to force me out of the house. But really, what is important to me? Retirement should imply resources and time to concentrate on what is important and wisdom and experience to know actually what that is. I may be in trouble.

 

My plan was to write a couple of books–a novel and a non-fiction book on systems analysis. I haven’t made much progress on either. Even in college I was known as a slow writer. But this is ridiculous.  So I need to rethink what I’m doing.

 

And one of things I’m doing is trying to spend more time with my mom. She’s in her eighties and still going strong. People tell me I should spend as much time as I can, they regret the missed opportunity. So there is that. And I have still more selfish reasons. I know so little about her life. What are the little details and incidents that illuminate her story? I am a thief, wanting to know this partly so I can steal it and make it into stories I can write. I am trying to expatiate my sins of being engrossed in my own life and not paying attention to hers. So I wonder, what was her childhood like? A farm girl. Did she have far ambitions? We are used to dramatic changes in our life. As children we take change for granted. But what was it like for her? I saw a picture of her a top a horse. Standing in front of Ford Model A. Such changes in her life.

 

What has it like to be a Japanese-American early in the twentieth century. I am curious about her life before the camps and after the camps. Sometimes it feels that with caucasians our whole history is confined to the camps. I am not the camps. She is not the camps. I am greedy. I want to know what her whole life was like.  Starting next week we’re off on a trip together and maybe I’ll have to courage to pry into her life.

don’t worry, be happy

While Mr. Bush tries to tell us don’t think about, you know; the Christian Science Monitor reminds us to be thankful about what we have. I’ve lost quite a bit in paper profits this year, but I still have time. I have health, a good family, a wonderful home city, my wits, good books to read, good music to listen to, friends to make me laugh, to comfort me, stand by me.

I am reminded too that although the financial crisis is terribly important to bankers (Paulson was a banker?) the economy goes through cycles, maybe not as wild as this one, but it happens. It will recover. Meanwhile, we do have to act, now and decisively if we want the environment like it is now, we do have to act now and decisively if we (Americans anyway) want a reasonable health care system (see USNews and World Report article by Bernadine Healy).

on getting more work

There is a story that sounds too good not to be true. The story goes that in the mainframe era IBM sold both computers and typewriters. And IBM made sure the secretaries of the IT bosses got the very best most attentive service on their typewriters.  So that when the IBM salesmen showed up to sell the latest computer they got shown right in.

Nowadays that iPods help sell iMacs is called the “halo” effect.  Not an entirely new concept.

I worked on a project that provided a fairly minor software application used by all the departments in the company.  It didn’t do much and it wasn’t a particularly slick product so that’s not my story here.  What it did do is make me do is go out to each department and actually talk to people.  In particular the office managers, secretaries and some of the bosses. 

Now most programmers do not have any reason to talk to users and we like it that way. I have the suspicion that most IT managers, being ex-programmers, don’t like to talk to users either.

But when I had to talk to real people they kept suggesting more and more work to do.  Little piddly stuff, things the IT department didn’t want to do, but in a season of downsizing, work is work. Sometimes I think that analysts need to pretend they are typewriter service guys.  Salesmen in sheeps clothing.  Real business analyst is a long term, intensive and pervasive activity and doesn’t really belong to a single project. Business analysis is about what is good for the company. It spans projects.  It spawns projects, projects are just point exercises along the way. But practicing analysis as a standalone endevour for one particular project looks kind of silly and superfluous. You should be unobtrusive and unobviously an analyst.  Like maybe the IT LAN administator who talks too much, or the IT training / help who doesn’t hide in the phone system but actaully walks around the building.  Someone who can get in and out and isn’t a threat to people.