The Summer of '93

What a Baptism of fire looks like

Imagine me on my first job, nervous and keen to do well. After all I was representing my Company and had had no one to really show me the ropes or the software. Fortunately the technical team had set up their new server and terminals in a large office in Wales, so I did not have that to carry. I arrived with a big box of folders containing the course materials that I had lovingly setup, and the training packs. My delegates arrived sporadically into the room with no eye contact and took a seat one by one.  Then the head of Trading Standards, Graham turned up and gave a little speech.

"As you know we have been awaiting the prospect of this system for some time. I've personally invested a lot of time into this, to give you a system that will make your work easier and we have invested a lot of resource into it."
Graham was about five foot eight, with a dull brown tweedy suit, a red tie that didn't really go and a white shirt. Even though he was wearing a suit he looked almost scruffy, despite the fact that his shoes were cleaned and polished. He had a hairstyle that reminded me of Han Solo; stuck in the seventies, and a half grown in beard. I noticed his skin was scaly as if he had the most stressful job in the world that had taken its toll on his complexion. He wasn't an unattractive man but his age was mid-fifties, and he had the thickest brummy accent that I had heard for a long time.
"If there is anything you are not happy about or would like to discuss change wise, let's keep it until the end of the training session and we can collate that for Megan to take back to the office with her. It is a new system so I'd like us to be positive and constructive if it doesn't quite perform to our expectations. I am assured that we have the opportunity to make this system work for us and to be our own. I'd like to hand you over to Megan now, who will be taking us through the new system."

I went into training mode. "Thank you Graham. My name is Megan and I will be showing you our brand new system. In front of you, you will find a pack – if you would kindly put your name on the name cards it will be very beneficial for me. I have handed out broad pens so that I can see even you at the back!" I smiled scanned the room for some warmth but there was none. Everyone had deadpan expressions.  I waited patiently and watch them scribe their names deliberately, onto the folded white cards and then present them like they were on a game show in front of them.
I instructed them on how to switch on the terminals and how to log in. I could see that Graham was already ahead of me and had found the front screen whilst others were still logging in. Some were struggling so I went over to assist them. They had never used a mouse before. I could see by his face that he was understandably keen to get a view of what had been done.
"Ok" I said, acknowledging that I was ready to continue as everyone was logged in and looking at the main menu of the screen.
"Megan" interjected Graham in a firm but angry tone, he spat the words out with sheer contempt, "you might as well stop and go home!"

I stopped still like a statue and looked in his direction in horror.
"This isn't what we asked for," he seethed, "this is an exact copy of the last system and I am not going to waste my team's time going through this."
I took a few moments to take in the reaction from his colleagues, who were now looking at each other in amazement and then the groups of twos started mumbling away to each other in a low drone. I took a moment to compose myself. I continued "I'm sure it would be best to have a look at what we have and then decide?"
"No" Graham affirmed, gritting his teeth as he did so "I have seen enough to know. It might look different but the contents look the same."
He started to navigate his way through the customer page and the enquiry page and point out the changes he had requested, and how they had not been implemented. He demonstrated to me how it was a direct copy to the old system. "This, should say 'Client'" he stated. "It says customer. These fields are redundant." He looked up at my face and must have realised I was innocent of it all.  I must have looked blankly back at him. "I need to talk to Paul" he barked. I had never been shown the old system and I had never thought to ask for access to it. As far as I had been briefed this system was revolutionary.  "Please return to your desks folks." Truculently, the staff left the room one after another. He picked up a phone receiver and dialled deliberately. "Paul please." he demanded. I knew he was speaking to Cathy, Paul's secretary. Paul was the director of Software Development. Graham vented at some length and put the phone down. At this point he looked at me. "Well Megan, it's clear that you know nothing about this but I can tell you that they have copied the old system." I felt awful, I felt responsible but I had given it some thought whilst I listened in on the conversation. "Paul is going to speak to Kim and Kim will call you" he said. He then left the room. It was quite a blow.
The phone did ring and I picked it up. "Megan, it's Kim!"
It was a relief as I felt very isolated and was sat waiting in shock for her call.
"Megan, we'd like you to return back to the office." I told her what had happened and at length she said sympathetically "just come home."
"Kim – would it be ok to check with Graham to see if I can spend some time with him? I think I can document what changes he was expecting and bring them back to the office. I can use my analysis skills to capture some of the changes for the development team."
"Yes, if he's open to the idea, it's a good idea. Go and speak to Graham and see if he's prepared to give you the time and I'll get Michael to ring you."
"ok". Nervously I went to see Graham and sheepishly knocked on the door.
"Hello Megan, come on in." Graham said. He was a reasonable man and I could see that he did not apportion blame at me, despite the circumstances.
I explained to him that I had a development background and given that he was supposed to be in a training course all day, the time might be well spent if I drafted up his requirements with a fresh eye and took them back with me. He could see I was trying to help and make the best of the situation so surprisingly, he was in agreement and amenable.
We sat down in front of the terminal and started to work. We went through the main screens and spent five hours covering his requirements. I had said to him that I would take this back and ensure that the requirements were understood. I felt  very satisfied as I felt like I was able to have the opportunity to turn a bad situation into a better one. I also felt useful because I was able to use the skills that I had picked up whilst at University. It was a five hour drive home.
I had learnt a lot in this job in such a short space of time, since it had turned out to be  a real baptism of fire. 

The software had been defined within a database called Ingres. At the time I was told,  it was one of the market leaders. The software front end (Graphic user interface or GUI) was developed in a product called Uniface and it looked much nicer than its predecessor.
I caught up with Michael, on my return. He looked at me both sheepishly and knowingly when I imparted my ordeal to him. He relayed the whole problem to me.
The Councils had had a Cobol  version up until now and were promised a much nicer, easier to use version, built upon a new UNIX server. So the councils who already had the product were promised that they would be able to influence how it operated so that it was tailored to their needs. They had bought new hardware and this new software. They had high expectations as a consequence. Michael continued to explain that the previous project manager had spent three months at each of the councils, analysing what the user requirements were. However for some reason they had let this project manager go. Michael had then inherited the project and went to find the specifications. In Michael's words, "It had all been drafted on the back of a fag packet!" So Michael had been promoted to project manager as part of his development. He had coded the previous system in Cobol. He used his knowledge from that and it looked different because of the new GUI that it had been developed for.
"What a mess!" I exclaimed.
"I know" Michael agreed.
"Well, in some ways it is just as well I didn't know anything about it as I think Graham realised I was totally oblivious to it all. If he had thought that I had been aware I think he would have skinned me on the spot! He was irate. However given that he spent five hours going over these requirements, I think he cares about it. But then, I'm sure he's too far down the line and wants it to be a success or it will look badly on him."
"Yes Megan, that's right. You're very astute."
"I felt a bit exposed though to it all."
"Don't worry" Michael smirked, "you'll get used to it!"
I guess this is what working for a small company entails, I thought to myself.

The countdown to Germany had begun and it was now the end of March. My biggest worry about going was the finance. It would help that I was staying with Dionisis but I didn't know what to buy him. I also was a bit worried about the exchange rate. I was concerned about the cost of basics such as a meal out or a drink. I had planned to hire a car before I left, so that I could manage part of the cost. The Deutschmark currency was very strong. It was roughly 2.50 Deutschmark to the pound. I used to go to the Sweater shop a lot. Clothes were colourful and affordable. The thing was when I met him Dionisis, he was wearing that white suit. But I hadn't got a clue what he dressed like and what his taste was. So given the circumstances I thought something casual would be fine. If it wasn't right at least I thought he could wear it in the house and it would keep him warm. After all he was in Germany in Winter! So I bought him a teal sweater with ochre as well. I thought it would suit his colouring. I didn't want to go empty handed.

The days were going so slowly and this day was no exception. I longed for lunchtime. I went into town and  I went out with Quig. We had pizza and watched Peter Pan. He's so desperate for a girlfriend. He talked about his ex again and it wasn't going anywhere but he was still hopeful and he was waiting in the wings.

Mum said Ali had rung again. Why does he leave it three weeks then rings me twice in two days? Men! In hindsight he probably thought he had to chase because I hadn't dropped everything to head to Scotland but at the time I had not learnt that fact yet!
The following day I went into town at lunchtime and I picked up my travelers cheques and the car. The car had been in for repair and I left for home at 17:15.