Jason Pettys Blog - Latest Comments

Re: Write MSMQ Messages from PowerShell

Antony Scott — Sun, 13 May 2012 18:02:22 -0000

Excellent post, helped me avoid writing a console app which just dumped a simple message on the bus. Thanks.

Re: Domain Driven Design (DDD): An Exercise in Value Objects

iesen — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:27:33 -0000

the most clear explanation of value type dilemma including database concerns

Re: Why is Estimating so Hard?

Jason Pettys — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 13:57:17 -0000

I'm with you - definitely more questions than answers in this area. It's a big riddle that's especially poignant for consulting shops. (It seems that businesses with their own development staff are very tolerant to scope ambiguity for internal projects.) Without spending a ton of analysis money to define the problem, one really doesn't know how big the project will be. Yet the business needs a fixed number, but they're very sensitive to the analysis time (money) required to identify scope.

Like you said, it's a difficult balance of risk management. Build in too much buffer and your price is too high. Build in not enough and you risk of losing your shirt. If you don't do enough analysis up front your uncertainly is too high; do too much and, again, the price is too high.

It's like tight-rope walking on a unicycle while being chased by ninjas. And the ninjas are on fire. :)

Re: Why is Estimating so Hard?

Jeremy Martinson — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:32:43 -0000

I've been thinking about this exact same situation! How does one strike a balance (!) between a reasonable estimate that the client will agree to and one that is in-line with what will "really" happen once the project kicks off?

Re: The Speed of Trust: Chapter 2

Jason Pettys — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:50:10 -0000

Great comment, Carol. I've been trying the stewardship/accountability for three weeks now with my oldest four kids, ages 8 through 12. Two of them are doing great, one is hit & miss, and one is really struggling. There is definitely a tendency to nag or logically convince, but I think you're right that there's a difference between head knowledge and real "buy-in" from the heart. Trying to lead them to a point where each will choose for him or herself is really challenging.

It's definitely a journey of trial and error and learning! I'm due for a follow-up post on this topic soon.

Re: The Speed of Trust: Chapter 2

Carol Kartsonis — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 07:11:04 -0000

i am very interested in this concept. Love the Covey for myself and have done for years, but am facing big challenges with the teenager in a highly advanced public high school. Please keep posting - the actual practice of family leadership is not covered well in literature or on the net.

Nagging is not effective at all. And logical arguments aren't helping either. He understands it all intellectually (I think) but does not seem to understand or buy into the underlying principles.

Re: The Speed of Trust: Chapter 2

Jason Pettys — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:51:53 -0000

That's great stuff, Mark - it's great to hear from you. Your comment here came at a great time. We've been trying this for about a week and a half here, and it's not been the easiest transition in the world. So hearing about your success here has been an encouragement to keep after it. Thanks!

Re: The Speed of Trust: Chapter 2

Jason Pettys — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:48:29 -0000

Ugh! That's crazy. The kicker is where you needed to give them your new address so that could mail a form so you could tell them what your new address is. Awesome.

Re: The Speed of Trust: Chapter 2

Katie Banley — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:20:50 -0000

I was thinking about your blog today while trying to complete a task. I have a very small retirement account associated with my old workplace. It is small, because we both know I didn't work there for very long. I was trying to get that money converted to the account I now have with my current workplace.

But first, I needed to change my address with the retirement account so they can send me a certain form for transfer.

In order to do that, I needed to change my address with my old workplace so they could communicate it to the retirement facility directly (me telling them holds no water).

In order to do that, I need to have a form mailed to my new address.

All of this means that it will take several days just to have a little blip (my current address) on someone's computer screen long enough for me to take it off of their list of current account holders.

Changing my name might've been easier.

I like your blog. I don't understand most of it, but it's still kinda fun to read. Every profession (and entity, really, as you think of how experience shapes the meaning of words to individuals) has its own language.

Re: The Speed of Trust: Chapter 2

Mark Hathaway — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:45:51 -0000

Great post. I want to underscore the importance of clearly communicating expectations (even ones that seem obvious). Our two daughters are homeschooled and I did the same thing with them a while back. It was unfair for the girls to make their mother responsible for making sure assignments were completed daily. So I told the girls "your mom is not going to harp on you to complete your assignments - you know what they are, get them done." I then told them that I would ask them daily what they got done, which seemed to be working fine until I realized that one of them seldom mentioned math. I asked about it one day and was surprised to find that my daughter had fallen a couple of months behind in math (not her favorite subject). So I gave better definition to my expectations. "I expect you will complete a reasonable amount of work in each of your subjects every day, if you need help you ask. I also expect you will catch up on your math assignments."
Without me telling her to she sat down and figured out how many math assignment she would have to complete each day to get caught up. Now I find that I don't have to ask them every day. Some days they volunteer the report. They'll say, "Dad guess how much I got done today." Sometimes they'll tell me, "Dad I didn't get my assignments completed today. I'll work on it tonight, and do extra work tomorrow.
It’s funny, but they are happier, and my wife is happier, which means I’m happier.

Re: User Experience: Find the Send Button

Jason Pettys — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:21:12 -0000

Hi Mel, thanks for checking out my blog! It was fascinating to me that it took you 12 seconds. Did that seem long to you? I suppose in the grand scheme of things 12 seconds isn't much, and yet considering how much we use computers, and how many dozens or hundreds of little tasks like this we do in a typical day, the "usability tax" starts to add up. I think about it a lot because I design web applications like this one every day, and would like to make them more delightful to use, so observations like this are helpful. Thanks!

Re: User Experience: Find the Send Button

Melissa Schiete — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:45:25 -0000

It took me 12 seconds to find the "send" button.

Re: The Speed of Trust: Chapter 1

Tony — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:32:35 -0000

Excellent Jason! Thanks!

Re: The Speed of Trust: Chapter 1

Clay — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:14:28 -0000

Very nice. Clay

Re: User Experience: Find the Send Button

Chris Culver — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:29:09 -0000

I was staring at your screenshot of the hotmail window looking for the send button for a good minute. O_o

Re: Write MSMQ Messages from PowerShell

Schellack — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:58:04 -0000

I also like to set the message label, so that anyone who looks in a message queue and sees the message will know what it is without having to open it. Simply add $msg.Label = 'your label'; after the $msg.BodyStream line.

Re: What Makes a Team Smarter? More Women.

Tony A. — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:01:39 -0000

Agree with your insight Jason. Thanks for passing this along.

Re: The Meaning of Null

Chris — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:46:03 -0000

Good article. I went back and reviewed my bowling game to see if I could tell how it would handle nulls.