AKA
Saturday! Part I
Preface
I was assigned to a manager in the service department, making me sound like a car, so I reported to him after going through new employee orientation. He was very nice, asked me what I needed then asked me how I planned to get the web site up. Dad had briefed me so I said I needed to get a finance guy for help with the budget, get other key players assigned to the team to develop both requirements and the plan and then present it to management. He spent two hours with me going over who needs to be involved and we laid out a plan to get them assigned. The main players in the company are Marketing, IT or Information Technology, Finance, and the contractors. There are four contractors; Market Researchers who actually are paid by Marketing; a web site developer in New York who designs the web site, a software company in Atlanta and system testers who are paid by IT. My Company has a Video Conferencing room near the product support department that I could use to keep the distant contractors involved. My boss said he would put out a kickoff letter and set up a meeting with the people I would have to get approval from to use their employees.
He had all the work when I left but I knew that wouldn't last. On my way back to my new office I got a call. It was the Marketing Consultants. They were in town and wanted to do lunch. I said fine and we set a time and a place.
There are two partners who have their own company; Matt lives near Salt Lake City and Veronica lives in Sturgeon Bay. They do the major part of the company's Market Research plus they handle jobs for several other clients. I went over the plan for a plan with them and they said together, "Perfect!" Then they said I'd never get them all. They knew everyone on the list and we talked them over until I began to understand that there were key people I had to have and the others needed as backup. I sent an eMail to my boss with the suggested additions then spent the afternoon talking to New York, Atlanta and, after quitting time, LA where the testers live.
I also had a similar luncheon with the testers, Hal and Betty who are married and live near a beach in LA. They do most of their testing from their home, some from a ski cabin they have in Tahoe and came to HQ to attend all these silly meetings. They also gave me ideas of who to have but most of their knowledge involved the political problems internally, especially IT, and the weaknesses of the software developers in Atlanta.
I left for my Condo late every night to have a microwave dinner and a cocktail before I got on my computer to do personal things. In the morning I left at dawn, not to surf but to go to the company's on-site gym. I could workout, shower there then get coffee in the cafeteria where I was going to meet my 'must have' team members to get them enthused about my project. It was my treat so I guessed they'd be there and they were.
Getting the people was tough as promised but I did well. I also had to hire people to provide Tech Support so the second day was spent with HR or Human Resources AKA Personnel. That was a lot of paper work and it took longer than I expected. I was looking for three tech support people with each one located in a different time zone for each eight-hour shift. I also wanted them to come to HQ for training so they would be involved to a limited extent in requirements setting and totally involved in the development and testing phases. I had already sent eMails to my software and surfing contacts and asked them to forward it to anyone they knew who might be interested. I was already getting eMails from applicants who I told would get more details in a few days. By the end of the search I had guys in Sydney, Durbin and Jamaica's Montego Bay. They were all surfers and computer nerds and, as I guessed, getting a job that allowed them to surf made them want to work on my project.
The development process was grueling for me as it took long hours with a lot of meetings. I also had to travel to Atlanta and New York to coordinate the actual development. By the end I had a lot of frequent flier miles and was worn down to the nub. I relaxed too soon for just after rolling out our new web site we were inundated with problems. I was pulled in to Tech Support to help out plus I was coordinating the fixes. After a few months we had a handle on the new problems but solving the old ones was hard going for few engineers like to work on code that is already written.
Even when we had it under control there was the problem of not having coverage for the weekends. My experience with mortgages was much easier. With mortgages the web site had only one product and there was more human involvement after the sale. Everything was automated with this system. I ended up spending a lot of my weekend time on Tech Support for several months more. What was disappointing was that after we got through the initial flurry of problems we had a lot of problems unresolved for there was no one to work on them.
All these problems were compounded by our having new releases coming out every three months. We were all drawn out very thin.
I was able to relax a little when my Boss's group had their service manager meeting in San Diego. We stayed at a luxury tourist hotel, had bus rides every evening to different restaurants and ran up tremendous costs. It was great fun. I was told every group could have a meeting. As my guys were spread around the world I convinced my boss we should have one as well. I got approval to have the Market Researchers and testers attend as well.
I checked with finance guy who I worked with setting up the web site's development plan and got a range of costs for employee meetings. The team agreed we could have more fun if we stayed near my place and spent the money saved on parties and so the party was on.
The team began to arrive Friday evening arriving between nine and eleven. The last to arrive was our Australian who got to my place just before dawn after traveling one IDL lost day and a non-stop flight to Honolulu then driving to the north shore. There was no purpose to rent a hotel room so he came to my house directly and dressed for Dawn Patrol.
There are eight people on the team only half of which work for the company. That is myself and my three Tech Support Engineers. Starting where the day begins is Luke from Sydney, Australia who is a typical tall, blond surfer and the last to arrive. He is the best educated of the three but also the shyest. Next to see sunrise as the world turns is Dick from Durbin South Africa who went to college in England and now is finishing his degree in Durban. Dick is shorter and very muscular and it was he that suggested we divide the team into those who stood right side up, those from south of the equator, and those who stand on their heads, those of us who reside in the northern hemisphere. The longest in the dark except for me is Jake from Montego Bay, Jamaica and the easiest going. Jake is a slender, easy going surfer who is very popular with the ladies.
All of our testing is done by two consultants, Hal and Betty who are married and live near a beach in LA. Hal is a gregarious guy for a tester and Betty is a short, curvy blond. They also have a cabin at Tahoe they share with her sister whose family stays there for the summer leaving the rest of the year, mostly ski season, to Hal and Betty. I stayed there one week and taught them that people from Hawaii don't adapt well to the cold.
The next couple, they are not married nor even dating, are our consultants for Market Research, Matt from Salt Lake City, and Veronica from Sturgeon Bay. Unlike Hal and Betty who only work for the company, Matt and Veronica work for from three to five companies and allow no one to exceed a third of their billings. Matt is a stocky guy, also a skier and the most gregarious of the group. Veronica is a tall, stacked raven-haired beauty who, along with Jake is a sailor but she does ski when she visits Matt.
I should mention that my Condo in Mountain View is used by all of these people when visiting HQ. I charge a fee that is exactly equal to the 'gift in lieu of lodging' that our company pays to save money on expenses. The money goes into the Chowder and Oohm-Pah Band Society with the money used to buy birthday presents, wedding presents, baby presents and flowers if in the hospital. Everyone gets at least one gift a year. So, you can see, we're a very close group even if we live at the eight corners of the earth. Surfing and eMail keeps us together but I want this meeting to build a strong team.
I am certain we will be a better team. What I hope is that we will also solve a lot of problems and have a great time as well.
Saturday just after dawn Luke and I walked to the beach from my front door then across the entrance to the Park's parking lot. The parking lot is about a dozen feet above the beach on a hillock that circles the land side and the east side of the beach the west side being a rocky outcropping that extends into the sea. There is a stair and a zig-zag walkway down to the beach which is long but not very large. The only water is a faucet because kids of whatever age poured sand into the drain of a drinking fountain so it was removed. There are fire rings around the rear of the beach but no other facilities, toilets being by the parking lot. Well, there is one other facility on the beach; the Pacific Ocean! It stretches to beyond the horizon from which roll in the waves.
The waves weren't spectacular when Luke and I, the last of our team to arrive, arrived. Everyone knew one another fairly well by phone but not by sight even though all of them have met face-to-face at least once. The crowd was normal winter weekend size so we had medium waits for a wave. Luke was understandably a little groggy and so was I for some reason. The two of us crashed and gave everybody a laugh to start.
I always wear a one piece for dawn patrol because it's warmer for me. I always wear a 'kini in the afternoon because it's hotter for him! Today I started the seduction in a beach-sexy one-piece now spotted in all the right places with red and tan dots. This suit is very slightly constructed for stay-put confidence with its front-lined for no-show through, lace-up sides and full back coverage. That means my bottom is covered for this sexy suit has a scoop back. It has a cover-up swim skirt that looks great on the beach or in the water with side ties and scalloped trim at hem so it flies like a flamenco skirt when I spin.
All-in-all we had a good set of waves to start the day. There were, and there always only are, a few Dawn Patrollers and maybe the most will be there on a Saturday. The advantage of Dawn Patrol is that you don't have to wait as long for a wave. It didn't take long for all of us to gather and the few people made good use of the waves leaving us to have a portion of the beach to surf together. Some hadn't surfed for a while but they soon got up and about smashing wave after wave. I brought a gallon of coffee for those who wanted a pick-me-up and everything including the waves were smashing.
We left at 9 and headed for breakfast at a nearby place named the Surfshack. It is a long, narrow flat roofed structure along the hi-way with parking along the front and sides. Inside booths line the windows along the front and sides with a counter that runs along the entire center having the kitchen behind the counter and restrooms at each rear corner. It's open from 7 A.M. to 8 P.M. serving anything on the menu any time as long as they have the ingredients. The breakfast menu is extensive with cereals, pancakes, waffles and eggs prepared any way you want. If you want them prepared in any manner except raw and it's not on the menu you will have to tell the cook if he doesn't know your secret way. What I like most about the Surfshack is that if you order toast they serve a fresh jar of jam, jellies or preserves in one, two or four person sizes as needed.
They only have one booth that holds eight people so we got back-to-back booths in a rear corner. That kept all the team from interacting a little but as we were near the end of breakfast I asked Luke to tell about surfing in Australia.
Luke said nice things, of course. "The Northern Beaches is a delight for anyone who loves the ocean. Stunning beaches adorn the coastline and tranquil Pittwater offers a variety of water activities. The friendly relaxed lifestyle on the Peninsula makes the Northern Beaches a top spot for visitors for a relaxing and memorable holiday.
"The Northern area extends north of the entrance of Port Jackson to Sydney Harbour and east of Middle Harbour to the entrance of Broken Bay. The Northern Beaches include Manly, Fairlight, Seaforth, Clontarf and Balgowlah in the Manly local government area; Brookvale, Harbord, Curl Curl, Dee Why, Narraweena, Beacon Hill, Cromer, Collaroy and Narrabeen in the Warringah local government area; Warriewood, Elanora Heights, Ingleside, Mona Vale Bayview, Newport, Avalon, Clareville Whale Beach and Palm Beach in the Pittwater.
"In the Southern area closest to Sidney are Seven Shillings Beach, Queen's Beach, Milk Beach, Shark Beach, Vaucluse House Beach, Parsley Bay, Gibson's Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, Camp Cove and Lady Bay Beach. On the Pacific are Bondi Beach, Tamarama Beach, Bronte Beach, Clovelly Bay, Gordons Bay, Coogee Beach, Maroubra Beach and Malabar Beach.
"You'll have to try our surfing. Maybe we can meet in Sidney next year? Winter would be best for like Hawaii we get great waves from the storms in Antartica in the winter. Our winter is your summer here."
"Is the surfing good in Sydney this time of year?" asked Betty. "I know the surfing here is good in our summer but we are surfing waves formed by your winter storms so they aren't as strong. Do our northern storms get to Sidney?"
"A couple of weeks ago I was surfing 1-2 metre range from the north east at camp cove, one of the Southern Beaches. The weather was nice then but weather can change in November just as it does in April here. Well not here in Hawaii where the weather can be downright boring, but in the Northern Hemisphere."
Everyone thought that was OK except for me. I could see all the real surfers were from nice weather areas; South Africa, Jamaica and Hawaii. LA and Sydney are nice all year round compared to say, Sturgeon Bay, but their best bad day is bad compared to here. But I love surfing, I love surfers and I want variety.
We returned to my house to hold a meeting to discuss the upcoming meetings with HQ. But first let me tell you about my house. The front faces the ocean with picture windows from the living room and master bedroom to take advantage of the view of the park and, if you stand on your tip toes, the ocean. There are three bedrooms and a den, a living room, a small dining room, a kitchen and that's it for indoors. The back yard has only the view of the fence but it is a nice view of grass.
I don't have many plants for I don't want to spend the time or hire anyone to maintain them. A few plants and my herb garden is all I want to handle. There is real, Kentucky blue grass in the backyard but the front has shrubs and grasses that are an extension of those on the coastal bluff making the house look like an extension of the Park. Mother, bless her, took plugs and cuttings from the Park (That's illegal so don't do this at home) and planted them on a portion of the backyard where the contractors wouldn't damage them. Things grow fast in Hawaii. The problem is not to get them growing but to stop them. Soon she had a mini lawn from which she spread more cuttings until when the house was finished she put as cuttings in the front yard making it look mangy. Dad installed a driveway of concrete tiles perforated with square holes in which plugs were set so even the driveway looks as if it were grass. The front yard is larger, with a few flowering plants near the house.
I even have a robot lawn mower that follows radio signals along the fence to navigate. There is a lanai along the entire back of the house itself with comfortable outdoor furniture including a bar that rolls on wide wheels. The rest of the yard is open except for the temporary 14 by 20 foot awning tent set up in my backyard with a 12-foot long table and a giant TV for our video conferences. All of this is rented for the meetings but the tent and table will help with the parties.
My kitchen is average size with simple things as I am not much of a cook. There is a large amount of counter space, a refrigerator that is as large as they sell for normal homes, a stove top, oven, microwave and sink with dishwasher. That isn't much but I do have a real espresso machine that makes fifteen demitasse cups or about one pint of espresso as served in coffee shops. I also have a regular coffee machine plus stovetop coffee makers such as French, Italian, Turkish or drip. I use Kona coffee beans and grind my own. I usually have instant coffee when I'm alone as it is easiest but with this group I was ready to satisfy anyone who was willing to clean up afterwards. I recycle coffee grounds into my compost heap near the garbage cans on the side of the house.
After everyone had coffee, set up their laptops and connected to my WiFi system I turned on the TV so we could all see the same screen and started the meeting. We had three items not counting lunch; individual reports, discussion of the meetings on Monday (Marketing), Tuesday (Information Technology) and Wednesday (Human Resources), and what the schedule was for the rest of the time. None of this was new, we'd exchanged versions of presentations already but we wanted to be prepared.
I started with the presentation I would give to Marketing, IT and HR during the week. It showed that we were making money for the company. Advertising our site on sites used by college and even high school kids focused on computers got us a lot of sales of T-shirts and coffee mugs. We had a selection for both such with an 8 oz. ceramic mug and a 16 oz. glass that could take heat and cold so it was good for beer drinking too. I showed sales and profits by customer types and by product type. All of this resulted in recommendations for reviewing some prices and doing more internal and external advertising.
Then I reviewed the technical side. There were several issues but they revolve around there being too many support problems, number one on the list. That led to discussion of site crashes, programs to reduce those, security problems and how to improve our software to stop them all. There were marketing issues as well. The main one was that field sales managers complained our forms to qualify for giving awards to customers were too complex and restrictive while we were allowing too many employees to have their orders accepted because passwords were floating around the offices. There were also issues with our shipper but their problems were small and they were going to a new software system they believed would solve many of them.
Next each team member gave a presentation of their programs and action items. All of these also had been loaded on the web so the others could review them on their flights coming here. Highlights were from marketing who described that customers (defined as anyone who used the web site, not company customers) complained about the rules for who could get what and that some thought we should open all items up for sale to anyone. Another complaint was the limited support hours. This was mostly the Time Out Periods. They are the weekend period from basically 5 P.M. Friday to 8 A.M. Monday Pacific time. "Customers understand that is where the most customers and employees are congregated but they complain it takes too long to get a response," said Matt. The last issue was that some customers liked our web site too well.
That got a laugh so Veronica explained, "Product customers want to be able to order manuals and spare parts on the site as it is easier than the current process for those items."
I pointed out that manuals and spare parts are proprietary and we have to closely control who has access to them. They would help our competitors should they get out. We could create a special sub-site to sell these items as long as there was personal verification involving a telephone call. "We would also need money and help from them as well for we have enough problems not being handled now plus we would have to have around the clock support although that could be paid for as those items are so profitable."
There were long discussions of these issues moving toward ideas for action so I proposed we start changing the presentations to capture our ideas. This lasted till noon when we broke for lunch. I made Poor Boys that I called California Poor Boys as my Dad would disown such a thing, his being from New Orleans. Mine were as made in Southern California with some oil and vinegar on top and bottom bread slices, Cole slaw, cold cuts, cheese slices, tomatoes, onion and pickles. I served them with potato chips and hot peppers along with beer. I had two keg coolers with taps, one for the beach this afternoon and the other plus the unused beach keg for the party tonight so why not drink some during working hours?
Not wanting to waste time I displayed my presentation of the plan for the week on the screen. The plan for every day is basically:
Dawn Patrol 6-9
Breakfast 9
10 A.M. Meetings
3-6 P.M. surf with different beach games
7-11 P.M. party
"I hired a caterer to prepare dinners through Thursday but we have to serve ourselves and help where we can." I explained we could handle up to forty people and that my plan was to invite 15 guys and 17 gals, all in addition to us to make it even. I suggested each invite four people by telling me who they wanted to be there and ask them after I checked they weren't already coming and being certain we had an even number of boys and girls.
"The caterers need to be told by 8 P.M. if we change the number coming for the next day's party. Tonight isn't a problem because I can freeze everything that can't be used tomorrow. We'll be eating leftovers for lunch all week during our meetings. Waist not, want not is the motto.
"We're below budget on hotel and travel thanks to you agreeing to go tourist class. I got a good price on the food because caterers up here don't get many orders for six dinners in a row. They're even giving me the liquor at cost.
"These savings don't seem much but you should see what these meetings cost. I asked finance for some per party and per person information and they are expensive! They stay at Resort Hotels, pay hotel catering for food and drink then pay for entertainment on the town one night. We'll have no trouble keeping under their costs unless we have some surprise.
"Friday morning we'll be going to Honolulu but still an inexpensive hotel for two nights but not as low as here. Friday night is being prepared by my Dad and Saturday we'll go out to dinner. The rest of the time will be sightseeing and shopping."
Jake asked if we could have Jamaican food one night. I called the caterer to see what could be done and was told they would check. I said we could swap the New Orleans' party as we would sort of do that on Thanksgiving. Then it was time to start organizing for the afternoon surfing.
Link to Index for next AKA story.
Pukanala's Story Pukanala is my Mom.
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