Posted July 05, 2013
high rated
So I have this website prototype I'm working on. My boss kept changing the goals and it's been on development for months, but recently he found a potential customer and we've finally managed to focus on what we needed to get done. He still insisted we needed everything working "perfectly", so development dragged on.
And then I went to Belgium and was able to meet with him for the first time in 6 months. I thought a demo to the potential client was coming up, so I wanted to focus on getting something working and on showable condition for this demo. However, with the whole distributed business going on, even when on the same country it was hard for me to meet with either the designer to fix layout (I suck at making things look pretty) or my boss for user message refining and translation (apparently he believes "your basket is empty. Go find something to buy, we want your moneys" is not an acceptable message, what a nutjob).
So the show went on. Unfortunately, almost all I got were some layout remarks and a request to rework an already working (and teste!) feature, because once he had seen it working like he asked he didn't quite like it. Sigh, but that means we must have time, right?
Wrong, because the customer was leaving on holidays soon so while I was reworking stuff instead of polishing things up, this Tuesday evening I got a mail to let me know the demo was on Friday and it all needed to be ready. That was not a goal I estimated to be achievable, or to put it in layman's term, no fucking way I was going to get it all ready in 2 days. So time to pull off 14+ hour workdays, etc... after weeks of 10+ ones. My steam profile says I haven't played AT ALL the last 2 weeks, but I believe some GOGs are also at fault. Either way, it's been pretty hard to keep up. And up till the last day, I still didn't know what the happy flow for the demo was supposed to be.
All things considered, I had not gone so badly prepared for a demo since... well, ever. Untranslated keys, untested code, missing features the 'demoer' (my boss) didn't even know about because we couldn't have a proper planning meeting so I could tell him... It became evident the site would crash during the presentation, and I should be there to explain why and make it seem like it wasn't so bad. And let me tell you, it normally isn't, most of those bugs take me 15 mins to fix, but I had no time to work on getting rid of them. Anyway, bottom line is, I had to accompany him to the client's place for the demo.
And there you have me this morning, on my shorts, T-shirt and trainers next to my fully suited boss heading to the headquarters of a bank to try to sell them a site that wasn't exactly polished. Needless to say, I felt like the socially awkward penguin and more than a little nervous. Luckily I had shaved a couple days earlier, that's something, but my hair was (probably) still a mess.
But it all went surprisingly well, I'm proud of how my website put up with the tinkering during the demo and didn't really crash even once. It did show it was a work in progress, but on a cute way. For instance, if you tried to submit a project, there was a full text about what submiting meant but no button to actually submit, I had to type the URL myself to get there. I personally think it showed a decent ongoing website which we had confidence in showing everything of, as my boss was obviously surprised at many things he found. Then again, that's my point of view, the customer might have a different one... but I think it went well. Not that I could tell the fine details anyway, my Flemish is only good enough to follow the conversation flow without going into much detail.
And here I am now, very very happy. Which is why I'm doing the giveaway. But here's the twist: the price isn't a game, but beer, and the winner is decided from the get-go: me. That's right, I'll now go and get myself a beer. Who cares it's before noon. Although maybe I'll wait for happy hour at the Celtica, which begins at 1pm...
Either way, since I don't want to be the only one walking away from the thread without a gift, I have nothing for you folks. Because nothing can be split among any number of people and keep them all satisfied, it's that awesome. Enjoy your nothing while I enjoy my beer!
And then I went to Belgium and was able to meet with him for the first time in 6 months. I thought a demo to the potential client was coming up, so I wanted to focus on getting something working and on showable condition for this demo. However, with the whole distributed business going on, even when on the same country it was hard for me to meet with either the designer to fix layout (I suck at making things look pretty) or my boss for user message refining and translation (apparently he believes "your basket is empty. Go find something to buy, we want your moneys" is not an acceptable message, what a nutjob).
So the show went on. Unfortunately, almost all I got were some layout remarks and a request to rework an already working (and teste!) feature, because once he had seen it working like he asked he didn't quite like it. Sigh, but that means we must have time, right?
Wrong, because the customer was leaving on holidays soon so while I was reworking stuff instead of polishing things up, this Tuesday evening I got a mail to let me know the demo was on Friday and it all needed to be ready. That was not a goal I estimated to be achievable, or to put it in layman's term, no fucking way I was going to get it all ready in 2 days. So time to pull off 14+ hour workdays, etc... after weeks of 10+ ones. My steam profile says I haven't played AT ALL the last 2 weeks, but I believe some GOGs are also at fault. Either way, it's been pretty hard to keep up. And up till the last day, I still didn't know what the happy flow for the demo was supposed to be.
All things considered, I had not gone so badly prepared for a demo since... well, ever. Untranslated keys, untested code, missing features the 'demoer' (my boss) didn't even know about because we couldn't have a proper planning meeting so I could tell him... It became evident the site would crash during the presentation, and I should be there to explain why and make it seem like it wasn't so bad. And let me tell you, it normally isn't, most of those bugs take me 15 mins to fix, but I had no time to work on getting rid of them. Anyway, bottom line is, I had to accompany him to the client's place for the demo.
And there you have me this morning, on my shorts, T-shirt and trainers next to my fully suited boss heading to the headquarters of a bank to try to sell them a site that wasn't exactly polished. Needless to say, I felt like the socially awkward penguin and more than a little nervous. Luckily I had shaved a couple days earlier, that's something, but my hair was (probably) still a mess.
But it all went surprisingly well, I'm proud of how my website put up with the tinkering during the demo and didn't really crash even once. It did show it was a work in progress, but on a cute way. For instance, if you tried to submit a project, there was a full text about what submiting meant but no button to actually submit, I had to type the URL myself to get there. I personally think it showed a decent ongoing website which we had confidence in showing everything of, as my boss was obviously surprised at many things he found. Then again, that's my point of view, the customer might have a different one... but I think it went well. Not that I could tell the fine details anyway, my Flemish is only good enough to follow the conversation flow without going into much detail.
And here I am now, very very happy. Which is why I'm doing the giveaway. But here's the twist: the price isn't a game, but beer, and the winner is decided from the get-go: me. That's right, I'll now go and get myself a beer. Who cares it's before noon. Although maybe I'll wait for happy hour at the Celtica, which begins at 1pm...
Either way, since I don't want to be the only one walking away from the thread without a gift, I have nothing for you folks. Because nothing can be split among any number of people and keep them all satisfied, it's that awesome. Enjoy your nothing while I enjoy my beer!
