At IBM’s East Fishkill West Campus 310 Building, I would often visit the vending machines in the break area for an afternoon snack. My office was on the third floor, and the vending machines provided milk in the small cartons. The second floor vending machines did not provide milk; hence, Maureen O’Reilly and I met…
Month: June 2016
LOMAC Tester—Knowing Your Measurement Capabilities
Neither Chris nor I knew much about the LOMAC tester; Fred as the equipment owner did. It sure would have saved some work if we had talked with Fred. This is a story of how doing things in an incremental fashion creates more work. Efficiency is one of the E’s of engineering; it often requires…
Spending a Monthly Windfall
In the mailbox, at the beginning of each month, a payment stub arrives. Representing ~ $45, this windfall has automatically been deposited into my primary checking account. I debate about changing the notification to electronic as it would ease the burden on the environment: harvesting trees to be transformed into paper versus the electric energy…
Starting in the Middle– A Lesson on Documentation
In early July of 1984 Jim Morris, my manager, stopped by my office and suggested I start writing up my project. I thought it odd to start writing so soon; I had not completed my revisions to the computer program. My project focused on my converting the Grade of Service parameter from a constant…