Paul Humphreys rambles on....

Paul Humphreys rambles on....
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Wednesday April 27, 2005

Cut paper and press dot

In my last job before Sun the computing evironment was very much modelled on the mainframe days. In fact when I joined they still had a mainframe. The Sun hardware I managed replaced it. All the printouts from the printers were popped into pigeon holes that each user had and plots were put in a special holder. The HP plotter we used on the Sun server had a large roll of paper and after each plot a cutter had to be used to remove the finished plot, press a button marked with a dot, roll up the plot and place it in the holder. Very often over lunch I would wander in the computer room and if the operators were busy ( some were at lunch ) the plotter stood there waiting for the finished plot to be removed before starting the next one. So if it was in that state I'd do the job of an operator. I was surprised one day when someone made it clear a manager should not be doing that - why ?

During our lab move I had to help. My contribution helped get the lab completed in good time. Even now after a spell on conference calls one on ones etc I often walk down into the lab and if the rubbish bins need emptying or something like that I'll do it. I think if you manage people who do things it is your responsibility to ensure you understand what they do and how they do it and the challenges the face.

( Apr 27 2005, 04:00:18 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

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