Dan Olsen’s Weblog

I have found that issue tracking software and Subversion repositories can be more of an obstacle then a help if not used properly. Since I started working for the State of Utah one of my responsibilities was to update Subversion and come up with some standards for our group. Another task I was assigned was getting bug tracking in place. I figured that it was not that big of a task. However, now I realize that software without a plan is a recipe for disaster.

I was surprised to find that people who have been in software their whole career don’t understand these tools. Now I am paying the price of not adequately training these developers. I am in the process of writing up some documentation and coming up with processes that involve the tools we have.

The one lesson I learned is to never assume people will understand the tools without adequate direction. Also, never assume anything.

Today was the first day of the “Working 4 Utah” initiative. This means that Utah State employees no work 4-10 hour days instead of 5-8 hour days. Ever since the announcement of the initiative the papers here in Utah have been writing stories about it. I have gone online and read some of the comments by people about state employees.

For some reason people think that 4-10s means less work then 5-8s even though it is still a 40 hour work week. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to become a state employee because of of the stereotypes put on public employees. I was greatly surprised when I found people that work in the Department of Technology work just as hard if not harder then the people I worked with at Omniture.

Because of my findings amongst my fellow State employees I started thinking about my employment at Omniture. Some weeks I would put in 60-70 hours and sometimes even more. Even though we were at work longer at Omniture we didn’t get as much done as one might think hearing those numbers. The problem at Omniture was that if you didn’t stay late you were looked down upon even though you had a very successful day without staying late. I found that people at Omniture spend a lot of time watching TV, playing foosball, playing pool, etc.

Now at the state there isn’t much to do during breaks and lunch so people are focused on work. Looking back at my Omniture days I would say that we could have gotten the same amount of work done in a 40 hour week as we did in a 60 hour week. If people worked instead of played during the day they could be home more. I think in technology, people gauge your work by home many hours you put in at the office instead of how much work was done. I would go without a pool table or foosball table if that meant I would be focused on my work instead of knowing that I was expected to stay late even if I didn’t get anything done.

Another thing I noticed at Omniture was that after they brought dinner in for us, very little work got done. Now, I will admit that there are some people at Omniture that work long hours and get stuff done during every hour. However, those people are very few. It’s great to have a fun work place but not to the point that people expect me to sacrifice my family.

So I am currently on the bus on my way into work. It is about 45 minutes on an express bus and then a shuttle bus that takes me up to the capitol building. When I first accepted the job with the State of Utah I was not excited about riding the bus. I knew I would have to since gas prices were too high to be able to drive to work every day.

Well, after almost 4 months of riding the bus, I have to say I love public transportation. UTA (Utah Transit Authority) now has Internet on all express busses and on Front Runner (the new commuter train that runs from Ogden to Salt Lake). The speed is a little slow but it allows me to get stuff done on the bus.

I must say. I am now a big fan of public transportation.

Yesterday Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah announced that many state agencies will be moving to a condensed work week. Instead of a typical 5 day, 8 hour/day work week they will move to the 4 day, 10 hour/day work week.

The rumor had been swirling around the State Office Building on capitol hill but many of us thought they wouldn’t actually do it. However, yesterday morning al employees received an e-mail about it. This caused quite an uproar in the office. Most people are either strongly for it or strongly against it. I myself am one of the few that have mixed feelings. I am really excited about an extra day in my weekend to spend with my family. However, I am not excited about getting up an hour earlier and getting home an hour later.

I currently commute into Salt Lake from Springville which is about an hour south of Salt Lake. I currently take the bus because of ridiculous gas prices. I am one of the lucky bus riders that has a bus schedule that will easily accommodate my new work schedule. However, some people are not so lucky. One guy was saying yesterday that he would now have to leave home around 4:30am and he would not get home until around 8:00pm with the new 10 hour work day.

Gov. Huntsman said that the 4 day work week would be a trial run for a year so they can evaluate the impact. Most of us believe that the 4 day work week is here to stay. My wife and I have thought of moving closer to Salt Lake but with the housing market the way it is we don’t think we would be very successful in selling our house we bought a year ago.

There are currently many things the state still has to work out such as day care for employees as well as transportation concerns. They are launching the 4 day work week on August 4th and the plan to have most of those issues figured out before them. It was quite an aggressive move on the State’s part. All I have to say is that I’ll know how I really feel once I start working 10 hour days. I figure it will be like days I spent working at Omniture. The only difference is I get Fridays off.