Feuerfest

Photo by Piet Bakker: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-long-coat-lion-68421/

No productive change on Friday!

This expression was my first encounter with ITIL at all. Having just started fresh as Junior Linux sysadmin at a major German telecommunications provider. Strictly speaking, the rule was the following: "No standard changes to a production system if the next day isn't a normal workday." This was put in place to ensure that problems in production can be fixed in a timely manner, that all required resources and people are available. A plain, simple logical rule—and a very effective one.

But how do my wisdom teeth come into play? Well, as I am currently learning for my ITIL4 certification, I remembered a story from that time. I was visiting my dentist, and the whole appointment just felt strange. I knew I had some minor pain in one or two teeth a few weeks ago. Which was when I first visited them. But the dentist—a big clinic with several doctors—did not have enough time at that point and gave me a new appointment.

Naive as I was, I didn't note down what would be done at that appointment. Trusting that the doctor will document everything, right? Well.. He didn't. This time I got another doctor, and he did the one thing I remembered and then just left the room. I wasn't told the appointment was over. It didn't feel like it was over. So I just kept sitting in the chair, waiting.

Some 10 minutes later, a doctor's assistant comes into the room to prepare it and is surprised I am still there. I am told that I am free to go, and, well, I do. I had just put my jacket on when another assistant approached me. "Oh, good that I managed to catch you. You need to make an appointment for the removal of two of your wisdom teeth. The doctor spotted caries in them."

I was surprised. He didn't say anything about that. But, ah, well. Doctors can have a bad day too. So off to the reception I went to make an appointment for the removal. Only to learn that these removals are done by an external doctor who solely does wisdom teeth removal. Additionally, all of his appointments for the next 3 months are fully booked. The reason? He is only present on Fridays.

Immediately, the beloved ITIL phrase comes to mind. Realizing full well that if I should have any pain or bigger problems, I will be in minor trouble. Having to go to the emergency on-call dentist in my town for that weekend—or directly to the hospital. I wasn't really keen on that. So the receptionist and I agreed that I would call some days later to schedule an appointment when I had sufficient time to organize my calendars.

Only that.. Well, I never called back. I grew more and more suspicious over the days and said to myself, "Let's wait until I start to feel something in my teeth." The doctor's strange behavior didn't contribute to my inner well-being either.

I waited. And waited. And waited. And when it was time for my next regular dentist visit, I decided to get a second opinion. I asked some colleagues, checked a few "Rate your doctor" websites, and went to another dentist.

There, they did an X-ray of my whole jaw to get a complete overview. The doctor was nice. Explained what he was looking for. What he can and can't see, and I asked fairly simply if there is any caries in some of my wisdom teeth. He looked a bit stunned for a second and said, "No, not from what I see. If there is caries, usually black spots are visible. But there are none, as far as I can see. Do you feel any pain? Especially when they come into contact with something hot or cold?"

So, I explained the whole situation to him, and then he told me a few details (which I won't write down here for legal reasons), which made it obvious to me that changing my dentist was indeed a good decision.

And all of that, just because I followed ITIL procedures from my employer. Ha!

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán: https://www.pexels.com/photo/email-blocks-on-gray-surface-1591062/

Some rather fun stories revolve around my usage of mail addresses. Like many IT people, I like to use identifiable email addresses. In my case, it means I always use companyname-DDMMYYYY@my-domain.tld or website-domain-DDMMYYYY@my-domain.tld when I need to specify a mail address.

This has the advantage that I can verify if the sender matches the recipient address. Obviously, Paypal won't send mail to some-webshop05072024@my-domain.tld. And it is a good pointer when some customer database was leaked or if sites are selling customer data. I experienced it like 10 times already: the mail associated with a certain website or shop got spam right after I deleted my account there. Truly unsuspicious...

And in the few cases where a company's customer database was leaked several times, I can easily change the mail address and still track if the new address is being spammed or not.

The unexpected benefit of unique mail addresses

The first real surprise came to me some years ago when I bought new furniture for my new flat. When the furniture was being delivered and built up one of the people setting them up said to me: "Ah, I see we work at the same company."

I was confused and replied: "Uh, no. I'm not working for (that furniture company's name). Why do you think I do?"
"Well, according to the receipt you got the employee discount.", the man replied. I was dumbfounded. I definitely didn't lie, and when I was in the store and purchased the furniture the employee also said nothing regarding this topic.

Then it dawned on me: My mailaddress! It was companyname@my-domain.tld! But.. I thought in disbelief, "It's only in the local-part!" Well.. Looks like the employee doesn't understand the structure of mail addresses and that everyone is free to choose the part before the @-sign (the so-called local-part or username). And thought I do work for the company, and gave me the discount without saying a single word. Wow.

Basic IT-Security in the banking industry?

And today? The same happened. With my bank. I needed an appointment and called them. As I didn't provide a mail address to them in all these years they asked for one to set up the online calendar entry. I told the customer rep to use bankname2024@my-domain.tld. The representative immediately asked in surprise: "Oh! You work for one of our branches?"

Well.. I was a bit shocked as, until that point, I thought that bank employees were at least minimally trained to properly read mail. In order to detect at least the most obvious phishing attempts. It seems I was wrong.

I gave the rep a quick run-down on the structure of mail addresses and said that basically everything in front of the @ is irrelevant (or at least should be treated as such). And that was it. On to the next adventure with mail addresses!

Photo by Tara Winstead https://www.pexels.com/photo/motivational-phrases-for-mental-health-8378735/

Recently, I had a conversation with a recruiter on LinkedIn. It started pretty normal, but for some reason I mentioned I have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder (Wikipedia)). The recruiter replied that this could be used as an advantage. "How so?" I asked.
And immediately after stating my question, the recruiter said something that made me angry in a rather rapid way.

The recruiter elaborated that I can be presented as way more productive due to my hyperfocus (Wikipedia), and that this has the potential to give my future employer a huge benefit.

I was speechless. I didn't reply for 2 minutes. Only thinking: "WHAT!?"
It certainly didn't help that the way in which my hyperfocus was portrayed reminded me of how slaves were marketed in human history. Pointing out the benefits of their bodily features for the profit of their future masters. Nope. Definitely not helping.
But the main reason for my anger stirred from the fact that my hyperfocus is not some kind of fancy addon. Not some kind of trait I voluntarily learned.
My brain works differently. The chemicals that my brain produces are produced in different amounts than in people without ADD. Science has proved this again and again. This is directly tied to different behavioral patterns. Which can cause problems with people who are not on the neurodiversity spectrum of brains.
Many of us ADD'ers only learn of this in our late 30s or even later. After decades of struggling. Trying to find out, "What is wrong with me? Why am I so different than anybody else?" After all, diagnosis was bad in the previous decades. Going even so far as: "ADD is only present in children. It will go away with time." That those children simply learned to hide their ADD and suffered silently as adults? That many adults with undiagnosed ADD develop a depression because of this? Yeah.. This is only understood since a mere decade or two.
I would happily trade my hyperfocus for a normal brain. Don't get me wrong. I don't hate myself for having ADD. It's just the way that I am. And since I got my diagnosis, I have learned more and more about myself and how to deal with all that accompanies ADD.
Fortunately, diagnosis, help, and treatment get better and better, especially for children. Well, at least here in Europe.
But if you are already an adult? It kind of sucks.

(TL;DR: Money. Here in Germany, doctors can send bills to healthcare providers if the ADD patient is a child. But NOT if the patient is already an adult. Yes, a flaw in the law. But an annoying one. This effectively means: Trainings, Coaches, behavioral therapy, medicaments.. All paid for if you are a child. As an adult? Here, take your pills with Methylphenidate (Wikipedia) (like: Elvanse, Medikinet, Ritalin, Concerta, etc.) and that's it. If you want more, search and pay for it yourself.)

But utilizing my hyperfocus in a way to improve my chances of getting hired?
That's NOT the way it's going to work. That's not the way it should be E-V-E-R. That's just a twisted and perverted way of exploiting oneself.
Personally, I have the following approach: If it kicks, it kicks. Sometimes I enjoy it. Using it to deep-dive fast into the topic and learn so much in so little time. Sometimes it's annoying as hell, as I know I can't give in to the hyperfocus as there are other pressing matters more relevant to me or the lives of others.
Most importantly: My hyperfocus is not something I can control.
Yes, there are situations/techniques, etc. that can help. And I've read my fair share of ADD'ers saying they are able to control it.
I always immediately question myself: "Can they, though? And, if they can, should they?"
While being hyperfocused, I feel great. Time feels stopped, yet I can see how rapidly I advance. Which is an awesome feeling for someone with ADD who, more often than not, feels things are too slow to be enjoyable.
But right after the rush of hyperfocus ends? Yeah, better spend some quality leisure time to recharge those internal batteries of yours. If not. Or you simply can't? Things tend to get messy. Missed appointments, forgotten tasks, household chores being left undone, and so on.
And now I imagine ADD'ers who constantly push themselves into that rush just to "prove their worth to their employer." After all, they were sold with that advantage, right?
Why not just hand out free cocaine to non-ADD employees then? Sounds stupid? Dangerous? Yep, now you understand my point.

Back to the recruiter. I told the person all this. That my hyperfocus is a part of me. And it's not a reliable one. Or rather: One on which I wouldn't rely on to get the job done. That I just want to be treated normally. And not be "our newest hyperfocus hire.".
The answer I got was: Well, sadly, not much at all. The recruiter got that I wasn't interested in a job. Well, I said so before. It's just that our conversation switched to this topic then. And therefore, the recruiter seemed to not bother answering any of the ethical questions I imposed.
I mean, I get it. What the recruiter said was, most likely, only meant to uplift me. To make me feel good. To give me the impression that I have good chances of being hired.

But still: I'm not owing you my hyperfocus!

Addendum

Some days have passed since I published this post and there is something which I want to add. It's about the whole topic: "Due to your hyperfocus you are more productive!"

Personally I think this is not true. All imponderabilities aside: You need to recover after a hyperfocus. You cannot be constantly in hyperfocus. Like you can't constantly be in a state of flow, something which everyone of us has experienced at one time or another. But hyperfocus, in my personal experience, is way more intense. And I can't say how long it will last.

Likewise I can't tell how long I need to properly recover, but here the logic comes in. Do I need longer to recover (and are maybe less productive during this period) and therefore eliminate the benefits of the time spent in hyperfocus? Or not?

Do hyperfocus and recovery-time always cancel themselves out? Or not? Or like in 70% of all cases? What is the right number here? Is there any at all?

I don't really want answers to these questions. They are simply not needed.

And is there a guarantee that someone in hyperfocus won't make mistakes? Of course not! My advise to employeers would be: "Be happy and thankful when an employee does way more work in a considerable short amount of time. But don't make it the new standard or take it for granted. That won't neither last nor help."

Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/an-opened-old-book-161366/

"No one writes down the real reason for infrastructure projects."

Through Mastodon (definitely the better Twitter 😛) I was made aware of the text "The Mystery of the Bloomfield Bridge" by Tyler Vigen.

This text starts humble. It's just someone asking why this particular Bridge was built in Bloomfield, Minnesota (US). As it seemed superfluous and simply not needed.

Spoiler: It was built 70 years ago primarily for children visiting a nearby school (which now seems to be long gone) and the church (still present).

But just when it seems that Tyler Vigen had consulted all sources. Spoke to anyone he could imagine and still had open questions. And, more importantly, was in need of a primary source backing up his theories and link his findings. He received the following tip:

"No one writes down the real reason for infrastructure projects."

What the woman who gave him this tip meant was: Projects (especially civil ones) have a political side which is seldom actively documented. As it was the case with this particular bridge project.

Curiously I first understood it in the following way:

Rarely anyone notes down the volatile Zeitgeist knowledge. The: "We are currently at this point of our journey. We came here because of A, B and C. Now we have the following problem with C. Hence we try D."

But it's this knowledge which enables me to provide better solutions and guidelines to my clients. Contextual wisdom is important.

"Can't you just talk with your client?"

Sure thing. And I do. After all I'm not tight-lipped.

Another aspect which I encounter regularly: There is a plaque at the bridge. Prominently declaring: "Federal Aid Project FAI 494-4-32 Minnesota 1959."
Ok, yeah.. That seems to be the project which built this bridge.
Apart from that? Well, just another cryptic abbreviation which we can use for our research.

Yeah.. And this is usually the time when I tell the story of this big IT company and it's KF1 test environment.

This company switched all its technical systems, all its processes to the UTF-8 character encoding after having used Latin1, also known as ISO-8859-1, for decades. But as UTF-8 provides support for characters from any alphabet & language it seemed only logical to use this. After all it made expanding into markets with other alphabets (like Cyrillic or Greek) easier.

Each and every process was built up a second time in this KF1 environment. Too big was the fear that a single not-migrated process could wreck havoc. Each process was tested end-to-end and all systems were switched during 3 weeks. Which left the company somewhat inoperable for this period.

Sometime during this project I asked: "Hey, out of curiosity what does KF1 mean? What does it stand for? Everyone just uses the abbreviation."

Nobody, not one single person knew it. Some said they did know it. Once. Years ago. After all this project was running for several years. And in all these years no one saw it necessary to note down the full wording of this abbreviation. Not in one single wiki page or document.

And now we are back to our bridge in Bloomfield, the plaque and our quote on top of this article.

Another sad aspect is: Each and every person which Tyler Vigen could have interviewed is dead.
An aspect which I do encounter often in a similar form:
"Oh, we don't know precisely why it was done this way. All colleagues who built this system are in different parts of the company now or have left it."
What do we learn from this? Just because something is as clear to you as glass. And you think it's absolutely obvious, self-explaining and everyone knows it anyway. - Then this is still not a valid reason to not document it.

After all archaeologists and historians can tell you a thing or two about this.

You don't know what I mean with this? Well..

Until today we just don't know what the Xylospongium (a sponge on a stick) was used for in Roman lavatories. (Yes, Wikipedia writes it was used to clean the butt. But (pun intended) this theory is old and doesn't match Roman hygiene customs - as there were only few per lavatory. Current consensus seems to be that it was used like a toilet brush.
But we can't say for sure. We simply don't know as we have no reliable primary sources.
Oh.. No. Wait, we do have some. They complain that the Xylospongium is often used in a wrong way - but WITHOUT describing how this misuse looks like. (Sounds familiar to you? 😂)

And now don't get me started on the roman dodecahedron.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/cheerful-young-woman-screaming-into-megaphone-3761509/

When you work in IT you are in the privileged situation that people are actively offering you positions. If I wanted, I wouldn't have needed to search for a single one of my jobs. I got plenty of offerings on Xing or LinkedIn, via email or sometimes even through Twitter direct messages or Google Hangouts.

So, as the question just recently arised from a recruiter on Xing: "Why didn't I accept the request to become connected?"
Well, short answer: My starting page feed and too much clutter.

In fact, I did tend to accept those requests years ago. Quickly, this had a rather unpleasant side-effect: My feed was full of job advertisements for various positions in far too many industries. Jobs which were absolutely not relevant for me. For which I did have no skills, no training, no interest, no passion. And.. 99,9% of the time I'm not searching for a job. So why should I be forced to read job ad after job ad and - sorry for the wording - waste my time with it? Especially when it is not a one-time occurrence but a constant stream of non-interesting content.

Additionally, because of all that clutter, I sometimes didn't notice crucial personal updates from old colleagues & friends. As sadly nowadays it's the standard to just have one single feed where all postings show up. Not sorted into categories or whatever. Therefore I am more or less forced to read every article (and advertisement...) even if I'm not interested in it. Feel free to read my post The problem with social networks - and why I still miss Google+ if you want to know more.

Thais is the sole reason why I stopped doing that.
It is really nothing personal. It's just that 99,9% of the time your content is irrelevant to me - as I'm simply not on the lookout for a new challenge. And on top of that: In the short time frames when it is relevant to me, 99% of the content is - again - irrelevant to me - because the jobs don't fit what I'm searching for.

I like my feed/stream to be about stuff I'm interesting in. I don't like it when I constantly have to read stuff which is neither interesting nor relevant for me.

If, for example, LinkedIn changes the way their feed works, then my position could change. But until things stay as they are I sadly have to be a bit more rigid in who I accept as a contact.