Blankenthoughts

Well, it's official. I will be attending Codemash, one of the coolest concepts in technology conferences.

http://www.codemash.org

The basic concept behind it is that it is a conference aimed at "mashing" all of the major web technologies into one event. There is much a .NET developer can learn from the strategies implemented in Java, and vice-versa. There will be speakers on Ruby on Rails, Java, .NET, and several others. Should be a great event.

Also, it's being held at the Kalahari, an African-themed indoor waterpark/resort in the greatest city for theme parks: Sandusky, OH.

Attention all Xbox 360 owners! If you bought your 360 prior to January 1, 2006, you are one of the lucky few that got yourself a 1-year warranty on your machine. For those that purchased after that date, I believe the standard warranty is 90 days. However, there's some information you should know about the next 30 days that you may be interested in:

Microsoft offers an 1 or 2 year extended warranty to the initial manufacturer's warranty, and it only costs $30 a year.

You are only eligible to purchase this warranty if you are still in your warranty period. Once your warranty expires, this offer is null and void.

I only discovered this by having a "General Hardware Failure" on my Xbox this past weekend. The "Ring of Light" around my power button turned red in three of the quadrants, and after following the specific instructions on perhaps fixing the situation, I called Microsoft at 1-800-4MY-XBOX to work on my repair options, at which time they told me about how I was still in my warranty period, and how I was still eligible for the extended warranty. (BTW, they were incredibly helpful with the issues I was experiencing, and assured me that I would have my machine (or a new replacement within two weeks).

I'd be interested to know of any other issues people have encountered related to warranties with the 360, hardware failures, return issues, etc. Feel free to comment!

So, I have interactions with people across all disciplines of software development, be it executive management, developers, architects, project managers, or graphic designers. I have found a common trend amongst one silo of these individuals.

Project Managers have a universal trend that seems to span companies, cities, and industries. I'm am not suggesting that 100% of PMs do this, but it seems to be that ONLY PMs do this.

They will compose a well-written email, full of insight, questions, and directives, only to end their message with the two words that make me throw away any credibility that their previous writings may have generated.

"Please advise."

You asked me questions, you shared opinions. Those should indicate you would like a response. And yet, you still feel the need to end your message with "Please advise," as if I'm not intelligent enough to understand the purpose behind a question mark.

There's an excellent blog post proving my point here:
http://civpro.blogs.com/civil_procedure/2004/04/please_advise.html

There are people commenting on that post about how "It absolutely conveys to my boss (I am an executive secretary) that I must have his direction before I can proceed."

Maybe instead of a lame signoff at the end of your email, you communicate clearly in your message as to what you want the reciever to do.

"Please advise" is a lazy cop-out for effective communication. State what you need, and follow up with that person. An email is only part of getting the job done.

PMs? Let's try being a little less passive-aggressive, and start communicating or needs and ideas effectively.