Resting my brain
Aug. 29th, 2005 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bethlakshmiOuch. Well... today two more people saw my first try at a Requirements Analysis. This is hard stuff. The two folks that saw it are senior systems engineers for a bigger project than ours, as there is no one else on my project besides my boss, who already gave me his reviews, and who has been a core contributor all along.
On the one hand, the reviews are great - they are solid, serious reviews on a major conceptual level. On the other hand - ouch! - getting reviewed by engineers 20 years more experienced than myself, who have that many more years of deep and broad insight into my customer's world than I do - well, that's one hell of a in-depth review. It's good stuff. They make valid points that are both politically insightful and technically reasonable - although they sometimes transcend the starting assumptions I was given as a prelude to the project.
This is the hardball - alot of the reasonable and cogent advice involves setting the stage so those initial assumptions are explained and justified. But the writing has to be done in wording that is terse, technically savy, and not likely to create any political snafus - in a word, it must be eloquent. Now... I ain't half bad with the engineering verbiage - I did earn the right to be a systems engineer. But... this is a level of depth and complexity that is really new, and really challenging.
Realizing just how much of a political jungle this technical review in 10 days could be is even more daunting.
And - with a 24 hour deadline on a Monday morning has me whimpering for my mommy - just a little bit.
I suppose I should take it as a compliment that engineers this much more experienced than me are looking at my work and not laughing at it, but are actually giving me thoughtful responses and taking the time to debate it with me. And as a compliment that I got trusted with something this important, politically tricky and high-profile. And no one has said I suck - just professional critique, which is necessary for improvement.
But... well... *whimper*...
On the one hand, the reviews are great - they are solid, serious reviews on a major conceptual level. On the other hand - ouch! - getting reviewed by engineers 20 years more experienced than myself, who have that many more years of deep and broad insight into my customer's world than I do - well, that's one hell of a in-depth review. It's good stuff. They make valid points that are both politically insightful and technically reasonable - although they sometimes transcend the starting assumptions I was given as a prelude to the project.
This is the hardball - alot of the reasonable and cogent advice involves setting the stage so those initial assumptions are explained and justified. But the writing has to be done in wording that is terse, technically savy, and not likely to create any political snafus - in a word, it must be eloquent. Now... I ain't half bad with the engineering verbiage - I did earn the right to be a systems engineer. But... this is a level of depth and complexity that is really new, and really challenging.
Realizing just how much of a political jungle this technical review in 10 days could be is even more daunting.
And - with a 24 hour deadline on a Monday morning has me whimpering for my mommy - just a little bit.
I suppose I should take it as a compliment that engineers this much more experienced than me are looking at my work and not laughing at it, but are actually giving me thoughtful responses and taking the time to debate it with me. And as a compliment that I got trusted with something this important, politically tricky and high-profile. And no one has said I suck - just professional critique, which is necessary for improvement.
But... well... *whimper*...
