The Good, The Bad and The Rest of Us...
Well, the recent problem with KMDF 1.7 failing to install on Vista RTM was instructive for me on many fronts, so I thought I'd share various random thoughts that arose from the experience.
- It's good to have backup. As I mentioned on my personal blog, I wound up ill most of the week where the problem came to a head. Ilias, Patrick, and Shefali (our erstwhile QA lead, thus making her Patrick's boss and mine) all worked out what the cause was without my meddling. Even more folks got involved in working out the solution.
- Never sell your management short. I think the response was quick and quite awesome, especially for what ought to be a corporate behemoth. In a short period of time, the WDK was made unavailable and an estimate of when the fixed one would be ready was being relayed to those who tried to retrieve it. I've seen five-man shops with slower response times.
- There was the expected "so what went wrong?" inquiry- but it wasn't a scapegoat naming and head-bashing venue by all accounts [of course, I wasn't there, but I do trust the accounts of those who were]. That is also good- the focus as I followed it was where it ought to be- what's best for our customers, and how do we get it done? Then, what happened, and what can we do about any potential repeats? As a customer service advocate, I think that's just where the priorities should be. Given that we temporarily stopped shipping a product for this problem, I think the upper echelons were VERY understanding. It's nice to look up from the trenches and see all of that!
- As far as the issue itself goes- we couldn't have really predicted it. It is one of those things that now seems obvious in some ways, but at the time we tested the RTM WDK, the fix that would break us was something we'd approved in the past. We even attempted to make sure it wouldn't clobber us, but the final version wasn't available [I suppose that could have been a red flag, but as it was paranoid me thought the version we ran WAS the real thing].
- It's still one complex piece of work (the coinstaller). Had to send the first one back [can't tell you why, of course]. But I think everyone will be back and running when we said they would.
- Things keep getting better- the more I learn about Microsoft these days, the more I am impressed. I sometimes wish people could see the same dedication and talent I wind up seeing virtually every day- I can't help but think people would change some opinions if they did.
- I need to calm down a bit [and I think shall once I get a bit more caught up with some of my test development duties].
Other news
Got a request from a new MSDN blogger (again in kernel land) to allow him to list my blog on his list, and saying that I (and a host of greater luminaries- looks like they all assented, judging from his list) had inspired him to do so. Well, his subject matter's certainly interesting, so if I actually helped, that's cool. Perhaps this means I can stop paying Patrick for the links to my blog on his page [you wouldn't believe what that guy charges!].
I was already familiar with some of Jonathan's work from some internal Microsoft mailing lists, so give his blog a look. Maybe I'll finally find something I can post that's technical and not a deep dark secret...
Tunes Just Keep The Office Humming...
Heard as I was composing this:
Grateful Dead: Ripple, Half Step Mississippi Uptown Toodleoo, Good Lovin', Cold Rain And Snow, New Speedway Boogie
Karsh Kale: One Step Beyond
See-Saw: Indio
Yoko Kanno: Call Me Call Me
Plus some InuYasha sountrack and some other Yoko Kanno stuff I forgot to capture...
