Frustrating
Work is frustrating..on two fronts even. I've bitched on here before about my immediate supervisor. We won't beat a dead horse this time and will simply say, "No matter how hard I try, I just cannot cure stupid."
Second is our primary client. Texas Midstream Gas, aka Chesapeake Enercy. Our company has been their leading surveyor/engineer for 3 years in their Ft Worth development. Somehow they have new survey coordinators that dislike us. In fact they recently released a completely new set of "Survey Standards." These new standards are uprooting everything we've achieved in the past three years. Prior to these standards, it was easily said that our field crews could out-perform any other company using half the the people and less time. It does come at a price. We are a premier outfit and attempt to do nothing "half-assed." We use cutting edge equipment, experienced personnel, and new ideas.
The ideas portion is what we can rock'n'roll with. The project manager in Stantec is a very respected indiviudal in the Surveying world. Jump to amazon and type in Jan Van Sickle, and you'll get a glimpse at his impact. His books are used for training, education, and reference. Hell, the man moonlights as an online professor for two collegiate programs! His right-hand man, and my counterpart in our sister office, (Denver, CO) is the most intelligent surveyor I've ever had a chance to work with. He can whip up databases, gps adjustments, programming XSL, etc. We have custom software running left and right exclusively built for this project. (That isn't to say we wouldn't modify it for other projects). All of which boils down to efficiency. We are a well tuned, streamlined, surveying machine. No one can touch us...
..Well no one could. These new standards are forcing us to rewrite our database. We'll need to retrain all of our personnel (that's my job, yes this will suck). And they are removing any "thinking" from the equation. That was our strongest part. I typically consider myself a smart individual, but within "the collective" I'm 4th or 5th on the list. We'll see how it pans out.
I'm not optimistic, but hell, when you're the top dog, everyone is gunning for you. Getting to there is easy, staying there for 2+ years is going to take some work. If problem #1 would just get off my ass, it would make things a ton easier.
On a personal front, life is kicking along. Ruby will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. On Tuesday she weighed in at 16lbs on the button...There are 6 month olds that don't weigh that. If you've seen Xmen, think of Juggernaut, then reduce him in size to 25" tall...that is my daughter Ruby. Except she's more squishy.
Second is our primary client. Texas Midstream Gas, aka Chesapeake Enercy. Our company has been their leading surveyor/engineer for 3 years in their Ft Worth development. Somehow they have new survey coordinators that dislike us. In fact they recently released a completely new set of "Survey Standards." These new standards are uprooting everything we've achieved in the past three years. Prior to these standards, it was easily said that our field crews could out-perform any other company using half the the people and less time. It does come at a price. We are a premier outfit and attempt to do nothing "half-assed." We use cutting edge equipment, experienced personnel, and new ideas.
The ideas portion is what we can rock'n'roll with. The project manager in Stantec is a very respected indiviudal in the Surveying world. Jump to amazon and type in Jan Van Sickle, and you'll get a glimpse at his impact. His books are used for training, education, and reference. Hell, the man moonlights as an online professor for two collegiate programs! His right-hand man, and my counterpart in our sister office, (Denver, CO) is the most intelligent surveyor I've ever had a chance to work with. He can whip up databases, gps adjustments, programming XSL, etc. We have custom software running left and right exclusively built for this project. (That isn't to say we wouldn't modify it for other projects). All of which boils down to efficiency. We are a well tuned, streamlined, surveying machine. No one can touch us...
..Well no one could. These new standards are forcing us to rewrite our database. We'll need to retrain all of our personnel (that's my job, yes this will suck). And they are removing any "thinking" from the equation. That was our strongest part. I typically consider myself a smart individual, but within "the collective" I'm 4th or 5th on the list. We'll see how it pans out.
I'm not optimistic, but hell, when you're the top dog, everyone is gunning for you. Getting to there is easy, staying there for 2+ years is going to take some work. If problem #1 would just get off my ass, it would make things a ton easier.
On a personal front, life is kicking along. Ruby will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. On Tuesday she weighed in at 16lbs on the button...There are 6 month olds that don't weigh that. If you've seen Xmen, think of Juggernaut, then reduce him in size to 25" tall...that is my daughter Ruby. Except she's more squishy.