CV, just to be clear, I have written too many lines of assembler, getting I/O devices to properly translate into 3 space, than many might know and that I care to admit, at times.
You may be living the life of a flow chart, if -> then, when you are forgetting about chaos theory, fractals, and neural networks.
And that...
is ok...
We can not live our lives in a closed system.
We could argue that we can, but we'd be lying to ourselves...
You know how difficult it can be, to get clarity from the users, or the systems designers (I'd be curious to know what your specific job title is). To generalize, I am a BA / SA.
Things break down to a binary level, yes. You also know that when a system is translated to a much larger scale, weird things begin to happen.
The pressure you feel is not likely that your H was an elephant that presented like a dog.
The pressure you feel is the lack of clarity, to understand how YOU can be... in the perfect system...
And the "zen" in that, is...
Just be...
Don't worry about what you should or should not do... just do...
And stop focusing on what your H should or should not do...
You are wanting your H to make your life easier...
And since you can not write his binary code, you are frustrated with a TSR that you feel has gone rogue...
These are not two applications that CAN NOT interoperate.
They are two applications that are independent... and rightly so...
I'm not sure what you're looking for KD. My H does want to be M'd to me. He was thrilled with my attitude when I came back last weekend. He immediately pursued his list of wants. Things fell apart on Friday because that was the first time I wanted something from him. He didn't deliver. My complaint about his not delivering is "criticism." ... crash and burn.
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Does your H just simply want you to stop nagging, so that he can go about selfishly and do his own thing, without regard to you?
I can't say what he wants but it sure looks that way from here. Coupled with my following around behind him doing everything he wants with him.
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Do you simply want your H to be the dog, rather than the elephant, so that you can go about, doing your own thing, without regard to your H?
You're an SA?? That explains a lot. You remind me a lot of my SA; he's just so beyond me mentally. We work well together, but sometimes his casual conversation just becomes a weird hum in my head. Me, I'm an independent consultant. I work for a telcom company translating and billing switch data. I haven't done a resume in 20 years, so I'm not even sure what I would put for a job title.
I don't want to be the perfect system. I want to be "me" without someone scratching their fingers down a chalkboard in the background.
Consider you have a data stream you are attempting to capture data from. How do you translate it? You KNOW (from years of experience) that it is difficult, if not impossible, to assume that the stream is going to give you data that you can simply capture and dump into a database, for further analysis and reporting.
Sometimes, there's an error somewhere upstream, and you're actually getting the equivalent of a core dump into the data stream. The beautiful and efficient filters that you have created, have no way of translating that data.
Garbage in -> garbage out.
What can you do?
Well, the only thing you CAN do is construct another algorithm to drop those packets until such a time that the data stream is once again providing you with translatable data.
What you COULD do, is create a trigger that will send a query upstream, to request clarity. To ask what might be wrong and / or to get acknowledgement of when your TSR should begin processing, again.
Of course, that's not always the case...
So sometimes, we just have to keep parsing the data until it becomes recognizable again, that we may keep doing what we are created to do.
So back to the I/O issue.
Do you understand that your H appears unclear on what you expect from him?
Or maybe... just maybe... his program is incapable of processing your request, as stated.
In the same way, you are asking for clarity from your H, and he simply is not understanding.
The job of both of you is not easy.
So, the issue here remains the I/O.
The data you are getting is garbage.
Create a subroutine... a TSR... that triggers when you get garbage in.
What would that TSR do, to request data that can be processed?
What would that TSR do, until proper data came in?
Okay, and this is where we lose everyone not in I.T.
I also do billing, remember? Billing affects the bottom line that all the head honchos look at. If I get data that is that unmanageable, there comes a point where the billing output does not warrant the amount of time (cost) I'm spending trying to parse it out.
I can do what I can, but there often isn't the time or budget to train me to do something differently. I can ask the switch people to resend the file because possibly the data is corrupt. I can ask them to reformat it into something I can more easily translate. Hopefully, my asking wouldn't put them immediately on the defensive because they feel criticized (ironically, they never do) and dig their heels in behind their defensiveness. But life goes on and the next day I have another 60m records to process, and it's not like this is the only problem I ever encounter. Eventually, I would be doing nothing but spinning my wheels on seemingly unresolvable issues and nothing is getting billed. It wouldn't be long before I either resigned or got fired.
You KNOW (from years of experience) that it is difficult, if not impossible, to assume that the stream is going to give you data that you can simply capture and dump into a database, for further analysis and reporting.
The fact is that 99.99% of the time I can assume exactly that, because I have coordinated with the users and other admins and we have all agreed to a process. It only goes bad when someone goes rogue. Or when it's a very legitimate mistake that doesn't happen again. Without this, there would be no business. You can't run 60m records through each day without a lot of assumptions (aka trust, confidence, understanding, respect, courtesy, etc.).
Understand, I'm not discounting it. ROI is a key factor in most decisions. Whether business or personal. I am not saying ROI is not important. What I'm saying is, ROI is not the focus in life. It's there, but sometimes the metrics or data is... differently focused...
IOW, some might say the ROI in life is to travel to many different countries. Where someone else might say the ROI in life is to eat the food in many different countries. The result is the same, the focus is different.
ie. In my LOB, we do not bill on data, we simply assume large(r averaged) data transfer and adjust billing on a more abstract framework in order to achieve (a pre-defined) ROI. I could say we have a higher level of focus, when the reality is we have a DIFFERENT level of focus.
Does that make sense?
We all know that data can be translated in many different ways, often specifically intended to loft our own POV.
Having said that, I am completely aware that your data, and your presentation of such, is intended to loft your own POV.
As I know that, and you know that of me... I dig deeper... That's the job of the SA.
I KNOW that you are attempting to measure your ROI... It has been very clear from the very beginning... That is very common with a WAS. And I will be so bold as it becomes very common with the LBS, as well. You will see as many of the LBS here go through the process, once they stop being sad, they start finding reasons to move on. They start lofting themselves up on reasons such as yours... that the ROI makes it not worth pursuing, any further.
So, I'm digging...
Because at some point, business needs to assume the ROI is worth it. It can be propped up by a bunch of data and quantifications suggesting that the ROI is worth it. But as it is, no one can predict a future, and so a business has to eventually make a choice to move forward, or stop doing business. If it gets stuck in quantifying the ROI, it will not conduct business, and therefore is pre-disposed to fail.
Many businesses do one of two things. They set a poison pill, or they set up a condition that allows them to restructure. One could suggest they are the same thing, they really are different. The poison pill is very black and white. IF (not ROI) THEN fail the business. Whereas restructuring is IF (not ROI) THEN change LOB to meet ROI.
AS an SA, I can tell you one thing for certain:
You are stuck.
How's that for stating the obvious?
You are trying to make binary reason translate abstract data.
That simply is not going to work.
Your application is set to capture data to prove failure. You haven't set the trigger to be number of failures, you've set the trigger to be a time frame.
What is painfully obvious is, you are not capturing data for successes.
Ergo, your application is not set to determine ROI. It is set to simply measure how bad the failure ultimately is, after a given time period.
So, here's the thing...
You are first and foremost the one who needs to determine clarity.
CV, you are not clear, because you BELIEVE you want out, yet you THINK you want to stay in.
If... and ONLY if... you want to measure ROI...
You need to capture data of success as well as failure.
But...
You don't know what success looks like. If you did, you wouldn't be posting here. You definitely know what failure looks like, as you keep measuring it.
And further, but...
Here's the rub...
You've opened the wrong data stream, to determine ROI...
What makes ME a success? I am helping others achieve their own goals, through measurable steps. I am financially responsible and sound. I drive an awesome car. I have two awesome kids. People, generally, like me. I do my best... always...
What makes ME a failure? Nothing. If I feel I am not being successful, I look at where I am and what I have done that got me here, and I learn and adjust and move forward.
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Just FYI, it may seem a cop out for me to say that nothing makes me a failure, the truth is, I completely believe that. I could say that if I am on welfare, I'm a failure. The reality is, I know that I am not a failure if I am on welfare. I could say that I wasn't financially responsible. I could say that I was too trusting of others with my money. I could say that I was a financial failure...
In the end, I simply realize that I am on welfare, which makes things a little different than if I were not.
And to give weight to that determination, 5 months ago, I WAS on welfare.
Now, I am not.
I adjusted, and moved forward, and now I am financially viable (actually thriving).
I do not expect everyone to believe they have no measure of failure. I am simply stating my own POV in that regard. If you have a measure of your own, personal failure, please state it. ie. I THOUGHT that being on welfare was a sign of failure. I've since realized that, while difficult, it wasn't a failure, just a condition.
Okay, lots of stuff on ROI, I get that. I agree I am lofting my own POV, because that's the only one I have. I don't know what a poison pill is. I agree I'm stuck. (Thankfully I'm not THAT unaware.) I still believe that a M needs to be reciprocal and don't hope to change that. Frankly it's too much work not to get something out of it.
What makes ME a success is very different than what makes my M a success. H could die tomorrow and I wouldn't be any more or any less of a success than I am today. I consider myself quite successful, based not only on a lucrative career with little college, but based upon a good moral foundation that I do well to live by. I can appreciate a gorgeous piece of complex architecture, or moss growing on a rock. I'm afraid of little, including dying (maybe dying painfully.) There's many things I'd like to do if given an opportunity, but won't be disappointed if I don't get to because it meant I was doing something else. My greatest joy in life (besides S12) is reading a book while basking in the sun. I could improve things. I could lose 10 pounds. I could be more organized. I could do better at remembering birthdays. But none of these make me unsuccessful.
So with me, I'm good. My M is not successful. My SIL put it best about her M to my brother when they celebrated 25 years. She said she thinks they did well, because after living together for 25 years, raising two kids that turned out well and dealing with all of life's cr@p, they still like each other. That is my definition of a successful M. I don't have that. But even a failed M doesn't make me a failure.
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CV, you are not clear, because you BELIEVE you want out, yet you THINK you want to stay in.
Or maybe I believe I should keep working on it but think it's hopeless. I don't know. I can say it would be much, much easier to be done with it if H would let go, too. I told H tonight after another spat that I fantasize about the two of us stopping in the middle of an argument, laughing together at the absurdity of it, realizing simultaneously how pointless it all is, commending each other for both giving it one heck of a good effort, agreeing to divorce as friends and genuinely wishing the best for each other with someone else. He said he's not there yet. It doesn't make the spat any less productive, hurtful or pointless, so I don't know what he's hanging his hat on.
So what a difference a week can make, huh? Thankfully, I'm still good with me, just lost my enthusiasm for M. I've noticed in the last week how much H's presence affects my mood when he's around. Like I'm always walking around on eggshells. As the week progressed, I found myself dreading his coming home, and happy if he said he had to work late. So I'm back to trying to figure out how to co-exist better for the next 6 years. Vacations are so much more fun.
OK, how about stretching a little? Looking for next steps, here. I get that you are content (outside your M). I am, as well.
There's a saying that there are two basic stages we can be in: Growth and decay. Stability is a false stage that is actually part of decay.
When we say we are content, we feel we are stable. There is no hope or desire, other than to maintain the status quo. If we do nothing, we decay, maintaining the status quo actually requires work. You see that in your life. And the status quo doesn't seem so bright, so you wonder why you would work on it.
So, what is your passion? What do you want, more? How would you like to grow?
Personally, I will be MORE successful when I get into a new apartment. I will be MORE successful when I go on a one week vacation, every year. I will be more successful when I have a newer, awesome car. I will be more successful when I have my Harley. I will be more successful when I am sharing my life with someone that I want to be with.
Honestly, I think that you and your H's comments above are a positive. It's hopeful. I know it's hard to see from your POV. In your book of life, I'd put a check mark in the "success" column, yet I see you putting a check in the "fail" column.
Little has changed since you last answered those questions. I do want to know what MORE you want, because it gives you something to drive for. I would put "I want to like my H" in the MORE column, as you seem to believe that is important, so it's something to strive for.
So think of it from a coding perspective:
What are your goals? They need to be stated clearly in order to get the results.
That is very common with a WAS. And I will be so bold as it becomes very common with the LBS, as well. You will see as many of the LBS here go through the process, once they stop being sad, they start finding reasons to move on. They start lofting themselves up on reasons such as yours... that the ROI makes it not worth pursuing, any further.