Page 12 of Code Block
"When did you request the update?" Rick asked.
"Hours ago," Del replied. Noah snorted, then quickly confirmed his mic was still muted. Delbert could be a little dramatic on occasion.
"Ha! I've got new data," Srini said. "The purchasing module is updated. I've been checking for the last twenty minutes."
"What time was your email sent, Del? It's important for us to track this. To substantiate how the additional step is slowing us down. You understand?"
Noah raised an eyebrow at the team leader's tone. Rick was the epitome of patience, so when his speech patterned slowed and he enunciated clearly, you knew he was nearing the end of his rope. This situation with running all requests through Claire Broussard was a pain point for the team. Was Simon aware of the tension permeating his development team?
"Oh. It was only forty minutes ago. I guess it seems longer since I'm used to doing it myself and not waiting on anyone."
A moment of silence passed before Rick said, "I'm creating a log sheet so we can track actual times. Everyone, please enter what you requested, the time you sent the request, and when it was fulfilled. If we can show the loss of productivity, we've more of a chance to make a case."
Noah nodded to himself. Neither Jackie nor Simon would accept perceived injustices, but hard facts were something they could work with. And based on past experiences with Rick, the log would also include cost estimates to drive home the point that Caprock was paying for the consultants' time, which was a waste of money if they were sitting around twiddling their thumbs.
He stood and stretched. The coding sessions the last few weeks had been tense and his body was feeling it. A gym session tonight might be just what he needed to ease the tightness from his muscles.
A reminder of her Tuesday night movie date with Lucinda popped up on Claire's screen. "Shoot!"
She looked at her kitchen counter in astonishment. The sandwich she'd made when she got home from work was nothing but crumbs and the ice cubes in her tea glass had turned into water. The light that normally streamed in from the living room windows had dimmed with the sunset and shadows stretched throughout her apartment.
Time had really gotten away from her. She'd only meant to spend a moment reviewing the idea she wanted to present to the project team, but had instead thought of an improvement and spent the last two hours tweaking the solution she'd played with over the weekend.
The reminder notification glaring at her from her laptop got her moving. She saved the file she'd been updating and gathered her pens, notes, and other work papers. It was movie night and—Yikes! The stove clock told her she only had ten minutes to get ready.
By the time Lucinda pinged her, she'd changed into the cotton tee and shorts that served as pajamas and was tucked up comfortably in her bed, ready for movie night. Thank goodness for microwave popcorn; ready in a jiffy! She joined the video call and waited to see Lucinda's face.
"What's up, lady? Did you decide which flick we're watching? The light and fluffy chick flick or the Wall Street power woman takes on the good ol' boys' club?"
Ugh. Claire had completely spaced on their movie choices and was not in the mood for anything intense tonight. "Not feeling the high drama right now. Too close to home."
Lucinda paused and turned to face the camera on her end. "What's up Claire-bear?"
Claire blew out a harsh breath and unloaded on her friend. "Remember when I told you how this job was going to be worry free with zero problems from other employees?"
"Uh oh, I sense a story coming on." Claire watched Lucinda get comfy on what she called her big, ugly couch. "Spill."
Claire recapped what happened in the team meeting last Thursday. "He basically set me up as the bad guy right off the bat," she concluded. "And this process is U-G-L-Y. It's this one-off little script they run, but it's awkward." She described the script and how it worked.
"Why would they have something so clunky? Are they any good at their jobs?" Lucinda stuffed a french fry into her mouth.
"I think it's because they all did their own thing. There's no formal process. It's easy to just write a little script to get what you need when you don't have to go through the chain of command. But Simon is laying down the law and making all the cowboys play by the rules." Claire sighed. "My problem is that it's taking too long and I'm sure they're frustrated every time they put in a request and I can't get to it right away. Yesterday, I was at lunch when I got two separate requests from them. I just know I'm getting blamed for slowing them down."
"So, what's the plan?" The camera wobbled as Lucinda leaned over and reached for something.
"Well, I was in the middle of my second batch of fried pies?—"
"Stress-baking again, I see. What flavor this time? Oh, and homemade dough or quick-and-dirty canned biscuits?"
"Apricot and canned biscuits. I found some really great peach and apricot preserves at the market. Also, why do you care whether I did full-on homemade or used prepared ingredients?"
"It signals how stressed you are. The more stirring, pounding, and rolling you do, the more you're working out your stress. Pre-made biscuits with store-bought preserves mean minor stress. Okay, now that we've gotten the important stuff out of the way, back to the story."
"Huh. I never knew that about myself." Claire laughed. "Anyway, while I was rolling out the dough, something clicked in my head. I did some research and played with it over the weekend and am presenting it at our Thursday meeting. Fingers crossed."
"No doubts from this end. You'll do fine. What about the eye-roll dude? Is he one of the programmers?"
Claire scowled. "No, he's an expert on the project. But he's part of the core team because he's done all the things and knows everything. Problem is, he's not very available. He's supposed to be my go-to person for answers on how things work, but I can't ever reach him and he doesn't return my calls. Whatever. He's a future me problem. It's the upload process I want to conquer first. If I can get in good with my fellow developers, I can win over Mr. Grumpy Pants later."
