I worked on a project where the manager was on site at the customer (we’re in NZ, he was in London). I quickly discovered that if I didn’t call him first thing in the morning (8AM NZ time), he would be impossible by lunch time, flame mail flowing as a steady stream from the UK to NZ. Even worse, the email wouldn’t be flowing to me, but to the entire team.

For some reason, he never called me, nor did he ask for a daily status call.

So, I did just that, called him every morning and the flames disappeared. On the days that I was sick, or unable to make the call (because of early appointments), the vitriol would start up again!

Another side effect of blogging progress is that others can keep track with what I’m doing and chip in with ideas and feedback. This is especially important when the project is skunkworks or against the political grain in some way, as it alerts people to things early and gives them a feeling of knowing whats ‘going on’.