Ahh, I can breathe

Interminable client project almost over, I get to go back to home base.. where I have a real cube, with 100% more sunshine, 25% more window, elbow room fit for a Titan. Most importantly.. I get "quiet" around me. No more having to deal with a mass of humanity traipsing down unplanned hallways, conducting loud, impromptu meetings "RIGHT-OUSIDE-MY-FRELLING-DOOR"...! No more hand-holding, gritting teeth at inefficiencies that boggle the imagination. Now, finally, a quiet place where I can think, plan, and help continue the design of our exciting new commercial software product. All the while watching planes land at O'Hare. Very Zen, the whole watching planes bit. Where do they go..? Where do they come from..? Who are the ants milling around their cavernous bellies? Hope one never misses the runway and lands uncomfortably close to my window. What does it all mean..? Is the answer to the Universe really 42, or the square root of PI..? (Ahem)

This product I mentioned, is something a few of us have been working on for the last two years to bring to market. An integrated document and change management system for regulated environments that doesn't cost an arm and three legs. Lets you map unlimited document and event management processes without having to hire expensive script-kiddies or a dedicated programming staff. Our first client piloted with just one process mapped to the application, and now have over 25.. (heheheheee.. quite the Monty Burns moment right there). Said client is now no longer under the gun from a certain unnamed Federal Regulatory body since they have a validated, 21CFR Part11 compliant, change control and event management system in place.. I feel a cracking of knuckles is in order.. ( craaack.. click.. ouch, ouch.. craaaack.. ahhh, much better)

As the Technical Architect for this product, there are some distinct advantages. I get to dictate, well, architecture, for one thing..! I get the satisfaction of seeing the big picture knit itself together over time, as well as the triumphant gotchas that come from everyday code-writing miracles. I get to build something that grows over time, gets used by people I will never meet. Change their 8-hour workdays in ways I cannot imagine. I wonder if development teams at Microsoft get that way? Feel like a little god at the end of the day? A feeling that no amount of custom Intranet-building for 10-people departments can ever give.

We are now too, in the "risky" area of growth, where significant resources have been expended on this product to back out, and the client base is still below the tipping point. Very exciting, I assure you. A little nerve-wracking, every sales opportunity is a call to arms, to let out the dogs.. Hungry, we all are, while the lessons of DOT.COM busts have been examined and learned from. Real business plan, real product, no frelling vaporware here, no siree..!

I just love being one of the wolves of capitalism, what can I say..?