# Checkmate in 3 moves - I have failed.



## Michael Morris (Apr 16, 2008)

About 2 hours ago I got chewed out over a project at work that is running months overdue and I have to work 14 hours at it or more (if I physically can) to try to get it completely wrapped up by weeks end or I may lose my job.

There are no longer enough hours between now and Friday free to complete what must be completed before I can convert the boards. I have failed everyone here, starting with Russ and working down to the newest member. I am a total and complete embarrassment to the staff.

The countdown was entirely my idea and posted without consulting anyone. I want to make that absolutely clear to everyone - no one knew I was going to announce the countdown until I did, and no one approved of it on the staff. I put the pressure on myself intentionally and at the time thought I could meet the deadline.  However work on the on the clock project has revealed numerous critical bugs in the system. Though these have been corrected I cannot in good conscience move ENWorld onto any system unless I *know* it is stable.

I will work on the conversion through the weekend and tentatively push the conversion off one more weekend. My apologies to everyone but that is the best I can do


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## Jdvn1 (Apr 16, 2008)

Seriously? Not a big deal. Take all the time on ENW2 that you need--you work really hard around here, all behind the scenes, and you'll get no disappointment from me, only gratitude.

I wanted to be a paying community supporter here because I'm appreciative of how this site is run, and you've been an integral part of that. ENW2? That's icing on the cake for me. Thank you for ENW1.


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## Umbran (Apr 16, 2008)

Michael Morris said:
			
		

> My apologies to everyone but that is the best I can do




Life sometimes intervenes, that is the way of things, and there's no shame in that.  It is damned important to keep priorities straight, so you do what you have to. 

The dev site looks awesome.  Folks will forget the delays when they see it in action, have no fear.


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## Piratecat (Apr 16, 2008)

Goodness, don't beat yourself up over this. Bugs ALWAYS creep in. I'd much rather have them identified than launch with a buggy site.

Do your work at work. Be proud of yourself, because we're proud of you for identifying this and letting us know. And we'll get this up.

Kevin


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## Dog Moon (Apr 16, 2008)

Although if you didn't have a job, then you would have a lot more time to work on Enworld.  

No, but seriously, I don't consider not being able to meet the deadline as a failure.  Things happen.  That's what life is about.  Heck, if someone should feel pain, it would be those who blame you for this, not you.  I've seen numerous posts where you get frustrated when people expect much of you without much, if any, appreciation.  While I personally don't know how much work would go into something like EN2, I'm betting it's a whole lot.

I can't imagine anyone being angry at being forced to wait one more week, but I guess there probably are people like that.  I, however, am not one of them.  

Good luck with work!


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## Graf (Apr 16, 2008)

Seriously, we give you trouble, but you're doing a fantastic job on the site.
You've failed nobody.

Work comes first.

Please try to take good care of yourself and eat veggies.
(I'm serious, when life goes pear-shaped eating well makes a load of difference).


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## Mark (Apr 16, 2008)

Well, if each member was kind enough to offer you half a minute to finish, and you take that cumulatively, that's about three extra weeks.  Please, add 21 days to the countdown.


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## Thornir Alekeg (Apr 16, 2008)

Honestly my greater concern is that our enthusiasm for seeing EN World 2 launch was in part responsible for the delays in your real-world work project.  

Do what you need in order to take care of yourself first.  Finish your work for your paying job, take some time to recharge and reintroduce yourself to your family, if needed.  Once that's done _then_ see about getting EN World 2 launched.  We'll still be here.


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## WhatGravitas (Apr 16, 2008)

Graf said:
			
		

> Please try to take good care of yourself and eat veggies.
> (I'm serious, when life goes pear-shaped eating well makes a load of difference).



And the occasional fruit. And get something you really want to eat. This makes you happy, so you can do your work well on your job.

Tinker with ENWorld when you have time. We're happy that you are here at all!

Cheers, LT.


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## freyar (Apr 17, 2008)

I'm just going to echo what everyone else has said so far --- you do a great job on EN World with little thanks, and you certainly haven't been a failure!  Take care of your job and deal with the conversion when you have a chance.


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## BSF (Apr 17, 2008)

Michael,
Missing the deadline for the conversion is no big deal.  I appreciate that you put the pressure on yourself and that you strive to fulfill your committments.  But to suggest that you have failed the entire community here is a bit of an overstatement.  

Meet your work committments first.  Things happen and the only ones that won't understand that are the ones that haven't had the opportunity to juggle differing responsibilities.  You have your head in the right place to focus on the work responsibilities.

As folks have already mentioned, eat healthy.  On top of that, get plenty of liquids.  When you are head down on a project, it is easy to neglect yourself.  Stand up and walk outside every so often to keep the blood moving, get fresh air and relax your eyes a bit.  When work is all done, get some rest.  After all that, then think about hitting the conversion here.  

You haven't failed anybody in my book.


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## genshou (Apr 18, 2008)

You have to earn a living to be able to eat.  We can't starve you just to upgrade the site.

Real life always has to take precedence over things like D&D and fansites.  You've done enough for this site over the last several years that you don't have to put that kind of pressure on yourself.  If it turns out that real life ends up swamping you too much you can always get help, but don't worry about the site if it's gonna cost you a job.  We like a *Michael Morris* that has a house/apartment/whatever and a belly full of yummy stuffs.


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## Olaf the Stout (Apr 18, 2008)

No biggie Michael.  You paid job should always take precedence over volunteer work for EN World.  We can wait a little longer.  The site is still perfectly usable still.  We can still post so all is good.   

Olaf the Stout


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## Eridanis (Apr 18, 2008)

Michael - please take this as constructive criticism. This is not meant negatively, as I and others appreciate what you do.

Is there anything in your work plan for the new site that you could have others help you with? There are several talented and trustworthy designers and programmers here on the site whose expertise can be tapped. (I'm not one of them; my skills end at 1999-era HTML!) Are there any blocks of work that could be handed to someone like Dinkeldog that he could take care of, and hand the finished work back to you? In a sense, you'd be like the project manager - one who does most of the work himself, but delegates portions of it to others.

I think this would help ease your personal stress and self-directed frustration. Consider this metaphor: you've built the house, installed the wiring and plumbing, and now you just need a few people to put up some drywall and paint the place. No one will look down on you for asking for help; everyone will know you did the bulk of the work.

Just a suggestion.


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## jaerdaph (Apr 18, 2008)

Michael, everything you do around here is appreciated - don't sweat it!


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## Enkhidu (Apr 18, 2008)

Eridanis said:
			
		

> Michael - please take this as constructive criticism. This is not meant negatively, as I and others appreciate what you do.
> 
> Is there anything in your work plan for the new site that you could have others help you with? There are several talented and trustworthy designers and programmers here on the site whose expertise can be tapped. (I'm not one of them; my skills end at 1999-era HTML!) Are there any blocks of work that could be handed to someone like Dinkeldog that he could take care of, and hand the finished work back to you? In a sense, you'd be like the project manager - one who does most of the work himself, but delegates portions of it to others.
> 
> ...




This is good advice. ENWorld would benefit from more hands on the dev team, and it would be a great leg up in your chosen career - at some point you'll need to build up demonstratable project management experience if you want to step up the career ladder.

Bringing a real team on board (an OS support resource, another coder or two) would be a win/win.


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## Vempyre (Apr 18, 2008)

If getting ENWorld 2 laters means it's not gonna be a "must be the clock" but a "solid as nails" release, all the better!

 I prefer delayed releases which are solid and working when they do get released


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## DCrane1 (Apr 19, 2008)

*It's All Good*

I don't post a lot but this made me stop lurking. It's no problem Morris. The boards are still working and producing good discussion and good ideas, if they get updated a little bit later, that won't change. You tried to succeed, and you didn't Mike. That's not a problem to me, and it probably isn't one to anybody here.


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## DaveMage (Apr 19, 2008)

Meh.

I'm holding out for EN World 3 anyway....


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## Mishihari Lord (Apr 20, 2008)

Doesn't bother me.  Thanks for all your hard work on the site.


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## Thornir Alekeg (Apr 21, 2008)

DaveMage said:
			
		

> Meh.
> 
> I'm holding out for EN World 3 anyway....



 Meh, EN World 3 will be too videogamey.


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## Mark (Apr 21, 2008)

Thornir Alekeg said:
			
		

> Meh, EN World 3 will be too videogamey.





I hear it will be fashioned as an MMOBB.


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## Elephant (Apr 24, 2008)

Michael Morris said:
			
		

> About 2 hours ago I got chewed out over a project at work that is running months overdue and I have to work 14 hours at it or more (if I physically can) to try to get it completely wrapped up by weeks end or I may lose my job.
> 
> There are no longer enough hours between now and Friday free to complete what must be completed before I can convert the boards. I have failed everyone here, starting with Russ and working down to the newest member. I am a total and complete embarrassment to the staff.




I disagree.  Your dedication to releasing a non-buggy ENWorld v2 is a credit to the site.  As others have said, take all the time you need - many of us would rather wait a few extra weeks under the old codebase rather than wait on site-crashing bugs!

Go easy on yourself.  You've done far more for the site than I ever will.


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