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  • Subject: Re: state of the midrange (fwd)
  • From: Larry Bolhuis <lbolhui@xxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 10:23:52 -0400
  • Organization: Arbor Solutions, Inc

> /Bait IBM Mode Activated/
> 
/Bobber wiggling/

> If I remember the little I've read in the operator's manual, the menus are
> one of the two 'official' ways to control the machine.  A top-notch
> operator doesn't -need- to have memorized all of the commands on the system.
 
Can you actually claim that someone who ONLY reads the menus is a
certifiable candidate as a Systems Administrator?  I realize we all
came up through one path or another and that sets our bias, but IMHO a
reasonably qualified candidate would soon want to know 'how to get
there faster'.  Additionally they may not have memorized all the
commands but certainly should be able to recognize them.

Many years ago I hired an operator who in less than a month shrunk 8
hours of daily operations to two. Some of this was through better
organization and documentation, but much of it was through using
existing or creating new commands that ran things in order
automatically.  He did this because 'I am lazy and it didn't make
sense to waste all that time going around the block just to get across
the street.'  Operations had never run so well. This 'Lazy man' is now
one of my business partners.

> But ignoring system operators who use the menus to control the system
> unfairly biases the test.
 
I would rather restate the above to: 'We are disqualifying candidates
who can ONLY use the menu to control the system'.

> I suppose there's no chance of including a CRT and an AS/400 to administer
> the test?

  Well we tried to convince IBM that the RPG test should be Open Book
and that we could accomplish this by electronically transmitting and
installing Book Mangler on the test machines and link to it with a
button in the test engine.  Orville and Wilber would not have been
impressed as that Idea DID NOT fly.  If we can't get an electronic
distribution to fly, the CRT+AS/400 idea is, well, DOA.
 
I started on S/34 and the first modems I got my hands on were a
pathetic 300bps. Using menus at that speed was awful so I learned
every command I could to minimize the screens I had to wait for.  This
should tell you where my bias comes from!


 - Larry

PaulMmn wrote:
> 
> /Bait IBM Mode Deactivated/
> 
> --Paul E Musselman
> PaulMmn@ix.netcom.com
> >
> >We struggled with this for some time and the decision was to avoid the
> >menus completely. Menus change. Look at the changes in the past few
> >releases in the CFGTCP menu.
> >
> >The next complicating factor is going to be the OPNav. Since you must
> >use this to set up things like DNS and DHCP, we now have some 'graphical
> >navigation' issues to deal with.
-- 
Larry Bolhuis         | Trivia Question: What famous car carried
Arbor Solutions, Inc  |  the tags:   BDR 529 ?
(616) 451-2500        |
(616) 451-2571 -fax   | Two rules to success in life:
lbolhui@ibm.net       | 1. Never tell people everything you know.
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