Gutter Cleaning with Engineers
I share this with you because as a tester, one of the things I love the most about my job is working with other geeky people. Now that I have my very own dev counterpart at home, I am also amused with how engineers approach problems other than just customer problems, software problems, and bugs.
Mission: Clean the Gutters
My Idea: Hire someone.
Craig's Response: Too expensive, besides, needs to be done often. Let's do this ourselves.
My Next Move-Buy adjustable ladder which claims to be the "only ladder we need" on sale for $99. Assumes this is absolutely good enough for the gutters.
Craig-Reads reviews, watches online performance, and then buys gutter cleaning robot from Roomba to automate this task while negotiating half payment of robot by me.
Testy Redhead-Gets robot in the mail, reads all instructions, puts it together and charges it.
Craig-Finds ladder not tall enough to reach gutters in some areas of the house.
Both of us last weekend-Go seeking extension ladders. Even the $200 ladder holds only up to 200lbs WITH all supplies including the ladder itself and the robot. Realizing this means I now have to do ALL tasks on this ladder, we refuse to buy it as to be safe with the ladder itself being 33lbs anyone over 167lbs shouldn't be climbing the ladder according to Craig, which rules him out even if I don't feed him for quite some time.
Testy Redhead-Sends Craigslist links to Craig for ladders that are taller, cost less, and hold enough weight for Craig to climb it with the robot.
Craig-Being unsure how tall we need the ladder to be determines we need to know maximum height.
Testy Redhead-Suggests we get a tape measure and climb our current ladder to measure the difference.
Craig-Shoots down this idea because there is no way that will work and my tape measure will flop over (I don't think it will, but he does).
Testy Redhead-Suggest we tie a rock to a long piece of her knitting yarn, throw it into the gutter, straighten it to the floor, mark it off and measure the string.
Craig: I've seen you throw and we have windows. I don't like the idea of you hurling rocks at the house. This could end very badly. I have a better idea.
Craig's Brilliant Idea (that we are about to go do): Measure the height of the gutters using a laser pointer and the Pythagorean Theorem. We'll measure the distance we stand from the house and the angle it takes to get the laser to the top of the gutter. I kid you not.
My reaction to this was to laugh hard for about 4 minutes, and finally say, "I'm so blogging this."
Mission: Clean the Gutters
My Idea: Hire someone.
Craig's Response: Too expensive, besides, needs to be done often. Let's do this ourselves.
My Next Move-Buy adjustable ladder which claims to be the "only ladder we need" on sale for $99. Assumes this is absolutely good enough for the gutters.
Craig-Reads reviews, watches online performance, and then buys gutter cleaning robot from Roomba to automate this task while negotiating half payment of robot by me.
Testy Redhead-Gets robot in the mail, reads all instructions, puts it together and charges it.
Craig-Finds ladder not tall enough to reach gutters in some areas of the house.
Both of us last weekend-Go seeking extension ladders. Even the $200 ladder holds only up to 200lbs WITH all supplies including the ladder itself and the robot. Realizing this means I now have to do ALL tasks on this ladder, we refuse to buy it as to be safe with the ladder itself being 33lbs anyone over 167lbs shouldn't be climbing the ladder according to Craig, which rules him out even if I don't feed him for quite some time.
Testy Redhead-Sends Craigslist links to Craig for ladders that are taller, cost less, and hold enough weight for Craig to climb it with the robot.
Craig-Being unsure how tall we need the ladder to be determines we need to know maximum height.
Testy Redhead-Suggests we get a tape measure and climb our current ladder to measure the difference.
Craig-Shoots down this idea because there is no way that will work and my tape measure will flop over (I don't think it will, but he does).
Testy Redhead-Suggest we tie a rock to a long piece of her knitting yarn, throw it into the gutter, straighten it to the floor, mark it off and measure the string.
Craig: I've seen you throw and we have windows. I don't like the idea of you hurling rocks at the house. This could end very badly. I have a better idea.
Craig's Brilliant Idea (that we are about to go do): Measure the height of the gutters using a laser pointer and the Pythagorean Theorem. We'll measure the distance we stand from the house and the angle it takes to get the laser to the top of the gutter. I kid you not.
My reaction to this was to laugh hard for about 4 minutes, and finally say, "I'm so blogging this."
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