I have been assigned to two new projects and after a rather hectic start of several kick-off meetings we was supposed to get somewhere, but we were not. I had now seen the same Powerpoint presentations of the business stuff several times.
So when I sat in a meeting, it was early it was hot and people where discussing irrelevant details.
One of the technicians attempted to draw his view of the things on the white board and the figures and things where hard to read and made little sense since it was very much from his system perspective, but at least he tried to kind of address the consensus.
So I could not just sit down and think about my little corner of the project. If though that part was very much in place in my head.
Anyway I took over the white board and the marker, wiped and started over.
I started drawing systems making sh*t up as I went along when I got stuck with a new system or box I looked at the attendees and they would give me the name or 3 letter abrevation and describe how it would be interconnected to the other boxes, I kept inquiring about responsibilities and capabilities and with the assistance of the technician which had had a go earlier we all of a sudden had a complete overview of an architecture. At a very high level, but we actually had something - and now we could start to discuss details, because we had a common reference.
The meeting had no attendees from the core development in the technology department, so I was quite worried if the architecture was just sh*t we had made up. But now that they have been presented with it and not much has changed apart from a few details, I actually feel quite proud that I have a somewhat good overview of the clients systems.
And sometimes I can actually use that I come from a very creative family where I am actually the only one who cannot do stuff with my hands - but I do have some artistic skills.
At another meeting for the other project we did the same thing, but I will get back to that.
