Live Blog: i V5R4 to i 6.1 Upgrade: The Philosophy of Waiting Time (Part 5)

This is part five of my live blog on updating an i5/OS V5R4 machine to i 6.1. You can view all the posts for this upgrade by clicking here.

Currently waiting for PTFs to apply.

For all my off-hours work, I usually tell people don’t try to do anything else on this or any other system while you’re waiting for a project to complete. While it’s tempting to squeeze in another project because you’re not doing anything, it can also be catastrophic in the following ways:

•  It distracts you from the project at hand. Sometimes you need the downtime to review what you just did and plan the next steps. If you’re worried about the other project, you may miss something important.
• It drains your energy. You need to remain fresh and recharge the batteries during a long off-hours project. Better to use the time to get away, make some calls, eat, rest, anything else so that you’re refreshed when you get back to the primary project after the delay. I’ll say it again: Tired, hungry and crabby people make mistakes.
• You run the risk of creating an emergency that needs immediate tending. Off-hours projects don’t always go smoothly. If you set a second project in motion, that project could have problems, diverting resources away from the first project. Or worse, your primary project and secondary project could both run into issues and then you’ve got two emergencies on your hands. I pity the guy who makes that happen.

So the primary directive for off-hours work is one project at a time. Everything works out better that way.

Will check in later. 

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Follow Joe Hertvik on Twitter @JoeHertvik. You can also add Joe to your professional network on LinkedIn by clicking here.