Notes from the Editor

So, because of summer vacation schedules and the like, we decided to run a combined Connector for June-July. No, wait, it was because the moons didn't line up precisely right on the second Tuesday in June. No wait... it was something else unavoidable. I'm sure of it.

Or, more likely, the lack of a June Connector was caused by preventable actions on my part.

That hurt.

You see, my laptop had a near-fatal hard-drive crash in late June. So much so that, even though I DO back up to a separate hard drive, recovery was much more of an effort than I had expected. The good news is that I did eventually recover most of my data (up to the last back-up). The bad news was that it was too late for a June Connector.

Hence the combined newsletter.

Now, let's look at where I screwed up. First, and this is not trivial, I waited until the very last days of the month to publish the Connector. Obviously, any error in the process would cause a significant impact. Do we, as consultants, ever procrastinate like that? Sure we do. Should we? Of course we shouldn't. Or, as Bob Newhart says in that funny video, "Stop it!" (google Bob Newhart stop it youtube if you haven't seen it).

Next, I felt protected since I had a rudimentary backup system. I never tested it, nor asked anyone smarter than I (don't laugh, I'm sure there's someone) if there was a better way. In other words, I assumed I was right. The consultant's mantra, right? "Frequently mistaken, never in doubt." Do we, as consultants, ever assume we are doing something correctly without positively verifying? Of course we do. Should we? Of course we shouldn't.

Multiple lessons here, and I'll leave further introspection up to you.

From my end, I have a new backup system, tested it this past weekend, and we'll be publishing the Connector around mid-month starting in August (see, I got in one last procrastination before committing in writing).

But that's just me...