Solving Two Problems at Once

I had two goals when I started my work day: Upgrade a commercial software product and create a very complicated report. I will be able to get both done, but it has not been easy.

I started working on the software update first. It didn't take long to run into a problem and I knew I would. We have a complicated environment at work and one of the pieces of software we use didn't take this into account. That means we have to make some minor tweaks and modifications with the help of the product's technical support department. I got as far as I could and then put a call into support.

Since I was in a waiting pattern, I started collecting data for my complicated report. It would be nice if I could write a bunch of code and let the report run on its own. Unfortunately I have to gather the data for each month of a 3-year period by hand. Each month requires an increasing amount of computer time to run. While the first month only took 2 minutes, the last month is taking closer to 20.

At about the 6th month mark, I got a call back from technical support and we worked for a while installing the latest version of their product. Naturally there were times where the technical support engineer and I were waiting on the computer and so I would go back to my report and get data for another month or two. Eventually we got everything working. The only problem was that the upgrade required me to go back and set up all our user information again. At least I was able to hang up the phone and do that on my own while I continued working on my report.

When I started the day, the software update was my main focus. When I was waiting, I switched my focus to the complex report. Once I could continue with the update, I changed focus again. This cycle repeated itself throughout the day until the update was completed. Now I am working solely on the report. When you think about your computer doing multiple things at the same time, that is exactly the process it uses to switch between tasks. Now if I could only find something else to do while I wait for these final months of the report to complete, I'll be a happy camper.