&lqduo;Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true.” Charles Dickens

As I sign into mail and watch the new mail count grow I wonder if taking a day out was wise. It floods in. A ceaseless tide of mail and messages washing away the fun we had yesterday.

In some ways it’s not the number of mails that I have to deal with it’s the fact that they are sent by people who, if they picked up the phone and spoke to each other, could easily solve all these questions and issues.

For many on this project they should be at the fun end of the process. Engineering and doing what many people think people who work in IT do, “playing with computers”.

The reality is that in most cases we are a long way from that and struggling against process and people before we can even start it.

Tomorrow is a day in an office : I’m sure Dickens would have approved.