It’s been a while since I originally posted about the trough pattern. There was a GCN earlier this month that got me thinking about it again.
That’s one helluva trough. For those not quite sure what they’re looking at: that’s our site being hard down (globally) for ~45 minutes or so.
Oof.
I’m not actually going to talk about this GCN. (You can go read about it if you like.)
This inGraph got me thinking about the holidays, the upcoming company shutdown, and the end of the year in general. Actually, this particular inGraph may not be the best representation for that. I think the trough is appropriate, but if we were to chart the end of the year in terms of collective energy and focus then I suspect the leading edge would have a much softer slope, a several-weeks-long slow descent toward (near) zero. This isn’t really a “revelation”, it’s more of an observation; anyone who has had to plan anything in the last quarter of the calendar year should know that anything after Thanksgiving is a bit of a crapshoot when it comes to resourcing.
The trailing edge might be closer to accurate - a bit of a quick jump that rounds out into steady state. Some folks are gonna come back refreshed, raring and ready to go after ~2 weeks off. (These people are exhausting.) Some are gonna filter back in a little more slowly - perhaps returning from extended DTO, or getting over the Holiday Hangover, or just taking a little time to clear up last year’s clutter before getting a fresh start.
I’m not sure I have a point here - heh…I beez in the trough, so to speak. I suppose I’m just pointing out the pattern to the folks who may not have been wholly aware of it.
Happy Moratorium Day, folks. :-)