Page 17 of Omega's Tempting Fate
Chapter 6 - Wes
Tiny took off as I threw the ball, racing across the dog park.
At least one of us was happy. Throwing the ball was a mindless task for me and filled him with joy as my thoughts were occupied elsewhere.
Despite all my best efforts, I couldn’t put that omega from the vacation rental place—Cody—out of my mind. My alpha side wanted to dig into the code and find every last bug, then fix them myself, just to show him that I could give him a working app.
I wanted to see him smile; erase the scowl that seemed permanently etched into his features.
Tiny trotted back, panting, and placed a slobbery ball in my hand. I grimaced and tossed it again, glad that his exuberance made the grossness of the play worth it.
There was no doubt that the calendar bug was a major problem, if it really behaved as he said. But so far my team had been unable to replicate it, and though I couldn’t rule it out, my alpha side bristled at the thought of it being user error.
Cody was cute with his blond curls and large glasses, and he seemed intelligent. Surely it was a legit bug and not a mistake on his part, right?
Dreamcation was the company with the highest needs in terms of what the app offered. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised that they were also the ones submitting the most bug reports. They were stress-testing the software in ways that programmers wouldn’t have considered. How long would it take to track down those problems?
I tossed the ball again, and as I watched it soar and veer to one side I thought about my dad. Then I remembered an old conversation, from when I was a teen and asked why they still took planes out for so many test flights when they could simulate so much in a lab.
“A lab can never replicate every possible real life scenario, Wes,”he’d said.“You can get close, but controlled conditions are always that: controlled. You can’t control the fluctuations in air pressure, or a pilot’s response, and those things matter. So you test, tweak, and test again. You talk to the people sitting at the controls and ask for their feedback. Then you get in the cockpit with them, and watch for things they forgot or considered too minor to mention.”
“Is that how everybody does it?”I’d asked.
“I don’t care what other companies do. There are standard practices, which are usually only what is mandated by law. However, you can do more than the minimum. You never have to stop there, and that’s why our customer satisfaction is so high.
“You don’t have to rely on other people to get you the information you need. Trust your own skills and your own powers of observation, and don’t be afraid to cut out the middleman if you think you can get to the heart of a problem faster.”
Tiny barked, and I realized that he’d returned. But more importantly I realized that dad had given me the answer in that old conversation. Cody and the team could go back and forth, with them asking him for details, trying to replicate in our controlled setting, then repeating as necessary.
Or… I could go out there and observe. I could watch him use the app, and ask questions in the moment. I could get the kind of field data that dad had talked about all those years ago.
Would it be the best use of my time as CEO? Probably not, but at least I’d be able to feel like I was doing something.
And… maybe… I’d get to see Cody smile.
I couldn’t explain it, but that felt important.
∞∞∞
“Not that I don’t approve,” Jordan said, taking a sip of his beer. “But why the sudden change of heart? A couple weeks ago you were against taking a vacation alone, and now you’re stealing my idea for a getaway to Harris Cove.”
I sighed. “I realized that it made more sense to head out and see these bugs in action than to have our team go back and forth, and possibly lose valuable information in the process.”
“You know that literally nobody does this, right?”
“I don’t care. I’ll keep the bug tracker open on my own tablet at all times and enter as I go. I’ll have a better idea of what else to look for when a bug does pop up, and I’ll be able to watch for issues that we might not have even considered in terms of design.”
“And what do they think about this?”
“The owner is thrilled.”
“And the cute nerdy omega?”
I frowned. It was up to the owner, Donna. So it was her that I’d cleared everything with, including renting a beach house for Tiny and I. Part of me felt bad that I hadn’t consulted Cody, but it wasn’t his decision to make.
“I didn’t talk to him,” I admitted.
“Are you sure that’s wise? You said he seemed upset.”
