I was a little overconfident when I climbed in the six-person inflatable raft in preparation for a trip down western PA’s Youghiogheny River. I reluctantly put on the egg-yolk-yellow plastic helmet; it stunk of mildew, and flattened my pigtails. The vest was no better. Still, everyone else was wearing them, so I figured I should too.
I’d been rafting before, about a decade ago, somewhere north of Philadelphia on the Delaware River. From what I can remember, it wasn’t the kind of activity that required much skill. We didn’t wear helmets. I think someone even brought a cooler of beer along.
This trip was different. As the guide explained, 16 people have died rafting with this company. Granted, that’s in the entire time the outfitter has been operating and most were the result of pre-existing medical conditions. Plus, he noted, millions of others who have taken their trips have survived.
I had been rafting before, about a decade ago. From what I can remember, we didn’t wear helmets. I think someone even brought beer along.
My crew sailed through the first four rapids with ease, which bloated our confidence even more. At the fifth or sixth set of rapids, we had let down our guard.
First man overboard.
Riding rapids willy-nilly is like embarking on a software migration without help. It invites disaster, or at the least, discomfort.
We made it through the first four rapids because our guides prepped us. Before each challenge, they demonstrated hand signals and told us which way each side of the raft would be paddling and when, when to stop paddling, when to get down to prepare for a collision, etc. If you followed their directions, you had a chance of making it through without capsizing.
Like riding choppy rapids for the first time, with an Office 2007 migration, you have no idea what to expect because of the version’s redesign. The radical change in the Microsoft Office 2007 interface causes migration questions that are different from those that were typical in other Office version migrations.
You cannot approach it the way you have other migrations, just like you cannot approach Class IV rapids the way you do Class II, which are not much rougher than a babbling brook. Completing basic tasks — such as opening and closing files, applying formats, printing and setting application options — or understanding the new file formats and compatibility mode will equate to hours of lost productivity without a “technical guide” for support or training throughout the deployment.
By the end of the day, two of my raftmates had gone overboard. They were fine, thanks to the guides, who instructed us 110-pound women how to pull panicky, sopping wet, 200-pound men back into a raft. (Jen Darr)
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