Counting Down

Well, it's that time of year for my annual shindig. In late July, my son and I continue a hobby tradition and join a mob of others with a similar interest in a week of of cardboard debauchery and all-night endurance contests. I've lately come to realize that the 'social' aspects are more meaningful than the actual activities - a far cry from the early days. (This is the twentieth year of doing this, only interrupted once by the impending birth of my daughter. If not for the vehoment protestations of the spouse, I would not have missed the tradition that year either. My son has been joining me since he was 11 and it's safe to say he's an even bigger addict than I am.) Some of the friendships formed during this one-week-a-year event have endured the entire 20 years; some friends have died and some formerly single bachelors are bringing their kids. The wheel continues to turn but this 'thing' remains constant and I seriously expect it to outlive my marriage. (Not that there's anything amiss there, of course.)

When I started, money was the primary restricter. Now, the issue is time. It used to be a 4 day event for 600 people, this year it's nine days with 1600+. To be honest, I no longer have the ability to survive on three hours of sleep for an indeterminate number of days. Alcohol is not even the issue - that too has gone by the wayside. For what I do, the dulling effect of booze is most definitely counterproductive. Exceptions being granted the second weekend, of course, when anything goes and the last night's sleep is more than curtailed. My son, impetuous youth that he is, is oblivious to any strains on the body and his primary goals are to keep up with his gang of similarly aged teens and not missing out on the periodic buffets featuring his culinary favorites. Time, for me, is measured in games, meals missed, and old friendships renewed.

The secondary theme for me these days is competition. It's not just about winning and losing, it's about continuing to develop and advancing further into the final rounds. With 120+ events over the period, there is ALWAYS something going on that's better than sleeping! My first 3-4 years are all a blur but enhanced competencies have allowed me to bring home the wood which serves as a permanent reminder of triumph and near-triumphs. A steady diet of losing is nowadays punctuated by more wins which is a not insignificant sign of continued progress. There will be a day however when I will no longer be able to keep up. Will I truly care if I don't actually know it? This brings to mind one event where I was matched against on opponent who had Parkinson's. I didn't realize it at the time and just thought he was particularly slow and 'spasmotic'. Nevertheless, he played, AND COMPETED, which would seemingly indicate that instinct alone can keep you afloat. I can't say I'd want to to repeat this experience but it's certainly memorable as a potential glimpse of the future.

When the week is over, I am usually an exhausted wreck. Going back to work is actually a vacation at that point, and even 10-hour days are a relief after 18 hour days of competitive trauma. I'm all 'socialized-out' and happy to rejoin the family. Nevertheless, by the second week I'm already counting down for the next year's event...

My Gadget Life

Yes, I am a gadgeteer. I like them small, I like them big, I like them cheap, and I like them new. Here's where I think it's all heading.

First off, I'm focusing on external gadgets. Someday the market for implantable devices will mature, until then, the only thing I see in the future is hearing implants. External gadgets are the devices we buy to amuse, educate, or otherwise acquire to make ourselves more efficient. Associated which each one is a 'procurement process' and that probably is half the fun and worth detailing first.

Before you buy a gadget, you have to know about it. It's worth noting that it's not sufficient or required that you have an actual need. Sometimes the gadget itself creates the need, can you spell "iPad". I skim a *lot* of news sources and references to new devices promising value and convenience are often highlighted. I think about the purpose of the device and then match it up to what I do now or what I might want to do in the future. If there's a fit, off I go to do some research. Once in a while an acquaintance will mention something that piques my interest but generally the inspiration comes from the media. Very rarely will I be actually shopping for item A and then discover item B.

The research process involves fully understanding the device. What it does, how much it costs, the pitfalls, the implied promises, etc. I read a variety of reviews, try to strip out the fanboy or wonderboy assessments and basically determine whether or not I would use the device and whether such usage will save me time or money. Ideally, buying one will eliminate the need for many. Example: Because I have a phone with an Alarm capability, I no longer need to worry about an alarm clock. Another example: Because my music is all digitally stored, I no longer need to worry about my music collection or buying a 'stereo'. Once I've identified the device category, I generally try to narrow in on a specific brand and model. This can be very time consuming but scouring the web is very useful. Because I almost never return merchandise, I want to get it right the first time! As far the 'where to purchase' decision, I generally just buy at the cheapest price available. Unless the price differential is huge, > 15%, I will rarely delay the acquisition. Travel time to a brick & mortar facility is figured in, but I'm generally quite pleased with etailers.

Once the device is in hand, I then try to use it to replace or modify my daily life processes. For example, out go the scraps of paper, now I use Evernote on the iPhone. It sometimes is the case that the decision made last year no longer stands up, then comes the tough decision as to whether what you have is 'good enough' or does a replacement gadget need to be acquired. Yes, it is a vicious circle.

Here is where I'd like to end up:
- Smart phone that stores all my music, allows access to all my cloud data, functions as a "where is Tom/what's he doing" monitor, acts as a wallet, housekey, car key, employee badge, and more.
- Consumption computer device. While the tablet form factor comes to mind, it could be something else, but the main proposition here is that it allows me broader connectivity to the net and it's content. It must be highly portable, fitting in a manbag or backpack. It must also come on *instantly*. The interface should not require external things like mice, keyboards, stylii, etc.
- Creation computing device. This is where I compose great things. I'd be sitting, typing, and able to otherwise be running multiple apps and doing many things. The primary input is likely to be a keyboard.

At least until my cybernetic implants are available.

Social Networking

Does Social Networking have a place in the workplace? If so, how should it be controlled, assuming it should even be controlled? Can a case be made that it saves money, promotes creativity, or otherwise benefits the corporation to a degree larger than the cost?

All tough questions, very little empirical data. Let's take a look at these issues.

First off, a few assumptions:

• One's primary business is not associated with or a direct beneficiary of social networking. In other words, I'd fully expect companies like Facebook to be 'eating their own dog food.
• Whatever policy a firm adopts, the ground rules are communicated and consistent. Any other approach is fool-hardy and lawsuit-friendly.
• Technology infrastructure is deployed that is appropriate. For example, relabeling e-mail or instant messaging as your 'social network' is not only naive but ineffective.
  

Social Networking at Work?
Social networking provides an ability to connect that might otherwise not exist. It generally allows these connections to develop in a manner that is 'easier' than other mechanisms. The question of whether Social Networking should exist in the workplace is really a bad question - it depends on what you hope to get out of it. If the intent is to simply foster socialization I would say no, existing external social networking easily addresses that goal. If your goal to is strengthen customer relationships, enhance collaboration, or increase transparency, then I'd be hard pressed to see any valid philsophical counter-arguments given the state of modern companies with 21st century systems capabilities.

Should Social Networking be controlled?
A tougher question. Per the previous assumptions, one is already imposing a degree of control. What about 'moderation', auditing, or any restriction of content and connections? Once you start layering on policies and procedures you end up reducing the content of your social networking. Which should be a good thing, it's hard to justify the value of a prolonged discussion or information exchange regarding last Friday's after-work beer blast. One simple 'control' would be the elimination of any anonymous or non-attributable content contributions. Beyond that, surfacing infrastructure considerations might be the next layer of 'control'. I'm thinking of background throttling of storage/bandwidth.

Does Social Networking create more benefit than cost?
The crux of the business decision. At this point, I have never seen or heard of any true analysis that shows a recognizable financial benefit associated with internally hosted social network capabilities. In other words, "NO". Why would an individual, with a free choice, choose to subject themselves to a corporate version of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn when the alternatives provide more flexibility and personal value? On the other side, why would a company subject itself to the pains of records management associated with this content? Lawyers doing discovery would love to have access to what is often a trove of misdoings, non-professional, or even merely off-topic unsubstantiated content.

Anyway, that's where I am now on this issue. Definitely a superficial take at this point, but willing to be proven wrong.

Information Wants to be FREE

The other day I was downloading some 'unique' DJ mixes of some songs. Needless to say, I was not using iTunes, Amazon, or any other vendor, nor was I paying anything to anyone. The question posed to me by my daughter was whether I was illegally downloading music. Troubling question, indeed.

In this specific situation, I could easily argue that, since these hard-to-find mixes were not available for purchase, no other recourse existed. But let's extend this issue more broadly: How about movie downloading? The sad fact is that there is a huge amount of traffic related to movie downloads and that is not likely to change anytime soon. Drivers include: high retail costs, easy and immediate availability, and convenience. The industry is trying to fight back with 'fake copies', virus-embedded copies, 'education about illegal downloading' but all to no avail. It's perceived as a victimless crime and, in any case, portraying the studios and actors earning millions as victims doesn't go over well. In my case, having access to Netflix and Hulu and otherwise having limited time to watch movies on a computer screen generally puts a damper on this activity. Hasn't stopped me from viewing the Dragon series from Sweden MONTHS before their US release, of course. =)

The next front will be books. Publishers have their heads in the sand on this one. As do most authors. eBooks are here to stay and the disintermediation that has hit the recording and movie industries is sure to hit even harder here. If I can pass a book around my family, why would I not do the same for an e-version? Absolving readers of that perspective is not something that the publishers and etailers will be able to do. Ergo, there will be a wave of DRM cracking and eBook transfers that WILL happen. As long as the e-copy costs still reflect the hard-copy cost biases, I'm pretty sure book buyers will also not be too sympathetic to the industry. Publishers need to switch to a service model, i.e., selling editing/reviewing/editing, and move on. Needless to say, booksellers also need to develop another selling model and ramp up their e-presence

More on this later.

Employeeship

Some colleagues and I were discussing the pros and cons of being an employee these days. All of us had started as employees, had done so for 20+ years, and then had struck out on our own for one reason or another. A few common observations were noted:

• Being an employee these days was not as much fun as it used to be. Why so? Job insecurity, and work pressures all played a part but a troubling commonality was a perception was what I'll term the 'commoditization' of the work force. The 'people as parts' motif is probably a bit overused but seems applicable in this environment of layoffs and 'special assignments'. (The latter being a euphamism for a purgatory-like state prior to leaving the firm.) No longer were your coworkers people you chose to socialize with outside of work, work/life balance also ensured that you kept your relationships distinct.
  
• Managers were much better these days. Note that we all worked for Fortune 500 firms with vigilent HR groups and lots of leadership training. Shenanigans in the workplace were not tolerated. As always, of course, the higher one rose, the more latitude was given. (My classic memory was of a director giving a staffer a 'twin peaks' award. A reprimand later, he has since moved on, AND UP, into another IT group.) Nonetheless, people are people, and there still are plenty of managers to go around who wildly overestimate their capabilities and survive by staying one step ahead of their reputations.
• Regardless of what people say, 'overworked' is a relative term. Discounting contractors, who pretty much score the green for every minute worked, the amount of overhead work for employees just continues to soar. Special task forces, limited duration teams, leadership initiatives, and so on all seem to contribute to the dissipation of one's energies and focus. The reality is, we all agreed, that come 'review time', those things mattered not a whit if the employee couldn't excel at their primary assignment. People complained of long work days but a further analysis revealed that the balloon only contorted in a different direction when squeezed. A long Monday through Thursday meant a half day Friday or a work-from-home day. (We each could identify situations where 'remote workers' were seemingly inaccessible the whole day - clearly a management problem, of course.)

Of course these were all generalizations and wouldn't preclude this door being opened in the future, but doing so would be on our terms.

Irrational IT

I had a conversation the other day with an infrastructure manager at my client. We eventually started talking about cloud computing. As he is about to embark upon a significant platform upgrade, I queried him as to whether his team had looked at maybe leveraging an external provider for the new version of the platform, i.e., provisioning this enterprise capability over the internet. I fully anticipated a negative response based on custom business requirements, data security, etc. Instead, I heard "we can do it cheaper". Given today's answer, that seemed quite reasonable.

My follow-up question, knowing full well the list price per user/month that these outside providers charged, was "how much does it cost us to provide this platform and service?" Astounded was I that his tepid reply was "I don't know." How in the world did they do a rational and reasoned assessment of the external provider alternative without knowing the true internal costs?

Things like that boil my blood. Yes, I know it's only a client's money that is being potentially wasted but I'm pretty sure this kind of irrational thinking extends into other areas of the IT organization. There are numerous factors that lead to this kind of behavior, not least among them being a sense of 'job insecurity' in an atmosphere of pervasive layoffs, but this is surely one way of working that is counterproductive.

Anyway, I'm not really sure what I'll do with this blog. For now, I'll treat this one as a platform for writing exercise related to work.