The first test of the truncated Indian tour has exposed KP's weaknesses as a captain. On the 4th and 5th days, the England team needed a secure, confident and agile captain. Instead they got a man more worried about his form with the bat than someone able to competently lead the team with well thought through tactics.
Firstly, it was the dithering about in the final session on the 4th day. There seemed to be no impetus to drive the score on and declare leaving a short time left in the day to get in amoungst the Indian batsmen. Instead the English batsmen scored just a few runs and lost easy wickets all of which would have boosted Indian confidence. No guidance on what to do from KP that I could see.
Secondly, there was the way in which we allowed the Indian batsmen to take the game over. Flintoff was the only bowler able to keep them on a tight leash and yet again Anderson decided to have an off day and the first ball from Harmison went wide when it should have been tight and hard to play. All of which sent the Indians a message that put them pyschologically on top. If Vaughan had been in charge, I think it would have been a very different match.
KP is a lieutenant. He's like Flintoff. Give him an order and he'll eagerly take on the challenge and arrive back having completed the job with a grin on his face. Give him a wider tactical remit and he's all puppy-dog eagerness at first but as soon as complex requirements rear their heads he's got his head in the sand and is just hoping that things work out alright rather than continually thinking of how the game can be pulled back to Englands advantage like Vaughan would have done.
2009 is going to be a long and disappointing summer of cricket.
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Loyal & Faithful vs Competent
Recently there was a question on LinkedIn that asked if the choice had to be made whether a manager should retain a loyal and faithful employee with limited competence or a competent employee with limited loyalty.
My answer was:
To be blunt, maybe this is why so many companies out there are in trouble right now, the need for leaders to cover up their own lack of leadership skill by retaining loyal and faithful employees who aren't very good at what they do will eventually drag a company down. Trouble is, if a leader is allowed to get away with doing this, then the attitude goes right the way to the top - keeping a loyal and faithful leader on board who lacks competence as a leader is downright dangerous.
My answer was:
A competent employee is always the best choice. His loyalty is your responsibility. If you are a good leader and keep them interested in their work, give them stretch targets and opportunities for growth along with a compensation package that reflect their performance then they will be loyal. Choosing someone who is loyal & faithful, but limited competence is a sign of weak management.What has surprised me is the number of people who have gone for the loyal and faithful employee with limited competence and excused themselves by talking about training and development for the incompetent employee. I guess training and development might help, but its just as likely to be throwing good money after bad. I'd rather use that money to retain and incentivise the competent employee encouraging loyalty.
To be blunt, maybe this is why so many companies out there are in trouble right now, the need for leaders to cover up their own lack of leadership skill by retaining loyal and faithful employees who aren't very good at what they do will eventually drag a company down. Trouble is, if a leader is allowed to get away with doing this, then the attitude goes right the way to the top - keeping a loyal and faithful leader on board who lacks competence as a leader is downright dangerous.
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Escalating Feature Lists
What factors now influence your next mobile phone? I've just taken ownership of a HTC Touch HD, thanks to Orange who were very eager to retain my business considering the deal they did for me! Whatever, the lack of a flash on the phone's camera nearly stopped me going for it! What has the world come to, it's a phone for god's sake and I nearly made the decision based on the phone's flash, interesting. However, what it does illustrate is the ever escalating list of features on all sorts of devices that customers now take for granted meaning it's becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd in an increasingly crowded market space, whatever the electronic device happens to be.
The phone part I now take for granted, but previously I've chosen a phone on size, looks, bluetooth, voice-based dialling, but now it's the phone's flash capability! What I've always wanted and am now able to just about get in the Touch HD is a single device that meets all my mobile needs: Phone, SMS, Email both Exchange and POP3 based, MP3 player, Camera, Video player, 3G web access and Bluetooth. By today's standards not an exceptional list, but thinking back to my Nokia 8310 which I chose simply on the size of it my expectations were a whole lot lower.
Even with all these features though, I'm still not content. Having played with the Touch HD for a week now, there are many things I think could be done to improve the phone and for the most part it's in the Touch HD Flo 3D interface where further work would have improved the experience. For instance, I love being able to flick through my SMS messages and watch them flow on and off the screen in high-res, but to send a text, I have to drop back in to the clunky windows interface. Grr. The MP3 player won't let me easily flick through my albums, instead I have to flick track by track unless I go to the specific Album list. Again, Grr. That's just two little niggles (there are others) where the interface lets itself down where a bit more effort from the programmers would have greatly enhanced the experience. Even something as simple as setting the Windows interface to match the same black/white/green colours of the Touch HD would have helped!
Anyway, perhaps I'm just being a bit over-demanding, but I can't be the only one. I really feel for the manufacturers, the feature list can't continue to get fatter and fatter, somewhere along the line the emphasis is going to have to change and I'm fairly certain that it'll need to be focussed on quality of the interface rather than anything else and quality is expensive to obtain both in terms of time and money.
The phone part I now take for granted, but previously I've chosen a phone on size, looks, bluetooth, voice-based dialling, but now it's the phone's flash capability! What I've always wanted and am now able to just about get in the Touch HD is a single device that meets all my mobile needs: Phone, SMS, Email both Exchange and POP3 based, MP3 player, Camera, Video player, 3G web access and Bluetooth. By today's standards not an exceptional list, but thinking back to my Nokia 8310 which I chose simply on the size of it my expectations were a whole lot lower.
Even with all these features though, I'm still not content. Having played with the Touch HD for a week now, there are many things I think could be done to improve the phone and for the most part it's in the Touch HD Flo 3D interface where further work would have improved the experience. For instance, I love being able to flick through my SMS messages and watch them flow on and off the screen in high-res, but to send a text, I have to drop back in to the clunky windows interface. Grr. The MP3 player won't let me easily flick through my albums, instead I have to flick track by track unless I go to the specific Album list. Again, Grr. That's just two little niggles (there are others) where the interface lets itself down where a bit more effort from the programmers would have greatly enhanced the experience. Even something as simple as setting the Windows interface to match the same black/white/green colours of the Touch HD would have helped!
Anyway, perhaps I'm just being a bit over-demanding, but I can't be the only one. I really feel for the manufacturers, the feature list can't continue to get fatter and fatter, somewhere along the line the emphasis is going to have to change and I'm fairly certain that it'll need to be focussed on quality of the interface rather than anything else and quality is expensive to obtain both in terms of time and money.
Friday, 21 November 2008
What is the value of management?
What is the value of management? I'm not talking about leadership, I'm talking about basic man-management, the art of making things happen through others. Unfortunately for many, whether it's through bad experiences or whatever, the answer is that there is no value and they perceive management as being personified by David Brent.
There will always be days when a manager leaves the office feeling like they've done nothing but be David Brent, but on other days you can leave the office knowing that good man-management skills have made a big difference to a team.
Why am I wondering this? I have a friend who, until recently, believed that management was worthless, pointless and a waste of time/money. He was having problems, but was sure that the resolution to his problems was anywhere but in man-management. Recently, I had him captive in my car as I drove him home from the golf range and I basically ranted at him, pushed things possibly further than I should have done, but also I gave him some simple things to try.
Two weeks later he's converted, suddenly the value of man-management is obvious to him. His man-management problems are receding quickly, he now knows what's going on with his website's development, has simple techniques to deal with keeping the accelerator down on progress and he's a different man. Fantastic. That's when the value of management really does get revealed!
There will always be days when a manager leaves the office feeling like they've done nothing but be David Brent, but on other days you can leave the office knowing that good man-management skills have made a big difference to a team.
Why am I wondering this? I have a friend who, until recently, believed that management was worthless, pointless and a waste of time/money. He was having problems, but was sure that the resolution to his problems was anywhere but in man-management. Recently, I had him captive in my car as I drove him home from the golf range and I basically ranted at him, pushed things possibly further than I should have done, but also I gave him some simple things to try.
Two weeks later he's converted, suddenly the value of man-management is obvious to him. His man-management problems are receding quickly, he now knows what's going on with his website's development, has simple techniques to deal with keeping the accelerator down on progress and he's a different man. Fantastic. That's when the value of management really does get revealed!
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Holidays
I've been on holiday for a couple of weeks. The second week of which was spent at Centerparcs. If there is an exemplar for excellent customer service and knowing their target market (families) and how to deal with them, it's Sherwood Forest Centerparcs.
I went as a sceptic, I come back as a convert. There are some niggles, particularly the somewhat stressful changing room arrangements for the pool, however in general it's a well oiled and well run machine well set up for families with a fantastic on-site team.
For us, this showed itself in two ways. First was the villa move when we awoke on Sunday morning to a sopping wet floor in my eldest son's bedroom. Secondly was the way the restaurants catered to our family with such ease. I guess the flood and the villa move showed their capabilities in their real light - they dealt with it professionally and quickly even on a Sunday morning and within 5 hours we'd moved to a new villa and the issue was behind us and they'd sorted every issue. Fantastic customer service.
Our sons enjoyed all their activities, there's a really sense of care and attention to detail that the staff have for the courses being run for children. And the afternoon that my wife and I had to ourselves was spent wonderfully in a coffee shop reading papers - bliss!!
Oh, and the two golf lessons have completely re-modelled my very amateur swing and I think I now have the basis on which to build a game, and it's shown me that lessons really are an important part of building up a decent game.
Back to work I guess!!
I went as a sceptic, I come back as a convert. There are some niggles, particularly the somewhat stressful changing room arrangements for the pool, however in general it's a well oiled and well run machine well set up for families with a fantastic on-site team.
For us, this showed itself in two ways. First was the villa move when we awoke on Sunday morning to a sopping wet floor in my eldest son's bedroom. Secondly was the way the restaurants catered to our family with such ease. I guess the flood and the villa move showed their capabilities in their real light - they dealt with it professionally and quickly even on a Sunday morning and within 5 hours we'd moved to a new villa and the issue was behind us and they'd sorted every issue. Fantastic customer service.
Our sons enjoyed all their activities, there's a really sense of care and attention to detail that the staff have for the courses being run for children. And the afternoon that my wife and I had to ourselves was spent wonderfully in a coffee shop reading papers - bliss!!
Oh, and the two golf lessons have completely re-modelled my very amateur swing and I think I now have the basis on which to build a game, and it's shown me that lessons really are an important part of building up a decent game.
Back to work I guess!!
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Can we allow working from home to work?
My whole team could work from home. Every single one of their duties could be undertaken away from the office, all that's needed is to implement a few technologies and I my team would be a highly effective distributed team working from home being as productive as they are now whilst sitting in the office, but without the commute to look forward to every day.
So, why don't we do it? What is the obsession with getting people to work together in an office? Particularly now when surely companies are looking to reduce fixed costs in a time of recession.
I think the heart of the issue lies in the desire to see people face to face and do business face-to-face. Having the ability to be instantly face-to-face with your team or your colleagues makes communication and preparation for that communication very lazy, if non-existent. So much business is done on the hoof and in corridors that many people believe that to be effective they need the office environment and be able to eyeball their people/colleagues.
I recently experienced this problem for myself, a member of my team was working from home and had joined my meeting by phone. The meeting went fine until we started to work through a document, editing it via a projector as we went along. The team member working from home couldn't see the document, couldn't take part in the heated debates whilst at the end of a telephone line and struggled to get air-time in the meeting room for his points. I got frustrated at the guy on the end of the phone because the meeting wasn't working very well and we weren't achieving what we set out to do and in my irritation I blamed the one person not in the room for the failure, but he wasn't responsible for the failure.
I should have been blaming myself and my lack of appropriate preperation and planning for the meeting. With a little forethought, we could have easily shared the document with the home-worker through any number of web or software based vehicles and joint editing of the document would probably have been more successful for everyone than doing it in a meeting room.
The thing is, if I felt this way and I'm a technologist and fan of new ways of working, how difficult is it going to be to change the way we work in other areas of the business where the culture of office-based working is even more ingrained.
For me it is just a technology issue and because of that, my technology function should be leading the way and showing others how easy it is to utilise the technology. In fact I believe that technology now available could well enhance the experience of what would otherwise be face-to-face meetings even though people are at the end of a data-pipe. I say data-pipe, because I think now we need to be looking at systems that either enable the meeting to take place exactly as it would do in the office (for the comfort of those who cannot change their habits) or to the other extreme where we start to do things in a manner that is so different that it has no relation to the old ways and enables people to go through a step-change that means it's something new rather than a change from old habits. It's things like Second Life that could enable this step-change, even teleconferencing is going through another revolution to give it a better reputation and look/feel of the office meeting.
Either way, surely we need to be changing our office-based culture. The age of the massive office with everyone having to experience some form of horrible commute whether it be by public or private transport must be ending. If we as senior management don't kick such a process off, the masses will do it for us as they rebel against the cost of commuting and the craziness of the office-bound culture that interferes with so many aspects of life. Let's not even think about those kids joining companies over the next few years and their attitude towards work and the office environment, although where the power will lie once the dust has settled on this latest financial upheaval will influence that outcome, but that's another debate entirely!
So, why don't we do it? What is the obsession with getting people to work together in an office? Particularly now when surely companies are looking to reduce fixed costs in a time of recession.
I think the heart of the issue lies in the desire to see people face to face and do business face-to-face. Having the ability to be instantly face-to-face with your team or your colleagues makes communication and preparation for that communication very lazy, if non-existent. So much business is done on the hoof and in corridors that many people believe that to be effective they need the office environment and be able to eyeball their people/colleagues.
I recently experienced this problem for myself, a member of my team was working from home and had joined my meeting by phone. The meeting went fine until we started to work through a document, editing it via a projector as we went along. The team member working from home couldn't see the document, couldn't take part in the heated debates whilst at the end of a telephone line and struggled to get air-time in the meeting room for his points. I got frustrated at the guy on the end of the phone because the meeting wasn't working very well and we weren't achieving what we set out to do and in my irritation I blamed the one person not in the room for the failure, but he wasn't responsible for the failure.
I should have been blaming myself and my lack of appropriate preperation and planning for the meeting. With a little forethought, we could have easily shared the document with the home-worker through any number of web or software based vehicles and joint editing of the document would probably have been more successful for everyone than doing it in a meeting room.
The thing is, if I felt this way and I'm a technologist and fan of new ways of working, how difficult is it going to be to change the way we work in other areas of the business where the culture of office-based working is even more ingrained.
For me it is just a technology issue and because of that, my technology function should be leading the way and showing others how easy it is to utilise the technology. In fact I believe that technology now available could well enhance the experience of what would otherwise be face-to-face meetings even though people are at the end of a data-pipe. I say data-pipe, because I think now we need to be looking at systems that either enable the meeting to take place exactly as it would do in the office (for the comfort of those who cannot change their habits) or to the other extreme where we start to do things in a manner that is so different that it has no relation to the old ways and enables people to go through a step-change that means it's something new rather than a change from old habits. It's things like Second Life that could enable this step-change, even teleconferencing is going through another revolution to give it a better reputation and look/feel of the office meeting.
Either way, surely we need to be changing our office-based culture. The age of the massive office with everyone having to experience some form of horrible commute whether it be by public or private transport must be ending. If we as senior management don't kick such a process off, the masses will do it for us as they rebel against the cost of commuting and the craziness of the office-bound culture that interferes with so many aspects of life. Let's not even think about those kids joining companies over the next few years and their attitude towards work and the office environment, although where the power will lie once the dust has settled on this latest financial upheaval will influence that outcome, but that's another debate entirely!
Friday, 10 October 2008
A pair of Grensons
A few months ago I took delivery of a pair of Grenson's shoes from my Tailor. It's the first time I've had a pair of shoes that I actually look forward to wearing. They are incredibly comfortable, the leather's soft and supple, they needed no wearing in and have never pinched or given me blisters.
I wondered whether I now understood why women like shoes so much now, but no, women will wear shoes they think look great regardless of how painful or impractical they are to walk around in or whatever. My Grenson's look great, but they are just a posh version of an ordinary Oxford shoe style, nothing really new there so it's the comfort and feel that I enjoy just as much as the looks.
It's amzing how different the relationship with shoes is between the sexes. Most men will probably have just a few pairs: a brown pair, a black pair, a few trainers and maybe some deck-shoes. Women, it never ceases to amaze me, they never have sufficient shoes! In addition, when I buy shoes it's for practical reasons and I want them to last - they need to be capable of being repaired, etc. Women will buy a pair of shoes that will only be fashionable this season with no hope of repair that may well cost more than my pair of Grensons.
Not really relevant to technology or management or whatever, just a musing from this morning as I put on my Grenson's.
I wondered whether I now understood why women like shoes so much now, but no, women will wear shoes they think look great regardless of how painful or impractical they are to walk around in or whatever. My Grenson's look great, but they are just a posh version of an ordinary Oxford shoe style, nothing really new there so it's the comfort and feel that I enjoy just as much as the looks.
It's amzing how different the relationship with shoes is between the sexes. Most men will probably have just a few pairs: a brown pair, a black pair, a few trainers and maybe some deck-shoes. Women, it never ceases to amaze me, they never have sufficient shoes! In addition, when I buy shoes it's for practical reasons and I want them to last - they need to be capable of being repaired, etc. Women will buy a pair of shoes that will only be fashionable this season with no hope of repair that may well cost more than my pair of Grensons.
Not really relevant to technology or management or whatever, just a musing from this morning as I put on my Grenson's.
Saturday, 4 October 2008
ByteNight 2008 = Done
ByteNight 2008's done and dusted. Silicon Comrades (Nic, Graham, Richard & myself) managed to raise more than £5k in the end which was over the target set for teams, a great result. All together ByteNight should be raising around half a million pounds!
I arrived at around 6.30pm having got a little lost on the way there on the V-strom, but fortunately I found bike-parking immediately outside Potters Field. Locking up the bike I staggered off to the E&Y building to register. I met Graham in the queue to register, turns out he's another biker so we hit it off immediately. Once I'd changed and had all my clobber safely stashed in the cloakroom, we headed off for the restaurant where after speeches from Ken Deeks and Jenny Agutter amoungst others we had a quiz. Matthew Lagden from Action for Children joined us on our table, Matthew's an long time friend of mine and one reason why I got involved, so it was good to have him there. Then it was grub time, E&Y had laid on a great meal with a number of different options that would fortify us for the sleep-out to come. Then it was time for the quiz, but after the picture round, things went quickly downhill for us (it must have been the alcohol we were consuming) and all I'm going to say is that we didn't finish in the Top 10! Once the quiz was done with there was an auction of items, the most popular of which was the signed Dr Who script which went for around £2.5k! Nic had started to bid when the price was under £500, but decided to give up as the price flew higher.
Then it was time to gather our belongings and set out for the field where we would be sleeping out and wow, it was cold. Nic said that it was down to 3deg Centigrade and it felt like it. I stayed up for an hour or so drinking and chatting, but at about midnight, I decided to turn in and slid in to my sleeping bag. I was very pleased to have the thermal layers and the decent sleeping bag (thanks Mike!), gloves and woolly hat. My feet stayed warm throughout the night and at no time did I feel really cold. Phew! I think I got about 3 hours kip, not helped by Graham who has a tremendous snore, although Matthew (attempting to sleep between me and Graham) also said I was doing well to compete with Graham!
I was surprised how quickly 6am came round and everyone started to wake up as the smell of bacon wafted through the camp. However I decided to forgo the bacon sarnie because once I was up and about felt the urge to get home, so I packed up and pottered off to find my bike. The others had also decided to take off, but Matthew hung around until I'd changed in to my biker gear and packed everything away. My bike had survived the night - a good chain and disc-lock had seen to that - and after 5minutes getting everything loaded I was underway. Gratefully the streets were deserted and the journey was quick and painless. Just before 8am, I was back home and being climbed on by the kids. What a huge difference in just an hour - cold, damp and tired at 6.30am, warm, dry and being kept awake by the kids at 7.45am!
I guess I'm lucky to be able to do that, find somewhere warm and dry and where I'm loved. Whilst I can't say I know what it's like to sleep on the streets, I think I understand what an ordeal it can be now and to imagine children having to do it really concerns me. I'm glad we were able to do this and raise the funds we did to help Action for Children continue their work with the UK's homeless and under privileged kids.
Will I do it next year? I'll have to think about that one.
I arrived at around 6.30pm having got a little lost on the way there on the V-strom, but fortunately I found bike-parking immediately outside Potters Field. Locking up the bike I staggered off to the E&Y building to register. I met Graham in the queue to register, turns out he's another biker so we hit it off immediately. Once I'd changed and had all my clobber safely stashed in the cloakroom, we headed off for the restaurant where after speeches from Ken Deeks and Jenny Agutter amoungst others we had a quiz. Matthew Lagden from Action for Children joined us on our table, Matthew's an long time friend of mine and one reason why I got involved, so it was good to have him there. Then it was grub time, E&Y had laid on a great meal with a number of different options that would fortify us for the sleep-out to come. Then it was time for the quiz, but after the picture round, things went quickly downhill for us (it must have been the alcohol we were consuming) and all I'm going to say is that we didn't finish in the Top 10! Once the quiz was done with there was an auction of items, the most popular of which was the signed Dr Who script which went for around £2.5k! Nic had started to bid when the price was under £500, but decided to give up as the price flew higher.
Then it was time to gather our belongings and set out for the field where we would be sleeping out and wow, it was cold. Nic said that it was down to 3deg Centigrade and it felt like it. I stayed up for an hour or so drinking and chatting, but at about midnight, I decided to turn in and slid in to my sleeping bag. I was very pleased to have the thermal layers and the decent sleeping bag (thanks Mike!), gloves and woolly hat. My feet stayed warm throughout the night and at no time did I feel really cold. Phew! I think I got about 3 hours kip, not helped by Graham who has a tremendous snore, although Matthew (attempting to sleep between me and Graham) also said I was doing well to compete with Graham!
I was surprised how quickly 6am came round and everyone started to wake up as the smell of bacon wafted through the camp. However I decided to forgo the bacon sarnie because once I was up and about felt the urge to get home, so I packed up and pottered off to find my bike. The others had also decided to take off, but Matthew hung around until I'd changed in to my biker gear and packed everything away. My bike had survived the night - a good chain and disc-lock had seen to that - and after 5minutes getting everything loaded I was underway. Gratefully the streets were deserted and the journey was quick and painless. Just before 8am, I was back home and being climbed on by the kids. What a huge difference in just an hour - cold, damp and tired at 6.30am, warm, dry and being kept awake by the kids at 7.45am!
I guess I'm lucky to be able to do that, find somewhere warm and dry and where I'm loved. Whilst I can't say I know what it's like to sleep on the streets, I think I understand what an ordeal it can be now and to imagine children having to do it really concerns me. I'm glad we were able to do this and raise the funds we did to help Action for Children continue their work with the UK's homeless and under privileged kids.
Will I do it next year? I'll have to think about that one.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Byte Night Sleep Out
Tomorrow night, (Friday 3rd October) I sleep out in London to help raise money for Action for Children (ne National Childrens Home - NCH). It's the 10 year anniversary of ByteNight, an opportunity for senior IT professionals to sleep out in London to raise money. I'm part of a team put together by silicon.com, we're called The Silicon Comrades. There are 4 of us and as a team we've been charged with raising £5k. At the moment. not including the tax we'll get back, we've raised about £3.3k online with justgiving. I've got at least another £500 to add to that from office donations and even my Mum has been collecting on my behalf.
It's a great cause and for one night's discomfort on my behalf it's a great way to raise money. I've had the mickey taken out of me at work because I've had the temerity to use a sleeping bag and a mat so I'm not exactly emulating life on the street, but then I don't think that's absolutely necessary to make the point and raise the money.
I'm a bit nervous about it though, sleeping out in the middle of London, albeit with 300 other people is going to be interesting. We're sure to attract an audience even if it's just revellers falling out of the pubs and clubs at whatever time they do that now. What must it be like when you're on your own, you're sleeping in a doorway with nothing more than a cardboard box for insulation against the cold and drunk passers-by or worse. I dread to think.
This fund-raising concentrates on kids who are homeless. I look at my two kids sleeping peacefully in their beds at least twice during the evening, I just can't help myself and the thought of those two ending up on the streets scares the living crap out of me. A society that has any children teenagers or younger out on the streets without a home needs to examine itself and decide what its priorities really are. Money seems to be easily spent on saving financial institutions of late, or the 2012 Olympics, but not apparently so easily on homeless children.
So, if by chance you're reading this blog, please visit the justgiving webpage and add your few pounds to the pot, any amount however large or small will be gratefully received.
It's a great cause and for one night's discomfort on my behalf it's a great way to raise money. I've had the mickey taken out of me at work because I've had the temerity to use a sleeping bag and a mat so I'm not exactly emulating life on the street, but then I don't think that's absolutely necessary to make the point and raise the money.
I'm a bit nervous about it though, sleeping out in the middle of London, albeit with 300 other people is going to be interesting. We're sure to attract an audience even if it's just revellers falling out of the pubs and clubs at whatever time they do that now. What must it be like when you're on your own, you're sleeping in a doorway with nothing more than a cardboard box for insulation against the cold and drunk passers-by or worse. I dread to think.
This fund-raising concentrates on kids who are homeless. I look at my two kids sleeping peacefully in their beds at least twice during the evening, I just can't help myself and the thought of those two ending up on the streets scares the living crap out of me. A society that has any children teenagers or younger out on the streets without a home needs to examine itself and decide what its priorities really are. Money seems to be easily spent on saving financial institutions of late, or the 2012 Olympics, but not apparently so easily on homeless children.
So, if by chance you're reading this blog, please visit the justgiving webpage and add your few pounds to the pot, any amount however large or small will be gratefully received.
Monday, 29 September 2008
You always choose your own lunch...
Boston Legal, Series 2, Episode 22
Denny Crane: ... What did you have for lunch today?
Alan Shore: Flounder. You?
Denny Crane: Steak sandwich, onion rings.
Alan Shore: Hmm
Denny Crane: Alan, you know, one thing you sometimes forget is: no matter how hard your day, no matter how tough your choices, how complex your ethical decisions - you always get to choose what you want for lunch.
Alan Shore: Daily, I am amazed at your inexhaustible ability to just live.
Denny Crane: It's either that or die.
Love it!
Denny Crane: ... What did you have for lunch today?
Alan Shore: Flounder. You?
Denny Crane: Steak sandwich, onion rings.
Alan Shore: Hmm
Denny Crane: Alan, you know, one thing you sometimes forget is: no matter how hard your day, no matter how tough your choices, how complex your ethical decisions - you always get to choose what you want for lunch.
Alan Shore: Daily, I am amazed at your inexhaustible ability to just live.
Denny Crane: It's either that or die.
Love it!
Saturday, 27 September 2008
Greying of Technology
Have you noticed how the average age of the technology department is rising? I am witnessing the greying of Technology. This should concern every one of us. The new generation of precocious talent like graduates or guru trainees is no longer a common sight in the technology function and I feel sure that we, i.e. senior IT leadership are the cause. The jobs that those graduates or trainees would previously have had are now often being poached by India or Poland or South America. Our talent nurseries and kindergartens are dwindling because the jobs are now seen as low-value, blue-collar and exploitable. That’s not to say the talent isn’t there, it’s just we’re not fishing in the pool of plenty as often as we used to, I’ll give you an example:
I’m recruiting for application support professionals with 3-5 years of experience. Almost every CV comes from someone with a visa that says Highly Skilled Migrant, very few are local talent. I’m also recruiting junior positions where we want recent graduates. My HR department have been inundated and as a consequence the short-listing process is taking much longer because of the sheer number of CVs we’ve received.
So, it’s not that there is no-one wanting those graduate or trainee positions, we have just blocked off the well and believe we’ve found Evian instead. Very soon we're going to have to restart this process, possibly through more formal methods otherwise by the time you and I are looking to retire, there'll be no-one to replace us!
I’m recruiting for application support professionals with 3-5 years of experience. Almost every CV comes from someone with a visa that says Highly Skilled Migrant, very few are local talent. I’m also recruiting junior positions where we want recent graduates. My HR department have been inundated and as a consequence the short-listing process is taking much longer because of the sheer number of CVs we’ve received.
So, it’s not that there is no-one wanting those graduate or trainee positions, we have just blocked off the well and believe we’ve found Evian instead. Very soon we're going to have to restart this process, possibly through more formal methods otherwise by the time you and I are looking to retire, there'll be no-one to replace us!
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Triple i Conference
I've just been to the Triple i conference at Whittlebury Hall. Unlike the last conference I attended this one had a reasonable volume of attendees who weren't either speakers or suppliers. I had been asked to speak on Talent Management. Fortunately I was speaking just before lunch on the first day so I got it out of the way. Practice prevents p*ss poor performance and fortunately that was the case. Gary, my coach, came over on Saturday evening and we refined the script and then over the next day or so I practiced it a number of times. This paid off. I sailed through the presentation and garnered a number of compliments afterwards which is most gratifying and suitable payback for the effort put in. If anyone is interested in the script from the presentation, let me know and I'm happy to send it out.
The conference was sponsored by about 10 suppliers which meant you had to sit down and spend time with them. I thought it would be a complete waste of time, but at least 2 of the suppliers have products that might prove useful. There's no getting away from the suppliers because not only do you have pre-prescribed chats with them all at regular occasions, they also sponsor tables during mealtimes where each meal you find you've been moved to a different tables to give another set of suppliers an oppportunity to talk to you!
I met some very nice people though amoungst the delegates and certainly opportunities to expand my network. I shall be picking up on that over the next couple of days. I shall be very glad to spend more than a few days at work each week over the next month, I don't feel that I've been on-site enough with all the extra-curricular activities I've had going on, so I need to correct that fast.
The conference was sponsored by about 10 suppliers which meant you had to sit down and spend time with them. I thought it would be a complete waste of time, but at least 2 of the suppliers have products that might prove useful. There's no getting away from the suppliers because not only do you have pre-prescribed chats with them all at regular occasions, they also sponsor tables during mealtimes where each meal you find you've been moved to a different tables to give another set of suppliers an oppportunity to talk to you!
I met some very nice people though amoungst the delegates and certainly opportunities to expand my network. I shall be picking up on that over the next couple of days. I shall be very glad to spend more than a few days at work each week over the next month, I don't feel that I've been on-site enough with all the extra-curricular activities I've had going on, so I need to correct that fast.
Saturday, 20 September 2008
Silly Interview Questions
Why do people insist on asking questions like "Tell me about few things that you find irritating at work?" during interviews? Particularly when recruiting at a senior level when the candidate's already expecting such a question and because of that, the answer provided won't provide a real answer just a prepared answer that provides no insight. Pointless all round.
I prefer to spend my time finding out how someone deals with various situations that are valid to the role I'm Interviewing for than ask them questions like this. What other questions are there that provide no value in interview:
"Tell me how your team would describe you?"
"Can you work under pressure?"
"What are your weaknesses?" / "What are your development areas?"
"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"
I prefer to spend my time finding out how someone deals with various situations that are valid to the role I'm Interviewing for than ask them questions like this. What other questions are there that provide no value in interview:
"Tell me how your team would describe you?"
"Can you work under pressure?"
"What are your weaknesses?" / "What are your development areas?"
"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"
Friday, 19 September 2008
Going Green
It's been a while, but then September has been highly productive and blogging has come way down the list of things that I've been doing, but there certainly seems to have been a green tinge.
At the beginning of the month I was a speaker at The Carbon Footprint Energy Efficient Summit laid on by London Business Conferences. I spoke about the difficulties of getting air-time and buy-in from a board otherwise distracted by an ever changing business model and where that buy-in didn't occur, resorting to sneaky-green tactics to gain attention by undertaking little changes that would show tangible returns that will grab the board's attention.
Then last night I was at a 451Group Eco Efficient IT round-table discussion. This was a meeting with a number of IT Directors and CTO's to talk about green technology. At the end of the meeting, we were given one of the electricity monitoring devices. I already have one of these and it's been sitting on my mantle piece for about a year now showing me how much electricity I'm using at home and I've had a return in my investment through a reduction in my family's electricity bill. At the meal last night I asked everyone there who already had one of these devices. 4 out of 20 people's hands went up. This was at a meal where everyone had a green agenda at work and was striving to save costs at work and yet they hadn't started to monitor things to drive down usage at home. I was surprised.
At the beginning of the month I was a speaker at The Carbon Footprint Energy Efficient Summit laid on by London Business Conferences. I spoke about the difficulties of getting air-time and buy-in from a board otherwise distracted by an ever changing business model and where that buy-in didn't occur, resorting to sneaky-green tactics to gain attention by undertaking little changes that would show tangible returns that will grab the board's attention.
Then last night I was at a 451Group Eco Efficient IT round-table discussion. This was a meeting with a number of IT Directors and CTO's to talk about green technology. At the end of the meeting, we were given one of the electricity monitoring devices. I already have one of these and it's been sitting on my mantle piece for about a year now showing me how much electricity I'm using at home and I've had a return in my investment through a reduction in my family's electricity bill. At the meal last night I asked everyone there who already had one of these devices. 4 out of 20 people's hands went up. This was at a meal where everyone had a green agenda at work and was striving to save costs at work and yet they hadn't started to monitor things to drive down usage at home. I was surprised.
Saturday, 6 September 2008
When a conference isn't a conference
On Thursday and Friday I attended a conference. During the sessions I'm guessing that there were about 40 people in the conference room. I did the sums; taking away the total of speakers and suppliers meant there were no more than a dozen at most left who were just there for the conference.
Does that make it a conference or a friendly chat between various like-minded people? I confess I was one of the speakers, but it was also a good use of my time because I learnt a number of new things that would have context and be useful back in the office.
My criteria for training courses, conferences, supplier days, whatever, is that if I learn one new thing then it's been worth it. Not only did I learn new stuff, but I gained experience in talking at conference something pretty new to me. Whilst I felt my talk went well, I realised there's no such thing as enough prep and my slides could have been better - particularly more visual. So, that's good for the next one in late September!
Does that make it a conference or a friendly chat between various like-minded people? I confess I was one of the speakers, but it was also a good use of my time because I learnt a number of new things that would have context and be useful back in the office.
My criteria for training courses, conferences, supplier days, whatever, is that if I learn one new thing then it's been worth it. Not only did I learn new stuff, but I gained experience in talking at conference something pretty new to me. Whilst I felt my talk went well, I realised there's no such thing as enough prep and my slides could have been better - particularly more visual. So, that's good for the next one in late September!
Friday, 5 September 2008
Hopeful Cyclist
This afternoon, I was walking down the road returning to the office approaching a T-junction when I heard a faint ting-a-ling of a cyclist's bell. I looked round, the cyclist was being cut up by a people-mover as it turned left. Does he really think that a bell is going to penetrate our sound-proofed, arm-chair cars? That's someone who's either very hopeful and optimistic or not that bothered about keeping out of trouble. Surely there's something better that cyclists can buy to replace the pathetic little bell that can warn drivers? One of those aerosol can horns would do, I think I'd gaffer tape it to the bars and use it almost constantly.
On the subject of getting the attention of drivers, before now I've wondered about attaching a sound system to my motorbike and play Ride of the Valkyries as I filter down the elevated section of the M4 just to be certain drivers know I'm coming. Apocalypse Now! anyone?!
On the subject of getting the attention of drivers, before now I've wondered about attaching a sound system to my motorbike and play Ride of the Valkyries as I filter down the elevated section of the M4 just to be certain drivers know I'm coming. Apocalypse Now! anyone?!
Monday, 1 September 2008
England 4, South Africa 0 - Wow!
Well, that's a turn up. 4-0 up with one game to play and if we win that one, England will go 2nd in the one-day international table. I may have to eat my hat with KP, maybe he has the capability.
KP's inspirational and people focussed leadership is a lesson for all people leaders. Whereas Vaughan got his results as England cricket captain through well thought through tactics and cerebral decision making, KP's results are being obtained through the personal touch with individuals and leading from the front - it's a refreshing change.
Whereas Harmison has bowled himself back in to form - apparently more than 500 overs for Durham - it took KP to have a personal chat with him to bring him back in to the side after Harmison had retired from the one-day game.
The lesson is not to forget how important the personal moments are with all individuals within a team. To praise strengths and to encourage development.
KP's inspirational and people focussed leadership is a lesson for all people leaders. Whereas Vaughan got his results as England cricket captain through well thought through tactics and cerebral decision making, KP's results are being obtained through the personal touch with individuals and leading from the front - it's a refreshing change.
Whereas Harmison has bowled himself back in to form - apparently more than 500 overs for Durham - it took KP to have a personal chat with him to bring him back in to the side after Harmison had retired from the one-day game.
The lesson is not to forget how important the personal moments are with all individuals within a team. To praise strengths and to encourage development.
Saturday, 23 August 2008
There was a question on Linked I spotted today, it asked:
"What will the effect on future leaders, growing up today, spending so much timeI thought this was an intriguing question. My reply was as follows:
online?"
Find the whole debate here: Linkedin Discussion"On-line" is a very generic term to use, I think we need to delve deeper to find what the Gen Yers are really doing on-line to understand the effect it will have on future leaders. At that deeper level, their activities are usually participative rather than passive, i.e. IM, Social Networking sites, Twitter, gathering friends, Second Life, etc. and in addition they're probably doing this alongside watching TV not instead of, not to mention being on the phone and texting as well.
So, if that's the context, what is the effect? I believe leadership with the Gen Yers could totally change the office environment. This all encompassing use of the online social network will result in the concept of an office environment becoming far less important. By design their teams are likely to be scattered geographically or at least frequently working from home. They will cope with that by utilising their on-line social tools they grew up with. They'll multitask far more easily, eschew the 9-5, collaboration will be the key and they'll have a little if any differentiation between their co-workers and friends. Social life and work life will tend towards a merged, co-existing culture. I believe us Gen Xers are in for a culture shock! On the down side, it's going to be far harder for them to distance themselves from their teams, lead from the front, cope with having to tell rather than sell and knuckle down and do the mundane, but essential stuff like budgets, reports and appraisals.
In many ways I envy their online social whirl - I play at it, but can't say I'm an expert. I'm sure we're in for an office revolution, but with such revolution comes risk and that is something they need to realise. Unfortunately it'll be the previous generation telling them of that risk and it's going to be tough to get them to listen unless we start embracing some of these ideas immediately and welcome their flexible, collaborative methods now.
Friday, 22 August 2008
ODI Series: 1-0
Well, that's a turn up for the books, England win by 20 runs. I thought 275 was 35-40 odd short, but it tuns out I was wrong. Harmison: 10-1-43-2 and KP (90* & 5-0-2-22) & Flintoff (78 & 9.4-1-46-2) sharing a partnership of 158. That's the wonderful thing about cricket, very unpredictable and nothing's certain until the last ball's played.
Not so sure that England won it so much as SA threw it away, although the England bowling attack kept it tight and on target. At the 100 mark, SA were well ahead of the required rate, at one point when it was raining if they'd gone off they'd have won due to Duckworth Lewis rules. Subsequently the wickets were taken and they slumped.
Still, the squad looks together, Prior's done well behind the stumps and got a reasonable number of runs, KP hasn't been affected by the pressures of captaincy yet and Flintoff's back on form. A good results. woohoo!
Not so sure that England won it so much as SA threw it away, although the England bowling attack kept it tight and on target. At the 100 mark, SA were well ahead of the required rate, at one point when it was raining if they'd gone off they'd have won due to Duckworth Lewis rules. Subsequently the wickets were taken and they slumped.
Still, the squad looks together, Prior's done well behind the stumps and got a reasonable number of runs, KP hasn't been affected by the pressures of captaincy yet and Flintoff's back on form. A good results. woohoo!
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Harmison out of ODI retirement
Good grief, wonders will never cease. Harmison's back in the ODI squad! KP seems to have far more influence than I ever thought possible. Let's hope Harmison's range-finder is working.
I think I'm pleased, but it's also fairly risky. It could go well, it could go wrong.
It'll be interesting to see whether Sidebottom ever makes it back in to the squad. I think he could be another Hoggard, although I would chose Hoggard over Sidebottom any day of the week. When I watched Sidebottom at Edgbaston on one of the most humid days that I've ever experienced at a cricket ground, he didn't have anything to give. Perhaps he's spent.
And, once more Simon Jones is injured... Hey Ho, he's got another 7 months or so to prove his fitness for the ashes...
I think I'm pleased, but it's also fairly risky. It could go well, it could go wrong.
It'll be interesting to see whether Sidebottom ever makes it back in to the squad. I think he could be another Hoggard, although I would chose Hoggard over Sidebottom any day of the week. When I watched Sidebottom at Edgbaston on one of the most humid days that I've ever experienced at a cricket ground, he didn't have anything to give. Perhaps he's spent.
And, once more Simon Jones is injured... Hey Ho, he's got another 7 months or so to prove his fitness for the ashes...
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
To MBA or not to MBA, that is the question
CIO Jury this week asked whether an MBA was worth the time and effort. I decided not. This is what I said:
"There was a time when I believed I should do an MBA but now I believe my personal development and job prospects will be enhanced more through my coach and mentors. From them I have on-going access to vast amounts of experience and wisdom that I can immediately put in to practice in the real business world, that's something two years in a classroom just can't compete with."
The majority thought that an MBA was worth it, but some had reservations. I'm sticking to my guns and still don't feel an MBA would be worth it. Working in a fast-paced sector like IT it seems a folly to want to take a couple of years out of your career to theoretically make you a better person and more attractice to companies. One caveat to that is being in posession of a very generous company that allows you to take a two year sabatical, but even then you'll most likely be funding it yourself, probably supporting a family, have to study like a trojan, lose out on two years of what could be very practical experience and then have to be 120% driven to make up for the sacrifices.
For a similar, if not lower cost you can have the personal attention of a coach for a year or so and with some judiciously provided meals gain mentoring sessions with peers or betters whenever they are required.
Gone are the days when an MBA meant an automatic leg up the corporate ladder and an over-inflated salary to match. Once more experience and wisdom gained through practical application are becoming the most sought after for senior appointments in the IT sector.
I'll stick to the practical experience thanks, never been an acedemic anyway!
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Fitting In
I watch Boston Legal whilst I row. It's is a convenient 40minutes and during that time I row about 9200m and enjoy the episode. It's the first time I've found a sustaining exercise method that doesn't involve a bicycle that I actually can enjoy.
Regardless, in Episode 15, Series 2, Alan Shore talks of Epictetus, an ancient Greek philosopher, and I quote: "Epictetus compared people who “fit in” to the white threads of a toga. Indistinguishable. He wanted to be the purple thread. “That small part which is bright, and makes all the rest appear graceful and beautiful. Why then” he asked, “do you tell me to make myself like the many? And if I do, how shall I still be purple?”"
That's a fantastic thought. Do I really want to be one of the white threads when I have the opportunity to be a purple thread? Nope. It may be the harder road and need more work, development and sometimes inflict pain but that's where I want to be.
Regardless, in Episode 15, Series 2, Alan Shore talks of Epictetus, an ancient Greek philosopher, and I quote: "Epictetus compared people who “fit in” to the white threads of a toga. Indistinguishable. He wanted to be the purple thread. “That small part which is bright, and makes all the rest appear graceful and beautiful. Why then” he asked, “do you tell me to make myself like the many? And if I do, how shall I still be purple?”"
That's a fantastic thought. Do I really want to be one of the white threads when I have the opportunity to be a purple thread? Nope. It may be the harder road and need more work, development and sometimes inflict pain but that's where I want to be.
Operational work vs Projects
A persistent problem I've seen wherever I've worked is operational people, i.e. those with a full-time operational position such as Systems Administration, failing to deliver projects within agreed timescales. Why is this problem so endemic and why do we continue to take this well trodden path when the evidence would suggest failure to deliver on time is the most common result?
The majority of technical people love the idea of a project, they see it as a way to develop and have something interesting to do that's different to the majority of their daily grind. And yet, in the end, they and their managers get frustrated because deadlines come and go and there's usually nothing that can be done about it. Operational "stuff" just got in the way. Can it be different?
With large teams, people can be carved out to concentrate on projects, but in smaller teams this is all but impossible. Utilising external teams seems like a great idea - you gain instant expertise in the project area and you can do it all for a fixed price, but it demoralises the existing team and the specialist knowledge disappears on completion rather than stay in-house - believe me, documentation is not a PM's favourite pass-time!
Fastidious time-management and constant communications will help greatly, but these are two skills that are not often the most advanced in the technicians toolkit so they shouldn't be expected to help. Management could take the time and effort to keep on top of the project work and prioritise it aggressively against the operational work, but in reality there's not usually the time or interest and operational work will get prioritised over project work, period.
So, what's the solution? I'm not sure there is one. If management continue to insist on operational people doing project work, don't put in place a strict framework and don't prioritise it alongside operational tasks then it'll continue to fail. Considering it's management who have to pick up the pieces or take the blame for late delivery when things go wrong, you'd have thought we'd learn! I've not worked out a way of really resolving this problem, I wonder if anyone else has?!
The majority of technical people love the idea of a project, they see it as a way to develop and have something interesting to do that's different to the majority of their daily grind. And yet, in the end, they and their managers get frustrated because deadlines come and go and there's usually nothing that can be done about it. Operational "stuff" just got in the way. Can it be different?
With large teams, people can be carved out to concentrate on projects, but in smaller teams this is all but impossible. Utilising external teams seems like a great idea - you gain instant expertise in the project area and you can do it all for a fixed price, but it demoralises the existing team and the specialist knowledge disappears on completion rather than stay in-house - believe me, documentation is not a PM's favourite pass-time!
Fastidious time-management and constant communications will help greatly, but these are two skills that are not often the most advanced in the technicians toolkit so they shouldn't be expected to help. Management could take the time and effort to keep on top of the project work and prioritise it aggressively against the operational work, but in reality there's not usually the time or interest and operational work will get prioritised over project work, period.
So, what's the solution? I'm not sure there is one. If management continue to insist on operational people doing project work, don't put in place a strict framework and don't prioritise it alongside operational tasks then it'll continue to fail. Considering it's management who have to pick up the pieces or take the blame for late delivery when things go wrong, you'd have thought we'd learn! I've not worked out a way of really resolving this problem, I wonder if anyone else has?!
Starting Out
I confess I thought blogging was something best left to others with a greater sense of self-publicity, but here I am. I feel scared! So, why have I suddenly started? In my job, I manage people and I manage technology. Two of the most eccentric things you could manage, particularly at the same time...
So, I thought, why not blog about what I do and share my experience with others. Regardless of all the books on the subject, people often end up learning what to do through trial and error and if this blog can maybe help someone somewhere even just once, then why not.
As a self-confessed geek, the blog's also likely to contain posts about technology and other interests of mine. After all a blog just about management and leadership might be just a little bit too single-minded!
So, I thought, why not blog about what I do and share my experience with others. Regardless of all the books on the subject, people often end up learning what to do through trial and error and if this blog can maybe help someone somewhere even just once, then why not.
As a self-confessed geek, the blog's also likely to contain posts about technology and other interests of mine. After all a blog just about management and leadership might be just a little bit too single-minded!
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