I was spending some time on YouTube and came across my favorite I.T. ad ever. Nothing I've seen helps explain what goes on during a major system implementation than this ad does.
Okay, this one is a very close second.
Enjoy.
My friend Dave, has an old Dell desktop with 128mg memory and a 800 mHz Pentium 3 processor. The PC was primarily used by his family for playing computer games. His kids had long ago abandoned the PC because it was so slow, and they lacked the patience to wait until it booted before moving onto some other activity!
So there his PC sat, unloved, unused, abandoned.
With nothing left to lose, he asked us to install Linux on it. Our first attempt failed, when we got a cryptic error message before getting to the install screen. Since we were previously successful with a similar processor and 256mg of memory, we speculated that a memory upgrade was required. After a quick trip to Best Buy to retrieve 256mg of additional memory ($49) we were in business.
In less than an hour we had transformed an aged relic into a fully functioning (dare I say speedy?) PC once again. It now boots in a fraction of the time it took with the old Microsoft operating system. His "renewed PC" comes complete with email, IM, an open source office productivity suite, a browser and home networking.
I wonder how many old PCs there are out there, abandoned for all the same reasons.
Is this a "green" business opportunity? Could someone out there build a business around bringing old PCs back to life as Linux machines? I believe the vast majority of home PCs are used for email, IM and browsing the internet.
In my short experience with Ubuntu (Linux), it seems to fit the bill. Before declaring Ubuntu the "Fountain of Youth" for old Microsoft based PCs, I'll check back with Dave in a month or so and report on his Linux experience.
Stay tuned.
I just saw a very unique video from Common Craft which explains RSS Feeds in a non-technical way. How great would it be if your I.T. department explained new technology this effectively?
Yesterday, it was announced that Toyota has become the biggest car maker in the World - a title formerly held by General Motors - for 76 years....
Not only does Toyota sell more cars than anyone else, it is the most profitable. And it has the largest cash reserves of any auto maker.
If you want to know how David beat Goliath, I refer you to one of my favorite books. "The Toyota Way" by Jeffrey Liker.
There is no magic bullet here. Toyota has done something that's not easy to copy. They built a corporate culture dedicated to the relentless elimination of waste. This isn't something that's executed on a project by project basis. It's done everyday, everywhere.
I was speaking to a friend's MBA class recently. I asked the group, "How many of you currently have Lean Projects underway?" More than half the class raised their hands. I then asked "Are these just projects or do you do this everyday?" The unanimous answer was that they were projects.
And I'm guessing that's a pretty typical response. Until we can build a passion for efficient processes and wage a continuous war against waste, companies like Toyota will continue to eat our lunch.
When is the last time your company did something "bold" - like undertaking a brave new strategy or completely reinventing a process?
Probably not recently, unless your company is in trouble. Maybe it's human nature, but it seems to me that while things are going well, we do little to improve in a major way, settling just to "tweak" or make minor course corrections. We want to protect what we've built. It's only human nature.
But likely it wasn't that management style that got you where you are today. Your company was probably born from the inspiration of its founder who believed he/she could build a better mousetrap. Without the burden of a long track record of success, your founder probably threw caution to the wind and inspired by his or her vision, made bold, courageous, inventive choices.
But now that your creditors aren't beating at the door, is your company being led or is it being managed? I suspect that, if you look in the mirror honestly, your daily routine is mostly about safe choices, conservative initiatives, risk mitigation. Managing to protect the castle.
Certainly no company can afford to launch one bold initiative after another and expect to maintain stability, but from time to time, I believe that every company needs to try something bold.
A bold initiative can energize a workforce, heighten that sense of anticipation (can we really pull this off?), stimulate those creative juices, and breathe new life into a mature organization.
In the early sixties, President Kennedy captivated our imagination and energized a generation by declaring that within a decade, we would put a man on the moon. And we did it. Forty years ago.
When is the last time your company tried to "put a man on the moon"?
It has recently been reported that Dell will continue to provide Windows XP to all those Vista non-believers. They are doing this in response to a well supported suggestion on their IdeaStorm forum.
This announcement falls on the heels of Dell's March announcement to investigate offering Linux as an O/S option for home PCs.
Microsoft Vista marketing folks are putting on a brave face, but it seems like the consumers are finally getting their say! As I recently blogged, my house now has a Dell laptop running Linux. So far, my house is a "Vista free zone" and I intend to keep it that way.
Anyone in Redmond getting scared?
Yesterday, I suggested that CIOs should be constantly running micro experiments. I've found it keeps your I.T. employees engaged and growing through lifelong learning and who knows, you might even uncover a big productivity or cost savings opportunity.
After telling YOU to experiment, it suddenly occurred to me that I haven't been experimenting as much as I should! So I took one of my own recommendations and tried it out.
I decided to install Linux on an old PC. More accurately, I had the Quiet Creek Tech Team (my 15 year old son, Jeff) do it.
The "patient" was a 4 year old Dell laptop (who's battery gave up recharging long ago). It was (barely) running Microsoft XP and MS Office.
Jeff downloaded Ubuntu to his MAC, (which took 30 minutes) and burned a boot CD (another 30 minutes). The Ubuntu documentation says you can boot Linux from the CD, just to try it out before deciding to install. You also have the option of partitioning your hard drive to allow your legacy O/S to co-exist (Ubuntu does this for you), or you can simply replace your old O/S with Linux.
We tossed the CD into our laptop and after 5 minutes of "playing" we decided to go for broke and install it. We had nothing to lose. We kept the old laptop so Jeff could us MS Word for school projects and even if the entire experiment was a disaster, we had other PCs he could use.
From the time we hit "Install" the process took about 2 hours. We decided to try Linux as the ONLY O/S on the laptop. The Ubuntu version of Linux comes complete with OpenOffice 2.2, Firefox browser, self updating anti-virus software, Email, IM, DVD and Audio players and several games - pretty much all the basics.
Jeff is not a huge fan of documentation, preferring instead to look around and "play", but for those of you who like to read, Ubuntu comes with decent documentation.
Once installed, with literally 2 clicks of the mouse, our Linux system was attached to our wireless home network and we were using Firefox to surf the net. Ten minutes later, Jeff had the email client configured. The process was surprisingly simple and intuitive.
So after an evening of experimenting, we now have a Linux system up and running. The real test will come over the next few months as we use it for "real world" applications, but so far the results are encouraging. Stay tuned.
Oh, and just for fun, I took a look at a cheap Dell desktop PC ($699). Bundled in the price was Vista Home premium ($111.99) and Works 8.0 ($49.95). At list price, the bundled Microsoft software accounted for 23% of the total price of the machine. And this savings doesn't include the anit-virus software that you must add.
Any CIOs out there interested in reducing the cost of each and every desktop/laptop by 23% AND eliminating all the licencing headaches that accompany them? Just asking......
Back when I was running an IT department as CIO, I used to encourage mini experiments using new technologies. We did this for several reasons. First, our developers and infrastructure tekkies were always interested in trying new things out. Secondly, allowing some personal time to experiment with new technologies was a great personal development opportunity and (selfishly) a great retention strategy. Thirdly, you never know where that next great idea or breakthrough is going to come from. Without experimentation, you are destined to follow.
So with that entrepreneurial spirit in mind, here's three experiments I'd have going in my IT department today.
1. Start a wiki. It doesn't have to involve a lot of people. Just pick a technology or a project and dive in. Learn the social skills of group collaboration on a common document. Find out what works (and what doesn't). Use any free Wiki software and just get started. Begin with as few rules as possible and dive in.
2. Experiment with a mash-up. It can be anything.. Link your helpdesk system to Google Earth and map when your helpdesk calls are coming from. Do it in real time. Just try it. Then show it to somebody. The perspective you gain will generate more terrific ideas than you can imagine. And the experience will pay off (somehow), down the road. Need inspiration? Check this out..http://www.globalincidentmap.com/home.php
3. If you have an energetic ERP (SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JDE) support team, give them IM. Make sure that their business counterparts have it as well. Watch what happens. Trust me, you'll like it.
These experiments don't have to be costly or take a lot of time. But make sure you have 3 or more going at any one time. Once the trials are completed, buy some pizza for your team and over lunch, have those involved in the experiments demonstrate the results to your entire team.
Need a fourth experiment?
4. Develop a "Microsoft free" desktop. Download a copy of Linux, install Firefox, OpenOffice 2.0 (or trial any web based application suite - Google, Zoho). Use it in the real world. Chances are, you'll be able to build a pretty robust suite of applications that might work pretty well for the majority of your users. Think about how much of a current PC's price is made up of the Microsoft "tax" and you'd be shocked at the potential savings opportunity.
Happy experimenting. Let me know how it all works out!
What's the biggest problem with email?
SPAM. Or to put it more positively, relevancy. Don't you find that the majority of the emails you receive, don't really matter to you?
I bet that 50% or more of the email you receive is either highly irrelevant or completely irrelevant to you, your job and your well being. At work, we're overwhelmed with email - to the point where we have to set aside time to "do our emails".
Industries have sprung up around spam control.
In a perfect world, we'd only want to see emails that we want to see! It's all about ME, ME ME.
Hence the term (M)email. I can't take credit for this term. I just heard it on a Seth Godin video. But the term really struck home.
So why is it that our inboxes are littered with messages we don't care about? Why has the practice of ccing the world on emails become so prolific? Why don't we respect each other's time a little more?
That's easy. There are no consequences for internal "spammers".
You know the type - send a message and cc everyone in the department and their bosses - just to cover all the bases. It's just too damn easy. But it's a tremendous time waster. Imagine each recipient, looking at the email, reading it, and then deleting it. Hours, upon hours, of wasted time over the course of a year.
There are loads of email etiquette suggestions out there, but they can't be enforced. It's like posting a suggested speed limit on a highway that's never patrolled. You get the idea. No enforcement=No rules.
So here's my suggestion. A Sender Rating. 
For every email we receive, we need the option of rating the message relevancy (and therefore the sender), in the same way that Amazon buyers can rate the service of the sellers. A completely irrelevant email gets 0 stars. A highly relevant (or especially well written one) gets 5 stars. Obviously this would only work for everyone in your company's email directory (i.e. no outside senders) but it might make for an interesting experiment.
The sender rating could be displayed in your inbox along with the email subject line and could (over time) help you prioritize what you look at without having to read each message!
How careful might we be if there were (evaluation) consequences to every email we sent? Would we think twice before sending out those mass emails? Would we establish a CYA "penalty" for sending irrelevant (as determined by the recipient) emails?
What then, if as part of the annual performance review process, this rating figured in your annual raise? Could we change behavior to the point where Emails might become (M)emails?
It's an experiment I'd love to try.
I just finished reading Seth Godin's recent blog on initiating an Internet presence for cheap.
Despite the fact that I work with a team who designs and develops websites for paying customers, I think Seth makes a LOT of great points. It doesn't cost much to get started. You don't need a lot of professional help to publish, or get noticed on the Web.
In fact, a renowned SEO (Search Engine Optimization) firm we know, uses WordPress (a blogging service, similar to TypePad) for their website. And they're in the business of designing, delivering and optimizing website visibility for some VERY recognizable clients!
Small businesses CAN be found on the web - as I described in my recent post Dave's Blog: Getting to Fourth Base about a small local bar I found using Google Earth!
If you have the time (and it really doesn't take too much) this approach should work for you. The only two pieces of advice I would add to Seth's is to; a)be interesting and b)be real.
Talk to your web audience the way you'd speak to a customer in person. If you're quirky, show off your quirky side. If you're fun loving, let it show through in your blog posts.
Remember too, that writing for an Internet audience is a little different than "traditional" writing. Chunk your message into bite sized pieces. Don't try to tell your story in one large post. And once your site is up and running, make sure you keep the content fresh. Continue to tell your story on at least a weekly basis. Your website - just like that fern in your living room, will die without occasional attention.
Even though I work with people who build websites for a living, I'm a firm believer that "an educated consumer is our best customer". I'd much rather improve a web presence for someone who's already tried a few tools, than for someone who simply wants to delegate their web marketing efforts to a 3rd party.
Few recent issues have garnered as much press, so quickly as the current Don Imus fiasco, where he hurled a racial insult at the Rutgers women's basketball team in a lame attempt to make a "joke".
There has been a tremendous amount of conversation about this incident - 24 hour cable news coverage on MSNBC (which, until today simulcast his radio show) and of course, CNN. The scene was completed with the usual suspects, Rev Sharpton and Jessie Jackson who immediately lobbied for his dismissal and in my opinion overshadowed the very articulate response from the Rutger's coach and team.
But here's the Dark Side of a participatory web..... just a few minutes ago, I searched Google: Here are the results:Personalized Results 1 - 10 of about 1,970,000 for "nappy-headed hos". (0.19 seconds
In three days, the racial epitaph has exploded (almost 2 million references) on the web. The anonymity provided by the web allows all sides to be judge and jury, without the scrutiny of personal accountability. No one is in the middle on this issue. Fire him (the majority) or give him a second (or third or fourth chance depending on who you listen to) seem to define the entire discussion.
The Dark Side of Web 2.0 has amplified the slur and polarized the discussion without providing adequate direction and discussion to address the underlying issues. I can't help feeling that the entire incident is coated with hypocrisy; whether from the self-righteous bloggers (on both sides), MSNBC who "listened to their internal employees" just as sponsors were pulling their ads, to Rev Sharpton and Jessie Jackson, (who have had more TV airtime in the past 72 hours than the previous 3 months) and who give some Rappers and Comedians within the Black community a free pass to sling the same mud.
If however this incident causes all the media to re-evaluate and enforce their standards of conduct, the FCC to review enforcement of their policies and practices, Rev Sharpton and Jessie Jackson the voice to address racial injustices regardless of their origin, then perhaps it will be an outcome worth talking about.
I'm not holding my breath.
The voices I'm most interested in listening to over the next week are those of the Rutger's women's basketball team.
Welcome to Liquid Canuck.
LC was born because I recently started a blog (Dave's Blog) and began posting thoughts about technology, Web 2.0 and other related business practices and observations. I found myself also blogging about family, life in Milwaukee, political views and other non-tekkie topics.
So to maintain some consistency on topics, I've decided to separate the two. Henceforth, Liquid Canuck will address technical innovation, trends and technology's place in business and Dave's Blog will be reserved for family, friends and all things which affect our daily lives...
Enjoy.
