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Innotech Portland….

Now?So I presented at Innotech in Portland today. Nothing major, small group, but almost everyone stayed to talk for a few after. Funny, I haven’t presented anywhere in a long time. I was even a bit nervous, but mobility applications are a favorite topic, so it wasn’t really that bad. Passion makes for ease I guess.

I didn’t even talk about Service oriented architectures by name though. Funny how you can talk about the applications that are made possible and not even mention the enabling technology at all. SOA is so enabling though. Move that business logic into a web service and then you can call it from anything, even a handheld.

The State of Oregon was there. They were interested in how to push emergency warnings and amber alerts out. Macromedia and Flash had their attention as a multiplatform capable environment. Two things came to mind immediately, the first was that Flash only works on devices that have a good Java runtime and the second was that SMTP is the PERFECT platform to distribute such messages.

You can send an SMTP (email) message to just about anything these days, from a cell phone to a desktop computer, email is there. With the limited budget, they can then focus on maintaining a list of subscribed email addresses and not worry about the technology.

Did I mention Innotech? I ran into a whole host of people! Laura Ivey (Step Technology, Nigel Ballard (Joe Java / Matrix Communications), Kent Lewis (Anvil Media), Lev Tepin (Level Online Strategy) and even Terri King (Saltmine). This was a great event to bring me back to the past.

Not to forget the future though, I’m still working on that Tablet PC killer notetaking application, although, I’m not sure it is limited to a tablet anymore. I think that centralized notes may be really powerfull. More to come!!!

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By Anonymous – March 10, 2005

Another long Friday… Don’t forget the Tablet PC!

This one was a bit different. Sunny yes, but I spent a few days as a non-manager doing an actual server install for a client in Seattle. Normally, you won’t find me doing actual coding or billable work, but this is a big client (one of the big wireless companies) and it was just easier to do it myself and make us look good.

Driving home from Seattle on I5 though? 4 hours of traffic. I spent the WHOLE time on the phone for work calls. Even stopped and bought a charger and a headset so that I could drive 40 and be on the phone.

Working on a deal to integrate SAP, Oracle and Peoplesoft Purchasing into a network using Tibco. Amazing how some programmers have a can do attitude and others sound like nothing can be done! Just have to throw that out there. And often the guy who says it can’t be done is the one who does it in an hour!

Not to forget that Tablet PC. As someone (Lora I believe) pointed out, MSN does support ink. In fact, INCREDIBLY well. But that is for chat. I am beginning to architect the pieces of an IM client that does SO much more. I want a single place in my Tablet for both IM and for notetaking. Gmail as well I think! And I’m not talking about simple here.

Those notes? I need to be able to mine that data from my desktop! I need to be able to get at it from any web browser. That is the beauty of paper. You take the notes with you. With the Tablet, if your battery is out, or you just want to quickly see that note, you’re stuck.

So I want to use the underlying chat protocol to send those messages to a central server. I want them to get put into a searchable archive. If I take messages when I’m not on a network, I want the app to sense the network and send queued messages to the server.

I haven’t yet decided that the server needs to then send them back out to my desktop, or notebook. Maybe it only has to be a oneway push. But what about notes that I take on my desktop? I want them to be available on the tablet. Even if the tablet isn’t on the network. So I guess I am really talking about a mesh of some sort…

Well, just a few of the things that I’m pondering…

Smile, it is SATURDAY!

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By Anonymous – March 5, 2005

Digital Photography… Kids anyone?

Who me? Cute..?Oops, this is about technology managment, isn’t it? Hold ON!!!!

What is it about kids that does this to us? Every time I see them I want to look for my camera. They smile and I think, where is my camera. Then I think, “Do I have the right camera? Do I need to get a better camera?”

Oh, wait. Is that an excuse to talk about cameras? I love this medium. I get to talk to myself, and we sure know I like to talk. Digital Cameras! Wahoooo!

So I’ve been taking pictures for about 10 years with Minolta Maaxum’s, first a 5000 and then a 7xi. I have a few lenses, a bag. AND lots of dust. I also have that old Fuji Finepix and a broken Canon. Oh, wait, I said all of this before. Well at least some of it.

Every time I get ready for the leap, I find another camera to sidetrack me. Right now, this time? Yep. There’s another one. This time it isn’t the Canon. The Nikon? Nope, a Panasonic. With a Leica lense no less!

Well enough about cameras. What about offshore maintenance projects. I am working with a small company in Michigan and a HUGE company in Houston and the solution is the same; move it offshore. At the same time, there is a local company and we’re keeping them onshore. At least for now. At least for now. The challenge is of course the communication.

Gravity? Where? Communication? Don’t you meanproject managment you ask! Nope! Communication. Project Managment is just a form of communication. No mater which way you skin the cat, we’re still talking about communication. In a project, communication is the transfer of understanding from one party to another. This is the most complex problem in any project though; offshore, onshore, onsite. Communication is the hardest part! Technology is simple. Communication is HARD!!!

What made Linux work? Is Linus a genius coder? He must be. But more than that, he is able to communicate his vision effectively. And in English for god’s sake! There are hundreds, even thousands of technically feasible projects out in the wild, but the ones that happen are the ones with vision. Wait, the ones whose vision has been communicated! Whose vision is available. Whose vision is flexible.

How do we bring that to offshore projects? Well, I’ve been managing off and on about 10 people in India for more than a year now. Either directly or through the layer of an onsite coordinator. And I don’t have the answers yet. I have some things that work really well, but I have been humbled. And I’ve humbled? Maybe, but I’ve also learned a lot.

In the past product management /ownership has rested on the client site in the US and development has rested offshore. But we’ve been having much better luck lately by moving the product management offshore. We’ve been moving the design and decision making offshore. This has meant more trips to India and vice versa, but it has also meant that the team can ask design questions in real time. It means that we manage the managers from here. It means that we spend less time managin the details. More time managing the company.

We used to let the offshore managment team run the company, but WE ran the projects. We even tried letting them run the company AND the projects. But now we are running the company. They are running the projects. And you know what? I think it is working.

More to come…

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By Anonymous – February 28, 2005

Sunny Fridays are HARD!

I have been trying to concentrate on work all day! Something about 65 degree weather in February in Oregon. Just not Right! Not right maybe, but still quite pleasant.

This digital camera thing is driving me crazy. I’ve had two of the little ones. A Fuji (still works) and a Cannon Powershot A45 that bit the dust from 4 feet. While they both take good pictures, they really don’t work very well as snapshot takers. They are great for scenery. But ever try to catch your children running by leading them with a half second? Try to catch just the right moment, only to get a picture of a tree instead of the little ones grin on the run? So am I stuck with a big camera? I do miss the SLR. The feel of it. Even a beginner looks like an expert with the authority of a big lens.

Enough of the whining though. Remember that Tablet PC I’ve been talking about? Turns out the latest MSN Messenger supports Ink. Not only that, it supports ink INCREDIBLY well. If I’m chatting with an up to date client on the other side it lets me send the image, but it also does an amazing job of recognition. It isn’t perfect, but it is at about 99%. It gets almost everything right!

So now, I’ve been imagining the perfect note system. I want to take the notes on the Tablet and have them IM’d to a central repository any time a connection is present. If one isn’t present I want them to queue up. Then, when I plug my notebook in, I want them to get IM’d right into its DB. I want to get back from a meeting and sit down at my desk and have the notes already right there on the notebook or the desktop or whatever device. In fact, I want it to send them to the Pocket PC I have as well. I even want it to take the recognized text and shoot it out to my blackberry!!!

Am I taking this too far? Am I asking too much? I don’t think I am. I don’t need it this year. But that is what I want.

Didn’t I start off thinking about sun? Time to go back to thinking about sun!

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By Anonymous – February 25, 2005

More thoughts about that Tablet PC…

I still think that IM is the killer app for the Tablet PC. There are even articles describing the concept. But still no apps seem to be available.

Not sure what that means… I’m planning on putting something together as a proof of concept. That of course won’t happen until after the three proposals that I have to put together in the next 4 days. When it rains, it does pour.

Everyone seems to blog about blogging. One of my favorite blogs is Halley’s Comment and she not only blogs about blogging, but also it seems, travels and speaks about blogging! What a thought.

I, on the other hand, travel and talk about technology. Oh yeah, and anything else that appeals to me! These days thoughts of writing and photography are rampant. And gardening. What is it with the weather in Portland this year. Snow on the east coast and 68 and perfectly clear in Portland.

When I’ve got a few more of these under my belt, I’ll have to start thinking of blogging on blogs. Until then however, I’m stuck with this.

Back to photography for a moment. While the good camera is down for the count (4 yr olds and cameras can be like oil and water), I’ve been playing with images from the other camera. This is an older Fuji model with an incredible delay factor.

When I take pictures of the kids, I have to plan about 2/3 of a second ahead. Fun to get them still though. And the PRINTS! It is amazing to print a full page photo! The funny thing though is that our 4 yr old takes the best photos. Hands down. Her ability to “catch” the moment is serendipitous. Come back later for some of those photos!

Well now. Time to move on. Time to…

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By Anonymous – February 23, 2005

Welcome to my online world…

Enojy it, hate it, love it, ignore it. It is however mine! So I’ll be having fun with it.

Today I found some really cool stuff while I was at work. As the Anonymous Manager, I’ll be brief. While I don’t post during work hours, I do browse. I have been researching Tablet PC’s and note taking software in general and somehow during my fruitless search, I stumbled across a really cool piece of software. (not note taking software unfortunately)

The truth is, I didn’t even get to see the software run, as it is Mac only, but the concept rocks. This is a piece of software that sniffs your network for images and builds a changing collage of them. Whatever people are viewing, there they are. That is SO COOL. Social pressure? You bet? Surfing porn? Not anymore.

I love simple ideas!

I found a few other fun things as well. Remember that catalog from the 80’s? Whole Earth Catalog? I loved that thing. Well after founding the WELL and Wired, Kevin Kelly may be my hero. At any rate, I found Kevin Kelly today!

Did I get off topic again? Wow, hate it when that happens… Still not really sure about this Tablet. I’ve had one on and off for a year now. They are SOOOO close. Really good at times and then, REALLY slow.

They seem like they could be SO awesome, but their PERFECT uses just aren’t there yet. Here I have the most connected device in the world and I can’t really IM…

Without a keyboard, no go! I’m thinking that a simple IM client may be the killer app for it. The ability to sketch something in ink and send it over chat? Even if the other end is a keyboard, then we could still chat. Scrawl and send…

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By Anonymous – February 22, 2005