Steve's Seaside Life

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0ffice 12, a lot of responsibility rests on its shoulders

CollaborationAccording to Microsoft figures:

Office 2003 appears to be falling behind in targeted sales for this point in the product’s lifecycle, according to Microsoft’s own internal figures and guidelines. Just 15% of PCs are running Office 2003, two years into its life, with Office 12 – the next edition of Microsoft’s ubiquitous suite – now on the horizon. However, Microsoft traditionally expects between 50% and two thirds of customers to be running the previous version of Office when the new copy ships. …

obviously Office 2003 is not going to catch up, which means that Office 12 is going to have to make up a lot of sales, and will also be critical to stimulating enterprises to upgrade to Windows Vista , as most enterprises upgrade both the office suite and OS at the same time.

I am off to Redmond on Sunday for a 3 day briefing on Office12 so we will see if it lives up to the challenge.

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yet another new toy

SonorixI decided I no longer wanted to compromise when it comes to interacting with audio,  I wanted a very easy way to switch seamlessly between the following activities:

  • Record audio notes in OneNote
  • Listen to music
  • Take phone calls
  • Listen to podcasts – mainly from IT Conversations

And I wanted to be able to do all of the above:

  • From desk
  • Walking
  • Swimming – I already have a solution for this
  • Chilling out at a Cafe or health club
  • Shopping
  • etc

I knew the solution needed to involve Bluetooth, and a headset that could switch from audio player to phone headset to microphone as required.   I think I have found the solution – Sonorix Bluetooth Audio Player –  its £50 off right now because it’s an old model.  I friend of mine had one about a year ago and loved it.  I have ordered one,  should arrive in a couple of days.

 

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Treo 650, so far, pretty good

Treo650I picked up my Treo 650 last week, it’s a company supplied device and so it’s camera is locked down and they discourage excessive loading of applications, it also has anti-virus and data encryption which slow it down a little,  but these are relatively minor issues.  First lets look at why I wanted a 650:

  1. I work from home,  but that doesn’t mean I sit at my PC in my study all day long,  in fact I spend a lot of time away from my desk:
    1. beach walking
    2. eating out, often working at a local Cafe
    3. watching the kids doing sports for or waiting for the kids
    4. beach games with the kids
    5. travelling to and from yoga and swimming
    6. shopping
    7. on the train
    8. gardening
    9. etc
  2. In fact I only spend about 4 hours at my PC so I really wanted to be able to stay as productive as possible and easy to contact during these other periods of the day.  I also wanted to be able to spend extended periods away from my desk, for example on a long hike.
  3. I have a TC1100 Tablet and although its with me most of the time, always on email and web help …

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This looks like a book I should read

Although I am more of a solution manager than a project manager I have managed 30 odd projects in my time and a fair few programmes.  I have gradually developed a dislike for formal methodologies and templates because of their tendency to prevent the team from thinking.  That said I think there are some key management skills that every project team needs, but I have rarely seen described very well.  This book looks like it is my sort of style,  it in my Amazon favourites in case anyone wants to buy it for me.

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How to deal with burn-out

FireIts pretty rare that I get burnt-out, partly because I am pretty aware of my workload and the pressure I am under, but also because I have this sort of unwritten – until now – strategy:

  • I encourage a peer group support culture,  help other people when they are struggling and they might help you when you need help
  • I am honest about how I am feeling and am not afraid to have a good moan
  • I speak up when I don’t agree with something,  but know when to give in
  • I don’t keep lists,  I know if its important I will remember and if its not I will forget.  The ability to forget stuff thats not important or urgent means I rarely feel overwhelmed
  • If I struggle sleeping, (because of work), that means there is a problem, do something about it the very next day
  • I try to develop a relationship with my manager along the lines of – I’ll do my best for you, so long as you are there when I need you
  • I keep good records and am pretty professional
  • I break rules (but not important ones) or find ways around problems
  • I operate on the principle of assumed responsibility (if …

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Teaching and learning

BrainsurgeryPassionate is fast becoming one of my favorite blogs – and the graphics are great too!  This post is no exception, it provides some great tips for trainers and teachers, and some great insights for anyone needing to communicate in general.  The introduction goes like this:

I’m amazed (and more than a little disheartened) how many people believe that simply by virtue of their being skilled and knowledgeable in something, they’re implicitly qualified to communicate, mentor, teach, or train that thing. It devalues the art of teaching to think that because you’ve been a student, you can teach well. That because you’ve experienced learning, you can craft a learning experience.

The post then talks a little about the fact that people can be self taught:

nobody needs a PhD (or in most cases — any degree at all) in education or learning theory to be a good teacher. Just as there are plenty of great software developers and programmers without a CompSci degree. People can be self-taught, and do a fabulous job, for a fraction of the cost of a formal education, but they have to be motivated and they have to appreciate why it’s important

which I have definately …

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Interesting overview article on document security

Only a few weeks ago I received my first document that used Microsoft IRM technology in Office to set an expiry date.  Not suprisingly the document was early information on a product that’s still in beta and the document expired at around the time the next beta was due to ship.  I liked this use of IRM, seemed very useful.  So I was interested to come across this article discussing the security related issues we have with document leakage which are also addressed by IRM technologies.  here is the summary:

Business documents are the lingua franca of commerce. Every day, sensitive information is leaked without our knowledge, and it is incumbent on us to act now, or answer to the consequences later. Business leaders must realize that while they won’t necessarily make the headlines each time a document leaks sensitive data, they could lose a key partner, customer or lawsuit–or worse, their public image.

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Blogging at work

CollaborationI am desperately waiting to me able to blog at work!  I find it very frustratng that most of the technical blogs posts I want to post I am unable to, because they can only be released under NDA and even more frustrating that other people at work can not work with me in the collaborative, community building fashion that blogs enable.  We use Notes at work for email, document sharing, discussions etc and are deploying WebSphere as our collaboration portal, so the news that WorkPlace will include blog support is encouraging.  It seems very primitive at this stage, but its a start.