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HBR on what value creation will look like in the future

By Joe on May 20, 2013 in

What value creation will look like in the future:  http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/05/what_value_creation_will_look_like_in_the_future.html

A teaser from the article:

“Organizations have nearly perfected implementing the industrial model of managing work — the effort applied toward completing a task. For individuals, this model ensures that we know what we’re supposed to do each day. For organizations, it guarantees predictability and efficiency. The problem with the model is that work is becoming commoditized at an increasing rate, extending beyond manual tasks into knowledge work, as data entry, purchasing, billing, payroll, and similar responsibilities become automated. If your organization draws value from optimizing repetitive work, you’ll find that it will be increasingly difficult to extract that value.”

What you can do:

  • Master the machines.
  • Get obsessed with value.
  • Make creativity real.

 

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Running IT like a business

By Joe on May 18, 2013 in

Some older but really good articles on running IT like a business:

There are a few additions IT Managers should think hard about:

  • Businesses have customers, not users.  We have to be customer focused and look at everything from the customer’s view at service levels, not at each of our component levels.
  • We should treat the allocation of our human resources, where our staff time goes, just like we treat our financial budgets.
  • Our major goals should include improving business-IT communication and creating value for the business.  The more we integrate with the business the better the value we can add.
  • Business models are moving to cloud strategies.  We’re only going to get busier and need to respond quicker to business needs as our product and IT strategies evolve.   Every little bit we do to improve and standardize processes now will pay us back with dividends as our new world evolves.

We’re embarking on a major culture change in IT if we are going to keep pace with the changing business strategy.

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EDC Manifesto

By Joe on April 20, 2013 in

Seen on Reddit, Ashley wrote this great EDC Manifesto:

The Everyday Carry Manifesto

While a person’s everyday carry—EDC—may be first and foremost a collection of items, what we choose to carry every day signifies the way we choose to live our lives. An EDC represents a sense of ownership, personal responsibility, and the baggage we choose to maintain to improve and enrich our day-to-day existence. A proper EDC should be comprised of items with the following characteristics:

Functionality

Each EDC item should be functional, and should serve a clear purpose, such as convenience, preparedness, or entertainment.

Quality

Selecting EDC items is not about materialism or consumerism. On the contrary, curating an EDC means to find items that will last for a lifetime. Quality includes aesthetic appeal, but should first and foremost mean that an item will be durable and reliable. Items that can be repaired easily by the owner should be encouraged to reduce unnecessary economic and environmental waste.

Preparedness

EDCs should aid in preparedness depending on the potential crises in one’s daily life. For some, this may mean preparation for large scale catastrophes like natural disasters; for others, this may mean having necessary tools to use for small occurrences at work or home.

Minimalism

Striving for minimalism means to weed out the unnecessary. An EDC should not cause burden, but rather, should aid in a feeling of completeness. Only essential items should be carried, and should be selected thoughtfully with the above purposes in mind.

Community

Having a strong EDC is helpful in aiding an individual, but should also be evaluated by the ability to help others when needed. This does not mean loaning out sacred or beloved items, but should represent a desire to aid others in tasks or emergencies.

Ultimately, a person’s EDC is more than just a collection of items—it’s indicative of one’s personality, professions and priorities. Above all, an EDC should be chosen with the discretion of the person who will carry it.

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Inside the INTJ

By Joe on April 13, 2013 in

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Replacement for Google Reader

By Joe OBrien on March 31, 2013 in

After the announcement of the future demise of Google Reader, I searched for every alternative I could find got down to a few viable choices.   After importing my feeds into those and playing with the UIs, it a clear winner surfaced.  And that winner is:  Tiny Tiny RSS!

Of all of the options The Old Reader was a close second as runner up.  Tiny Tiny RSS won out by being open source, web based, relatively easy to set up, feature rich, and under my control so it won’t get turned off by a 3rd party.  I’ve also set it up in multi user mode so if you know me and would like an account shoot me an email and I will hook you up

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Raising the next generation

By Joe on May 6, 2012 in

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Gotta teach ‘em right.

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Backyard Putting

By Joe on April 9, 2012 in

Heck yeah, my 7 year old likes one of her birthday presents!

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Backstage – Behind the Myths Tour

By Joe on March 25, 2012 in

Adam and Jamie are very cool and the show was awesome!   My buddy Steve and I had a great time!

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Planet Sysadmin clean up

By Joe on January 7, 2012 in

Planet Sysadmin was having some problems running due to some bad feeds.  I’ve deleted those and about 20 blogs that were returning 404 or 500 errors for their RSS feeds.

If your blog is no longer on the planet, that’s why.   Just send me the new feed and I’ll add it.

 

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Worldwide Photo Walk 2011

By Joe on October 2, 2011 in

 

This was my second Worldwide Photowalk and I chose to participate in the Durham one again, this time doing the American Tobacco Campus and some of downtown.   We got a late start waiting for folks to arrive; it was windy and chilly and the group was much smaller than expected.   I spent a lot more time solo this year since we were so few and people were spread out.

My photos are over on Flickr – I went with an all HDR batch this year just to try something different.   I traveled light and only brought one lens.  That was mostly fine but I regretted not bringing my macro lens and maybe a flash.

Photo above (of me) was taken by Foster over at Silver Dog Photography

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