A Fabulous Insight Into Real Relationships...

.... well in my opinion anyway.

I rarely re-blog anything, but this appeared on my LinkedIn page today and when I read it there was huge resonance.

I did not decide to re-blog it immediately, but on reflection think that this is worthy so please read and enjoy this blog from Gretchen Rubin, bestselling author and blogger at www.happiness-project.com. She wrote about marriage and her relationship with her husband, but I think you can apply this to many relationships and switch gender too.

5 Mistakes I Continue To Make in My Marriage

One theme of my happier-at-home project is marriage.

I have five particular problem areas in my marriage. Here they are, along with the strategies I try to use to address them, though they remain challenging:

1. Demanding gold stars. I'm a gold-star junkie, and my husband just isn’t very good at handing out gold stars--and that makes me feel angry and unappreciated.
In response, I now think more about doing things for myself. I used to tell myself I was doing nice things for him – “He’ll be so happy to see that I put all the books away,” “He’ll be so pleased that I fixed the schedule” etc. – then I’d be mad when he wasn’t appreciative. Now I tell myself that I’m doing these things for me. “I’m so organized to have bought all the supplies in advance!” Because I do things for myself, I don’t expect him to respond in any particular way.

2. Using a snappish tone. I have a very short fuse – but my husband doesn’t like it when I snap at him. He’s funny that way. Many of my resolutions help me keep my temper in check. I don’t let myself get too hungry or too cold (I fall into these states very easily); I try to maintain reasonable order, because clutter makes me crabby; I try to control my voice to keep it light and cheery instead of accusatory and impatient; I try not to make my (supposedly terrifying) mean face. Confession: I’ve worked on this issue relentlessly for years, and I fly into brief-but-hot rage at least once a week. At least.

3. Not showing enough consideration. Studies show that married people treat each other with less civility than they show to other people — definitely true for me. I’m working hard on basic consideration, such as not reading my emails while talking to him on the phone. Very basic, I know.

4. Score-keeping. I’m a score-keeper, always calculating who has done what. “I cleaned up the kitchen, so you have to run to the store” — that sort of thing. I’ve found two ways to try to deal with this tendency.
First, I remind myself of unconscious over-claiming; i.e., we unconsciously overestimate our contributions relative to other people’s. This makes sense, because of course we’re far more aware of what we do than what other people do. I complain about the time I spend paying bills, but I overlook the time my husband spends dealing with our car.
Second, I remind myself of the words of my spiritual master, St. Therese of Lisieux: “When one loves, one does not calculate.”

5. Taking my husband for granted. Just as I find it easy to overlook chores done by my husband (see #4), it’s easy to forget to appreciate his many virtues and instead focus on his flaws. For example, although I find it hard to resist using an irritable tone, my husband almost never speaks harshly, and that’s really a wonderful trait. I try to stay alert to all the things I love about him, and let go of my petty annoyances.

What are some mistakes you make in your marriage or long-term relationship? Have you found any useful strategies for addressing them?

--Speaking of relationships, if you'd like to make your relationship more loving and warm, join the 21 Day Relationship Challenge. Learn more here. In just three weeks, you can take concrete, manageable steps to deepen your relatioships.
(Photo: Driek, Flickr)

I hope you found this interesting?

Was there any need?

Last night's episode of "Elementary", the US adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes story contained a blatant and contrived piece of product placement for the Microsoft Surface tablet.

Having previously used desktop PCs and plenty of use of smartphones, when Sherlock wanted to check something on the Internet he reached out and picked up a Surface and related keyboard, snapping them together before clearly demonstrating the flip out prop and ability to use the Surface like a laptop.

This was to me eyes so gratuitous and out of place to scream product placement.

Was there any need? I don't think so and wonder how much Microsoft paid for it? I will be interested to see if it is used again?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The “BIG” tripwire and the “halflife” of data

Over my working career a number of prefixes have been hyped by consultants and suppliers as the next big thing. In the 80’s it seemed that everything that was good was prefixed with “global”. In the 90’s the prefix was “hyper” and in the 00’s we just added “e”. There was and still is some merit in these words that act as amplifiers, but most have been found to have a double edge to them. They are still used, but more judiciously.

It seems that the prefix for the 10’s may well be “big”. We have heard that scale is good and that some banks have been viewed more favourably post-crisis when it was judged that they were too “Big” to fail. More accurately they are probably too big to be allowed to fail as the consequences would be unthinkable.

We also hear a lot about “big data” or should that be “BIIIIIIIIIIIIG data”. This seems to be the latest thing that the IT Industry is telling us we should be thinking about and turn into value for our businesses. Cynically this does not seem to be anything new, but rather a marketing tag line.

I was reflecting on this word “big” and find that I am more inclined to use in it terms of too big to run or too big to fix in terms of banks. While far from alone, the example of HSBC’s much publicised fine for money laundering comes to mind. From listening to knowledgeable radio commentators and a little personal insight HSBC appears to have a few issues.

HSBC by its own claim had a good crisis, mainly because it was far more fragmented and less joined up than other banks of similar size and reach. Its model for growth up to the crisis could be typified as that of buying distressed banks in many countries, closing them Friday under one name and opening them Monday under the HSBC name, logo and letterhead and a high level management layer, but limited infrastructural integration. In the intervening years there have been limited attempts to effect further  integration. This fragmented nature has been typified by the enormous number of “Global  heads of this or that”; roles that were often built around an individual rather than on sound organisational design.

When one reads about the trouble with money laundering it suggests HSBC struggled to embed the UK ethics of knowing your customer (KYC) or anti money laundering (AML)  in Mexico and raises hairs on my neck. I do feel a good deal of sympathy with those currently charged with standardising and ensuring proper KYC and AML across something like 89 (from recollection) countries and cultures. Is this actually too big to fix? And is HSBC alone? Pesonally I suspect the answers are “”Yes” and “No” respectively.

My other thoughts about “big” relate to the data question and start almost 20 years ago. That was when I accepted the challenge to re-engineer and build a global reference data function for an investment bank. The organisational and process architects had done their stuff in some rarified atmosphere and decided that in order to provide the single investment bank back office with high “straight through processing” (STP) capability the reference data function needed to have available a complete universe of relevant tradable (note tradable, not just traded) instruments that were maintained at 100% accuracy and available immediately. That was my initial brief.

It soon became apparent that the cost of sourcing a complete tradable universe, well as much as was available, would be extortionate. Adding the extra data for new issues and gaps would be substantial and the process for maintaining it all at 100% accuracy would be horrendous. And that was all before building the distribution capability to the various systems that would need it….immediately. This was nonsense when in truth our traders and brokers only traded a small, moving percentage of the instrument universe. I use the word moving as the percentage might stay the same but the components could and would change.

In resolving this I led a complete rethink about the approach to be taken, the processes required and the management of the service to end-users. It will be no surprise that we did not provide “big” data in the end, but rather what was needed in a quick and efficient way. The business could not have carried the cost implicit in the original design.

I have seen similar, more recent attempts to supply this nirvana of instrument data stumble on many of the same issues. In these cases, even twenty years on, “big” is probably still too big.

The cost of maintaining big data crossed my mind again the other day when I was listening to a talk by Gerry Pennell, CIO to the 2012 London Olympics. He was asked if LOCOG had done anything with the “big data” it had collected on all the visitors to the games and users of their applications and websites. I forget the actual numbers but he quoted the data collected and stored during the games in terms of petabytes (1 petabyte  = 1000 terabytes, etc). His answer was “no” primarily because the duration of the games was so short and their focus was on the smooth operating of core systems.

What he did say was that there were efforts to leverage the ticketing data with other sporting bodies in order to target interested parties in future events. But here we encounter the issue of data degradation, ie data becomes less accurate and less useful over time. This is not because some computer gremlin goes in and changes things, but rather that people change, the move address, the change their phone number, they get married, they even die. As time passes more of the data you collected at a point in time becomes reduced in value.

In science there is the concept of the half-life of a radioactive element. This is the time it takes for half of the starting material to decay. I am sure there is or should be a similar concept in data. The measure of half or 50% is probably too high but it would be interesting to know/estimate how long before 10% of the data collected at a point is then inaccurate. Is it a year? Or ten years? That will change my perception of the data and my ambition for it.

I have living evidence in my wife’s work. She is employed by a company that supplies mailing lists for people with commercial real estate for sale or let. The clients buy a set of details that meet a criteria of location, size, function, but more than that they are guaranteed to be good contacts ie someone like my wife calls up every name on the initial list to confirm, correct or delete every name, address and email. Only this was is the data of real value.

So what? So, my advice is when you feel that you might be seduced by anything prefixed in marketing speak with the term “BIG”, think hard about who is promoting it and why and then be very clear if it is really  in your interest to embrace the idea, or alternatively to think who you might better achieve the same result?

Remember how fortunate you have been.....

.....rather than concentrate on negativities.

It is part of human nature to grasp tighter to the bad things, the things that are wrong, than to remember and appreciate the good things. This is certainly true in the more difficult times in which we live so maybe now as Christmas approaches and another year ends it is a good time to constructively reflect.

The second thing is that as one gets older one forgets more, in part because one has more to forget. In a recent episode of "Elemental", the US series based on Sherlock Holmes, the lead character posits that there is only so much his mind can hold and unless he ignores and drops the trivial stuff we won't have space for that which matters.

Scientifically, I don't believe that to be true, but practically there is something to it.

This year, for a number of reasons, we did not have a family holiday - the first time for us - and it generated a few moans from my wife and daughter (though she did have a remarkable trip to India with her school). I made the point to my wife that while we had not travelled this year, we had been fortunate in out life and visited many interesting places. I started listing them in my head and found that I would finish and then add another. Many of the places were ones I had not thought of for a long while, yet contained good experiences and positive memories.

I decided to write things down and started a mindmap. The first three quarters was pretty easy, but I have found myself adding things for a few weeks. There were no rules, other than those I decided. I tended to list countries I had visited, but in places like the US also added states and cities. It is on my iPad and I add to it as thoughts cross my mind.

 

Originally, I had forgotten about my trip to Malta and Albania, but now they are there too. For me this has been a good exercise and reminds me how fortunate I have been. It also helps my naturally ailing memory cells.

I am now doing a similar exercise for the music acts I have seen live. There are plenty there that I had forgotten too!!

My suggestion is that you pick something that has brought you pleasure and stimulation and try and make a similar list or lists. It could be plays you have seen, books you have read, galleries you have visited. If you are anywhere as old as I am, I am pretty sure there will be instances that you have forgotten, that when reflected upon bring you pelasure again and can give perspective to your current situation.

Just try it.

What a difference a day makes

The original Web

Yesterday I added some interesting picture of ice crystals on my hedge. Usually in the UK we see a quick thaw and it all starts again....at some point. This time though the temperatures stayed well below zero and this morning instead of a web I found this "shield" outline in the hedge.



24 hours later

Either the weight of the ice and/or the leaf that seems to be entangled at the botton caused a major but not complete structural failure, yet the crystal on the boundary thread have survived.

I wonder what I will find tomorrow?



Cardiac workouts before the Christmas party

Today is the prime Christmas party day in the City, the last Thursday close enough to Christmas, but not actually right up close. As a result the trains today have seen extra luggage!!!

I have watched a number of woman pulling along suitcases that should be sufficient for a family's two week summer holiday. I offered to help one carry her's up some stairs, but she was intent to manage it alone. The additional articles made the trains feel twice as full and put a rosey glow on the ladies' cheeks.

While one case did run along with that hollow, largely empty sound, I suspect most contain a choice of clothes and shoes, maybe three, back up articles in case of catastrophe and a beauty set that would grace a Hollywood film set. And I bet many still find they have forgotten something.

As a man I can recognise this, yet not participate. I am going out in black tie this evening and my bag containing all I need (yes, a full change!) was slung over my shoulder.

I am sure the end results of these ladies' efforts will be well worthwhile and I hope their colleagues show full appreciation, but I wonder if they will have the energy to last the night and enjoy it having started the day with a major cardiac workout. I do hope so.

A beautiful start to the day.

 

We had a heavy frozen fog last night and when I walked out of my door this meeting I was greeted by rather magical sight. Ice crystals had "grown" on much of my hedge, but most prolifically and stunningly on the points of the holly leaves .

I don't recall seeing anything quite like this before so I grabbed my phone an took a couple of snaps. I am sure that with a better camera I might have achieved a better focus or depth of field, but then I might have missed the moment too.

There were also plenty of ice-encrusted spider's webs so I captured one of the best.

The last photo was of the "ice flowers" based on a set of ivy berries that created by the fog.

As I photographed these, two people (a dogwalker and a driver) stopped to admire and comment on the display. What a way to start the day?

Fair play to my Ford Garage

Yesterday I put my car in for annual service with my local Ford dealer. I had bought it part used from the same dealership and taken a two year service plan with it. In truth I did not read all the small print at the time, but new that it would save me money.

Not only did I get an amazingly early call from the garage that all was complete - I am more used to that 4:15 call from garages - when I picked the car up there was NOTHING to pay. Instead I was just given the paperwork and keys and straight out to the car.

Now this may not sound like much, but after thirty years of motoring with new and used cars I am totally familiar with the list of "extras" that get added to the service, eg screen wash, oil disposal fee, etc.

In this case there was nothing, which as both a surprise and a pleasure......a deal which does what it says on the tin!

If I have a small complaint it is that in this client oriented, service culture, the service centre only stays open until 5:30 pm which is rather inconvenient for a commuter like me. I have to leave work early to get there, just in time. 6:30pm would be so much better!

Despite that, as I said.....

Fair Play!

Is Dodd Frank worth $10 billion each and every year?

Earlier today I came across the "Dodd Frank Burden Tracker" and was gobsmacked at what I read.

The tracker can be found on the website of the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services.

It appears that any rule published on the Federal Register muct also include an estimate of the labour (labor in the US) hours neede by affected entities to fulfill the new requirements.

This particular tracker follows the 400 rules included in Dodd Frank, of which only 224 or 56% have been written so far. According to the data on the website these 224 rules will "cost" a shade under 20 million labour hours to implement and then cost a shade over 24 million per annum to maintain compliance.

Now let's extrapolate and say that the estimate will double and round it up to 50 million hours for the full 400 rules. While not arithmetically perfect this allows for a degree of initial underestimation.

Now I am going to assume, I think reasonably, that while the site says the estimates cover the "affected entities", this does not include all the non-US entities outside of the US. This is a far larger field so the impact there will be less; as a result I will use a working approximation of another set of work equivalent to the US ie let's double 50 million hours per annum to 100 million hours per annum.

That is fine, but makes more impact as a financial number. I will guess that there will be a disproportionate number of expensive people involved eg lawyers, compliance staff, etc so let's use a working figure of US$100 per hour.

This suggests that the annual global cost of fulfilling the 400 Dodd Frank requirements will be of the order of US$10 billion.

Oh yes, I forget the other G20 countries that are also implementing different rules and regulations with the same intent of controlling and de-risking (at least to a degree) the world of OTC derivatives. We may well double that estimate again!!!

I wonder if that is considered an acceptable cost (acceptable by whom?) to bring hoped for safety to the world of financial services?

The great unspoken

I have just come from a talk by Gerry Pennell, CIO of LOCOG, organisers of the 2012 Olympics, at an event organised by La Fosse Associates. There is always a limit to what one can say at events like this and Gerry focused on the delivery of the results data, he acknowledged the significance of the infrastructure, enterprise systems (it was a business after all) and communications, but reckoned that what was different about London over Beijing four years earlier was the volume of mobile device access. Some of the numbers were truly staggering and the success of his team is unquestioned.

Gerry fielded a good number and it was at this point I found myself more interested. In part it was his acknowledgement that his team were incredibly focused and motivated accepting the fixed deadline and that their roles old end. He reported that he had little need to motivate them, but instead could focus on managing stakeholders. This rather confirms experience elsewhere but is still a useful example.

He also reported that there is little recycling of IT staff from London to Rio and cited the language difference as a major factor that would limit contribution. Again a truism from running global, internationally diversified teams.

It was also interesting to see a master at work. He fielded some expected and loaded questions. As an observer, he answered many with a safe or anodyne single sentence response which left you feeling there was much more left unsaid. In other instances he embarked on a longer, but rather deflecting answer. An honest analysis would probably conclude that he really said very little and certainly nothing at all controversial.

I don't mean that he was dishonest, but just very clever; as I said a "pro" at work.

He did say that he did not know his next role, but "politician" came to mind, but he might be too good to make it in the current UK set up :) .

As he said the biggest legacy he and his team left behind is the demonstration that the British IT industry works!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Keys to success?

Last night I was being asked my advice about how to succeed in the world of financial services. The lady asking the question was coming at the subject from the point of view of needing to know and understand the environment one is one and adapting. She seemed surprised when I too a contrary view.

Of course if one needs to change something in the world of self vs (working) environment, then it is obviously easy to change oneself, even if that requires you to start working out of your comfort or preferred zone. But that assumes that one cannot change the combination of self and environment. One of the things that has long been true and is increasingly and more widely true in the modern world of employment, is the variety of potential employers and the lower barriers to change. There were over 300 banks in the City of London. I could work for any of them with moving house or even my commute; instead I might have to turn right rather than left or walk 200m rather than 100m.

In that world I learnt that it is better to understand oneself and strive to find a compatible and suitable environment to work. With the range of different types and sizes of company, cultural backgrounds and maturity there is a broad range of environments. My contention drawn from personal experience is that if one is in an environment that suits you and you enjoy, doing a role that excites you and you enjoy then your performance lifts exponentially and it is from this that personal success is derived.

In essence, by all means look to adpat in the short term, but if you are always adapting and finding yourself twisted out of shape it is far better to lift yourself out and into a different and better environment.

I think I made myself understood in the end.

I am soooo "old school" and not asahmed of it.

Last night I attended a book launch at the London Business School. Apparently it is the third produced in partnership with a publisher aimed at bringing their academics' work to a wider audience.

The topic was an interesting one ie After America, exploring a new world order and the book was "Era of global transition: crisis and opportunities in a new world" by Dr Robert Davies. It questions if the western model for economic growth is the right one and suggesting that the old world order shaped by the US is fading and a new untested multipolar one awaits; one involving not only nation states and the financial system, but also social movements and interest groups ( I think I got that right?)

The format was a short presentation by the author and then a panel discussion including Q&As.

The theory sounded fine and it was contended that democracy if it does exist is often quite readily sacrificed, but to my mind the proposition(s) failed the "so what?" test. In the questions I asked where they thought the leaders for this new world, given that many of the issues seem to be big for a single brain, that the tenure of leaders is ever shorter and mismatched to the problems and that many of the leaders political and business are so wealthy that it is hard to see how their decisions will not be biased to protecting their position.

I half expected the answer that it was the intelligentsia and academics that were best suited to leading this new world. Instead I was shot down in flames, damned as being caught in an old paradigm and that the new world would not seek leaders, but that they would emerge for the socila networks and interest groups. A comfortable academic on the panel stated that she thought governments were irrelevant as they had no impact on her personal life.

I did feel there was a touch of hypocrisy there as she looked to be persoanlly comfortable, in an academic post that would not exist without the government she obviously reviled.

A number of members of the audience picked up the leadership angle while others challenged her dismissal of government. She was resolute and even supportive of the idea thatr anarchy was preferable to government.

I left the event slightly stimulated, but largely disappointed. I think the most disturbing thought was rendered by an old friend who suggested that history shows that leaders appear at times of crisis so IF and I mean IF these academics are right and we are heading to a new world of interest groups, social networks and green economics, we will have to wait for and face another crisis before we find our new leaders.

Personally I would prefer to be proactive and strive to avoid the crisis, for my own sake and that of those I love, but that is a thought not shared by everyone. Now that is a scarey thought!!!

Season's Greetings 2012

On the 29th February this year a friend, Doug Shaw, encouraged a group of us to use their extra/bonus day to do something new or different. I joined him and others and learnt some of the rudiments of drawing and painting with watercolours (not since schooldays!!). I then found a clever drawing app on the iPad called "Paper" by Fiftythree and have been doodling sketching on and off since.

 

In previous years I have produced Christmas ecards that used some of my photography or computer graphic creations. This year I decided to use my limited drawing and painting so please meet a festive Poppy, our Yorkie.

I wish hope this finds you and your loved ones well, that you enjoy the holiday season and that 2013 is kind to us all.

King Cash is dead? Long live.........what?

I was rather surprised the other day when, in a meeting with a major European bank, the representative across the table sucked their teeth and rather turned their nose up when it was suggested we might give them cash as collateral; they preferred high quality securities such as US Treasuries and UK Gilts.

For those not familair with the terms, collateral is the assets one puts up as protection (a guarnatee is you like) against failing to meet one's future obligation. In this case derivative contracts that will not complete for sometime and hence there is a risk one will go bust or otherwise not be able to pay as promised. As it is a guarantee putting up cash has long been very acceptable, if not preferred.

As a young man when I started working in financial services in the City of London cash was always  far preferrable to anything else, it's value was known, it was flexible and readily usable. When I was crunching through credit applications I was required to major on the cashflow analysis, ensuring that no matter what they claimed their profits to be, they were generating enough cash to meet their bills and pay for the loan that we would be granting.

When I worked with smaller companies, cash was esssential for paying wages, for supplies, etc.

It was just simple.........Cash was King!

The banker's reaction above is a measure of how things have changed. This may be the unintentional result of well-intentioned regulation, but it feels wrong. The explanation given was that if cash is pledged as collateral in goes on the Bank's balance sheet. This then triggers a need for the Bank to provide/put aside capital to protect the cash, capital that would othewise be earning for the Bank.

We were also advised that an additional factor is the existence of negative interest rates at some of the entities where the collateral is then placed, ie it costs the depositor to leave money there!!!!

In contrast providing a high quality security as collateral does not appear on the Bank's balance sheet and is not subject to interest when lodged with a clearing house. It misses both "costs".

Of course cash on the balance sheet can, if of significant value, negatively affect other ratios and measures of the Bank's performance too.

So giving cash as collateral costs the bank more to handle; costs the bank either has to swallow or pass on to its clients, neither of which is appealling in a highly competitive world. Of course as the client there are reasons why we may well prefer to provide cash, so I can see some interesting discussion coming down the line.

I really wonder if creating the situation where a bank shies away from cash is what was intended and/or creates less risk? I suspect not.

 For me it was a reminder or maybe a wake-up call about how much things have and are still changing and the need to question and test assumptions and general widsoms.

An unexpectedly brilliant afternoon.

As a bald(ing) man walked on stage with "Masters"-green jacket, black polyester trousers and black-and-white spats I sensed something special was happening. His deep Irish brogue was hard to understand, but there was a presence we had not seen earlier.

We had gone to the Hertford Corn Exchange to a "Sundays live" free session to support a friend whose band was warming up for a big event, for them, next week. Technically they were extremely proficient with to my mind at least influences from The Doors, Yes and others of that ilk. Not surprising you might say given that they are of an age and one is a surgeon, another a headmaster and yet another a farmer.

They were good, don't get me wrong, but they didn't excite me.

Now the guy in green started singing and had the audience (to be fair many had probably come to support him as we had the previous band) and it was then I was told that he had been the lead singer with "The Commitments". Hands up if you remember that film? If not, then this will probably mean little to you. For me I loved the film and have the DVD. To me it is there with "The Blues Brothers" and "The Rocky Horror Show", and I had oft wondered what had happened to the singer who had been so good.

Now I knew, he was here in front of me, for free. He had fun, the audience had fun. It was raw. It was passionate. It had feeling.

It seems that this was just the second gig of this band, but you wouldn't have known it. I cannot play an instrument, but as a football fan can spot a class footballer, I can spot a class musician and I would say that each of the band behind the singer oozed experience and class.

The band was called "Dave Finnegan and the Mighty Mustang" - and yes he finished with "Mustang Sally"!

I am not sure what more to say other that it made for an unexpectedly great afternoon and reminded me that some of the best things in life are still free and unexpected. I suspect I may be back to the Corn Exchange!!

Moving genetic mountains - When being right isn't right!

Given the genetic/biological connection between my wife and daughter it is not surprising that they are very similar. They both have a strong sense of what is "right" in any situation and a belief that if something is in their head they have every right to express it. Similarly neither find apologising easy. I guess they see it as a sign of weakness and anyway they are right so why would they need to.

While I cannot claim or accept any responsibility for my wife's early development, with my daughter we did agree that in today's world it would be best if she could stand up for herself and not be a shrinking violet. In that, I think it is fair to say we succeeded.

Now as my daughter enters her late teens the "contract" between her and her parents, most specifically her mother, is changing. My daughter has (even) more views of her own, is developing her own circle of friends and interests and tastes. She is looking to make more of her own decisions.

This is, I believe, all standard stuff and when the two of them are aligned, as they are sometimes, the combination is awesome. The trouble is when there is a difference. In these instances the situation often spirals out of control as neither will give an inch and in fact becomes more and more entrenched.

They remind me this picture

 

each digging in deeper and deeper.

 

 

This can be over the smallest things, but often feels like World War 3.

 

It would be easy if one was right and the other wrong, but that is rarely the case. It is just that once started neither will give in.

 

As the only man in the house, husband to one and father to the other, I am frequently accused of just giving in to the "other one". Harsh words are spoken and each expects me to chastise the other.

 

As is my wont and style I try and look at what is the best overall outcome and seek to make it happen. In doing so I win few brownie points with either, but in all conscience I can rarely totally back one against the other - the situations and behaviours are rarely that clear cut.

 

My inclination is that my wife as the "adult" should be the one to rise above the oft time petty squabbles, but at the same time as my daughter becomes a woman she needs learn the skills and realities of adult life.

 

I had a chat with my daughter about fighting the battles that need fighting and letting some of the rest go; to keep a focus on the bigger wins and maybe concede a couple of points to achieve her main objectives. It was not an easy conversation as she, my daughter, does not see she has done anything wrong (ever!) and refuses to embrace the concepts of compromise or social investment. I tried to explain that being right and telling everyone that you are, is not always the best way - but she can't or won't see that.

 

I have tried to explain and show each that their behaviour is what is provoking what are now predictable reactions and unless one breaks the cycle it will continue. I have advised against using txt messages to converse as it is so easy to have subtle (and not so subtle) yet unintended misunderstandings.

 

May some of it is sticking, but it is not obvious. I am usually home an hour after my daughter, by which time hostilities have usually commenced and I am fighting a reargaurd action. It is good that I have always been self-sufficient in that I can cook and look after myself and that with our second TV room I can take myself out of it when it is too much.

 

Pink, the singer, wrote a song entitled "Conversations with my 13 year old self". I wonder what my daughter might think of saying to herself when she looks back?

 

Meantime I will don my flak jacket, hold aloft my flag of neutrality and lubricate my best diplomatic tongue. I will see if we can't navigate the next few months. I don't want to choose and neither can or will I. I don't want to lose either, but they may lose each other.

 

I just hope that in time things will improve and meantime I will endeavour to remain a rock in a stormy sea.

 

 

There are so many lists on the internet that I wonder if there is one of the ten best bits of advice for a teenager and even if there was, is there any chance they would take it onboard?

The Karmic Hot Dog

 

This is the most expensive hot dog in the world at $1,501 - and they actually sold four of them in Little Rock, Arkansas, earlier this year. Why $1,501, well it appears the vendor kept $1 and the remaining $1,500 went to charity. If you want to know more have a look here.

I mention this as I used it as a "higher/lower" question at the fundraising quiz night we ran on Friday. If you read my earlier post "Between a rock and hard place"  you will have found me conflicted when my wife decided to raise money to help a man who had been my daughter's headmaster and is now suffering stage 4 (there is no stage 5!) breast cancer. He learnt he had breast cancer six years ago and seemed to beat it, but it returned and now the doctors in the UK say they have no further treatment for him.

His wife researched other treatments and found one in Mexico, but the family would need to raise £40,000 to fund the course of treatment that was prescribed. I did my research on this facility and confess I was inconvinced. The verdicts on the internet spanned everything between effusive praise to total condemnation. To me it has all the signs of a classic scam with a plausible back story including more than a hint of conspiracy and some (pseudo?) science about cyanide in peach pips that targets and kills the cancer cells when added to the "oxygenation" of his body. There seem to be no verified studies, but plenty of excuses (see back to conspiracy) about why not and how one has to believe!

The long and the short was I decided to support the effort, in part to support my wife and sister who were committed to the cause and in part that were our positions reversed I would hope others would help me. I know at least one other man was uncertain and he talked with oncologists. They added the perspective that these efforts and the use of alternative treatments is at least in part treating the family as well as the patient. They give focus and hope - and a positive spirit must be a good thing - and mean that should the treatment not be successful no one can look back say, "...if only..."

So after a pretty frantic few weeks the night came. Something like 140 people crammed into the school hall, crushed on long tables, but all in extremely good humour. It was a reunion for many, but also there was - and I know this is a cliche - a lot of love in the room for this man. This was probably a great piece of supporting evidence for karma. He had touched our kids and lives and we were there to give a little (or a lot back).

My part was putting together the quiz and all the supporting materials and on the night co-hosted the event from the front. This was a little impromptu, but worked well.

We, the organisers, had not planned on David, that is his name, being there. We thought it might be too much and a little embarassing as he never asked for these fund raisers. His wife decided that he was coming as he would get a lift off the energy. In the end he and his wife arrived after the first hour and stayed to the end, through the fish supper, most of the quiz, the auction and the raffle. There was lots of hugging and laughter and no tears, at least not that I saw.

At the end David took the microphone and spoke movingly. He thanked those there, not asking for pity or sorrow, but rather thanks that he had had a good life and was not giving up on it yet. He added that his time at the school had been one he treasured and his decision to leave was one that he now regretted.

As everyone departed around 11:30, many laden with raffle prizes or acution items and full of smiles and bonhomie, the small team set about clearing everything up and were out of there around 12:30. David and his wife left around midnight.

Remembering this was a small school, albeit a private one with parents who could afford to pay for education, every auction item was bought and bought well.

As we planned the night we thought we might raise circa £2,000, but when my wife and I did the accounts the next day, we were amazed to find that we had actually raised £5,600 on the night, plus another £160 from the sale of Christmas cards. Additionally one of the parents is tapping her company's charitable fund and has promised £750 of "matched" funding. This raises the total to over £6,500.

When added to the money already raised and a couple of imminent events this has probably made £40,000 and Mexico in early 2013 a reality.

It was hard work, but just shows what you can do if you set your mind to it. Barring some horrific feedback from the PA system, the quiz went well with the three tops scores being 108,111 and 112 out of a maximum possible of 134. We even got some praise for the quiz being fun so ... happy days.

My slight concern is that David has not blogged since Friday - he usually does so daily. I wonder if after the high of the evening he has felt a subsequent crash - I do hope not - or that maybe the generosity in the room and the fact that the sum raised makes his trip a reality has created feeling of obligation or pressure to succeed? Again I hope not.

The time, effort, prizes, money and general goodwill were all given for the absolutely best of reasons and all for one man and his family. It reunited a community built around a school and was a beacon in difficult times.

Fingers crossed for the days, weeks, months and, hopefully, years ahead.

Contribute to the power of 12 million cups of coffee!

 

As the festive season approaches I want to test the power of networks and the value micro-gifts , especially as my linkedin profile reports that my network has just topped 12 million and, while considerably more modest, my blog is now registering 3,000 hits per month. If I could persuade just a small percentage of those numbers to do something “good” at this time of year then the total effect should be substantial and worthwhile.

My suggestion is that we use the price of a cup of coffee as the common “micro” unit in question. That we are all connected and using the internet suggests that we are better off than many. I suspect that we all buy cups of coffee or something similar during our working day, but what if we all gave up just one purchase and instead put that money to more charitable and good spirited use?

If you are prepared to do so then I  wouldn’t dare preach about what you should do with the money that would have bought that cup of coffee. That is entirely up to you and your personal interests and opportunities. It might be a gift to an individual or cause, the support of a charity, or just something you feel will do good. The only request I do make is that this is something you would not have otherwise done and thus is an increment to the amount of good done in the world at this time of year.

While I am happy to hear what you have done (just add a comment) I don’t need to know. What I would ask is that if you have or are prepared to do this then please like (on linkedin)  or share this update with others so that it spreads through my network and others can see the momentum as it develops.

I can’t promise anything in return other than membership of something that has added positively to this world and made it better for others. Maybe we can move the world forward, even just a little bit, and who of us here can't afford to risk the cost of a cup of coffee?

I sort of started this the other day while queuing for a cup of coffee. It was quite cold and wet and a rather bedraggled homeless man approached begging for “his breakfast”. If I am honest I don’t usually give to outright beggars in London – there are too many stories of organised gangs, but in this instance I offered to buy him a cup of coffee. My thinking being that at least I would know my gift went to his sustenance. He asked for hot chocolate instead, but the principle still stood. In truth I then gave him the change I received from the vendor. His acceptance of my gesture had softened my attitude to giving cash to a beggar, well at least this one.

As I say, it is not something I usually do or have done since. Nor have I seen him again. That is not the point, but rather that in some small way it felt the right thing to do and worthwhile.

My commitment is that I will do it again in the coming weeks, when I see what feels like the right opportunity.

If anyone has seen the film "Elf" they will know how the Christmas spirit fuels Santa's sleigh. Well the donation of each "cup of coffee" should add an increment to the goodwill in the global tank. While I know this is a Christian image and festive season, I hope that readers of any faith can understand the sentiment and feel the desire to participate.

Now if we could deliver 12 million of those increments – that would make a difference!

PS As an indication of scale it would take almost 12 million cups of coffee to fill an Olympic swimming pool!!!

Character is..........

I saw this image on Pinterest some time ago and then came across it again yesterday. I thought I would post it to my blog as a way of "embedding" it in my thoughts.

It seems particularly important at this time of year. I have had two charity/fundraising events this week and joined the orgnaising committe for another. Additionally I have had a few conversations along the lines of helping others. I blogged before about giving a distressed young girl a train fare home and how I hoped that should my daughter ever need help, someone would return the favour - karma if you like.

A couple of years ago I came across a well dressed lady reeling drunken in the street, a victim of a Christmas party excess, who had been separated from her companions. I helped her to the station ( I was going there anyway ) got her some black coffee and led her to the ticket gate for her train home. When I told the story to someone this week they pointed out how few people would do that because of the risk of perceived/accused wrong doing.

I just did it.

In another instance I have bought copies of the Big Issue from the same vendor, one I used to walk past most days. I like the idea of the Big Issue in that the less fortunate are doing something to help themselves and I am happy to support that. Over the years I have always paid over the cover price and given him something extra at Christmas time. He did ask me for a loan of £10 in the past and as I recall I decided to just give it as a donation.

I have not seen him for some time, yet passed him the other night. I had already bought my copy of the magazine this week, but stopped for a few words and a promise to buy one next time. This time he asked me to loan him £20. Maybe I was right and maybe I was wrong, but it didn't feel the right thing to do. It felt like he had crossed a line. I am not proud, but neither am I uncomfortable that I made my excuses and left.

I confess to this last point as I do not think one has to be a soft touch to have good character. Judgement still plays an important part.

I believe I am of good character, yet it does no harm to remind oneself at times and I think periodic sight of the graphic above would be of benefit to many.

I wasn't worried about Olympic ticketting until.........

..........I saw that the Paul Deighton, Chief Executive of Locog, the London organiser of the Olympic games claimed, under questioning by the London Assembly, that it would be too confusing to provide every piece of data around the sale of Olympic tickets. Now that just sounds patronising and evasive.

Like many others I was frustrated by the ticket allocation process. It seemed tortuous. That said I will be the first to admit that the Games went surpisingly well and it appears that they sold more tickets than they had targetted. In contrast I also know from people who attended how many seats were unfilled at events....even the closing ceremony.

So how hard can the data be? It is just about tickets and most people are smart enough to work things out. I will confess that now my mind is now wondering what is hidden in the numbers? Favouritism, Cock-ups? I want to know; something I didn't at the start of today.

The Change Gap

This graphic is one I have prepared for a breakfast meeting of senior change personnel I have been asked to speak at in a couple of weeks' time. The initial thoughts of the company organising the event were to speak on something like regulatory changes eg FATCA or Dodd-Frank. While these are certainly topical, they are being done-to-death by every consultancy so why should this breakfast invitation stand out and persuade people to attend.

My alternative approach was to think about what I see causing issues for those charged with leading change? What causes them to lose sleep?

My suggestion, which was accepted, relates to an issue I have seen for some time and that is that the nature of change, at least in the world of financial services where I live, is changing and our ability to keep up, let alone get ahead, is struggling and, many would argue, failing.

I can't say that this keeps me awake, but it does keep me thinking and looking for ways to explore the issue and identify possible solutions.

The black arrow in the diagram above represents the fact that the complexity of change, along with the pace required is growing rapidly and only showing signs of accelerating, not slowing.

When I installed a front office trading system for a leading bond dealer in the early 1980's it was located in a single building, ran on two central boxes (we didn't use the word servers in those days), had around 100 terminals connected directly by dedicated cables and took in two data sets daily that were delivered physically on tapes and  loaded over-night. Think today about a global user base connected over virtual networks to dispersed server farms using real-time data to trade in nanoseconds. I am the first to accept that it was easier when I did it, but it is an illustration of growth in complexity and pace.

Similarly while modern regulation only started in the UK in 1986, if one now looks at the current influences and demands from Europe and the US they are not always in tune or synchronised with UK developments; another example of growing complexity and pace. Other examples abound.

In some areas there is a compounding factor and that is uncertainty. Many changes evolve over time rather than being stated up front and then remaining unchanged during the life of a project. The term "direction of travel" is used more and more in the regulatory world and reflects the fact that while the broad intent and aspirational schedule may be known, the details are not and will only be developed gradually. This means that the ability to plan with confidence is limited, yet the risk of not doing anything keeps growing.

The green line illustrates the growing efficiency brought about the use of methodologies, programme offices and project and planning software. These have grown substantially since the 1980's and can be seen evidenced in the number of "qualified" change personnel and the membership of change bodies. This has largely been an "industrial" exercise of standardisation, measurement, reporting, governance and incremental improvement.

While rarely intended, the net effect is often a one size fits all approach with little real opportunity for a project management to adapt or deviate from the "standard". Prince 2 is a case in point. It is intended and designed that one can pick and choose the elements that are appropriate for each project, allowing a lighter touch for smaller, simpler endeavours yet a robust a structure for bigger, riskier work. In practice this difference is rarely seen and the processes for a "large" project swamps and cripples a "small" project.

Being industrial there is a level beyond which one cannot go, ie the best possible efficiency. As one approaches that then the benefit of making additional improvements diminishes.

In the early part of my working career I would say that the productivity/efficiency gains were ahead of the complexity/pace impact and we saw improvements in real and perceived delivery of change. I would argue today that we have passed the crossover point and now face what I have labelled as "The Change Gap".

This gap is essentially the difference between demand and supply. It could easily be seen as a capacity issue, ie we could solve the issue if we point more people at the problem, but is actually more of a capability issue ie can we mentally, behaviourally and collectively do what is needed? Just doubling or tripling the number of resources is not the answer.

A similar concern about the limitations of the "industrial" approach is voiced by John Kotter, a leading thinker on transformational change. This style of thinking has led to huge progress since the industrial revolution and has spread geographically, but John argues that we are seeing evidence that the industrial approach to organising and controlling a business is proving unable to cope with the scale, complexity and pace of modern business.

If you accept my model then unless we do something different and smarter the gap will keep growing. Just doing the same as we have previously done, no matter how well we execute it, is not enough. This is something that concerns many organisations and should concern those that it doesn't yet.

So what does it mean? Well it doesn't mean throwing all the best practices out, at least not until we have something better. What it does mean is equipping change professionals with skills that are more than structured planning, Powerpoint generation and list management. They need better business understanding, skillful judgement and an environment that empowers them to make the right calls at the right time. It needs a workplace that understands the uncertainty and adapts to it, embracing the "journey" and understanding that it is unlikely that it will ever arrive at its destination, yet can be very successful along the way.

It may well be time to re-negotiate the contract between BAU and Change, moving from Client/Supplier  to a place where Change is at worst a fully-fledged partner (risk and reward) and quite possibly a real leader, arguably with a seat at the top tables of business (that is if those tables still exist!). This is something of a game changer in my mind and will need some real leaders to achieve it.

Not everyone will be able to or want to make that journey, but it is one we should be thinking about as it is people led and will take time, as all human change does. We must consider who we hire and why - being prepared to challenge the current project/change manager model. We must look at how their skills are developed and deployed, using individuals as valuable assets rather than a commodity capability. And we must do it now.

I am sure there is a lot more to do and I hope I will find kindred spirits that can help shape this vision. It will take time to effect, but if we want to be in a better place in future, now is time to investment, mentally and emotionally.

Change is exciting and we should be able to change ourselves!!!

My Christmas Wish List - 2012

Dear Santa (or anyone feeling generous),

When I was a boy I wrote you letters and sent them up the chimney, but as we are now fully centrally heated I am hoping you will be monitoring the internet.

I have been good this year and here are some things I have seen and want for Christmas.

#1 - A Watch

The first item is from http://www.division-furtive.com/ and is a hand built "James Bond" inspired watch that uses a very different paradigm. It is set by light signals from a PC or smart phone, so no controls. Everything else is done by tapping the screen and it only tells the time when you look at it!

There are two version' the "46" that will cost $3,600 and only 46 will be built. The other (and perfectly acceptable to me - hint, hint) is the "40" which costs $250.

The largest difference is that the "40" us an LED diaplay rather than a slider.

Don't ask me why I like it, I don't really know. I just like different watches and this is genuinely different. I already have one of these

This one was described as more a conversation piece than a time piece :)

---

#2 - A Ring

The second item is this

A geared ring from http://www.kinektdesign.com/ . As someone who usually has his hands busy this ring would be a distraction. It is very industrial in its look and may not fit with my current working image, but is still something that attracts me and I would happily wear one.

---

#3 - A Toy

Now I have never been a fan of toys like Scalectric or more recently radio-controlled (RC) cars, boats and now helicopters, but...............


Now there is a RC Helicopter with a payload ie a water gun. So now rather than just buzzing my RC toy around I could "interact" with others, say on a sunny summer afternoon. OK, the water tank is not huge, but still I am sure I could make a little go a long way!

I have seen this one as a Groupon offer, but see it can be found at various places on the web. Here is a video of it too.

---

Are you getting the idea? Seeing the big kid inside?

I will add more items that I want as I come across them.

Do you hire a taxi and then ask to drive?

For most of my working life I have commuted by train. What has made it bearable has been that I have almost always been able to walk to the station - this is by conscious design and is something I still guard jealously whenever my wife suggests moving out into the country.

The significance is that I don't have the hassle of having to drive to the station, find somewhere to park, de-ice the car in winter, etc. OK occassionally it is a wet walk, but that is not often and good shoes, overcoat and umbrella are usually up to it.

The way others compromise is by having a friend or partner drive them to the station and pick them up later. They don't have an idle car during the day for which they are paying often exhorbitant parking fees. This I understand and I can see that it makes sense to many.

The bit I don't understand are the arrangements, and I see them every day, whereby two people arrive by car at the station. Person A exits the driver's seat and proceeds to the station while Person B exits the passenger seat, walks around the car to the drivers seat and then drives off.

In the evening it is a reverse arrangement. Person B drives to the station and on the appearance of Person A from the station, immediately swaps seats, allowing Person A to drive them home (presumably).

What is this about? Is it just a control thing? Does Person A not trust Person B to drive properly? Does Person A ask to drive a taxi whenever they hail one?

To me if someone where to drive me to the station, that would be great. I could sit in the passenger seat (or the back if that was my wont) without a care. That seems so much more attractive.

At least the sight of this ridiculous ritual each morning makes me smile and lighten the early minutes of the day.

Any thoughts?

A Windows 8 - A Nightmare In Waiting?

Who says the young take to the new easily? My daughter (almost literally) threw our new Windows 8 laptop back at me yesterday complaining that after two days of trying she found it too complicated.

This is the girl who took to PC's, Facebook, Blackberry's, iPods and iPads with no training or trouble, yet she has, at least for now, given up on Windows 8, and with that access to a shiney new toy. You have no idea how important it was that the laptop "look good"!

I restarted the PC from scratch. I do wonder why it takes four or five hours to restore factory condition, but hey ho, that is what it took. I then fired it up and started the process of making it usable with the software we wanted on it.

By way of introduction I should say that I have worked with personal computing for over 30 years, using the classic "C:\" DOS interface, the early graphical one's such as GEM (Graphical Environment Manager - out of XEROX, I think), early Apple and Windows editions and then through Windows 3.1, 95, 98, XP, Vista, 7 and now 8. I have even got into the Android interface for my phone.

I have to confess that earlier switches seemed easier. Maybe there was less in the system, or the changes were small enough to be simple steps or intuitive enough when they were larger ones. With the move from 7 (or XP or Vista) to 8, the steps are large and far from intuitive.

It feels like it might be good on a tablet or smart phone with a touch screen, but does not work as well on a desktop or laptop and a mouse. The mix of apps and a more traditional windows "desktop" is not an easy one, especially without the familiar Windows launch button at the bottom left. Closing an app requires pulling the it from the top and off the bottom - OK on a phone, but a pain with a mouse. Oh yes, you can still "Alt-F4", but isn't that missing the point.

The openning screen seems bright yet clumsy. I have yet to find how to nest the app icons so that I don't keep scrolling to find things. And should you want to do anything similar to the old Control Panel, well good luck!!!

I know I am sounding all fuddy duddy and I am sure I will become more familiar and adept in time, but I can see a nightmare.

The nightmare is when(?) it hits the corporate world. Now I know this is some way away as many businesses are only now upgrading to Windows 7, but there will come a time when that goes out of support. At that point the nightmare starts. Not only is it usually hell on earth for an IT department to "build" a new set up and test all the applications, but they have to train all the operators. I have lived through three of these now as most companies I have worked for have gone from Dos to 3.1 to XP and now to 7.

All of these took longer than expected and cost far more than was ever budgetted. Most recently I have been taken from XP to 7. For me it was pretty easy as I have been using 7 at home for a while, but even for others the differences are not that great. Despite this there has been two hours of training per person!

As I sit here today I am convinced that the upgrade to 8 would be the project from hell; one to leave to someone else.

Of course there are alternatives. It may be that Microsoft offers and alternative upgrade path that is more like 7; It may be that other software houses write shells that sit over 8 and make it more familiar or it may be that the corporate world just skips 8 (like much of it skipped 95 and Vista)?

I will persevere with the laptop as I don't want to seem like Canute, but I think Windows 8 will be an interesting journey to both observe and be part of.

Playing with words - the Root of English Humour?

A friend just sent me a mail, the majority if which you will find below. He points out that "playing with words, is a fundamental requirement in understanding English humour."

I hope you can enjoy this, even if you are not a English is not your mother tongue. It certainly made me smile on a November Friday afternoon.

I hope you enjoy this, too!

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternative meanings for common words.

The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.

6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.

7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle (n), olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent (n..), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

***********************************************************

The Washington Post's Style Invitational also asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
The winners are:

1.. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

2. Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

6. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

7. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.

8. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

9. Karmageddon (n): its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

10. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

11. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.

12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

13. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

14. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

15. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.

And the pick of the literature:

16. Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an a*shole (or in English, an a*sehole).

The Interesting Concept of "Change Debt" and Its Cost

Yesterday I saw a blog by some friends of mine at Broadgate Consultants about technical debt . This is not a term I had been aware of before, but maybe that is because my focus has been on business change rather than IT.

When I mentioned it at a meeting later in the day the response I got was "Oh yes. That is a hot topic right now!" So while it doesn't quite meet my rule of three (ie if I hear something three times then I need to know more!) it seemed to warrant inspection.

Put simply it would appear that technical debt is the shortfall (relating to technology and its operation) between what should have been done to maintain an organisation's integrity and standards and what was actually done to get a change in. The sort of things are completing full documentation and procedures, elements of testing that may have been cut out or glossed over, issues that remain uncleared other than by the use of "workarounds", the use and acceptance of non-standard software components because the "right" ones could not be made to work as required, etc.

I am sure most project managers will recognise these. They are the things that someone should come back to and resolve. If you are in a mature change environment (or lucky) they will be detailed in the project closure report along with assigned responsibilities, but I see this less and less as the pressure is applied to get on with the next urgent change.

The problem is that these "debts" start compounding leading to operational inefficiency and passing an additional load to future change initiatives who may have no choice but to clean up the past problems.

If I understand it correctly, one might argue that the ATM outage that RBS suffered was as a result of "technical debt".

The blog reports "there are several theories and computational algorithms out there" that are supposed to calculate the debt and indeed the "interest" (ie price paid as a result of the debt). These sound fascinating and I may indeed look into them. I am sure the intent is good, but life has taught me to be wary of trying to reduce everything to a number that may convey a false sense of accuracy or precision.

What was more interesting is that the application of this is so much wider. I would suggest that we should not talk soley or specifically about "technical debt", but rather about "change debt" ie ALL the shortages created when implementing change of any sort. The principle of compromise and shortcuts is common to all change, often hidden behind the terms "pragmatic" and "tactical"; I have used them myself.

With a staffing model that is predominantly one of a stable complement of permanent employees, those creating the debt are often around to pay the interest. This is not true of contractors and consultants and can often be seen in their approach to issues. What is more concerning is that the shortening of permanent tenure in many organisations. Think about how many people are in the same job three years running? I would argue very few; either they have moved to a new organisation or role or the role has changed around them. This leaves the "interest" to be paid by others.

I would suggest that this can be seen vividly in many Investment Banks.

So what?

Well, my "so what?" is to start thinking about how the concept of "change debt" impacts my thinking on the delivery of business change? It definitely has a part to play at least by encapsulating and articulating an existing problem such that others can better understand the issue.

It will be interesting to see where the "third" reference crops up and I suspect it will be one of those topics I find myself musing over as I tend my autumnal bonfires. (I blogged before about The Strategy Bonfire and how some of my best thinking is down while lost in the dance of the flames.)

How do you identify a "real" change manager?

This question was posted in a Linkedin group and has currently generated over 200 comments. I shared my evolutionary tree tracking development of the change professional. I had a few responses, mostly telling me how wrong I was about what a change manager is, but then most of the participants seemed to be from the HR/organisational design stable which in my experience has long seen itself as separate from (and superior to?) the rest of people delivering business, process, product and IT change.

I went back with a second bite.......

Time for a different answer to the question.

You identify them by the reactions they cannot control. When you give them sight of an opportunity to lead and influence change their excitement levels rises, the eyes dilate, their vocal delivery quickens and their breathing shallows. They start sparking ideas, identifying and mitigating risks and issues, they want to communicate the intention to others, organise the work and engage with stakeholders; in short their passion rises and is oh so visible.

Metaphorically at least you may have to hold them back as they want to get started; you don't drive them, they start driving you. Basically they want to do it!

It is not a tick box exercise, but has more similarity to spotting the "other" person across a crowded bar......you instinctively read all the signs and you just know!

Interestingly apart from one "like" this generated no response. I am still not sure why? It seems to capture the passion and drive that typifies a real change agent.

What did I miss?