Leadership By Numbers

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Really great leadership is more inspiration than mandate, which is why it's unusual. When I read or am captured into a discussion about management and leadership, the orientation is about execution (in almost all the possible uses of that word). Against this tactical perspective, there is a growing embrace for relationship management as crucial to the balance of every compex organization. It's about building trust and lowering the cost of every negotiated transaction and hand-off. If I can trust someone to deliver their report by the end of the week, I can concentrate on my responsibilities, without distraction. 

Creating a culture of trust is a tough job. So, it's incredibly inspirational that Yang Yuanqing passed over his 3 Million dollar bonus to about a third of the company, through a "Yuanqing Special Reward." It sounds as though he took his bonus and rewarded others that were also producing exemplary work. The term I know for someone who acts like that to those that surround him is "mensch." 

Michael Krigsman for IT Project Failures notes the value of being a mensch, looking for opportunities to enrich others. He cites a conversation that Guy Kawasaki had with Bruna Martinuzzi, and notes eleven rules. Yuanqing took the tenth rule to the limit: 

Resolve to become a philanthropist of know-how. What knowledge, expertise or best practices can you share with colleagues, customers and other stakeholders as a way to enrich them?

Being a mensch is not really the same thing as taking leadership up a notch. It's good, and a time proven strategy for creating confidence, though, but it needs to be institutionalized. Carrying this model forward are new developments in social psychology and relationship management. Probably the leading advocates for promoting the benefits of relationship management would be Charles Green, and his crew at Trusted Advisor. It's great stuff, and I believe it to be effective.

Back to Yuanqing's benevolance: is it a reflection of his character, or a new institutional direction ? My guess is that the increase in Lenovo worker productivity will have a good run this year. 

Hm. I wonder what Michael Dell is thinking about all of this ?

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Every craftsman, technician, and engineer knows the satisfaction of having access to the right tool for the job. On a recent task, I've been integrating Google's cloud messaging with on-premise hardware. It's surprising complicated, with the added constraint of advanced security controls that prohibit me from using any of my normal network tools. 

What's been a challenge, is to confirm SMTP routing from different outside sources, through Google Message Security (GMS aka Postini), and into the on-premise systems. When I'm inside the customer site, I'm blocked from any outside access, and when I'm off-site I have no management of internal systems. In the past, I've used a Domino server (which has just the best admin console) for lots of testing--but the ports are blocked at my client site.

One of my work-arounds, has been to use an AT&T AirCard (which relies on Cingular for the data connection). Now, I can be on-site with my laptop connected to the outside. I can limit my inbound traffic by IP restrictions, and run the Swiss Army Knike for SMTP (SWAKS) scripts. Works great. Except, when it doesn't.

Sadly, the AirCard connectivity is not very good (it's because of the facility location), and worse, it periodically resets DHCP, giving me a new IP (and now I'm locked out from the external connection and have to reset all the trusts).

By accident, I found Wormly, a very powerful web service providing SMTP testing (and more). It allows me to send SMTP packets from an outside connection, and I can set the IP for the receiving server (because I'm usually bypassing MX records). Even cooler, is that it shows the console activity. For instance, if I test whether or not something like IP Locking is working, I can read the failure in the Wormly console dialog. This is critical, because there won't be any Non-Delivery Failures generated from this error.

Wormly is a terrific network tool, and belongs in every network engineers set of bookmarks.

Posted by Jack Dausman At 2:04 AM Location Washington, DC | Permalink | Comments (32)

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Google announced today that they are adding some of the commerical business features of Google Apps to their Standard edition: More Power to Google Apps Administrators. Advanced policy management, delegated administration and multi-domain support have been included.

Why would Google bulk up the Standard Edition ? Because, with these new tools, it's going to be much simpler to showcase Google Apps for potential customers who aren't ready to plunk a lot of money into a full-blown pilot.

One of the capabilities of Google Apps is that it can be configured for dual-delivery. Say a company, PowderBiscuits.net wants to test the waters, on the cheap for Google Apps. They can set the DNS MX to point to a designated Google Apps PowderBiscuits.net account, which will then, transparently, (1) deliver email for any specific Google Apps Powderbiscuits.net accounts and (2) pass all mail onto the pre-existing production mail servers at PowderBiscuits.net.

PowderBiscuits.net might have 3,000 users, which will all still get their email delivered to their normal PowderBiscuits.net mail server. However, the Google Apps Standard Edition is sitting in the middle of the mail routing, and can have up to 10 accounts.With the new Google Apps settings for the Standard edition, it allows a senior administrator to set up the account and then hand over limited administration to the internal staff of PowerBiscuits.net. Multi-domain support means that PowderBiscuits.net might have a subsidiary that would like to test Google Apps, as well.

For free. That's very competitive, and because Google lacks a corp of system integrators, I would expect that Google Apps Partners will be knocking on a lot more doors.

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It's a bit surprising that IBM is touting the LotusLive win for the Russell Convenience Store--but, I think it's revealing of a promising trend. After all, there is a great amount of detail about the choice of LotusLive, but what's missing in the press release is the size of the win. The square footage of a store is mentioned (1,200 ft), but not the number of stores: well, there are thirteen. This count would not rise to a press release from either Google or Microsoft, but it did with IBM.

It seems that IBM/Lotus is willing to compete hard, at any level, for a win, no matter how small or tucked away the prize. I would have blindly assumed that Google Apps for Business would have been the favored choice, so it's very, very instructive that LotusLive won. And, this is good news for systems integrators, as they are the ones who would have brought IBM/Lotus to the company. So, maybe IBM is really serious about leveraging the Business Partner channel for every win, at both ends of the scale.

 

 

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In the Forrester Wave: Mobile Collaboration, Q3 '11, here are the top tier entries, or  "leaders" :

- Box
- Adobe
- Yammer
- Cisco
- IBM
- SugarSync
- Salesforce
- Skype

Other vendors, like Google and AT&T were noted as "Strong Performers."  As for IBM; "These vendors have strong cross-platform support, in IBM's case going back many years. IBM's LotusLive Meetings excels also in security and desktop support." IBM rated well for strategry and the currency of its offering, but for market presence, it was the weakest. Interesting polarity.

Forrester notes that IBM has doubled the size of its mobile device development team to create a product that "has the mobile support that business customers need."

The report is a free, CIO, download and was not vendor sponsored.

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It's striking that Microsoft has had three quarters of disappointing Windows sales. Between the iPhone and Google Apps, Microsoft is struggling for market leadership. Byte's Editor-in-Chief has a nuanced analysis of Microsoft's current state: Microsoft-Watchers See A Company In Decline.

Today, though, was especially telling, as I was in a training session for cloud computing. At one point, the instructor was explaining the features of a directory synchronization tool and asked the students about their Active-Directory experience. Not many hands raised up. Turns out, that only a third of the class (about 30) worked in a company that supported Active Directory. Most of the students were from small, tech startups that ran everything off of cloud resources. Everything.

Until today, I had considered Active-Directory the indispensible nerve center of any modern IT enterprise.

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Thumbs up for PACKT's "Classic Web Application Development Techniques' on Lotus Domino by Richard Ellis. Opening up to the credits page reveals that Karen Hobart and Mark Vincenzes were reviewers. Can I end my own review right now with a reference to their names ? Their imprimatur alone should suffice for evaluating the book, but it also reveals that the publishing firm is the frame and the text is the canvas. Together, something unique has been created.

PACKT is an unusual publishing firm. They pay attention to the edges of interesting technologies. Dunan McGreggor highlights their capabilities:

 

• They've got what appears to be a lean approach to business.
• They know how to effectively crowd-source, keeping their overhead low.
• They are rewarding both the authors as well as the open source projects.
• Their titles continue to grow in diversity and depth.
• The have an outstanding staff.

So, to be published by PACKT and reviewed by Lotus luminaries like Hobart and Vincenzes promises to a high standard for a technical guide for developing on a legacy framework that still has a huge, installed base. Of those working in Domino, I would divide up the audience into three readers for "Classic Web Application" with Lotus Domino:

1. The "classic" adjective in the book's title is an acknowledgement that not all Domino developers are jumping into XPages and mastering the subtleties of Dojo. Some developers wear many hats and don't have time (or, are not ready) to push into frontiers.
2. There are Domino applications that are essential to a business, in which he architecture is late 1990's or early 2000, and do not need to be modernized, just maintained. This is the book for building the checklist of what can be polished up.
3. There is also the newbie programmer, frequently presented with the task of taking on a Domino application as their entry into enterprise application development. This is the book for them.

With sections on design strategies, testing, and core application development (e.g., forms and views) anyone will find the right orientation for working in Domino web development. CSS and Javascript were clearly explained (and their integrtion isn't exactly transparent in Domino). Finally, the security chapter is terrific, with a very practical perspective on what is a good idea and what doesn't work well.

Kudos to Ellis and PACKT.

 

 

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For years it seemed that every vendor could have manuals, missives, and tomes stacked at the local Borders--except for the anemic showing of Lotus Domino. IBM would point to the ocassional RedBook (again, never seen on a booksellers shelf). And now ? Well, my local Borders is closing, RedBooks have been replaced by up-to-date wikis and PACKT Publishing is on a tear with the coolest in technology, including Lotus.

Their latest publication is on legacy Domino web development. All the pre-XPages stuff that programmers need to know to maintain existing systems, and a good intro to the Domino web framework. When I've finished reading it, I'll give a summary.

Posted by Jack Dausman At 7:16 PM Location Washington, DC | Permalink | Comments (22)

Category Cloud Messaging
Over the last few months, I've been working at a new job with CSC, Inc. I've accepted a position in the Federal Consulting Practice with Cloud Computing. Leaving my previous position was difficult, as there were so many good people at the publishing company. I had the opportunity to upgrade and overhaul an aging messaging infrastructure from Notes R5 to a complete Notes/Domino 8.5 platform. All of which was accomplished in the midst of a recession and a slumping industry for journalism. However, the allure of working in cloud implementations with CSC was too strong for me.

So right now, I'm working on three messaging platforms, all day long. Google Apps, Lotus Notes, and Microsoft Exchange. I've been able to receive Microsoft BPOS training for Business Partners, and am also working towards certification with Google Apps. Cloud collaboration in the Federal environment has a hurry-up-and-wait perspective because there are compelling reasons to adopt it, but only within very specific security parameters.

My blog has been quiet, as I've waited to understand my new responsibilities. Currently, my team is working to migrate an agency from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps. I'll be posting from a new perspective, but from within my experience of over twenty years of messaging and collaboration.

Technorati Tags: Google Apps, BPOS

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Category Administration Linux Open Source Ubuntu
Time for a Wi-Fi tune-up for the home office, and one of my first tools of choice is InSSIDer by Metageek. It provides a dynamic presentation of channels, traffic flow, encryption types and other statistics. Over the last six months, I've noticed that my Wi-Fi connectivity is getting a bit sketchy, depending on my location. My original configuration was put in place six or seven years ago. Perhaps I'm experiencing a problem of congestion from the addition of many more neighborhood routers.

Metageek now supports rpm and deb Linux packages. You'll need Mono, so there are extra instructions for Ubuntu 10.04. My work laptop is Ubuntu 10.10, so the install was quick and effortless. After I fired it up, I could see two Wi-Fi problems that required my immediate attention: up my encryption and change the channel.

When I originally set up my first Wi-Fi router, it was using 802.11b and WEP encryption. A few years later, I upgraded the router, but was lazy and kept the same security standard. After all, the amount of Wi-Fi activity in my area was very low. It was like living on a country farm in the Internet, where no one really bothers locking the front door. Well, the neighborhood's changed, and InSSIDer exposed just how many accounts were within range, and many of their encryption standards were WPA with TKIP/DSA. I can probably mitigate my guilt by drawing on my Wi-Fi configuration frustration with earlier Linux distributions. A 128 bit WEP key was about all I could get to work across a variety of NICs.

After moving to WPA-PSK with TKIP/DSA encryption, it was time to change the channel. When I selected channel 1, there wasn't anyone in my vicinity using Wi-Fi except for someone on 11. So, as more and more users set up their own routers I just assumed that they understood about the importance to avoid overlapping channels and wouldn't all choose channel 1. Apparently, I'm a leader. InSSIDer graphed the painful reality that just about all of my next-door neighbors were on channel 1.

Now that I've moved my Wi-Fi channel and upped my encryption, I'm feeling pretty good. Too bad it's now cheap and easy to crack WPA-PSK in less than six minutes. That information, though, I'm going to keep from my neighbors.


 




Technorati Tags: security, wifi, metageek

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Category Administration
Desktop Virtualization (VDI) is moving from lukewarm into hot. Yet, one of the technology leaders, Virtual Bridges, is almost invisible. IBM has adopted Virtual Bridges' Verde as the core to their Open Virtual Client, but all I read about in the trade journals is Pano Logic, NComputing, Citrix and VMware.

The absence of Verde in the professional press seems even more peculiar, because it is so very capable and cost competitive. The product supports Windows and Ubuntu (for a truly low-cost solution). Those characteristics would seem to beckon interest. Gabe Knuth has a recent overview of Verde 5. Here's his summary:

This was a really long First Look article because there are so many products that make up the VERDE Suite, and that's probably the thing I like the most about Virtual Bridges. For one price (retail is $200/concurrent user perpetual license + 20% maintenance, discounts for volume), you get everything: VERDE VDI, clustering (load balancing), thin provisioning, a branch office solution (that I don't think can be compared to any other solution out there), and a Type-1 client hypervisor. VERDE is certainly worth including a VDI assessment to see if it fits your needs.

Technorati Tags: Ubuntu, VDI, Virtual Bridges

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Category Management
"Well-built and intuitive." "Easy-to-use interface." Finally, some Microsofties recognize the Lotus 8.5 user interface is streamlined and polished. Redmond Magazine has a review of office suites by Carlos A. Soto that is focused on only those that offer collaboration integration. There isn't a lot of recognition of the Sametime, Symphony and Notes symbiosis that I'd have expected, but overall the tone is clear. Lotus Notes 8.5 is not your Father's Buick.

Rather than grapple with all the varieties of office suites, Soto narrows his scope to those that are integrated into unified communications, which is an easy way to distinguish enterprise platforms from consumer grade.

Anyone who's ever had the pleasure of opening an e-mail window from an instant messaging session understands the benefits of unified communication and collaboration (UCC). Within the last three years, UCC has gathered strength as a movement that could do just what its name promises: unite all forms of communication so that they all have the ability to interact with one another.

. . . the new features and clean interface of Lotus Notes 8.5 merit some recognition. Older versions of Lotus Notes used to be enigmatic and hard to use, let alone understand. But new capabilities such as the ability to right-click documents in any view in order to see a more concise menu of options have made the software a lot more accessible.

. . . similar to what you see in Outlook with e-mails.

. . . well-built and intuitive toolbar with icons for oft-used editing options, such as a text-color icon, highlighter icon, insert-link icon and an underline icon. These changes are subtle but make a big impact on ease of use.

Redmond Magazine is an "independent voice of the Microsoft IT community," so this is not an IBM/Lotus endorsement from Microsoft central. It is, instead, a well-deserved nod from Microsoft professionals that Lotus Notes is looking good. Microsoft Office may have been crowned as the most comprehensive solution, but Lotus is royalty-restored that has rejoined the Windows court.



Technorati Tags: Lotus Notes

Posted by Jack Dausman At 9:16 PM Location Washington, DC | Permalink | Comments (6)

Category Administration IBM/Lotus

Whatever happened to email being a tool for increasing productivity ? Where are the real metrics on it enabling work? Last week, at the DC Lotus Professionals User Group, Eric Mack exhorted, explained, and demonstrated a transformation in processing email. Instead of email being merely an aggregate of social connections, he's employed the Getting Things Done (GTD) process of David Allen for managing professional workflow.

Eric is a long time aficionado and developer for Lotus Notes, and has worked closely with David Allen, to create eProductivity that "provides control and perspective across all of your communications, projects, and actions."

Because I'm familiar with GTD (having read the book several times), I had a pre-conceived idea of what Eric was going to present. Somehow, I expected some fancy folder structure and calendar reminders. Instead, I was given a lesson in how email is "interrupt driven" and shown a masterful redesign of the Notes user interface. I think I'm a convert.

Email is a two-edged sword. It's about connecting identities, and the transfer of content. When I log into LinkedIn, an email account is used to recognise me. When I need a PDF for an RFP, it's transferred to me by email. But, making order out of all my contacts and extracting purpose from all the inbound mail is blindingly confusing. Today's email is a trial.

The rush of IM, the Google Wave (which has obeyed its eponymous sinusoidal form to rise and fall) and the crowd surfing of Facebook mail, all suggest that there is something that must be done to fix email. Eric's resurface of Lotus Notes, though, exposes that fallacy for the working professional. Change how we use email, and the din subsides. Using GTD in email is crushingly powerful and moves beyond managing email to building productive relationships through email.

Eric's eProductivity is one of the very few tools that I would mark as likely to help jump a pay grade.




Technorati Tags: David Allen, GTD, Eric Mack, Lotus Notes

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