:: MIS Insights ::

HP’s recent boardroom fiasco has gotten me thinking about how society works. After several rounds of investigation regarding the boardroom leakage, human resource casualties have sprung left and right within the ranks of HP. Most notable of which, was the resignation of Patricia Dunn as chairman.

Clearly, I don’t understand why society likes chopping heads off of trouble-ridden organizations. While I do realize the the urgency of replacing non-functioning and malfunctioning parts in a machine, I find pre-emptive measures better than re-active measures. Why solve the problem when you can avoid it? Why surround yourself with people who will freely screw you?

Re-interpreted, Why surround yourself with humans that have free will? Why not just surround yourself with robots or automatons? Won’t it be fun to be surrounded by Yes-People? However, that’s asking too much and the wrong thing. HP’s current problem is not about human greed or free will. I think everyone will always want something for themselves - something that is always beyond their means. That is a non-controllable and non-factor variable in this situation.

However, I think that HP’s current problem is because of dishonesty. Strategic plans hidden from competitors might be one thing, but the lack of transparency within an organization is another. It’s alright for people’s dreams and desires to conflict and clash, but it’s never alright to be dishonest to others. It might sound like an over-simplification of a complex political setup in an organization - guess what? It is.

Of all the clients I’ve dealt with, it is not startups, the uninformed or the financially-challenged clients that give me a hard time, it’s the liars. Those who do not wish to come clean with all the essential details and those who do not want to hear the truth of the matter in the situation.

In any undertaking, I might not be able to control my clients or partners ambitions, but I always demand total honesty. If we can harness human free will to produce honesty, it will be easier to fix, guide and pre-empt a relationship that will screw you.

Very busy the past week

Overnight Programming Marathons - programming has never been so fun when you’re working with a team. Never mind that we’re only two in the team. The point is - after several weeks of pure documentation, the Computer Science beasts in us have been released.

Eyeglasses - I had my eyeglass lenses changed because it was all scratched up and was starting to give me headaches. From my 50-75 setup, wooot!!, I nowonly have a 25-25 setup. Yes, single ladies and gentle madams, wearing an eyeglass for me is now more for decorative than corrective purposes. Astigmatism = Astig mata ko.

Check-up - went to Makati Med for some check-ups. Now I remember why I don’t like going to the hospital:

1) Long Waits. Luckily for me, 3-hour wait + iPod + notebook = lots of business ideas.

2) The most expensive 5-minute sections of my life always includes a doctor in the plot.

3) Blood tests. At first, I was eager to see what the beautiful nurse would do to extract blood from me. After seeing the needle, I decided otherwise, looked away and let the nurse surprise me. That didn’t help to lessen the pain.

Project Scouting - as my current batch of projects near their end, I’ve been scouting for additional projects left and right. Project hunting gives me the thrill that job hunting never did. This is a very refreshing activity for me.

Anime - currently watching Dragon Ball (young Goku) and Bleach. An epic and another in the making. Can’t have enough of that Powerful Rookie Guy + Training + Battle the Threats to Earth plot.

First, the One Laptop Per Child project was conceived last year. This initiative aims to revolutionize how we educate the world’s children by providing kids in developing countries with computer technology.

Now, we see movements in US pushing for A Laptop at Every Desk in the Classroom!

It seems that laptop computers are having a more appreciated role in the classroom. For the computer industry, this is very good news! The hardware sector for producing educational laptops offers a promising market if hardware makers can craft an affordable and robust solution. Really, how many years do you expect a laptop to last under the care of children? Once this pushes through, this could trigger a demand in Computer-Based Training / Training Supplements in the software sector. Both of which will be poised to take advantage of the good telecommunications infrastructure that we have. More jobs for everyone!

However, parents are not that excited about it:

For one, students sitting in front of a computer screen all day are presented with more tools of distraction, such as electronic games, music, and social networking. In addition, some say the initiatives force computers into classrooms where teachers don’t have a good grasp on how to integrate them into their lesson planning. -BusinessWeek

I’d say there’s nothing much you can do about the distractions that a computer brings- other than restrict access to the internet or applications. However, kids will be kids and they will be distracted - computer or no computer.

Regarding the second part, teachers who don’t have a good grasp on how to integrate them into their lesson planning, this is where solutions planning comes into play.

Consumers no longer want incomplete technology answers, they want integrated business solutions. To illustrate, one company that’s been good at creating solutions is Apple: iPod + iTunes + Store = $$$!

Now, if we could port the same business model towards the educational system - of having one company integrate solutions, rather than wait for the markets to realize such opportunities, then we could reduce future integration costs of non-standard services and hasten development in the IT+Education sector.

BusinessWeek reports about the increasing IT jobs being outsourced to the Philippines.

The islands share a language and legal system with the U.S., and offer high skills and low costs. They could outrun India for outsourcing dollars - BusinessWeek

At this rate, dollar$ from Overseas Filipino Workers and revenues from outsourced work can go a long way to improving our economy. However, how long do you think will this business model stay profitable? Can it last us until 2030?

I’m asking this because the opportunities from the reported three billion dollar industry aren’t being taken advantage of.

Not Because You Can Means You Should
Call-center agents and transcriptionists might be getting better salaries than the average Juan, but their impulsive spending behavior sucks. Without the proper financial education and investment opportunities, a good portion of those hard-earned dollars are being consumed at want-based goods rather than being invested at money-producing assets.

You’ve probably heard of the saying, “Don’t give a man fish, rather, teach him how to fish.” Well, now that we were able to get hold of some fish, “Do we cook, serve and sell it to other people?” or “Do we eat it ourselves?”

Dollars from outsourced jobs can be a good thing for us - it can avail us of our needs and luxuries in life. However, it can also be a training for disaster. What do we do once we lose our low price advantage like what’s happening to India right now?

The saturation of India’s outsourcing market, increasing cost of living and developing infrastructures has raised the cost of outsourced jobs. But India isn’t giving up their jobs without a plan in mind. They’re upgrading their service-oriented work force from call center agents to consultants, IT managers and MIS people - something which we already have!

So, while the Philippines is at it copying India’s strategy, why not add a little planning for the future? You know, something about taking advantage of what we already have in terms of culture, work force and financial assets. Something that can improve the current business model to become a more sustainable one.

That’s the tagline from Lenovo 3000 C Series notebooks. I saw it along Edsa’s northbound tunnel intersecting Shaw Boulevard (in Tagalog, the tunnel in front of Edsa Shangri-la).

From the above tagline, I’d say Lenovo was trying to capture an audience that wants to:

• Make history - perform breakthroughs that will be remembered for years to come.
• Make history, Not Backups - have a system that can run forever. Don’t bother with backups, it won’t go down.

I’m all for both types of intended audience, but I don’t think such tagline is a good slogan from an IT security perspective. While such tagline was not meant to be taken literally as it is, it has a subconscious message preparing computer users for a big disaster.

I’ve had many people asking me once in a while, “Do you know how to recover data from a broken computer / hard drive?” To which I honestly reply, “If it’s a broken operating system that won’t let you in to see your files, I can help you with that. If there’s physical damage to the hard drive itself, there’s nothing much that I can do.”

While hard drives today are less prone to bad sectors (a common occurence 10 years ago) and have increased life times (mean time before failure), there is no reason not to make backups - whether we want to make history or not. While it may seem the most crude of IT security solutions in case of a disaster, it is still a basic and fundamental standard operation.

A year ago, I wrote about the same topic. Attached is my entry on the same topic.

(Read on …)

This day has brought the worst negotiation process I’ve ever had in my three years as an IT mercenary. While I’ve been performing hits since I was in second year college, my client today has brought scope negotiation difficulties to a new level.

Background Information
I agreed (using a signed contract) to render my services as a Systems Analyst and System Developer for a startup corporation. For a sum not exceeding five digits in the lower half of such possible compensation spectrum, my services would have included:

• analysis of current system
• design, development and implementation of a new system

So what happened today?
Reality hit my client and I square in the nuts, destroying our fairy-tale project fantasy. Analysis would involve decoding 683 PHP files spread over 49 folders, using inconsistent coding practices, lousy variable names and accessing a database without security measures. This, I might add, is more than enough work to fit the current compensation bill.

So, I renegotiated for a new price. To account for the exponential mind-work needed to accomplish the tasks for the project, their inability to produce the necessary information regarding the system (i.e. explanation for certain program sections and database details) and failure to provide me access to their running system (a required provision in the signed agreement, therefore a breach of contract).

To which they opposed…

That’s normal and expected. Nobody’s really thrilled to hear rising costs coming their way, right?

Violently with insults …

And the freshly-written termination of agreement is all I can do to keep everything civil.

I attended Rory’s church yesterday. It wasn’t part of my weekend plan, but hey, a true MIS professional has to be flexible right?

I was actually hesitant about attending, but how can you say No to an invitation from the Big Man up there?

So, I went. The church was like a scene taken out from Whoopi Goldberg’s Sister Act sans the nuns. Western community church really isn’t my thing but it’s something that I’m not a rookie at. The church had a groovy band (lively), participative parishioners (they actually sing along with the choir) and insightful pastors (not boring, which is always good). All in all, the atmosphere set up the mood for the night’s topic: Self-control.

Self-control Redirects you to keep you in the right path, Restrains you to stick with the necessities of life and Rewards you for being good children of God. Among these three Rs, I was able to relate most with the second R - restrain.

Financially, I have spent more money than all my expenses in high school and college combined. Nutritionally, I think I consume enough calories every day to feed a family of three every day. Ambitiously, I am trying to do everything that I want to do - all at the expense of my health.

If I can exercise proper self-control, I can restrain myself to the basics of what I need.

From Proverbs 25:28:

Like a city that is broken down and without walls is a man whose spirit is without restraint.

I do believe I can have self-control.

I got back Trailblazer’s motherboard back. MSI tech support from suppliers in the Philippines upgraded my BIOS, but didn’t check or fix the problem - my busted CPU temperature probe. What should actually be an idle 30-35 degrees Celsius reading still shows up as an insane 55 degrees Celsius. PCX conveniently had no spare boards at the time and offered to pull it out again for another 3 weeks!

I declined, since I needed a desktop NOW for the projects that I’m working at.

Computer tech support in the Philippines suck. I wish there were an option to trim down the warranty period from 12 months to 1 month. It’s just useless insurance. For the past twelve years of my life, I have never had a wonderful tech support experience. Either they’d just rip you a RAM stick from your computer [VILLMAN] or they’d just be plain powerless to do something about the situation [PCX].

Where, oh where, is the fabled manager that can always make the situation right for the customer? The manager that can DECIDE AND ACT, rather than push blame back to the customer [VILLMAN - no, we’re no longer sure if you swapped the RAM stick outside the store so we can’t replace that] or the supplier [PCX - MSI should have fixed it. Maybe we can send it to them again for another check?].

Freedom is not just about making choices. It’s about having the right choices.

The next computer I get, I’ll be getting it from abroad. Where the inventory is fresh and prices aren’t cranked up.

Adapted from the Matrix:

Boy: Do not try to bend the tech support; that’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Boy: There is no tech support.
Neo: There is no tech support?
Boy: Then you will see, it is not the tech supportthat bends, it is only yourself.

Just recently, BusinessWeek reported about the skirmish for human resources between Lenovo and Dell in Asia where top executives from Dell are transferring to Lenovo. To date, 6 key figures have moved out of Dell (ranks 3rd place in Asia according to International Data) towards industry-leader Lenovo.

While such brain drain would have caused big problems to most companies, not under Steve Felice’s watch.

It’s obviously something that we didn’t expect…we are dealing with it. None of these people is irreplaceable.

Brain drain can be fixed with a properly implemented Knowledge Management Program. At the heart of such undertaking, is the objective to retain intangible assets like knowledge and wisdowm within the organization. This usually involves:

Documentation
Procedures and best practices in a company should always be documented. In this way, the basic responsibilities and know-how required in a position can easily be retrieved by the replacements. Documentation can take in lots of forms: manuals, blogs, webcasts, podcasts, audio, video, etc. Day by day, more and more companies are seeing the possible business applications of today’s technologies.

Super-Vision
Rookies can jumpstart their knowledge through a mentoring program. Paired with a senior, rookies can get a taste of visionary guidance from someone who’s been there and done that - Super-Vision. While there might be an abundance of books detailing the concepts and theories of the practice, the shortcuts and lessons from supervisors that don’t make it to the books are priceless.

Grooming
There is a lot of truth in the saying, “Nothing beats experience.” For organizations who want to develop the depth and breadth of their bench, nothing beats being thrown into the actual job. With regards to information-heavy jobs, this is where the thought process gets developed and used well. This goes to show how memorizing stuff in college isn’t really that useful. Or maybe that’s just me talking… Moving on…

Intangible assets like worker experience and know how should be given as much thought as tangible assets like land and property. With a properly trained replacement, filling up a emptied spots in a company can be less expensive (immediate trainings, out-of-budget briefings, etc.) and a lot easier (less disruption of work for people dependent on the vacant job).

Personally, I believe that my job is to make myself obsolete. Whenever I work on systems, I try to make it a point to provide the proper system documentation and training for the users. I want the system to be easy to use and automated as much as possible so that they won’t need me to do their stuff for them. For instance, if they want to update the news section of their site, they don’t have to go to me to upload the document. They can do it themselves by using the form and manual I provide. I want to make it very easy for them to replace me. In that way, clients keep coming back for more.

How about you? Are you obsolete?

How do people cost their projects or services?

Experience
Experience and expertise in a given field can jack up or drive down prices. If you’re alone in an industry where there are a few experts - like a COBOL mainframe programmer, you can expect high rates for your skills to maintain legacy applications. Now contrast this to the army of Java programmers that colleges churn out. With the latter, you’d have to be very good or very experienced at the field to justify a premium.

Supply and Demand
However, the economic law of Supply and Demand can easily overrule such principle. For instance, you might be the only QBasic programmer in town where the demand for such services is nil. In this case, don’t expect the local market to pay you well. There is simply no demand for the QBasic service that you are supplying.

Values
Would you pay Steve, your shoe-shine guy, $1000 per year for polishing your shoe? Would you pay a gold miner $100 per trip to bring up rock from the ground? How about CEOs? How many CEOs can live well with a four-digit annual salary? Simply put, some jobs like Steve are valued differently in the economic food web. Some jobs can easily command a higher salary than the others - regardless of one’s investment in time, skills and effort - just because society thinks and values that it should.

Customer-Centric Costing
This afternoon, I got invited for a second interview for a project that my colleagues and I were vying for. During the first round, there were several bidders. Though our skills netted thrice the quality of our competition, our bid was twice as expensive as the competition - which didn’t really spell good for us. Unfortunately, price was one of the constraints for the project and we were advised of such project limitations.

So, my partners and I took away all of Rambo’s extra guns and ammo, leaving only the essentials: an Armalite, a jungle knife and a clip for a reload. This resulted in a costing that was as affordable as the competition while still meeting the minimum requirements. The client seems to be pleased and we’re off for a second round of negotiations.

Sometimes, landing projects is all about wanting to do what you do. If excess money will be the only obstacle between me and a project, by all means, let’s take it away. After all, I love what I do. That’s what I meant with this post I made a few months ago. From the movie Jerry Maguire:

Here’s why you don’t have your ten million dollars yet.

You are a paycheck player.
You play with your head. Not your heart.
In your personal life? … Heart.
But when you get on the field — you’re a businessman.

Do you love what you do? Because until you love what you do, customers won’t love what you do.