Allan

MIUI Follow-up #2

Some of my first posts on this blog documented a test run of MIUI – a customized version of the Android smartphone operating system, developed by the Chinese company Xiomi (part 1, part 2, follow-up).

Time has passed, and while I haven’t spent much time with the OS since then (I only tried a never version briefly on an HTC Desire X which was plagued by bad headphone sound so that it couldn’t be my daily driver), it is interesting to see how Xiaomi and their products are beginning to get attention in mainstream media, like these articles (in Danish) from the Danish national radio’s website:

(they comment both on Xiaomi’s growth and how they are inspired by other products).

I haven’t seen a Xiaomi phone in real life yet, but look forward to getting the opportunity one day. It probably won’t change my own product preferences (too Apple-like), but that consumers in general get more than one choice is a good thing (and everybody having iPhones or Samsungs soon gets boring)

Sowing the Seeds of 2015

On Thursday Mar 19 I sowed the seeds for this year’s greenhouse. Two sowing trays with 12 rows of 5 pots. One tray for chilies, one tray for tomatoes. Like most years, our favorite cultivars get two rows to ensure we end up with good plants. The trays have dome on top and are placed in a west-facing windowsill.

Here is what was sown:

Chilies 2015

Cayenne Long Slim
Cayenne Long Slim
Lemon Drop
Lemon Drop
Habanero
Habanero
Friars Hat
Jalapeno
Hungarian Black
Tolles Sweet Italian
Goat Horn
Elephants Trunk

Tomatoes 2015

Bloody Butcher
Bloody Butcher
Black Cherry
Black Cherry
Tangidel
Tangidel
Rosadel
Rosadel
Sungold
Tumbler
First in the Field
Gardener’s Delight

All seeds from 2015.

It feels like late in the spring to plant the seeds, however, when looking into my records, it doesn’t look too bad:

2014: Mar 2
2012: Mar 17 and Apr 1
2010: Feb 28 (Chilies), Mar 21 (Tomatoes & Chilies)

and regardless, I can’t sow them earlier than what I have done now.

Mar 24

On Tuesday the first tomato seedling was visible.

Mar 28

Almost all tomato seeds have sprouted and the dome is removed. The tray is turned so that the seedlings get sun from the other side. No chiliis have sprouted yet, but that is not expected either.

Mar 31

Now the chili seedlings are showing too and dome #2 is coming off.

About Gardening

I grew up with a garden and when the time came for me and my wife to find our own place, a good-sized garden was also a priority.

We could have made tending the garden very easy for ourselves: Cut everything down, sow grass. Instead we both cleared out and added selectively. Most of the time with a vision, usually with a plan and some ideas and thoughts guiding the shovel.

Some of that may be worth sharing. When we build the terrace some years ago, we were happy to read stories about similar projects posted by other people. So why not share some stories of my own?

Past projects to tell about could be the building of tiled terraces, creating beds for herbs or rhododendron and pruning Magnolia trees.

There isn’t much planned for the immediate future except just getting the most important stuff done while the family is focusing on its newest member. But even so, moving through the yearly cycle of pruning apple trees, cutting down willows and roses and tending the greenhouse, are all opportunities to involve my 2 year old daughter. I am starting to get her to help carry cut-off branches – good start.

Retrospective on a Change Project; Dogfood

I am wrapping up a one year assignment as change agent where I have been implementing a standard software development process in my company (Open Unified Process).

I keep coming back to change work like this (or maybe it keeps coming to me), and it is fascinating to see how change efforts sometimes succeed, and how sometimes they don’t. One thing is certain – it is never as easy as just saying “do this, do that”. At least not if the change is to be lasting. Some challenges remain the same each time you do work like this, but there is always something new to learn.

Some key takeaways, in the framework of John Kotter’s 8-Steps Process:

Establishing a Sense of Urgency: This is the burning platform stage, but when working with process improvement, this is rarely a matter of life or death (at least the danger is not clear and present short term), so it is difficult to introduce method B as radically better than the existing method A.
Creating the Guiding Coalition: Getting long-term commitment is the challenge. Everybody will agree that improvement is a good thing, but when it isn’t a matter of life or death, then it can be hard to maintain attention in in a busy environment.
Developing a Vision and Strategy: This includes both the 30 second elevator pitch, the implementation cost and the long term training programs.
Communicate the Change Vision: This can be difficult in practice when competing for bandwidth with a lot of other initiatives. Some communication channels may be worn down by overuse, so a wide spectrum campaign may be required. The past should also be considered. This initiative may be be yet another attempt at improving XYZ, what is different this time? In this case, persistent communication did much, together with personal interactions to create awareness.
Empowering Employees, is also about handling resistance and the natural organizational inertia. If it is not a matter of life or death, it a tendency to wait and see what others do and if the change is going to stick. Working with a few pilots for pick low hanging fruits and engaging with projects that have certain challenges can be the way to go. In the former case people who are positive towards the change become ambassadors; and the latter case represent the kind of life/death scenario which hold back the organization as a whole.
Generating Short-term Wins, i.e., pick the low hanging fruits. This can be through pilots and challenged projects.
Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change: Gather feedback, show people you listen and care about heir involvement. Making them champions are a great way of making things progress
Anchoring in Culture:8. Keep going. Often overlooked, it takes time. Should be compared to characteristic time of the organisation – if things evolve on a year-by-year basis, then at least a year is required to see all aspects of change play out.

A few more points:

Personal relationship matters. Build on existing network in the organisation to improve communication, to get direct feedback, to identify focus points. These are opportunities to provide value.
Keeping Communicating the visions is a must at all levels. Over time organisation may change and in a new stakeholder landscape, on cannot expect sponsorships to be the same. Especially in a large, complex organisation where several initiatives are in progress.
Metrics: for not life/death projects: make sure to have them, sinceafter survival comes KPIs. Some metrics directly related to the change must be available; don’t start without a baseline.

So was it a success? Yes it was. The organisation is in a better condition than when I started, with more skills and knowledge. The final result does not reflect my vision and ambition to the full extent, but then again, if it had, then it would not have been ambitious enough either. So I will rejoice in having made a difference and not let the hard lessons learned spoil the mood.
What is next: Dogfood! Having worked with defining standards and implementing changes for some years, I am going back to the front lines where I will try it out in practice. See for real which of the good ideas work and which of them don’t. Gather inspiration for change work yet to come.

Security Info Links^3

The internet is full of great, original content. There is also much derivative material and then of course all the crap.

(this blog aspires to be in the first category, but this post will be a exception : )

Cybersecurity is an interest of mine and several of the feeds in me feedly feed are about that subject. Friday there was an item about “50 InfoSec Blogs You Should Be Reading”. Good, effective title and I followed the link to a list at Digital Guardian with, indeed, 50 security blogs that all looks read-worthy.

Now, where to start?

It is easy to get lost in that much quality content but I hope to apply a MuSCoW scheme in order to find the InfoSec Blogs I Must be reading, those I Should be reading, some I Could be reading and get rid of those I Won’t be reading. Until then at least I got improved content for procrastination.

Thanks to Roger for sharing the link on his Information Security Blog and to Digital Guardian for compiling the original list

So this was me writing a post that links to a post that links to a post that links to many posts. That must be third order derivative content, but good stuff is worth pointing out.