Ugly Duckling (revisited) by Software Geeks

Things we are addicted to....

Portable computers. The iPad might be the latest must-have gizmo, but the power of computers transcends trendiness. Shipments of notebooks have skyrocketed over the last three years, with sales in 2010 likely to be double what they were in 2007, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. Part of the jump comes from cheap netbooks, but portable computers of all sizes are becoming ubiquitous as we socialize, communicate, shop, get our news and increasingly live our lives online. Desktop sales, meanwhile, have been on a steady decline, as mobility trumps stability.

High-speed Internet access. Lots of people have cut back on cable TV, telephone service, and even gas and electricity usage. But once you've got high-speed Internet access, you don't go back. In a Pew Research Center survey from last year, high-speed Internet was one of only three things people said was more of a necessity in 2009 than in 2006. Appliances like microwaves, clothes dryers and dishwashers, by contrast, were considered less essential in 2009 than they used to be. And data from the Telecommunications Industry Association shows that the rapid increase in broadband Internet subscribers barely slowed in 2008 or 2009. By 2013, more than 90 percent of all Internet connections in the United States will be high-speed.

Smart phones. Overall sales of cell phones dipped for the first time ever in 2009. But sales of smart phones--which can handle email, browse the Internet and do a variety of other things--rose by 7 percent, according to TIA. And sales could surge by 25 percent this year, as people who have been putting off mobile upgrades finally nab the iPhone or Blackberry of their dreams. Like portable computers, smart phones have become a lifeline for the harried multitaskers we pretend we're not.

Movies. Ticket sales dipped in 2008 but bounced back in 2009, hitting a five-year high. One big reason was Avatar and other 3-D films, which accounted for 11 percent of the box office take in 2009, up from 2 percent the year before. Any box-office increase is a victory for movie theaters, which until last year had been losing viewers to home theater systems and an expanding lineup of movies on cable and the Internet.

TV. A recent survey by consulting firm Deloitte found that they typical American watches nearly 18 hours' worth of shows on a home TV each week, two hours more than a year earlier. One reason might be that more unemployed people are killing time at home. But TV might also seem like a cheap alternative to sports events, concerts and DVD purchases. And hard-core TV watchers can't be all that strapped, since sales of high-definition TV sets have risen steadily right through the recession.

Music downloads. The need for mobility applies to music, too. CD sales fell by 21 percent in 2009, but downloads of singles and entire albums rose by nearly as much. The Pew Survey comparing luxuries and necessities helps explain why: More people considered an iPod a necessity in 2009 than in 2006, despite the recession.

Booze. Smoking less doesn't make us entirely virtuous. Americans have backed off the high-end booze, but we're drinking enough cheap stuff to make up for it, which is the usual trend during recessions. Beer and wine sales have inched up as well over the last few years. With bar and restaurant sales down, that suggests more people are drinking at home--while they watch TV, probably.

Coffee. Americans have actually followed that penny-pinching advice, and cut back on the $5 daily lattes. But they're compensating by brewing more of their own coffee. About 56 percent of American adults drink coffee, a proportion that hasn't changed over the last few years. But a recent survey by the National Coffee Association found that 86 percent of coffee drinkers make their own at home, up from 82 percent a year earlier. And those drinking coffee made someplace else (think Starbucks) fell from 31 percent in 2009 to 26 percent in 2010. Of course, if people are drinking more booze at home, then it makes sense that they'd be dosing themselves with more coffee, too. If the economy improves, maybe we'll need less of each.

(Courtesy US News)

Consulting and perspectives

Being in consulting has taught me some very valuable lessons. It has made me realize the importance of the 3 C's in consulting...Customer, Customer, Customer and Customer (Oh, so that’s 4 C's ..Damn it I should have paid attention in the math class). The age old mantra "Customer is always right" is tweaked and remixed in consulting. It goes something like "Customer is always right, when they exactly do as I say"

Being in consulting you get to experience the good, bad and ugly of every business . Not only the perspectives are different within an organization but sometimes they are two ends of a spectrum. My favorite part of consulting is not the challenges i face while solving an issue but trying to bridge the gap between the members of the same organization a.k.a "My Customers"


A CFO's perspective almost reminds of me the McDonald's commercial.



"What can i get for a dollar". Its almost seems to be their favorite Q (and I don't blame them).

The response to that is very different, depending on who is giving the answer. If you'd ask the sales guy...He would say "we can get it way under your budget; for $0.99* instead of the whole dollar."
(* of course that means we will off shore the project and get it done for $0.10)
If the CFO asked me the same Q, I would say that "we can further save $0.01 by using cost saving methodologies*.
(*which means, my team cant expense their lunch and I will work from home)

A CTO's perspective is varied from other management heads. He goes mainly like, "how can we get the cutting edge technology out there, improve efficiency, and build software that should be intuitive for any user". By that he really means get me something which is newer than a super computer technology, build software that will solve all my business needs and something my agonizingly painful users can use w/0 asking too many Q's.

Now the tech sales guy would promise a Intel neon quad core i7 processor with 23 Total Compute Nodes (14,336 Total Cores) with 28,672GB Ram and a never ending disk space with RAID and a 27x7 availability. Also free license of Linux loaded on top of Vista which runs on Solaris.(
I on the other hand would have to say the same above things (since the sales guy already promised that and that's how we got the contract). But would have also added that "we can build a bug free, highly scalable enterprise software solution from some in house reusable software assets which are very user friendly and improve efficiency in business."

(By that i mean we are going to use open source software which is in pre-alpha-beta-theta version and while we are fixing your bugs we will also solve world hunger)

I usually find the business stake holders' perspective the most interesting. They usually begin the conversation by letting us know when they would like the project to end. So they go mainly like, "we would like to end the project this summer so what kind of functionally can push to the users by that time-frame?" Now that's a trick Q. Why? The reason this is a trick Q, coz they will follow the Q by an answer of itself. "Oh don't forget the 1,735 page requirement document we sent you. It is extremely imperative we have all the 160,489 use case in the live system."

Now this usually has a predictable and consistent response from sales and a consultant like me. WTF!!!

In consulting different terms mean differently, depending on who's perspective you looking at. Its kinda like when you tell your wife, you are going to out drinking on sat night with a bunch of guys and she says "Go ahead, do it"....
Woman's perspective: "I dare you to do it" (don't do it bro..)
Mans perspective...YEAHHHH!!!

The same way in consulting terms mean different for a customer and consultants. I tried to get a few which I could think of.

	Customer perspective	Consultant/Consulting perspective
Bug free system	Bug free system Something the sales promised to the CTO who promised to CFO who promised to CEO who promised to stake holders …you get the idea	Imaginary system. Kinda like santa clause ...doesn't exists.
Onsite	Need someone to whine to and blame for our problems	A guy you keep in front of customer so that they can kick his a$$
Offshore	The best cost-reducing strategy known to man.	Mid night calls. (I am not allowed to write more on this)
Open source software	The second best cost-reducing strategy known t.	Usually used when there is no budget for software No documentation.No support. Plenty of bugs.
Project status = Green	All's well and project on track	All's well and project on track (but we don’t know when is dooms day
Project status = Yellow	There is a small issue and we need to resolve it	There is a major problem we have no idea but we cant tell the customer right away.
Project status = Red	Dude, we are doomed	Dude, we are doomed. Doom's day milestone achieved a day early
Priority 1 bug	Need it fix ASAP. The color of blue should be changed to Red	Need it fix ASAP. Solve it before the bug report is sent to PM or call it a “new feature”
Change Request	Nothings a CR. Everything is in scope	Running behind schedule then all bugs are tagged as CR
Quick response is appreciated	I need the answer right away	Please delay as much as possible so that I can lurk around in the cafeteria a little longer
Loyal employee	Can’t get a job anywhere.	No such thing.
Teamwork	Lot of people doing what I say	A Team that does all the work
Appreciation	John is an invaluable "ass"et to the project, could he start working week ends also	Something which looks good on paper and has no influence or value on appraisal
Appraisal	Does not exist.	I concur. Does not exist

I just wanted to reflect on some thoughts i have had during consulting. There are way more dimensions and perspectives to consulting then i could simplify here. And there are plenty of things you will agree/disagree/laugh or curse me for. I just tried to scrub the surface of this versatile industry as i understand.....But then ....what do I know

Me, myself and google

google
noun
1.
a widely used search engine that uses text-matching techniques to find web pages that are important and relevant to a user's search


Like any other human being on this planet i am hugely dependent on google. Its no secret that is one of the best thing that has happened to most of us but where are we heading with it and how far we got there...

No point looking at the pristine past, there is a zillion web pages and books which describe the rise of google.

But how far can we take the dependency on search. I am sure in a coming decades we will be able to not only search our desktop, world wide web, documents,the EARTH but also our brains. May be i am google "where is my black jacket" and it comes back with "Its in the laundramat (you moron). Here is the google map link to get you there"

A new article put this out "A NEW Google program powered by artificial intelligence allows internet users to search web pages 24 hours before they're created"'
BEFORE THEY ARE CREATED, are you shitting me....

(Dont know the authenticity) There is an initiative to promote AD'a via cell phone. So the days of getting promotions on cell phone are long gone. The smart technology is going to use the cell phone signals and send you promotions and ad's based on your location. So the next time you are walking on 6th avenue, you might get the 20% discount coupon for Bloomingdales or the next time you are looking fake Gucci bags in China town you may have a google map sent to you on where to find chinese loooking japanese selling $30 Gucci bags..you never know.

The company which whos first-quarter net income rose to $1.4 billion (despite the stock almost down 40% from in a year) is gaining on in every region be it health care,entertainment or technology..the list is endless.

NO. They havent hired me on promoting it, but i have to give my own respects to something that is start my day with. I am well aware of the school of thought that exposes the dark side of "google" addiction but for now "Google 2084" is on track. But then....what do i know.