Cam Findlay's Blog on Web & Technology

Getting Agile

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:36:13 +1300

I spent a couple of days last week attending the AgileNZ 2013 conference here in Wellington. 2 days of great keynotes and breakout sessions with a variety of speakers, though I think the most valuable aspect of conferences like these are the conversations that happen during the breaks... social learning/communities of practice in action I suppose.

One of my favourite takeaway quotes from the event was "Stop starting, start finishing" which really cements the agile approach I take with clients and how I now seem to be able to get so much done! Having used Scrum now on a few projects limiting what you have to do in a given timebox to allow focus on doing the right things and the right time has really helped me, my teams and most of all my clients. I'm currently trialing a few other adaptions like introducing Kanban concepts of Work In Progress limits (WIP Limits) etc.

A few of the speakers mentioned David Allen too, who if you don't know wrote a book called "Getting Things Done" which is a framework for effectively managing your time. One of the core theme of this book/framework is to get everything out of your head into a trusted storage space to give you some cognitive breathing room. I think this really applies with Agile concepts too... get all those tasks/user stories out of a specification or someones head and into a backlog... prioritise the most valuable things, get to work on a limited number of them and get them finished before starting more. Simple in theory, practice is where it's at.

Remember it's not all about the tools and frameworks though, the social and communication aspects are as if not more important.

Keep it socio-technical ya'll!

Launch of EBOSS online architectural website on SilverStripe

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:00:00 +1300

This is my first blog post in quite some time, but it is a doooosie, possibly one of my largest projects to date!

For most of the end of last year, I had been sitting under an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) with one of New Zealand's largest online architectural specifier websites, EBOSS (www.eboss.co.nz). Now that the NDA has been lifted I'm pleased to announce that we have launched the new EBOSS site today! Break out the bubbly!

See what EBOSS General Manager, Matthew Duder and their Online Content Manager, Jon Allan have to say about the new site.

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EBOSS is an "infomediary", a place that acts as a go between for the building industry's product suppliers information base and on the flip-side, architectural industry professionals need for this information such as specifications, CAD/Drawing files and 3D models. They provide a comprehensive brand and product library as well as a publishing arm in the form of "EBOSSNOW", the online industry magazine and a network of industry expert bloggers in "Detailed Blogs".

The website project was a joint collaboration "virtual company" between myself and Dodat Ltd and was carried out as a remote team using the Scrum project management methodology. Of course this was all powered by the recently (at the time) minted SilverStripe 3.0 Framework and Content Management System.

When EBOSS came to us with the job, they had built up a good 6 years of technical debt; manually editing an ever increasing number of library catalogue pages by hand as raw html and bespoke PHP applications. Their magazine and blogs were completely disparate from the main product library and in another CMS on another server which regularly crashed. All in all, no seamless experience for the user and inconsistent branding look and feel. Something had to be done!

The old EBOSS library website.

The old EBOSSNOW and Detailed website.

While they had worked on putting together a comprehensive specification document, ultimately there was still plenty of ambiguity in areas that would likely need to be worked out as the project progressed. Agile Scrum project methodology was selected as a best fit for making sure the risks were shared and that we could respond to the inevitable changes and emerging specifications over the course of the project.

This project I assumed the responsibility of the Scrum master during the build, as well as working on some of the website development and integration. The site takes a "don't reinvent the wheel approach and integrates top 3rd party services such as Mailchimp, Google Custom Search Engine (CSE), Disqus commenting, and Doubleclick advertising as well as using several of the modules available for the SilverStripe CMS. We were also lucky enough to have in-house at EBOSS one of their staff to act as the Product Owner role with a dedicated focus on getting this project through (having a disengaged product owner is one of the most common issues when running Scrum!).

Jon, our Product Owner also worked remotely from LA in the USA for the first few months of the project making for a truly distributed project team experience and meant all had to be "on the ball" as far as good communication practices went. A combination of skype and good online project management tools played a critical part but ultimately it came down to the development team making the extra effort to ensure communication breakdowns were kept to a minimum.

With all this in place, we set to work. Sprint after sprint delivering high business value features effectively and at each step of the way having something potentially releasable to demonstrate to EBOSS. Every sprint iterating and adding new features as they were prioritised, nothing was added that we deemed wasn't going to be used by the end user to avoid that classic project statistic: 65% of website features never being used. Below shows a few progression shots over several sprints, I'll aim to do another post about our iterative approach soon.

Above shows the iterative progression of the build process.

Design was created and supplied (after extensive wire-framing) by EBOSS themselves, as they have an in-house creative team. The idea was to create a simple and architectural look and feel that made the suppliers content easy to find and easy to read.

The end result being the all new EBOSS website, essentially 3 websites integrated into one cohesive space for the building and architectural industry to frequent and get all the information they might need for their profession!

The all new integrated sections of the new EBOSS website.

Here are some of the great new features:

All new library using an enhanced version of the industry standard "CBI" category taxonomy to make brands and products easy to explore.
A "QuickFind" navigation system that allows users to get to any brand or product category in the entire catalogue using only 2 drop down boxes!
Standardised product metadata which allows searchability and allows the user to focus on getting the information they need rather than working out where to find things.
A document and drawings bundle downloader tool, which allows a user to select and download many product files into one zip file at the press of a button.
Self-service supplier Content Management System, allows suppliers to manage and update their own information which results in a more up-to-date catalogue for end users.
Integrated EBOSSNOW Magazine and Detailed Blogs providing information about new products and use cases, these articles are directly associated to products in the library and vice-versa to allow users to discover how products can be used in a real world context through articles and blog posts.
Google Search on-site indexing... let's face it... no one does relevant search like Google does!
Tight integration with Mailchimp Email Service Provider (ESP) which synchronises user data and allows for enhanced permission marketing segmentation, delivering more relevant content to the right people.
A custom REST API for suppliers, this allows suppliers to integrate their data on the EBOSS website into their own websites, lowering the overheads of maintaining up-to-date catalogues in multiple places! The API could also be used for mobile applications and other information system integration.
Built on the now NZ Govt Common Website Platform (CWP) approved Framework and Content Management System... SilverStripe CMS (3.0)!
Plus a heap more...have a look around for yourself.

So for your viewing please please feel free to head on over to www.eboss.co.nz to check it out!

SilverStripe Developer Community: A Retrospective Slides and Talk Video

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 17:07:49 +1200

Another speaking engagement at the SilverStripe Wellington Meetup (my third time!) on the 1st August 2012. This time I took the concept of a Communty of Practice outlined by Etienne Wenger et al, and applied it to the open-source software development community that works on the SilverStripe CMS. We later followed this up with a 20-30 minute hands-on workshop in which participants were asked to look at providing ideas around ways SilverStripe Ltd and the Community itself could help build bridges between the different levels of participation present in a Community of Practice.

Lots of great feedback was provided and we have a summary of it all in a shared Google Document as well as some discussion and commenting going on which is really great to see.

What was really more important was actually having the conversation! My secret plan... get members of the SilverStripe Community to interact, share, trust and build social capital with each other... it is this that aids in knowledge sharing and learning... and it is this that drives a community forward above all else.

As much as I live in a techno-centric world (having years as a developer and programmer under my belt), more and more I find it's really a people thing that creates great software.

I am starting to think my role/interests/"whatever the heck it is that I do for a living", is perhaps, to put a word on it...a Sociotechnologist... something to explore further :)

Enjoy the assets from the talk below.

Here are the slides from the talk:

AND here is the full video of the talk thanks to SilverStripe for recording on the night.

Customer experience comes before technology

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 09:12:22 +1200

Whether you prescribe to the cult of Steve or not, in this video back in 1997 he answers a seemingly insulting question in a true forward thinking and honest way (as Jim Collins would say... confronting the brutal facts).

Considering the social paradigm shift we are seeing in business today towards building value for the customer being the killer app and customers themselves driving what businesses should be focusing on through dialog and conversation,it's not until you look back at what WAS being said by Jobs that things start to make sense.

He freely admits that they don't know everything, mistakes get make but thats all part of the process. Afterall companies don't make products... the people inside them do; with all the complexities and human charateristics that comes along with it.

Maybe his way of thinking freaked the consistancy, status-quo seeking organsiational mentality at the time? What do you think?

"you gotta start with the customer experience and work backward to the technology ~ Steve Jobs"

July Update - 1/2 a year... lots to do, lots being done.

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:06:55 +1200

With half the year already over and my blog updates being a little irregular lately I thought I would give a bit of an update as to the goings-ons of late.

I have just been through exams for my study at Massey University... interesting papers this semester, Social Media Networks for Business and a Data Analysis... useful stuff!
SilverStripe 3.0 just recently launched... looking forward to using it in some upcoming web projects... I popped into the 24 hour "hackathon" over the weekend... code got written...some people built a fort, good times! What other open-source CMS platform live streams the entire 24 hours across multiple cameras and different timezones? Another reason why the SilverStripe Community is a surefire killer app for the CMS.
Launched stackit.co.nz for a client... they sell some of the best quility industiral and commerical shelving solutions around... the project was a collaboration between myself, David Craig and Simon Waterhouse. Everyone got to work in their expertise areas making the build enjoyable and the end result speaks for itself. The website is running as per usual, SilverStripe CMS!
Another SilverStripe CMS job completed recent is cornerstoneconsulting.co.nz, a web presence and white paper site for a new business consulting service, the consulting work remotely so required an easy way to update their website on the go (which SilverStripe CMS provides out of the box). They are also utilising an excellent SAAS IT infrastructure setup consisting of Google Apps, CapsuleCRM, Xero and MailChimp... all seamlessly integrated... truely business-in-a-box! I will do a detailed post soon which goes into more details about this setup and the great benefits they are finding.
Branding updates to ARANZ Medical's website (yes, more SilverStripe CMS!), giving them a fresh look and moving the brand focus toward "Silhouette" their amazing 3D lazer medical measuring tool. I have also been working with them on some advanced Google Analytics setup and measurement, again I hope to case study some of the work shortly... Web Analytics is the bees-knees and a must if you are utilising your website as a main sales tool for your business.
Plus many other bits and pieces of consulting and development work.... such is the freelance consultant life!

Now that is is in-between University semester time I'm on the hunt for some interesting contracts and have a few in the pipeline, updates as they proceed :)

Here's to another productive 6 months!

The 4C's in the wild - SilverStripe Open-Source Community

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:37:05 +1200

Following on from few weeks ago where I presented some examples of Web 2.0 - 3.0 technologies and ideas being utilised in everyday life, I would like to continue that theme. Highlighting how the 4C appraoch of social media implementation (from Niall Cook's - "Enterprise 2.0" - Communications, Cooperations, Collaboration & Connection) applies using a real world example. Last weekend I attended a "hackfest" set up by the SilverStripe Open-Source Community. SilverStripe is an open-source Content Management System (CMS) developed in Wellington, New Zealand and powers some high profile corporate and government websites. What makes SilverStripe unique though is the fact that their flagship product is free and open-source. Check out a quick video from Siguard , one of the founders for a great overview of their approach to software and open-source.

The SilverStripe Developer Community... getting together to collaborate on version 3.0![/caption] As part of the SilverStripe open-source developer community we all usually collaborate remotely using various software and web services to keep organised. These same social software applications continue to be used when we are all in the same room together too! This allows for the greatest flexibility, being inclusive of the most amount of people in the community and acknowledging that we are in a global community where the boundaries of geographic location and time are less relevant (SilverStripe have open-source developers all around the world that contribute to building the software!). Here is an overview of how the 4 C's stack up for SilverStripe.

Communication

SilverStripe uses a developer blog to communicate with and update those in the developer community. They post information about the progress of the software as well as guest posts from members of the community. You can on any day of the week visit the developer forums and look for answers to development questions or share knowledge about the use and customisation of the software. They also have an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) service set up to allow Instant Messaging directly with the core developers at anytime.

Cooperation

In Cook's book, he points out that cooperation differs from collaboration in that it is a more of an informal culture and that there is normally not a specific end goal that users are working towards or a joint problem solving effort. It is more aimed at sharing information and content. While there are a core set of community developers that work on the actual software itself, due to the system being open-source any developer can download and use it to build a website or intranet. Each of these developers will have their own project end goals but all together they cooperate in sharing their expertise and knowledge gained in using the system through the mentioned forums, and many developers have their own blogs dedicated to SilverStripe that share tutorials and valuable information, essentially this is crowd-sourced social cataloguing.

Collaboration

As I just mentioned, collaboration differs in that it has a more formal culture around it as opposed to cooperations informal culture i.e. The SilverStripe Core Developer Community and contributors work together to create portions of a larger whole, namely the core SilverStripe CMS (more specifically we are working toward the new 3.0 version of the software at present). Here are some of the main social software tools that get used during the "hackfests" and remotely by those contributing to the software:

Bug/Issue Tracking - This is open for anyone to join and log errors/problems and feature requests with the software. The core developer team can assess them and developers can claim an issue ticket and work on website code which is then contributed back to the software once completed. Think of it as a wiki of things that are broken or things that people would like to see in SilverStripe.
Version Control Coding - SilverStripe uses a system of collaborative software code versioning called Git via a web service called Github. This allows multiple programmers to work on the same code at the same time without fear of overwriting others work or losing track of which files they have worked on. The software tracks all of this for them and then facilitates merging all this programming code back into a final version with the help of some friendly humans of course aka Human-Based Computation. The result is a software package that can then be downloaded and used freely by others.
Wiki (Documentation) - The full set of documentation for the software including how it works, how to customise it, and a set of beginner tutorials is all available via the SilverStripe Documentation Wiki and can be updated by submitting changes to SilverStripe which are publicly displayed using a combination of markdown text editing and the Git version control system.

Connection

So how do all these people somehow magically come together and start writing this killer software? Connection is key and SilverStripe makes great use of all major Social Networks and some other handy tools to make sure those in the community remain connected with each other. As Cook points out:

"...cooperation and collaboration systems depend on direct interaction between people, whereas connection tools rely as much on connecting [people] with content and each other."

With that in mind, here are the tools leveraged by the SilverStripe Community to keep connected across geographic distance and timezones:

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/silverstripe/

Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/silverstripe/

Meetup.com - http://www.meetup.com/SilverStripe-Wellington-Meetup-Group/

Google Groups - https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/silverstripe-dev/

For those itching to have a play with the SilverStripe CMS software check out their demo at: http://demo.silverstripe.org/ you can login and use a full version of the software.

Web 2.0+ in the wild

Sat, 05 May 2012 10:43:41 +1200

As I wonder around Wellington lately I started to realise how much Web 2.0+ (2.5, 3.0) concepts and technologies I actually interact with on a day to day basis. After looking into some of the more formal definitions of these evolutions of the web, 2.0 with the web being used as a platform for social interaction, 2.5 with its "mobile" application of 2.0 ideas and 3.0 looking at being the "semantic" web (web that understands what we are trying to find by providing extra data about our context or preferences). Here is a few of the more interesting situations and examples that are not the usual Facebook checking or Twitter tweeting.

Breakfast (Pic's Really Good Peanut Butter)

Ok, so I enjoy breakfast, nothing like a nice hot coffee fresh off the stove-top peculator and some delicious peanut butter on toast... but this particular peanut butter is no ordinary peanut butter. This is Pic's Really Good Peanut butter made in Nelson and has a great story behind it.

What caught my attention one morning while I was about to smear my toast with this peanut butter 2.0 goodness was the QR code directly to their Facebook page right there on the side of the jar. Being the always connected person with a smart phone in my pocket I snapped the QR code, got taken to their Facebook Page and was able to "like" it and start having a conversation with the makers of this fine breakfast spread.

A quick read of some of the comments and posts from Pic's and fans shows that they are indeed commited to holding a real conversation around their products and even are looking at testing out new versions of their products (a smooth variety of their peanut butter) with consumers to make sure they are delivering the right things to those who want them (on their toast). So while there are some technology enablers involved the real shift is in the social interactions and willingness of businesses to be a bit more human in their dealings.

Coffee Break (Cafe Carbie and Reward Junkie)

For those of you with a caffine addiction this next example is for you. My local coffee shop, Cafe Carbie are again one of those great businesses with a great story (is there a trend appearing here?) they seem to "get" and embrace using Social Media (such as their Facebook Page). However, the technolgoy I want to highlight here is a third party smart phone application and service called Reward Junkie that the cafe uses.

Reward Junkie is utilising the web as its platform in providing a geo-location based, loyalty card style service directly on a customers smart phone which they "snap" a QR code in-store to gain reward points. Let's face it, we only have so much room in our wallets for these type of cards but leveraging the web to store this data and interacting with it through a device that a lot of us carry makes a lot of sense. It builds loyalty for the businesses and over time the data collected about customers, demographics and how frequently they visit will be able to play into the idea of the semantic web as mentioned earlier, this type of data helps businesses make more empirical and smarter business decisions.

Getting Around (MetLink Wellington)

My last example is another use of mobile and geo-location based technology to help us get around the city via public transport. Again this service is based on using the web as a platform, so much so that the mobile application is based on web technology. If you visit MetLink's website from a smart phone it will instantly direct you to a mobile optimised web experience and ask if you would like to use the location services on the phone, no need to download a separate application.

I think this really demonstrates the idea that there is no clear cut divider among the 2.0 - 3.0 phases of web evolution in terms of the technology, in this case it is a combinations of good old URI, HTTP request, extra data from the location service on the phone all delivered through the web platform to a mobile device. I can then simply click one button to find a list of bus stops and times for those near my geographic location or I can interact with the application and enter the bus stop number to get the exact time of departure of the next bus.

There are even some stops in the CBD that are using the QR codes as on the Pic's Peanut Butter jar which makes this process even easier. I make a point of using the QR code when I'm out and about to show others around me how easy it is to use and interact with something that augments your experience in the real world. I just hope someone at MetLink is tracking the use of those QR codes through Web Analytics to build a case for demand/use and to help them drive a decision to deploy them elsewhere. Later on perhaps they could even utilise RFID technology for the same purpose.

This is just a small sampling of some of the Web 2.0 - 3.0 ideas and technologies out there in the wild that I seem to interact with on a daily basis (that is if I have peanut butter toast everyday!) What are some of your examples?

Wow you're like sooo... 2.0 right now!

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:43:19 +1200

I have been lucky enough to have been invoved in the web industry through what would be termed the shift from web 1.0 to web 2.0 but well before the term was coined by Tim O'Riley in 2004, myself and fellow web geeks simply were just trying to push the boundaries as to what we could do with the emerging technology, new scripting languages, techniques and processes with out a thought as to giving it a shiney marketable buzzword name such as the now often mis-used term "Web 2.0".

For those of us in the in-crowd the term quickly became a colloquial term for anything that did anything remotely inteactive on a website or even someone trying something new and different outside of the web development scene. Cries of "that is sooo 2.0" would often come from my good friend, fellow web & music geek and online trendspotter Dr Hitchcock for anything removely new and socially awesome (he ran indie music gigs and was a radio presenter for years and now runs his own online radio station). At least he knew what it meant... a change in attitude, more than a change in technology.

Web 2.0 is really about allowing conversations and spaces to collaborate and communicate online together (2-way) rather than the Web 1.0 way of some authoritarian source publishing what they want you to read. While there are many technologies and programming techniques that help facilite these services, it is not about the technology at all. Many of the technologies used are the same that have been around since the world wide web's conception, HTTP, URI, TCP/IP the list of acroynoms goes on.

I think that some of the reason behind all the misconceptions of what "Web 2.0" is from a businesses adoption point of view comes from this: the technologies and interaction is the most visible part of this paradigm shift and so this is what people wanting to adopt "Web 2.0" see and then think that it is... the whizbang, the design and asthetic of it rather than the social change.

Perhaps making the mind shift to being more open to conversation with customers is percieved as either too hard or or too risky and left out of the equation when thinking about going enterprise 2.0? Having dealt with this first hand, I have lost count of the number of times a potential client has asked "...the internet is great... can I have some web 2.0 please?", like it is something they can order from a takeaway menu to give them an edge in online business... do you want fries with that?

To give a quick breakdown of the various iterations that the web has been through (and will maybe go through) consider this "version numbering" way of framing it borrowed from the software development process. Keep in mind that while this breaks the development up into neat segments and time spaces in reality as I mentioned the technologies overlap and many of the ideas have grown organically, blending and merging over time... the process has been anything but neat, tidy or orderly!.

Theory behind the Social Media explosion

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:59:43 +1200

I mentioned in the last month some of the history behind why Social Media is in an absolute boom at present. Mostly this is to do with human interaction and the our social nature which leads us to find ways to communicate and collaborate over long distances. There has also been a business cultural shift towards embracing these social tools to open up a dialog with customers which is perhaps due to the changing generational mix in the workforce as Andreas Kaplin & Michael Haenlein point out:

"The growth is not limited to teenagers, either; members of Generation X, now 35-44 years old, increasingly populate the ranks of joiners, spectators and critics." - Kapaln & Haenlein, Users of the world unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media.

I suspect this push will go even further as more and more Generation Y enter the workforce and expect these tools and computing experiences. However, I would like to explore a more empirical approach and theory as to why there has been this explosion of Social Media adoption. I would like to bring up an interesting theory that I read about in an excellent book by Juliette Powell called "33 Million People in the Room". I was also lucky enough to meet Juliette at a creative media conference and workshop a few years ago see her video from X:Media:Lab. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-979wg9bOs] In her book, Juliette brings up Reed's Law which essentially mathematically models the exponential growth in value of a network based on the number of participants in the network. This goes a long way to explaining the huge growth Social Networking sites such as Facebook have had recently. No doubt you joined Facebook because your friends or family were on Facebook which made it valuable to you; just as your friends and family then also joined because you are on Facebook which had value to them and so on...Ad infinitum. It is suggested in Reed's Law that every new addition to the network doubles its value and taking the example from the Juliette's book, it is easy to see this in action.

"...you have a network of 25 individuals. According to Reed's Law, the amount of possible connections and subgroups within your group of 25 individuals is an astonishing 33 million" - Juliette Powell, 33 Million People in the Room.

And if we apply the maths...

Lets say N is the number of people in the network... in this case N = 25 people in the network.
The number of possible sub-groups available is modelled as 2^N (2 to the power of the number of people in the network).
So, 2^25 = 33,554,432 possible connections and sub-groupings within that network!
The growth in value is exponential, as mentioned each new member doubles the value of the network for example: 2^N+1 in this case is 2^26 = 67,108,864 connections and sub-groupings!!

Now apply that theory and logic to the vast number of users on Facebook, the mind boggles!

Looking at the infographic below by Ben Foster (@benphoster on twitter) it does indeed show a very exponential style growth of users on Facebook, perhaps there is some truth in this model of growth?

Our connected past and future

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:46:13 +1300

It seems that all throughout history, human beings have been trying to utilise the latest technology of the times in order to connect, communicate, cooperate and colloborate (the 4 C's!). When I say technology it might not always be the computers and social networks of today (but I will get to that shortly). Just think of smoke signals, carrier pigeons, the horseback mail courier, the telegraph service (morse code), through to the telephone, finally entering the computer era.

The important thing here is really that humans are social creatures and we are pretty clever when it comes to finding ways to communicate even over long distances. This continues on into our modern computer driven era, if we look at some of the ideas and innovations in communication and collaborative technology dating back as far as the 1940's. From Niall Cook's book "Enterprise 2.0", in 1945 Vannevar Bush, who was then the Director of the US Office of Scientific Research and Development, published his article "As we may think" with these visions of the future of communication:

"... a future device for individual use, [...] a sort of mechansied private file and library." -which he called a "Memex".

"...stores all his books, records, and communications [...] consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility"

"...an enlarged intimate supplement to his knowledge"

It is just me or is his "Memex" referring to the explosion of computers and later smart-phones/tablet computers today some 60+ years later? I know I certainly use my iPhone for many of the very purposes he describes above in my everyday communication and collaboration with friends and colleagues.

Later on in the late 50's and 60's ARPA and the ARPANET evolved funded by the US Defence Force and used by Universites as a way for scientists and researchers to share information over a geographically long distance via packet switching using the already existing telephone wrie; a technology that still forms the basis of our modern Internet today. The Internet we use today again evolved from scientific research purposes, most notably in the 1980's through the pioneering work of Tim Berners-Lee a student at CERN and his idea of a "web of notes with links" which we now call the world wide web and hence the reason for the "www" at the start of many website addresses or to use the correct terminology - Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). In a recent TED talk video (included below and well worth a watch!) Tim again explains his vision like this:

"...imagine that that link could have gone to virtually any document you could imagine."

Further on in this video he moves on to explain his vision for the future of the web, which he is calling "Linked Data" the idea that raw data is available for anyone to use, share and combine to create new data and insight. Which has a lot of "unlocked potential" in terms of scientific research, enterprise and society. The more data our scientists across disciplines can access, share and cross-pollenate, perhaps the better cooperation and collaboration can take place and maybe, just maybe, we can start to solve the problems we are facing now and in the future on our planet. The use of social media and social data in our personal and work lives will be key to making this happen as we become a more open and transperant society, much to the horror of the old guard in government and business!

Back to Uni... studying some interesting social media theory

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:09:03 +1300

Well, just when the start of my year couldn't get any busier, semester one of my university study kicks in.

This year I am however rather excited as I will be studying some interesting topics including Social Media Networks for Business and having worked in companies and implemented some Social Media strategies before it will be interesting as to the approach taken by our lecturer and how the theory stacks up to the real world.

Part of the assessment is to keep a blog of your thoughts and reflection on the topics of social media that we study so I will be posting regularly here with my progress and hopefully some interesting and useful information that you could pick up and practically implement yourself.

One thing is for certain, there has been a social media explosion in recent years with many big businesses jumping on the bandwagon and being extremely successful in various campaigns. It seems to me that the businesses that get the most out of social media are the ones that are not afraid to open their company culture up to embracing the tools and letting staff autonomously interact with the conversions that are taking place outside the organisation.

I read one article recently that talked about using Twitter as "eyes and ears" on the internet to discover what people are saying about your products or services and letting you know where you need to improve or to discover valuable information. Focusing on the customer is key in business today and these tools allow us to hold a 2 way conversation with our customers, broadcast mass media is a sure fire way to annoy customers and lose business.

The idea of there being two conversations going on is not a new one, a book "The Cluetrain Manifesto" which I read many years ago pointed this out (at I think got it right!) and another, Hugh Macleod, a cartoonist and social commentator came up with his "model" of what is going on called the "Porous Membrane". Where by 2 concentric circles represent the conversations taking place, inside the inner most circle is the conversations taking place inside your business with the circles line boundary being the barriers to communicating with the outer most circle or the conversations taking place outside your business i.e. your customers.
The more open or porous the membrane between these two circles the more conversations start to flow between customers and businesses. Definitely a good thing.

Take this example from the stuff.co.nz new website the other day, http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/games/6486431/Massive-effort-for-tailored-gameplay.

A games company that produces a game series called "Mass Effect" has the 3rd installment of their game coming out very soon. Reading further through the article you'll see that they solicited feedback from the fans of the game through their Facebook page. The feedback (that of being able to play the game as a female character) was picked up by the production team and implemented into the game.

They leveraged social media channels and were open to real conversations from real gamers which improved their product and in turn gave the customer what they wanted... you can't get a better outcome from Social media use than that!

The Challenges of Project Management - Bringing It Together

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +1300

Projects are set in a highly complex and challenging environment. Effective projects require the best of technical and people skills from project managers, a supportive organisational structure, teams which can perform with a minimum of conflict, consideration of project risks and clearly defined criteria of success. These key factors as discussed in this series offer an insight into the many challenges that must be overcome and managed by today's project managers. If it is accepted that in project management, “no project ever goes 100% according to plan” (Randolph & Posner, 1994, as cited in Clarke, 1999, p. 141) this can be considered and appropriate steps can be taken when beginning new projects.

This will give the best chances of success and meeting the expectations of all those involved. This suggests that project management must be approached as both part art and part science in order to thrive in a project based work environment and benefit from the competitive advantages that a project methodology can offer.

Part 1 Project Management Challenges - Introduction

Part 2 Project Management Challenges - Organisational Structure

Part 3 Project Management Challenages - High Performing Teams

Part 4 Project Management Challenages - Skill Set Of Good Project Managers

Part 5 Project Management Challenges - Risk and Uncertainty

Part 6 Project Management Challenges - Defining Success

Part 7 Project Management Challenges - Conclusion and PDF Download

References:

Clarke, A. (1999). A practical use of key success factors to improve the effectiveness of project management. International journal of project management. 17(3). 139-145.

The Challenges of Project Management - Defining Success

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:52:38 +1300

The last key factor to be discussed in this series is whether or not well defined and measurable criteria of project success exist and have been agreed upon by both internal and external stakeholders at the beginning of the project (Jugdev & Müller, 2005). The different stakeholders involved in a project, such as project managers, project team, functional management and external clients may all have different perspectives as to the goals and requirements of the project being carried out (Jugdev & Müller, 2005). With this in mind there is a need to establish more objective measures of exactly when the project can be considered successful.

Atkinson (1999) details that the traditional ‘iron-triangle’ of cost, time and quality should not be used exclusively as criteria of success. Instead, Atkinson argues it should be augmented by client acceptation and other measures of success that extend beyond the handover of the project. For example, as research by DeLone and McLean (1992) points out, Information Technology (IT) projects are notoriously prone to failure because the measures of what is considered a success in IT projects are not well defined and often do not meet the expectations of clients. DeLone and McLean’s research recommends that IT projects need to meet at least six criteria before being considered successful.

DeLone and McLean’s criteria include system quality, information quality, use, user satisfaction, individual impact, and the organisational impact of the project delivered. A good alignment of supporting organisational structure, a well performing team, an effective project manager and realisation of the risks involved is needed in projects to build out a set of success criteria rather than using a single-point indicator of success (Jugdev & Müller, 2005).

Part 1 Project Management Challenges - Introduction

Part 2 Project Management Challenges - Organisational Structure

Part 3 Project Management Challenages - High Performing Teams

Part 4 Project Management Challenages - Skill Set Of Good Project Managers

Part 5 Project Management Challenges - Risk and Uncertainty

Part 6 Project Management Challenges - Defining Success

Part 7 Project Management Challenges - Conclusion and PDF Download

References:

Atkinson, R. (1999). Project management: cost, time and quality, two best guesses and a phenomenon, its time to accept other success criteria. International journal of project management. 17(6). 337-342.

DeLone, W., & McLean, E (1992). Information systems success: The quest for the dependent variable. Information Systems Research. 3(1). 60-95.

Jugdev, K. & Müller, R. (2005). A retrospective look at our evolving understanding of project success. Project management journal. 36(4). 19-31.

The Challenges of Project Management - Risk and Uncertainty

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:52:38 +1300

The majority of decisions made by project managers are conducted under conditions of uncertainty and risk. This is especially true during the initiation phase of the project life-cycle, where uncertainty is at its highest (Meredith & Mantel, 2006). All projects are predisposed to risk due to complexity and many factors that are outside the control of the project manager. However, a common factor of projects that are successful is that the project manager usually considered, and planned to some degree, the possible risks they were likely to face (Pinto, 2007).

The challenge for any effective project is how to plan for these risks at the beginning to achieve the objectives with minimal disruption. This can be achieved through a process of risk management which both Perry (1986) and later Pinto (2007) outline as a process of identifying risks, assessing the affects of the risks, developing responses to these risks should they occur and finally developing a strategy for risk management during the project life-cycle.

Identifying and assessing the risks can be facilitated through brainstorming sessions with the project team and stakeholders, seeking expert opinions, experience and lessons learned from previous projects (Pinto, 2007). Perry (1986), Isaac (1995) and Pinto (2007) then all agree on the responses to risks that are identified including avoidance, reduction, transferring, sharing, contingency buffers or accepting risk.

Risks must then be monitored and controlled during the life-cycle as they can change or new risks may emerge. Risk management should be considered as an integrated part of the project management life-cycle and not simply “as a bolt on extra” (Isaac, 1995, p. 228).

Part 1 Project Management Challenges - Introduction

Part 2 Project Management Challenges - Organisational Structure

Part 3 Project Management Challenages - High Performing Teams

Part 4 Project Management Challenages - Skill Set Of Good Project Managers

Part 5 Project Management Challenges - Risk and Uncertainty

Part 6 Project Management Challenges - Defining Success

Part 7 Project Management Challenges - Conclusion and PDF Download

References:

Isaac, I. (1995). Training in risk management. International journal of project management. 13(4). 225-229.

Meredith, J.R., & Mantel, S.J. (2006). Project management: A managerial approach (6th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley.

Perry, J. (1986). Risk management - an approach for project managers. International journal of project management. 4(4). 211–216.

Pinto, J.K., (2007). Project management: Achieving competitive advantage. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

The Challenges of Project Management - Skill Set Of Good Project Managers

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:06:11 +1300

It is important that an appropriate project manager with the right balance of skills is put in place to ensure a successful project. It is said that a good project manager must act like a “mini-CEO” (Pinto, 2007, p. 119) and must be proficient in both the technical skills of a manager balanced with the people skills of a leader.

As mentioned previously, the project manager is faced with resolving team conflict but also has the challenges of negotiating with functional managers for resources, gaining support for projects by influencing upper management, effectively communicating with all the stakeholders involved all while also keeping control of the costs and schedules of the project. Research by El-Sabaa (2001), points out that people skills appear to be the most important that an incumbent project manager will require.

The project manager must be sensitive and responsive to the motivations of the others working within the project team and must be able to clearly communicate in a way that makes sense from a team member’s point of view. El-Sabaa’s research outlines that the next most important skill set of the project manager is the ability to conceptualise and organise. For example the project manager must be able to “see the forest for the trees” (Pinto, 2007, p. 121), that is, the project as a whole and also be able to understand the relationships of the individual parts, how they interrelate and affect each other to drive the project team with clear goals and direction (El-Sabaa, 2001).

Interestingly enough El-Sabaa’s research paints technical proficiency in the industry of the project as the least essential project management skill.
This points to the essential skills that a project manager requires being valid across different industries (not just IT!).

Part 1 Project Management Challenges - Introduction

Part 2 Project Management Challenges - Organisational Structure

Part 3 Project Management Challenages - High Performing Teams

Part 4 Project Management Challenages - Skill Set Of Good Project Managers

Part 5 Project Management Challenges - Risk and Uncertainty

Part 6 Project Management Challenges - Defining Success

Part 7 Project Management Challenges - Conclusion and PDF Download

References:

El-Sabaa, S. (2001). The skills and career path of an effective project manager. International journal of project management. 19(1). 1-7.

Pinto, J.K., (2007). Project management: Achieving competitive advantage. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

The Challenges of Project Management - High Performing Teams

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:42:02 +1300

Another challenging key factor for project management is the process of creating high performing project teams.
Due to projects being considered temporary organisations, that is, they exist for a finite time period; teams are often created from different functional departments to match the criteria of the project. This can create pressure and potential conflict (Huemanna et al., 2007).

In order for teams to achieve a high level of performance there are several stages of the team development process that must be progressed through in order to establish trust and build productive team norms (Pinto, 2007).

These stages consist of forming, storming, norming and performing.

McShane and Travaglione (2007) explain that during the forming stage, cross-functional team members come together under the premise of the project and ground rules are set.

The storming stage is more conducive to disruptive interpersonal conflict. As Pinto (2007) points out, teams test the rules and attempt to re-work them, authority is resisted and personal agendas emerge. This can impede the effectiveness of the project team and project work. It is here that the challenges of conflict management on behalf of the project manager are tested.Pinto (2007) then goes on to outline methods for resolving this conflict that includes mediation, arbitration, control, accepting or eliminating.

In the norming stage, positive team norms are solidified and accepted by the team, there is a sense of cohesion and mission. This allows the team to perform efficiently and at a high level of performance (McShane and Travaglione, 2007).

Progressing the selected team to this performing stage is part of the challenge involved in good project management and involves many people skills such as conflict management and leadership on the part of the project manager.

Part 1 Project Management Challenges - Introduction

Part 2 Project Management Challenges - Organisational Structure

Part 3 Project Management Challenages - High Performing Teams

Part 4 Project Management Challenages - Skill Set Of Good Project Managers

Part 5 Project Management Challenges - Risk and Uncertainty

Part 6 Project Management Challenges - Defining Success

Part 7 Project Management Challenges - Conclusion and PDF Download

References:

Huemanna, M., Keeganb, A., & Turnerc, J. (2007). Human resource management in the project-oriented company: A review. International journal of project management. 25(3). 315-323.

McShane, S., & Travaglione, T. (2007). Organisational behaviour on the pacific rim (2nd ed.). North Ryde, Australia: McGraw-Hill Australia.

Pinto, J.K., (2007). Project management: Achieving competitive advantage. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

The Challenges in Managing Projects - Organisational Structure

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:45:02 +1300

Carrying on looking at some of the challenging factors to effective project management today we look at the particular organisational structure that project style work is set in and how that impacts on the project.

The organisational structure the project is expected to operate in can adversely affect the outcome of a project. Traditional functional structured organisations attempting to respond to the increasingly complex business environment are introducing formal project methodologies and forming what is known as Matrix structures. Thirty & Deguire (2007, p. 655) supports this by suggesting that there is a tendency for organisations to try to “force-fit” the ideas of project management to existing structures in lieu of “looking for ways to adapt the organisation to the project-based approach”.

Matrix structures are classed on a sliding scale from weak through to strong. In a weak matrix the authority and decision making responsibility lies with the functional manager, and in a strong one with the project manager (Meredith & Mantel, 2006). In reality, the authority for the project may lie somewhere in between, which can cause problems for the cross-functional project team; that of having two bosses.

This can cause conflict, mistrust and confusion in decision making as the two points of authority struggle for control over the staff involved in the project (Pinto, 2007).

If the project is to be run effectively in the matrix structure, as opposed to a more project-based organisational structure, then a mature approach in assigning exactly where the authority lies and effective communication strategies should be set up and supported by top management prior to the commencement of the project (Payne, 1993).

Part 1 Project Management Challenges - Introduction

Part 2 Project Management Challenges - Organisational Structure

Part 3 Project Management Challenages - High Performing Teams

Part 4 Project Management Challenages - Skill Set Of Good Project Managers

Part 5 Project Management Challenges - Risk and Uncertainty

Part 6 Project Management Challenges - Defining Success

Part 7 Project Management Challenges - Conclusion and PDF Download

References:

Thirty, M., & Deguire, M. (2007). Recent developments in project-based organisations. International journal of project management. 25(7). 649–658.

Meredith, J.R., & Mantel, S.J. (2006). Project management: A managerial approach (6th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley.

Payne, J., (1993). Introducing formal project management into a traditional, functionally structured organization. International journal of project management. 11(4). 239–243.

Pinto, J.K., (2007). Project management: Achieving competitive advantage. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

The Challenges in Managing Projects - Introduction

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:12:18 +1300

Over the next few weeks I thought I would discuss and post some blog post into some of the challenges in effectively managing projects. While in particular I myself work in managing IT and Web related projects but many of the ideas I would like to bring up I think apply across the board for project management in many sectors.

I am finding myself filling the role of project manager with my clients more and more, and the following blog posts come from a study of project management through Massey University I completed last year.

Each blog post (of which there will be 7 including this one) will outline, discuss and provide references to further reading.

The challenges facing project managers include:

Organisational Structure
Creation of high performance teams
Skill set of a good PM
Risk Management
Success Definition of Projects

I'm sure there are many more challenges faced by PM's so please fell free to comment and bring up specific areas of Project Management you find makes it a tough but rewarding role to fill.

Introduction to Project Management Challenges

Today’s organisations are faced with the challenges of short product life-cycles, timely product launches, highly complex technical products, globalisation and uncertain economic conditions (Pinto, 2007). In order to find a competitive advantage many organisations are beginning to consider the benefits that a formal project management methodology can offer.

There are however many constraints in implementing and executing project based work. The key factors involved in these challenges are: the organisational structure the project is set in, forming high-performance teams and resolving any conflict that may arise, the skill set required by effective project managers, the uncertainty and risks inherent in all projects, and a clear definition of how project success should be measured.

Over the next few weeks I intend to discuss these key factors that can render project management and project based work a highly challenging endeavour.

Part 1 Project Management Challenges - Introduction

Part 2 Project Management Challenges - Organisational Structure

Part 3 Project Management Challenages - High Performing Teams

Part 4 Project Management Challenages - Skill Set Of Good Project Managers

Part 5 Project Management Challenges - Risk and Uncertainty

Part 6 Project Management Challenges - Defining Success

Part 7 Project Management Challenges - Conclusion and PDF Download

References:

Pinto, J.K., (2007). Project management: Achieving competitive advantage. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Do something creative everyday to improve your work enjoyment and engagement

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:29:17 +1300

The new year has kicked in with some vigor already.

I sat down to do a mind map of all the business opportunities coming up in the next few months and the result resembled some sort of spider web very quickly.
Surfice to say I need to sit down and look at all the pros and cons of each opportunity focusing on ones that are in-line with my core values and my approach to business.

With all this work going on I have decided to start each and everyday by doing something creative and give my brain that morning positive boost to keep me going through the day.

I have taken up.... Origami... the Japanese art of paper folding.

I will be doing some origami every morning for the next year. It involves patience, focus and an eye for detail but also is a lot of fun and an artistically creative activity.

This reminded me of a concept in positive psychology that I had studied a few years ago called the "Broaden and Build" technique developed by Barbara Fredrickson.

For a very quick overview of the idea, by "broadening" and exploring new, creative thoughts and actions over time you "build" a your repertoire of skills, resources and reactions to a situation in a positive manner (psychological resilience).

This concept is also great for building high performance teams, which might go someway to explaining why companies like Google have offices that resemble a kids playground and that you should take your team out for a game of laser tag before a big brainstorming session!

The positive emotions spill over into your next activites and provide a much more engaged and productive team.

So if you would like a slightly belated New Years resolution, take on this one...

Do something creative everyday.

Merry Xmas and New Year 2011 - The Year of Busy

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:45:37 +1300

Merry Xmas and Happy New Years to everyone I have worked with over the past year... I love my work and solving your business problems and applying great technlogy to do so!

It has been a year of achievement with lots of projects completed and on the study front lots of good grades and nuggets of valuable information that all drives back in my ability to serve and look after my customers needs.

Most notable achievements this year for me were:

Completed the large NZYP website system project for Canterbury, Auckland and Dunedin Young Professional Networks.
Built a Business Intelligence Dashboard to visualise sales data for one of my clients with a distributed sales team.
Implemented Google Apps infrastructure to The White Elephant Youth Trust Non-Profit to aid in online collaboration following the Christchurch earthquakes.
Guest keynote presentation at the SilverStripe CMS Community meetups... twice!
Secured some Cloud backup services from Rackspace to help businesses in Christchurch backup their data after the earthquake.
Lots of measurable marketing promotions deployed for my good friends at Rockstar Recipes.
Some A and A+ grades in Project Management, Marketing and Finance papers through Massey University.
Awarded a Merit Certificate of Scholarly Excellence from Massey University School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing.
Recognition of being in the top percentile of students from the Massey University School of Economics and Finance.
Running Iaido classes throughout the year and passing my Iaido Shodan Grading in Auckland (1st Dan Black Belt).
Plus so much more... it was one heck of a busy year!

Again, thank you everyone - I look forward to another great year in 2012!

All the best,

Cam