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Duffbert's Random Musings is a weblog semi/sorta related to IBM/Lotus Notes & Domino software, but I don't let that be a limiting criteria. I'm Thomas Duff, and you can find out more about me here...

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05/11/2008

Book Review - Windows Vista Annoyances by David A. Karp

Category Book Review David A. Karp Windows Vista Annoyances

Sometimes, a book in the Annoyances series is one that you can use to fine-tune an application you use often.  And then there's this one...  Windows Vista Annoyances by David A. Karp.  Regardless of whether you hate Vista or think it's the best Windows OS out there, you'll be finding useful and applicable tips on every other page here.  Vista is just tailor-made for a book like this, and Karp takes full advantage of the opportunities.

Contents:
Get Started with Windows Vista: Editions of Vista; Install Windows Vista; Migration to Windows Vista
Shell Tweaks: Customize Windows Explorer; Working with Files and Folders
The Registry: The Registry Editor; Structure of the Registry; Registry Tasks and Tools; File Type Associations
Working with Media: Playing Video; Handling Online Video; Sound and Music; Photos, Pictures, Images; Media Center Annoyances; CD and DVD Drives
Performance: Trim the Fat; Make Your Hardware Perform; Hard Disk
Troubleshooting: Crashes and Error Messages; Dealing with Drivers and Other Tales of Hardware Troubleshooting; Preventative Maintenance and Data Recovery
Networking and Internet: Build Your Network; Internet Me; Secure Your Networked PC; Web and Email
Users and Security: Manage User Accounts; Permissions and Security; Logon and Profile Options; Share Files and Printers
Scripting and Automation: Windows Script Host; build a VBScript Script; Object References; Wacky Script Ideas; Command Prompt Scripting; Windows PowerShell
BIOS Settings
TCP/IP Ports
Index

When I bought my new laptop , it came loaded with Vista.  Since it was pretty early in the Vista release cycle, I thought it would be good to learn it since adoption would be widespread in a short period of time.  Yeah, right.  Vista turned into one of the most annoying operating experiences of my life.  Slow performance, endless "do  you really want to..." dialog boxes, reboot times that took forever...  While you can't get rid of the overall pain of Vista (unless you "upgrade" to XP or a Mac), you can use Karp's information to lessen the daily headaches.  For instance, he takes  you into the Performance Options settings to help  you figure out what eye candy you can live without so that you actually get work done.  He shows you how to tweak the registry to eliminate the menu opening delay.  He also goes into some depth on how to get Vista set up to greatly reduce the start-up time (and that's a MAJOR accomplishment).  And that's just a fraction of what you'll find here that will find immediate application in your life with Vista.

It's always a good thing to get a decent reference guide to the major software packages in your life.  Vista is no exception.  But there's a few packages where you need someone to tell you how to *live* with the less-than-stellar results on your screen.  Vista's the poster child for that.  Windows Vista Annoyances should be *very* close at hand as you work with the operating system.  Assuming you haven't already switched to something else...

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:04 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

05/11/2008

Book Review - Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World by David Koenig

Category Book Review David Koenig Realityland

Being a Disney fan, it was a given that I would get a copy of Realityland: True-Life Adventures at Walt Disney World by David Koenig from the library.  Koenig has written a number of other books that go behind-the-scenes and show the difference between the managed image and the true reality of the Disney empire.  In Realityland, he focuses on the Florida version of Disney's dream, Walt Disney World.  Koenig does an excellent job digging into the trials involved in getting The Magic Kingdom built and running, as well as the struggle to define "EPCOT".

Contents:
Waltopia - Mr. Disney's last and greatest dream
Project X - The undercover expansion
Planning the Invasion - Preparing for the ground attack
Trouble Building - The fight to finish on time
A Grand Opening - Through the gates of the Magic Kingdom
Room Change - Turmoil and turnover at the hotels
Power Plays - The energy crisis, Reedy Creek and rocky community relations
Crash Mountain - Space Mountain and the never-ending quest for safety
Showcase for Sale - Sponsoring a piece of the kingdom
Constructing the Future - The hardships and headaches of breaking new ground
Starring in the Show - Making little money and lots of magic for a living
EPTPOT - Experimental Prototype Theme Park of Tomorrow
Upheaval - A coup at the kingdom
Reel Competition - Disney vs. Universal - and everyone else
It's a Jungle in Here - Survival of the shrewdest
The Polite Force - Security with a smile
Backwards to the Beginning - The Homogenized Mouse

30+ years after the start of it all, it's easy to allow Walt's philosophy and vision to filter what actually happened.  Disney has become synonymous with attention to detail and outstanding customer service.  But Walt never lived long enough to see Walt Disney World become a reality.  Those left in charge were burdened with the phrase "what would Walt do?" when it came to making any sort of decision on what WDW would become.  And just as Disneyland had its share of problems and teething pains, so did WDW.  Labor relations with the construction companies were less than harmonious.  Cutting-edge experiments and partnerships (such as the building and ownership of the Contemporary) broke down under the strain of deadlines and constant changes by Disney.  And while getting the Magic Kingdom built had some sort of pattern in Disneyland, it was EPCOT that continually haunted the leadership.  Walt had envisioned an entire city built to e
utopian standards, and everyone wanted to know when Disney would start building it.  But the reality was that there was no way that something of that size and scale could be successfully created while still making a profit.  It was all they could do to spin the creation of Future World and World Showcase as a place where EPCOT "concepts" could be tried and advanced.  Even that twist was hard to pull off, as Disney wanted to have companies and countries pay to build and operate the attractions and pavilions.  But things change, attractions need to be updated, and sponsorships come to an end.  Even to this day, EPCOT is still a pale shadow of what Walt had imagined and dreamed.  At best, it's another theme park that attempts to teach as well as entertain.

Having been written within the last year, Koenig also goes into the decision to build Animal Kingdom and how management had to struggle to make the concept work.  On the outside, it was meant to be something where people would learn about the environment and creatures that inhabit different areas on earth.  But when you mix animals and environmentalists together, you start to get friction on a massive scale.  And due to a lack of attractions when it first opened, people had a hard time thinking of it as something more than a Disney-fied version of a zoo.  Throw in the massive ego of Michael Eisner during this time, and it's amazing that anything got done and that Disney was able to come out with its carefully crafted image intact.

For those who buy into the whole Walt Disney image as presented to the public, this book will either be an eye-opening read or something bordering on a traumatic event.  Sort of like learning there's no Santa Claus.  For those who know and understand that there's a difference between image and reality, the book will simply add more color and humanity to the Disney empire.  As a person who loves to go to DisneyWorld, I found the book fascinating.  I'll still enjoy the rides and the atmosphere, and will still be amazed by the "Disney Mystique".  But I'll also be a bit more appreciative and understanding of what pain it took to get it all to work.

Posted by Tom Duff At 11:53 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

05/10/2008

Book Review - Leadership Brand by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood

Category Book Review Dave Ulrich Norm Smallwood Leadership Brand

It's easy to pick out what makes a particular brand distinct and valuable...  Apple, Costco, Wal-mart all have a definite public perception that drives their operation.  In the book Leadership Brand: Developing Customer-Focused Leaders to Drive Performance and Build Lasting Value by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood, the authors contend that each company also has a "leadership brand" that helps drive that public perception and that enables the company and employees deliver on those expectations.

Contents:
Branding Leadership; The Case for Building a Leadership Brand; Creating a Leadership Brand Statement; Assessing Leaders Against the Brand; Investing in Leadership Brand; Measuring Return on Leadership Brand; Building Awareness for Leadership Brand; Preserving Leadership Brand; Implications for Personal Brand; Criteria for a Firm Brand; Firms with Branded Leadership; Notes; Index; About the Authors

Ulrich and Smallwood do a good job in changing the way that an organization's leaders are normally viewed.  Using the "brand" concept, building and promoting leaders is based on an underlying element that lends a continuity to how the company performs and delivers in the marketplace.  These types of leaders are the ones that allow a company to consistently lead their market niche over a long period of time.  It's obviously not a "quick-fix" solution to a company that's failing.  You don't just decide "here's our leadership brand, so lead in this way" one Monday morning.  Using the measured approach outlined here, it's possible to start to attract and promote the type of person that will complement the core message of your company.  

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:15 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

05/10/2008

Book Review - Seeing Yourself As Others Do by Carol Keers and Thomas Mungavan

Category Book Review Carol Keers Thomas Mungavan Seeing Yourself As Others Do

Trying to figure out how others perceive me in the workplace is something that's very high on my list of concerns.  The book Seeing Yourself As Others Do: Authentic Executive Presence At Any Stage of Your Career by Carol Keers and Thomas Mungavan goes a long way in helping to clear away those misconceptions and blind spots.  It also gives you the tools you need to come across the way you need to in many different situations.

Contents:
Introduction - Perception is Reality; Communication Foundations; Command of the Room with Charisma; Leverage Influence and Power; Expectations, Strategic and Tactical; Audience Connections; Relationship Competence, Locally and Remotely; Listening Engagement; Inspiration, Motivation, and Praise

Based on the title, you may think this is focused more towards the executive branch of your organization.  Not true...  There's plenty of material here that pertains to the way you interact at any level and in any situation.  Executive presence is the ability to be viewed as one with authority and presence, someone who is authentic in their personality and who can connect with and inspire those around them.  The acronym CLEARLI is used by the authors to explain that quality - Command, Leverage, Expectations, Audience, Relationship, Listening, and Inspiration.  Once you understand that your impression of yourself is not reality, that the reality is perception that others have of you, you can start to build up those skills and remove those blind spots that are holding you back.

For me, I took a lot away from the chapters on using your voice effectively as well as becoming a quality listener.  Communicating effectively with others is far more than just the words you tell them.  It's the pacing of your words, the emotion and variation and body language.  I need to understand how to control that much better.  In addition, my skill at listening to others can stand some significant improvement.  So often, you can communicate at a much higher level by shutting up and listening to the other person.  Instead of trying to figure out what you're going to say next, focus on what the person across from you is trying to say.  I need to work harder to get past that superficial level of understanding that comes with not completely focusing on that other person.

This is an easy read, well-paced and completely applicable to where you live.  Time spent thinking about these concepts can have a dramatic effect on your personal and professional relationships.

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:29 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

05/10/2008

Book Review - Born Standing Up by Steve Martin

Category Book Review Steve Martin Born Standing Up

A fellow reader/reviewer tipped me to the book Born Standing Up by Steve Martin.  It's a memoir of Martin's life from childhood to 1981, when he walked away from stand-up comedy.  Unlike many memoirs that are the product of a ghostwriter, Born Standing Up is all Martin.  It helps that he's an actual writer, as well as a comedian and actor.  Because of that writing skill, you get a close-up, intimate look into the events and people who made him the hottest comedian of his time.  And it also explains why, seemingly at the pinnacle of his success doing stand-up, he walked away from it all.  

The book traces his early infatuation with magic and comedy.  He worked at Disneyland in the magic shop that was there at the time, and he started learning the tricks and techniques that would form the beginning of his act.  Along the way, he picked up a banjo and learned to play it.  This combination of banjo, magic, and humor had him doing the coffeehouses and storefront venues that were everywhere during the '60's.  He also spent a fair amount of time working The Birdcage at Knott's Berry Farm doing more of a vaudeville style of comedy.  Overall, it was what he wanted to be doing, but he also knew that you couldn't make a living with it at this level.  He knew he had to get a break somewhere or give up his dream of becoming an entertainer.

The late 60's and early '70s were a turbulent time in our country.  Society was changing, and Martin was studying what effect that had on comedy.  He started to do routines that were more cutting-edge, routines that required the audience to look at humor in a different light.  These self-deprecating, physical routines started to catch on, and he also began to be booked on more TV shows.  Before long, his appearances went from 100 seat rooms to sold-out venues all over the US.  But while his act was becoming part of the culture and lexicon of society, he was personally struggling.  Relationships were hard to maintain due to the schedule, and he was trying hard to deal with parental relationships that were highly dysfunctional as he grew up.  His standup career ended in 1981 after a third successive night of something going wrong in his Vegas King Tut act.  What looked to be anger on the surface was actually the grind of the last 20 years coming to a head.  He walked away from his act at that point and spent time healing the rifts between him and members of his family.  

What made this book so fascinating was to see the reality behind the public image.  It's easy to imagine that actors, singers, and comedians have it all...  popularity, money, travel, friends.  But really, it's a hard existence full of doubt, hard work, and loneliness.  Born Standing Up shows that being funny is painfully difficult, and comes at a high cost.  While I've always liked Steve Martin as an entertainer, I'm now pretty sure that I'd also like the real Steve Martin, the man who's there when the film stops rolling and the footlights are turned off.  This is an excellent read...

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:09 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

05/08/2008

Finally the torture comes to an end... the application stays in production!

Category Software Development

So *this* is what it's like to live without a knot in your gut 24/7...  I nearly forgot how nice it was.  :)

So yesterday I did some more significant "tuning" in my application, hoping to cut down on db lookups, recalcs, and writes.  I had to make a few concessions on the nice interface we had, but a "nice interface" is useless if the app won't run.  Finally, I made the suggestion that we "auto-register" everyone in order to cut down the number of new documents coming in at the same time everyone was trying to pick team members and such.  It was also a nice gesture to give the 100 points to everyone for putting up with the inconveniences.  

So this morning I was seated at my desk, bright and early at 6 am, watching the app run.  We have one office in a time zone one hour earlier, so there was a small bit of activity.  The first hour looked to be OK, so we opened up the navigation path feature around 7.  People started joining teams, rosters started forming, and views kept refreshing.  By 8:30, I was tentatively convinced that we had finally gotten the application to a point where it was behaving well enough to call it "live" for good.

The sense of relief is overwhelming...

I spent the afternoon monitoring the app and writing a "lessons learned" paper.  That one is more focused on what we as a team should do differently next time to make the whole process run more smoothly.  This includes user interface choices we made, discarded during "tuning", and perhaps could have kept after all.  I could have done a better job making the Team Roster and the Individual Logsheet have stronger separate identities in the views, as there were some issues on removing people from teams.  We had the concept of substitutes who could be used during the program if an original member dropped out.  Unfortunately, some teams thought they needed their subs immediately, thereby giving them more than the 10 person limit...  At least by noting all this, we'll have a much better module for the next team event in a couple of months.

The other post-mortem goes here...  What did I learn from this event?  
  • Perspective - I take customer service and support extremely personally.  If I don't deliver on what I said I would, I failed.  This particular group is one I really enjoy working with, and it hurt to not have performed up to my expectations.  On the other hand, 100000 people died in a storm in Myamar, and I'm stressed over a four-week employee wellness program that's not getting off to a stellar start.  Even though we all shared that feeling, it didn't help me feel any less responsible.
  • 100% involvement - When you've done something for a long time (10+ years of Notes development), there are some times when you tend to go into "auto-pilot" mode.  You've built widget X a dozen times, you pull the code from a prior iteration, and in short order you have a functional app.  But did you *really* need to have "NoCache" on those dbLookups?  All 20 of them?  That get refreshed on every field change?  Did you even freaking NOTICE you had done that????  That lack of attention on my part is not acceptable to me.  There's little difference in delivering something in 4 hours vs. the 6 hours you should have taken to review field settings, hide-when formulas, duplicate code, unused fields, etc.  It's not the user's job to find and report that stuff in testing.  It's my job to give them something to test that is as close as I can get it to "go live" based on their request.  This whole subject is probably the biggest personal issue that I've internally dwelt on during the week.  Consider it a wake-up call...
  • The Notes community is an incredible thing - Before I go further, I should note that I'm due for a slight adjustment in my SSRI meds.  It's the whole "Prozac poop-out" tolerance issue.  One of the side effects of going back to "the old Duffbert" is that I can easily get more emotional (read: wet eyes) than normal.  Having said that...  I was incredibly touched this week by all of you.  From feedback and encouragement via Twitter, to Skype calls for consultation and support (and more encouragement), emails, IMs, etc.  Incredibly funny poetry that made me laugh at work, when all I really wanted to do was curl up in the fetal position.  People remembering my birthday (which is tomorrow) with cards, gifts, and even a phone call from New Zealand where it was already May 9th, serenaded by Mr. Sampson's family choir... For those who are part of this community, cherish it.  It's a rare thing, and it's something that I can't imagine not being part of...  Thank you all.

It's easy to say, in the midst of all the madness, that soon you'll look back at all this and laugh.  Rationally, I knew that would happen.  Emotionally, I was having second thoughts.  So rather than throw away what I paid dearly to learn these last four days, I'll be able to come back here and say "here is where I grew as a developer."

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:40 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (6)

05/07/2008

Admins... how they view themselves...

Category Humor

A picture named M2

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:41 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (2)

05/06/2008

It's humbling to put your code out there for others to see (subtitled: Just another day of frustration...)

Category Software Development

Ok...  so we have day 2 of my application that refuses to behave.  I stripped plenty of stuff out that, on review, could have been a bottleneck.  And twice we fired it up, only to peg the server at 100% again.  Granted, it took longer to do so, but it was still not good enough to leave in production.

Phigment offered via Twitter to take a look at the code for a second set of eyes, and I just got off the call with him.  Talking about feeling STOOOOOOOOPID!  He quite accurately pointed out a number of potential troublespots (after I thought I had already gotten rid of them all), along with suggestions for change.  This, coupled with something I brainstormed out with a user this afternoon, may well make this an app that will run like it *should* be running.

First off, my thanks to everyone who has chimed in and helped.  It's great to be part of such a strong community of Notes-aholics who care and work with each other without expecting much in return, knowing that they too will need help some day.

And to another point that hit me even harder...  It doesn't matter how long you've been coding and developing...  You have bad habits.  Having Phig dig into my code and ask "why" was rather embarrassing.  I know I'm better than some of the things he found, but you're going fast trying to meet deadlines.  You know you'll go back and clean up the repetitive code.  And you never do.  But it doesn't matter, as no one else will ever see it.  Until you have to ask for help.  I feel like I went from a 10 year developer to a 1 year developer repeated 10 times.  

I need to dwell on this idea of seeking out code reviews from others you respect...  For one, I don't want to repeat this week ever again, and two, I don't want to be that red-faced again.  I've definitely been given my much-needed reality check.


Posted by Tom Duff At 7:37 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (4)

05/05/2008

Boy, I haven't had that bad a day as a developer in a LONG time...

Category Software Development

We moved a new Notes app onto the server Friday, and we opened it up for the registration function this morning at around 7 am.  Within about 10 minutes, the CPU of the server was pegged at 100%.  Not good...

We modified a keyword document to close off the registration, dropped the users from the applications, and everything went back to normal (10% - 20% utilization).

Now, I would be OK with this if I could pinpoint a reason WHY this new app was going crazy.  Functionality-wise, it was working fine in development.  Obviously, I hadn't tested it under load of a large number of users starting to register.  I streamlined a few lookups, changed a few graphics to be image resources, dropped a couple of views that had some level of calculation in a column, and dropped a field (that I didn't need) that was being built as a text list upon saving a document.

We'll try again tomorrow morning with the new changes, as well as with the server and Notes admins monitoring things when we open it back up again.

I'd understand it if I had done some Java agent that was not releasing memory, or if I had agents stuck in a loop.  But there is no Java code in there, and there's only one agent scheduled to run once an hour (and I can tell in OpenLog it ran all of one second during our crisis).  I'm wondering if the @PickList function used to pick people for your "team" was having fits since the view of eligible people was being added to (new registrations) and deleted from (people chosen for a team) heavily during that initial registration.

Sigh...  I don't like being incompetent...

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:41 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (9)

05/04/2008

Book Review - The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally

Category Book Review Joe McNally The Moment It Clicks

I'm in awe of people who can take great pictures with seemingly little effort.  But in reality, those pictures are a combination of skill, knowledge, and not a small measure of luck.  Joe McNally, a very well-known photographer who has shot for Time, National Geographic, and others, "converses" with the reader in The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters.  You'll find out how his mind works to control lighting and scene to make those famous images.

Contents:
Shoot What You Love; Keep Your Eye in the Camera; The Logic of Light; There's Always Something to Bounce Light Off Of; Joe's Lighting Tips; Joe's Camera Bag; Joe's Grip and Lighting Gear; The Barroom; Glossary; Index

This book was born from a workshop where McNally was presenting.  He was sharing gems of experience, when it dawned on one of the attendees that capturing these nuggets of wisdom could be a perfect method for letting everyone get into the mind of a great photographer.  The format of the book consists mostly of two page spreads.  The right side shows the photo, and the left side is McNally sharing the story behind the image.  Not only does he share what it took to get the picture, but he also gets into the technical aspects of how it was lit and shot.  So much of what he does is based on lighting.  Too much, too little, bouncing off items, focussed lighting, ambient, etc...  When you get done, you'll never look at light in quite the same way again.

Will this book allow you to replicate the same types of shots that have made McNally famous?  No.  For one, he has hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment, and often has a budget to do things like renting elephants and hanging people from helicopters.  My guess is that you don't have that working for you.  Also, he doesn't use a "do this, then this, then this" approach.  He does talk about the equipment and settings, the lighting and circumstances, but it's more as if you were sitting in a pub talking to a best mate.  If you're not experienced on camera technology and terminology, you'll also miss a fair amount of the value.  But if you've done some work and become more than just a tourist with a camera, this can take you up another level or two.  

Or you can just look at the pictures and marvel that it's possible to do those kinds of things with a camera...

Posted by Tom Duff At 11:44 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)