Bookends - April 06

Posted on April 30, 2006
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Bookends is an collection of some interesting web sightings for each month. Here are odd happenings in April.

• The month started with the fools day, with some people celebrated in their own ways. Then came the first annual Naked CSS day, on the 5th, when websites shed their inhibitions about how they look.
• Then it was the tax day and as Marc Fluery was basking in the new millions, Scott McNealy stepped down as CEO of Sun Microsystems.
• I celebrated my birthday on the 14th, by giving this blog a new look-n-feel. Let me know if you like it. My article on Open Source CMS was published in EOSJ.

Workplace Issues #5: Working Hard

Posted on April 25, 2006
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Innovation has become one of our chief differentiators, and that creativity is crucial for anyone who wants to move up. However, for most individuals, it is really hard (if not impossible) to be creative if that individual is overworked. In this time and age, it is accepted that most adults need less than seven hours of sleep. A smart employee, if overworked, can become a mediocre employee in due course. And this will have a direct bearing on the company’s performance, when most employees struggle to meet their goals. Working hard is not the same as working smart. A smart worker organizes his time and work, and makes the best use of it. He has a good understanding of some of the productivity tools and shares his work with others. Hard workers mistake the long hours put in as results, and not as efforts. Here are some suggestions to maintain a balance in ones life, by working smarter - not harder.

• Organizing your task list: An employee is hired to fill in a role, and is matched against a Job description. Make a list of all the tasks that have been assigned to you, and match them against your job description. Tasks that match the profile, should be the priority. The ‘other’ tasks should either be ignored or reassigned. Talk to your supervisor about the non-matching tasks, and justify why it doesn’t belong in your plate. If you have agreed to do tasks for other departments, let them know that you have realigned yourself against a set of primary duties and secondary roles will be placed on the back burner. Better still, shift it back to the originator. It is important that employees add value, by wearing multiple hats. But that should not come at the expense of your sanity.
• Understand your natural strengths: Assess yourself on your strengths and weaknesses. Find out the time when you are most productive. Some people prefer to work during off-hours, simply because they are less distractions and more opportunity to focus. Arrive at a time slot that enhances your energy levels.
• Time Management: Time management is of the essence to have a successful life, both personal and professional. Time management is linked to a set of beliefs, attitudes, behaviors and skills that need to be developed and acted on. The psychology of time management is based on first examining our beliefs towards managing time, our attitude towards it and finally around our behavior. Irrational beliefs like there is never enough time or time planning takes time hinder our ability to effectively use time management tools. It could be as simple as making a to-do list and following up on with rigor and discipline. Or it can be a complex process, that may involve some training. In most cases a simple daily planner (followed with discipline) can provide gains of up to 50%.
• Do Many, but focus on one: Learn to do multiple (disjointed) things, like playing a computer game or taking a break, listen to music or plain old sit and stare. These all add up to providing that balance in life. are part of having “A Life.” Scientists are convinced that our brains need as much variety as our diets and that shifting focus, like a workout, helps keep your brain fit. The key is to focus on just that one thing, whatever that is.
• Visualize the “big” picture: What are the important values that matter to you? Is it financial compensation, recognition, fame, fulfilling relationships? Knowing what these are will help individuals understand what factors contribute to satisfaction, and help set the priorities in order. Note down what these and decide on what steps you need to take achieve the above goals.
• The above suggestions serve as a starting point, and not the finite set. It needs to be adapted to each individual, based on their uniqueness. Keep experimenting until you hit the right groove. Be flexible and forgiving, if any technique does not materialize immediately. That’s just you learning to work smarter.

  Technorati Tags: Job Burnout, Overworked, Workplace Issues, Productivity Tools, Working hard, Working smart

Top 5 Mistakes in OS Migrations

Posted on April 18, 2006
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Andy Astor, CEO of EnterpriseDB Corp. gave a presentation at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo conference called “Top Five Mistakes to Avoid in Migrating to Open-Source.” He emphasizes the need for an internal analysis and focus on avoiding the pitfalls given below.

1. Failure to minimize costs and risks associated with a migration.
2. Bringing in open-source for the wrong reasons. Astor believes that open-source can reduce costs, enhance security, increase business flexibility etc.
3. Fearing the unknown, including licensing concerns.
4. Ignoring the open-source community.
5. Ignoring the need for Support. Astor says “A commercial organization needs commercial support, You need to know that there’s someone on the planet to fix things that go wrong.”

Although Astor is trying to pitch in the migration services for his database engine, I agree with Astor on all of the points. I however believe that it can be applied equally to any open source implementations. My two cents, against each of the pitfalls, are provided below.

1. This is true with both proprietary and open source projects. Organizations need to have a cost discipline and a well defined strategy to mitigate risks, including derisking. Browse into prior histories and/or best practices and make the right decisions.
2. As always technology is just an enabler of a business case. Although open source technologies can substantially lower the TCO, it is still a technology and it needs to be enabled with the right processes. Also remember that open source does not have to replace all of the proprietary systems. They can coexist, and the two systems can be easily integrated.
3. Although I agree that understanding licenses is not hard, it can be a bit overwhelming for most IT/IS shops. Browse the web, or get some open source consultants to demystify the fears.
4. It is almost impossible for medium business to be actively involved with the community. I feel that organizations are already supporting the community by embracing open source. Further looking at the open source community as a resource pool (for potential employment) breaks the very fabric of open source. Community of developers working for a cause (project) is what makes the open source so different. Instead organizations should spread the good word about open source projects, provided they fill the void.
5. This is absolutely true. Think of the community as a global virtual workforce, you cant always bank on them to reach out. Organizations should instead invest in an insurance policy by obtaining paid support from open source vendors.

Remember open-source is not a fad, it is here to stay. So if you have a need for reducing acquisition costs (and who doesn’t), make open-source your goal. It may not be the law, but make it your right.

Technorati Tags: open source implementations, open source technologies, migration services, proprietary systems