Planning the Intranet I

As we are currently about to start implementing a sharepoint environment, this also implies that we will have to plan the Intranet.

Currently we do not have any. Well, we have the intranet site of our English company headquarters, but that is hardly used, and does not interact with us. Meaning that we cannot add our content, links to our tools, etc. The Sharepoint implementation will give us the possibility of having our own intranet site. This is, I believe, very important. Mainly because being an IT company with a lot of different teams, spread over different floors using only email as a way of “digital communication” is … say… a bit outdated (Heavy understatement). This is especially true if you know that most problems we experience internally are due to communication problems (either lack of, incorrect or simply non-existing).

The intranet could change that. Could, I say, because I believe that if not planned and managed correctly and across the board, an intranet can cause more problems than it was designed to resolve.

Management manages this company in a very typical style, you could really apply the machine metaphor to this one! Top-Down and in very linear streams. It is really hard here to make different dept. managers talk with each other and even more if they have to work together.

Lately there is a lot if buzz about 2.0 technologies, and how they can benefit communication outside work, but also in the office. Examples are company wiki’s, facebook-style people profiles etc.

I am now looking into planning the whole new environment. Not because I’m asked to, but because “I can see the cloud hanging above me, and don’t feel to wait till its raining”… Call it being pro-active (but I will dedicate another post to that;) ).

Personally I would like to make sure the intranet will give us these communication advantages and I believe that is also has to be future proof. My biggest fear is that the intranet ends up to be absorbed by “the Machine”, managed by a few upstairs who only care about their specific parts/departments or tools.

I see that the modern organisation is flat, as flat as possible without interfering with operations. If you look at these new communication technologies, you see that these are enablers for this. Maybe they even push organisations is this direction. The problem is: “how to apply modern tools in a company whose management thinks in an old-fashioned way”

Killer Game

The last couple of months, I was involved in a violent spree of killing in my office. We launched a cluedo-type killing game with about 90 employees and with an Asus 4G 701 eee-pc as the main prize.

To be very honest, it was a lot of fun. Also quite some paranoia, and in general I believe this game caused an increase in productivity (as your desk was one of the few places you could not be killed).

I teamed up with a  friend, and we made a deal. She really needed the eee pc, as her laptop was broken. Because she’d use it mainly for watching m0vies, and facebooking I offered her a deal. I would fix and upgrade her laptop, and I’d get the eee pc. She took the deal (’cause she’s my friend, or ’cause its a good deal) and we started the game.

This is the Story:

ISC KILLER – The Santiago Nasar Story

The nickname I used in the game explains how my expectations where set:

El día en que lo iban a matar, Santiago Nasar se levantó a las 5:30 de la mañana para esperar…“

Since I did not expect to stay a live much more than one day, I decided to take the name from Santiago Nasar, the main character from a book. The book he’s from (Crónica de una Muerte Anunciada – Gabriel García Márquez) starts with the above phrase. “Appropriate“, I thought.

The first round went smooth…. My first kill did not take too long; she fell on the second day of the game. What I did not know by then, is the importance of my next action (or the lack of it).

The plan was good. I would let my victim alive and watch how people start dying (as I knew she was good) and on the last day of the first round I would finish her off.

As I said, the plan was good, but even a perfect assassin makes mistakes. The Friday the first round ended, I went to work a bit early (I know, strange, but then again, there is a reward at the end) and had my weapon (a balloon prepared. What I did not knew is that my victim would be in a training the whole morning!

It was obvious I was unable to kill twice in the first round, which left me with the idea I was removed from the game.

Right after the first round, I went for a two week Christmas holiday. Relaxed and without any fear when turning corners.

When I came back from my days off, I was convinced I was not in the game anymore, and I was quite happy to find out I still was. This made me decide to take it a bit more seriously and start killing…

I used my twitter feed (http://twitter.com/alexkbcn) to log the rest of the game, this would help me to talk less about it (which is helpful in this game) and have people follow what’s going on. Resuming:

ISC Killer game, a assassination Game we play in our office just entered the second round!…. guess what.. I’m still in! Santiago Nasar 1:44 AM Jan 13th.

One victim down! 1:44 AM Jan 13th.

ok second victim just dropped….. 15 to go! 11:16 PM Jan 13th.

received name of next victim. Don’t know the guy and I’m not sure if that makes it easier or more difficult 1:40 AM Jan 14th.

ok, found a picture of the guy 5:42 AM Jan 19th.

got a spy on him now, hope to get him today!! 4:02 AM Jan 20th.

got tipped that he was leaving… followed the poor guy down, and … Paf! Dead by a Beach-Towel! 5:42 AM Jan 20th.

aiaiai! got my next victim… he/she is a bit too close and I’m not sure whether  to use a spy in this case. 6:46 AM Jan 20th.

… kill someone with a Santa Claus hat??!! 6:48 AM Jan 20th.

looking around the office for a Santa hat.. 6:52 AM Jan 20th.

Santa hat located 12:41 AM Jan 21st.

Santa hat in the bag, and awaiting my chance. 5:43 AM Jan 21st.

where is my victims’ schedule? 12:35 AM Jan 22nd.

almost got killed yesterday! almost!! Yesterday evening, about to leave, I found a guy waiting suspiciously at the door of the office 12:36 AM Jan 22nd.

Monday! 3 people left in the game 9:11 PM Feb 1st.

almost got killed yesterday! almost!! Yesterday evening, about to leave, I found a guy waiting suspiciously at the door of the office 12:36 AM Jan 22nd.

so we called that one… “doing overtime” 12:37 AM Jan 22nd.

followed my victim out for a cigarette yesterday evening…. when leaving the room… Bang!! number 4 down. 10:50 PM Jan 22nd.

awaiting message with new victim. 10:50 PM Jan 22nd.

new victim received…. Have to kill him/her on a different floor, with a BIBLE!! 12:35 AM Jan 23rd.

new victim! couldn’t get any worse… it’s the guy sitting next to me!?! 10:59 PM Jan 27th.

weapon to use: A monopoly Board! that will be tough, as none of the expats I work with brought their monopoly boards along to Spain! 11:00 PM Jan 27th.

cutting pasting a printed monopoly board now. 12:36 AM Jan 28th.

where can I get a Monopoly Board?? (without paying for it obviously)… after all, I’m still Dutch! 5:54 AM Jan 29th.

ok monopoly board located… I LOVE TWITTER!!! 6:52 AM Jan 29th.

Monday! 3 people left in the game 9:11 PM Feb 1st.

ok 2 people left! Waited for my victim in the staircase for over an hour!! Worth the wile though! 1:42 AM Feb 2nd.

managed to agree on a cease-fire for today… both me, and the last killer left need a break! 1:43 AM Feb 2nd.

soooo nice when there is no need to worry! 6:27 AM Feb 2nd.

ok, tomorrow the game will end.. (I hope) 7:13 AM Feb 2nd.

spent my morning waiting in a staircase, only to find out my victim already passed-by. Better luck next time 10:29 PM Feb 2nd.

arghh, my victim came in 3 minutes before me!! all the waiting for nothing 4:27 AM Feb 3rd.

now working from a different floor, as my killer is posting in front of my office. 4:27 AM Feb 3rd.

jeeez, she’s patient 4:31 AM Feb 3rd.

had a long wait this morning! after one hour she came in and escaped me through the stairs…. Bad luck again! 12:22 AM Feb 4th.

Yesterday, my absence at my desk, even though everyone knew where I was, caused a huge problem!! 12:24 AM Feb 4th.

..and this problem yesterday made me decide to give up. After my long wait this morning, I asked my killer if she could make an end to it. 12:25 AM Feb 4th.

and she just did. 12:25 AM Feb 4th.

Último momento, Santiago Nasar a muerto” 12:26 AM Feb 4th.

Solutions Architect? – II

This is a continuing story. Because I was not sure how to reply to the question asked, I did the least effective… I asked my boss. Not my direct report, but his boss.

This caused quite a small storm in Barcelona. (completely unrelated to the devastating effects of wind force 10 this weekend – Pictures here -) the Service Support Manager in question reacted weird. I’m not sure, but to me it looked like he did not really know what to do with my question.

I can imagine partly that that is so (which would not be a big problem to me, as nobody knows everything), However it seemed to me he felt attacked somehow.

The issue is that we currently do not have a Solution Architect and his point was (I guessed) that we don’t want one neither. He did not say it, but I interpreted his way of explaining as: “Get that idea out of your head!”.
When I asked him the initial question, it was more to see if he could maybe help me planning my career path towards such a position and nothing more (I believe carreer management is an important task for a manager?!?).
When he was finishing his wave of discontent he ended by telling me that “this issue is something I will have to raise with the Director!”, making this story… To be continued….

Am I a (Junior) Solutions Architect?

Currently as I explained in the past, my role is the one of Technical leader. This, in our company is defined as:

“To identify and exploit opportunities for service improvement within the ISC (our office) environment – both internally and within specific customer accounts. To drive and coordinate initiatives designed to achieve superior levels of service in line with Computacenter’s contractual agreements. To take responsibility for the managing of projects to enable teams to meet & surpass productivity and service standards.”

I received a mail today in which a high positioned manager in my company asked me who in our office acts as a solutions architect.Now the role of Solutions Architect is one I had in the back of my head as a possible next step in my Career. I have never been a person that knows since day one what I want  in the future (being a Gemini in IT), but lately I have been looking into several different career paths ranging from consultancy to Solutions Architect.

When I read that mail this morning, It was the first time the name Solutions Architect role caught my attention. I believe it did not before, due to the enormous amount of job titles available in IT (from which I believe most to be made up by HR staff that was not sure how to classify their staff – Also I sometimes get the feeling that people think that longer job titles are for more important roles, kind of like an extension of their …)

I found that Microsoft offers a Certified Architect (MCA) certification path, which would prepare for this role. On their website they give a good idea what the role consists of(from their point of view):

“Communicate mainly with business owners within a company and with the technical staff that delivers the solution. The projects they work on affect the enterprise and they design the solution to take advantage of the existing assets, integrate them into the existing environment, follow the enterprise architecture, and solve the business problems of the business owner or unit. They are primarily responsible for taking a project through envisioning and design, and are more consultative to the project manager during the development and deployment phases, ensuring the project stays true to the architecture, time-lines, and budgets. If problems occur, they are escalated to the solutions architect.”

This is perfectly in line with my Job Description. Now I am aware of the differences between both definitions, but believe them to be very comparable. (Also the rest of my job description, which I cannot publish because of confidentiality) looks very similar.

The next days Ill be looking into this, and mostly on how I can now direct my role to that of a Solutions Architect.

un-fonned

Last week, Ive been looking into the whole idea of using the La Fonera Router to extend my wireless coverage. I have changed the plan a bit, as I started learning about the new possibilities of my new La Fonera router

Since the FON hot-spot I have close by, does not reach me I have been looking into alternative solutions.

I found the DD-WRT firmware. Supposedly after flashing the router with this firmware, the very limited FON router turns into a highly configurable router, able to act as a wireless bridge or a repeater.

However when I started reading I quickly found that the whole subject is quite extended, not to say complex. There are many many versions of the dd-wrt firmware available, and an equally amount of way’s to “brick” your fon router. (leave it unusable… as a ). Consider this a warning, as I believe to have bricked it twice, and was just plain lucky to get it back again.

There are many websites that explain how to upgrade your firmware, and I wont explain the whole process here, as I think it differs a lot depending on the type of fonera router you’ve got.

I recieved a La Fonera 2201 router (fon+) and managed to upgarde the firmware finally with the explanation given here: [LINK] (I also used the firmware linked to on that site. This however, is an older version. Use the link below to get the same with SP1 included)

I managed flashing it with the the V24 firmware, and the router booted fine. Opening The DD-WRT router configuration menu gave me the feeling my laptop reconnected to a different access-point! completely different, and it actually looked like a real full-blown router.

However, (not sure its due to the treatment the router received, or the old version of the firmware Ive put on) after a couple of hours of use (and after making about a thousand of undocumented configuration changes), the router keeps resetting and therefore it is not fit yet for a connection.

I have downloaded the newer version of the firmware(V24-SP1) here, and will give it a try tonight, hoping the SP 1 will fix the restart issue.

The second part of my plan did not change. When i am able to set the router up as a repeater, I am sure that with a stronger antenna, (I will probably modify my satellite dish with a can-tenna, Bas… if you’re reading this…. send me some pictures of your “vergiet-tenne”) I can repeat one of the very weak open wifi signals I receive.

For the moment, I did some tests (while the flashed router was still working fine) and the EZ12 Windsurfer, a small reflector on top of the FON router already gave me some surprising results: I could connect to the double amount of access points, and the signal of the ones I used to receive with my laptop wifi card has increased allmost a 20%! Ans that is still just inside my appartment.

New Notes App Launched!

Last week I launched a new Domino Application. I believe that this application is going to have more impact than any application I have made in the last 2 years. Several Teams over the world will start using it soon, to log all the work 3rd party Engineers do for us.

You can understand that as the engineers, usually working for our partners, and bill us for each intervention, this is a very important tool. The Idea is very simple, interventions get logged, partner information is shown, related to the country the intervention will take place, etcetera. Loads of functionality, but hardly any difficult coding. Most of the tool has been done in Domino Designer, using the Formula Language. I have added a view-only web based interface, for off-site teams to access the info.

This week, we have finished training all the people who will be using the tool, and that too went pretty smoothly.

Some Screen-shots:

Learning…..

lately I do not post that often. Well, to be honest Ive never been a very frequent poster. My problem is, if you can call it a problem, is that I prefer to do that to write about what I could be doing. Luckily enough, there are some gaps at work, in which I can dedicate some time to update this blog.

Last time I was excited about the speed in which it is possible to, from no knowledge whatsoever, build a decent database based web application. Now, a couple of weeks later, I started the Visual Web Developer again to see if I still manage.

The result is surprisingly Yes, I manage!! Still on a very basic level, but I had no time in the last two weeks to study, read or watch any of the training materials out there. I had to work on a couple of domino projects. To be fair, its very hard to work on both platforms simultaneously. I get too confused by the different terminologies etc.

Today, I will start to have a look at what I am capable of building without using the help or alike. This is a technique I often use to learn something and allows me to know exactly in what areas I still lack some knowledge. Also I would really like to know if there are any other Domino app designers that had to make this switch to MS. I guess there must be loads, mainly because in Europe I believe the businesses are more and more moving towards a non-domino environment. Soon I will explain my findings. However if there is anyone out there that can help me draw up my “road map to MS”, I welcome your comments/hints/help!

The Sharepoint Adventure – Part III

For a couple of weeks I did not have any spare time to look into the share-point Implementation project. Last week, however, I managed to get some days free to look into the plans.
I am working with another technical lead on this, and he is taking some pressure of our back, so we can really study this well.

Last Thursday, I decided to take a look at the technology behind it… ASP of course!

I used to (more that years ago) build websites as a freelancer. As a freelancer, my budget was limited (budget : = @Number(“0″) + @Text(“€”)!) and I learned to develop using PHP, ans MySQL. This worked more than fine for me. Also Learning PHP to a level you can use it to connect to databases, insert data, retrieve etc. is not too hard.
And the best of all… It´s all Free!!

Now however, in the office I am working, the price of legal software is not important anymore, and on top of that, we receive the Microsoft Action-pack, with new releases and training licences. This opened up all kind of experimentation with MS technologies.

Last Thursday I installed a copy of Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express, with SQL Server 2008. Biggest surprise of all… Its a Free download! Combining that with the standard IIS Server which comes free with most windows systems, you have a pretty nice Web development platform.

Since the interface confused me a bit, coming from Domino Designer, I started watching the MS Training videos , and over the weekend I followed a couple of tutorials.

I found myself building a complete application by Saturday! To be very honest, I have always been advocating Open Source and Free software. However It looks like Microsoft is taking care of their low budget developers and it works! There are quite some similarities with Domino Developer (v7), even though VWD looks much more web-facing and using the toolbox is a real joy! also the whole data-layer architecture, makes connections with databases something I understand!!

Well… Ill stop now, before I sound like an Uncle Bill add.

European Championship´s on

Not yet, but in a months time, well have the European football/soccer Championship. Great, I really love it!! In this part of Spain though, the people do not tend to watch a lot. The Catalans don´t feel Spanish and don’t get in the mood as the rest of Europe. The Dutch go crazy, everything turns in to orange, the national color.

Now, the really interesting part is that in the office, I’m asked to set up a system, so most employees can watch the games. The rules are: Nothing Illegal and No (Bandwidth) problems on the network.

2 Years ago, with the World Cup, we built a streaming media server, with the help of the windows media encoder, and had a workstation per desk that connected and played the stream. Our office then was smaller, and therefore we had less interference with in and outgoing traffic.

Now my first Idea was to have the lab set-up with a streaming media server, and a digital DVB Receiver. Then patch about 5 desks per floor (3 floors) to the lab network. I will still have to see if that is possible, but please, if you have any Ideas…..?

The Sharepoint Adventure – Part II

Well, some more things got clear to us this week. By the end of this year the company will start to implement a new environment based on Office 2007 and a full MOSS implementation. We are not sure yet if our branch office here in Barcelona will get its own server, or if we will depend on our UK main offices.

I certainly hope we will get our own server, as we have a very strong need for ad-hoc development of small database driven and workflow applications. If we would depend on the UK, we will have to pay for each small request, and beeing a branch office, well be at the end of the queue.

Therefore we, after submiting a businesscase that supports the above, we have been given green light by the Branch manager to go ahead and develop a Sharepoint learning environment, but keeping in mind that a part of this learning environment could be used for production eventually.

Since we have opened a test-lab last month. Set-up by both me and my collegue tech-lead we have squatted a meetingroom and set up 12 pc´s running a Virtual windows XP workstation ans a PC running 2003 Server. The server runs as DC, SQL Server and Exchange. I can imagine you must think we have a beast of a box there, but it´s nothing out of the extraordinary. With a Dual core P4 and 2GB of ram, it´s not the fastest server but it does the job. It is a great help for training newcomers, often new to IT.

The server however will not be able to run either WSS or MOSS properly. therefore we have asked to use a server we moved from an abandoned DR Site as the box for sharepoint. We will patch it from our comms´-room to the lab and…Play! This one is a older G3, but runs a quad core Xeon processor, and we´ve ordered 5GB of RAM to get to a total of 8. now that is something we can play with!