Much has been said and read about Cloud Computing in the last few months, I think my over reaching comment on the whole scene is that it’s the usual IT Jedi mind trick  – one solution/one vendor/both can solve all your IT problems. I believe it pays to retain a degree of cynicism around anything IT people say, as they usually mould a technology and then wonder how best to fit it around you, rather than the other way around.

I think there’s also the automatic reaction from CxOs that shifting IT costs under a single “outsourced” line on the profit and loss sheet makes sound fiscal sense. I don’t believe that’s true for a second. There is room for Cloud based services with no residual business value (a University’s student e-mail is a fine example, or maybe a corporate blog), but in the case of commercial data and intellectual property, I’m no more likely to park my car on someone else’s driveway than I am dropping gigabytes of data onto someone else’s data warehouse a couple of thousand miles away.

The single point I want to make in this posting is that shifting your core IT services into someone else’s domain is fraught with problems. Recently there have been high profile outages with both Amazon and Microsoft BPOS, leaving customers with a degraded (or non existent) service for hours, days and weeks. Let’s be clear about one thing – when IT services are kept “on prem” (yuck) or in house, outages happen all the time. Even with SLAs, SLSes and the like. Shit breaks, it’s a fact of life.

Now then, go back and re-read those articles I posted above. What do they both have in common? The fact that customers were not kept informed about what the issue was, when it would be fixed and what they would do post mortem to mitigate similar failures in future. I believe this is the one area where in house IT triumphs. In a previous life of running centralised, high profile IT services, I always tried to communicate what was happening during failures and how long we thought it would take to fix it. I didn’t always get it right, but I made a big effort and I’d like to think people appreciated it.

With in house services, there’s always an arse to kick. You always know specifically whose arse to kick and the buck didn’t stop with a faceless multi national company with a call centre out the back of beyond. You can call a mobile number and speak to the technical person who’s standing over a smoking server. You can offer your support (however limited that might be). You can pat them on the back when they recover the service against all odds (server rooms with 3 inches of water on the floor, power cables hot to the touch) and you can sit them down to talk over how to prevent happening again.

Much is said about communication. Less is said about the lack of it. I think the inherent strength of in house IT is the ability to directly communicate with the people who build, maintain and in some cases, love the services they provide. As soon as you sign the contract to put any of that infrastructure out of the door, it’s an automatic slap across the face for your IT people. As a result, they’re less likely to go that extra mile to love that cloud based service, not least because getting to it is obfuscated by layers of bureaucracy at the vendor end.

Yes, cloud computing has it’s advantages. We’ve been using the cloud before we started calling it that. Hotmail, GMail, Dropbox, X Drive. etc. There’s nothing new here, someone just invented a fancy name for it. Remember though that once you’ve opened the door to cloud based core services, you’re making a fundamental shift in your philosophy. Just make sure you’re fully informed before you do that. In house IT may cost that bit more, but some things are worth more than just a few hundred quid.

I hadn’t realised it was so long since I last blogged. I feel the need at the moment due to my recent trip to India with work. I’m often on the road as part of the job, but every now and again fate deals you a great hand and you get to see things most mortals don’t. As such, I was invited to Novell’s India Developer Centre to meet the guys and gals who write ZENworks. For those not in the know, just be aware that it’s the vast piece of software I go around installing and cajoling the most 😉

I was extremely apprehensive before I went. I’ve only been outside of Europe a grand total of three times, and that was to head strictly west to North America, not east towards countries less well off than our own. That said, the journey did start with a trip on an Airbus A380, the largest passenger jet around. I was excited about this, as there aren’t too many around. Don’t think I’m being glib when I say it’s just like a plane but a lot bigger. I was a bit underwhelmed by the whole experience, but it did have really cool touch screens in the back of the seat with movies on demand, so I decided to watch “Unstoppable”, “The Expendables” (much better the second time around, though butchered for sensitive Arab audiences) and half of an amazing documentary called “Inside Job” (more about that later).

As you can’t get directly to Bangalore from Manchester, we had to go via Dubai. We got there about 1am local time, and I was surprised to see much huge crowds of folks around the terminal building. Apparently the place comes alive at night, and this was true. I also got greeted by the VIP service, who got me through a security fast lane, which was a total blur. Both times they met me (going out and coming back), the lady greeting me called me “Mr Chris”, which I found amusing in a cute kind of way!

The thing that struck me most during the week out there was that the Indians are lovely people who are almost congenitally nice to strangers. I don’t like talking down to people and I don’t like them talking down to me. I like to treat everyone as equal, but it was an odd sight to see hotel staff stop in the corridor as you approached them, put their hands behind their back and say “Good Morning/Afternoon” etc and not move until you passed them. I’ve stayed in hotels all over the UK and been called all kinds of things – “mate” “pal” (my least favourite, it has to be said) and I think I even got a “Guv” once in London, but in India it was always “Sir”.

The other thing that struck me is that although there is a lot of squalor and under privileged living, people just seem to get on with it. The roads are barmy, and lines are very much for illustrative purposes only. We went to the Bull Temple, which is a big deal for Indians. When local kids in there saw that we were UK and US tourists, they treated us like rock stars, wanting to shake our hand and say hello. All very affable, and not threatening at all. We did get besieged by beggars outside, and giving them 10 rupees made them eternally grateful. When I say that it’s 70 rupees to the pound, this gives you a bit of an idea of what the standard of living is like.

Kids play on mounds of rubbish and the rubbish trucks drop their loads on the side of the road wherever there is a gap – no separating paper, bottles and garden waste here!

There’s a lot more to tell, but if you’re interested in the rest, head over to my Flickr set…

I often remark that in order to be a good photographer, you have to have an eye for a good shot. I don’t think I have this, but every now and again, inspiration strikes. I’m especially pleased with this shot of a Scottish sunset, taken earlier this week…

What makes a good leader?

I thought long and hard about this post – many miles rode on the bike and many laps of the swimming pool. I felt inspired by memories of Churchill speech anniversaries and somewhat conversely, the many digital column inches in the IT press dedicated to the HP/Mark Hurd saga. It got me thinking, what makes a good leader? I’ve also become unashamedly addicated to Undercover Boss on Channel 4!

It’s true that if you ask 100 people that question, you’re sure to get 100 different answers, because every employee or group member responds to a different personal stimulus. Some people are “kick up the backside” people, and some are “arm around the shoulder” people. Of course there are all kinds of subtle shades of grey in between. That said, you’ll probably find a number of places where a wish list of leader’s personal attributes overlap between one person and another.

I’ve worked for all kinds of leaders so far in my career. Some were hands off, some were hands on. Some were calm and collected, others edgy and moody. Some were great communicators, others you literally didn’t see for weeks on end. I personally prefer the “hands off” approach, because I’ve enough self motivation and discipline to get on with it, but others prefer to be pushed. Let’s take a look at some of the things I’ve observed in my career so far…

“My door is always open”

This is a corporate favourite. The CEO or other C-Level executive tries to connect to the wider workforce by giving the impression that their office door is always open for employees to come in and express their views on how things can be improved for the greater good. This can and does work well in smaller companies, say 70 or less. A company of this size is still small enough to be relatively personal, and generally you find most employees know everyone in the company, so this can work.

However, in larger companies, my experience tells me that this can be potentially divisive. In organisations upward of 500+ people, there are teams, organisational divisions, layers of middle management that can vary in depth. The point here is that a low ranking member of the workforce strolling straight into the CEO’s office with some blunt recommendations for improvement (or to voice concern over some middle management decisions) can mean that already the chain of command has been circumvented. The next thing the middle manager knows, he’s in the CEO’s office being grilled as to why productivity or quality levels are falling, or personal relationships have become strained.

By “leaving the door open”, the CEO has created  a perfect storm of giving an unhappy employee a direct route to the top and cutting out the very structure that’s put there to ensure issues are dealt with quickly, quietly and informally. If you’re going to use this ideal, be careful how you use it, and don’t create additional problems when you’re trying to nip them in the bud.

Go back to the shop floor once in a while

If there’s one thing leaders can be guilty of, it’s that they can end up being enclosed in a management bubble. That’s usually through no fault of their own, but they tend to look at the much larger picture. How do we fit into the market? How is the quality of our product or service? Is our marketing message getting through? How can we reduce costs and improve cash flow?

By going back to the shop floor, CEO’s can gain immediate respect from their employees because they roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty and see what the daily issues are. I’ve always said that a company’s #1 asset is it’s employees, but it’s unfortunate that sometimes organisations see their employees more as a hindrance than the engine that drives a company. Undercover Boss has shown me that workers at the “coal face” generally have great pride in their work and have pride in the brand they’re representing. They often go over and above the call of duty for the customer by working longer unpaid hours, performing additional tasks to make the customer happy and generally developing personal trusted relationships with the customer. Latterly, this removes the layer of “us and them” and the customer sees the supplier as a friend and not someone to be treated at a distance.

I remember several years ago, my head of section promised to spend time on the shop floor, just to see first hand what happened at each site on a daily basis. This would remove him from his bubble, promote positivity within site staff and also mean that he could speak to customers face to face and find out what they liked and didn’t like about what we did and how we did it. I noticed several interesting things from this commitment:-

– Site manager’s initial reactions were one of scorn. “He’ll never do that”, “he doesn’t have a clue what we’re faced with” etc

– The section head was visibily nervous at the prospect and did not inspire confidence he would follow through on the commitment

– He gave off the impression (to me at least) that his “bubble” provided a security blanket he could not live without

– He did not provide firm dates for visiting sites, did not interface with site managers on what his tasks would be and did not outline mechanisms for how he would feed back what he saw

From the above, we can learn a few key points:-

– Make the commitment to work on the shop floor, wherever that might be (even if the site is not a commutable distance)

– Provide firm dates on when you’re going to go (preferably within the next quarter, not “sometime early next year” etc.)

– Ensure the time period on the shop floor is sufficient to see many different customer/employee scenarios (ie. a week, not one or two days)

– Notify site/middle managers of your intention to feed back your observations at the earliest available opportunity, detailing the framework you’ll be using to do this (one to ones with managers, larger meeting of all managers, written reports and feedback of wider issues up the management chain to the board, if appropriate)

– Don’t be afraid to criticise failings if you can do it constructively – no-one wants to hear negative comments, but if the ultimate goal is improvement, employees will buy into the process very quickly

– Provide praise where appropriate too – you will find stories of individual excellence where you least suspect it

– Keep an open mind, without this, the whole process is a waste of everyone’s time

– Rewards need not be massively financial, think about structured training plans using in house resources or give someone a job title that reflects better their experience, skills and responsibilities

– More often than not, organisational or operational tweaks are more appropriate than wholesale changes to make improvements

In my particular example, this section head (to the best of my knowledge) never did follow through on his commitment.I’d like to think that had he done so, it would have been a rewarding experience for all concerned and we would have made organisational changes that would have benefitted all.

“Communication breakdown..it’s always the same….”

Ah, communication. Often talked about, often stressed as vital, often missed completely. But then again, communication is a very expansive term, can we distill it down to make better sense?

We often think of communication within an organisation as flowing from the top down, from the board to the coal face and on things such as “how is the business doing”, “changes we are making”, “why the CEO has a new BMW”. OK, maybe the last point is erroneous,  but think about it, is that what an employee on the shop floor is likely to be thinking about you? Do they feel disenfranchised?

The above example is a common mistake in business. While it is vital to have an information flow from the top down on such matters on how well the organisation is performing, future plans and more, it’s equally important to ensure the flow of information is bi-directional, not uni-directional. How can management improve services without feedback from the delivery mechanism? Some of this refers back to my initial point of “my door is always open”. In a large organisation, ensure your workforce has an up to date organisational chart, so they know exactly who they are responsible to. Middle management is there for a reason, make sure you use it. Otherwise, it becomes needless bloat that reduces efficiency. Should structure changes be made, new divisions or teams created,  make sure the organisational chart reflects this. This way, an employee on the shop floor knows exactly who they should be speaking to.

One company I worked for had a quarterly “all hands” meeting, where all staff came to the head office for presentations from each section head and also from the CEO. I think this worked very well, and for those not present because of holiday or customer commitments, the session was recorded and made available for playback on the corporate intranet. This idea is brilliant and should be used where possible, because:-

– It is regular, and employees know exactly where and when the event will occur

– It is permanent. Even if it’s been a slow quarter, there’s always something to talk about

– Every department knows what the other departments are doing. Sometimes cross-pollination of skills and ideas can occur in an organic way

– It provides employees with an identity of who they are within the company as the engine that drives the business and if their department has had notable success that quarter, the whole business gets to hear about it personally and the section head and CEO can provide praise to those who deserve it – always a massive morale booster

However, on the other hand, there can be pitfalls:-

– Don’t regularly concentrate on particular departments for praise, this can lead to instant divisions (i.e. “This has been our best Sales quarter ever, aren’t Sales great?”)

– Remember the unsung heroes, without whom the organisation would not function. More often than not, these are the internal, unglamourous departments the customer rarely sees, such as the stores department, payroll, development etc.

As well as quarterly “all hands” meetings, it can often be useful to provide something more regular, such as a monthly e-mail or newsletter or a blog from the board that’s updated on a regular  basis. If you’re going to commit to something like this, make sure you do it regularly and you keep it up – employees will come to rely on it.

Remember the small things make a difference!

Whilst company barbeques and white water rafting expeditions are nice, it’s often the small things that make a bigger difference to your employees. To keep them motivated, reward such things like attendance with an £20 Amazon gift voucher (it needn’t cost the earth). Have an “Employee of the Month” scheme where excellence is rewarded and publicised, even if it’s an “internal” employee that customers never see.

Employees often react well to regular performance reviews – if all targets are met over a quarter, why not reward them with some personal improvement time? Or even an extra day’s holiday? Be creative – often the small things make the biggest difference.

Hopefully in my next blog, I can provide some thoughts on middle management and what techniques can make you a better leader. But for now, this blog entry has been by some distance my biggest ever. Please leave any and all feedback, I’d be interested to hear the experiences of others.

So for those folks who don’t know already. my relatively brief stint at Salford Software is officially over. I’m not blogging so much because I feel the need to share it with people (I’m already very surprised at how fast word gets out these days), but more because as a student of human behaviour, I’m intrigued to see how quickly, without my help, urban rumour, myth and downright inaccuracies take hold.

It’s understandable to some extent that when someone leaves their job without any prior warning, it’s assumed that he or she did something that became a sackable offence. Therefore, when I spoke to some current and past customers after I’d left who had been friends for years, they automatically assumed I’d been fired and there was some back story to it. Unfortunately for those looking for some tittle tattle, the real story is nothing of the sort.

An opportunity came up with a competitor which I decided to take (for various reasons I won’t divulge now), but I did leave the company on very good terms, it was extremely amicable and no animals got hurt 😉

As it stands for me, well, I’m sort of on gardening leave but not. My employment ended there and then, so I now have a few weeks before my new post is due to start. Being as it’s Wednesday now, already I’m going mad and looking at ways of filling the time. I plan to have a go at the VCP4 exam next week as currently you get a free resit if you fail. I’m going to have to pay for it myself of course, so that means there’s a bit of added pressure anyway.

Aside from that, I’m performing house bound duties such as spring cleaning old crap we don’t need anymore, and I’m surprised as to how tiring that sort of thing is! I’ve also started running again, and I have to say, now I’m off the beta blockers, I’m finding it a lot easier. You can track my exercise (if you must) at the following page. Ignore the first entry, the GPS went stark raving bonkers!