Ohio IT Services

In Part one, I introduced the idea of Test Data Management or TDM.  TDM is not something unique to IT Applications in Cincinnati, Dayton or to Ohio. It’s something that will need to be addressed nationwide.  With more and more government regulations and data privacy concerns, it will be more and more important to not only manage production data, but also test data used for quality assurance as well. 

One of the aspects of good TDM is for the obfuscation (sometimes referred to as de-identification or masking) of data values from a production database in order to make the test instances “safe”.   One of the challenges is preserving data distributions and referential integrity–even across distributed database systems.  This is particularly important in the healthcare and financial industries where PHI (Personal Health Information), social security numbers or banking information could get exposed.

Another aspect is the challenge of maintaining security around the test databases themselves.   Many companies have tight security around production data, but next to none around test and developer data.   Often this data is just a copy of production data that is not masked in any way.   According to a Ponemon Institute study, data breach incidents cost U.S. companies $202 per compromised customer record in 2008, that is compared to $197 in 2007.  With the cases studied a range of 4,200 to 113,000 records that were affected. 

Do any of you reading this have a little twinge in your stomach?  Can’t anything be easy anymore?  Maybe some RX is in order.  That was EASY!!!!
 

“IT executives increasingly implement marketing initiatives to improve the communications with their business customers. But these efforts often focus solely on the brand aspects of the services under the IT’s control without understanding the business’ perception of IT. To maximize the success, IT must add business satisfaction assessments to its tool kit. Understanding business satisfaction requires qualitative and quantitative data that capture customer expectations and perceptions through different types of interactions such as interviews, panels, focus groups, complaint systems, and surveys. This report provides best-practice recommendations, survey templates, and questions to guide IT executives through the deployment of a business satisfaction assessment. It applies Forrester’s deep expertise in external customer satisfaction to the interface between business customers and their internal IT suppliers.” says a new Forrester report.

I have served on countless business application development teams within several organizations in the Southwest Ohio and Cincinnati Information Technology community, one thing I can say is that most IT organizations do not gauge business satisfaction with IT business solutions.  I have served in only a couple of organizations where the business serves on the IT governance committee.  An organization does not have to be “big” to have an IT governance committee.  No matter what the size of the organization decisions are made as to priorities in IT work.  IT governance does not have to be a long drawn out process or take great time commitment from the business or IT executives, but business involvement in IT governance goes a long way in gaining business buy-in as you roll out the IT business solutions to the business.

Involvement in IT governance is just one way that many organizations in the Greater Cincinnati area can improve the IT-business relationship.  The Forrester report goes into ways to solicit and gauge business satisfaction with IT business solutions.  Doing so should affect decisions concerning not only IT business solution delivery but also IT Infrastructure and IT outsourcing initiatives.

 

I am part of the LinkedIn community and a member of several groups in LinkedIn.  One of the groups I am a member of is the IBM i Professionals group.  I get a weekly summary of activity and sometimes there are comments on the posts that people have made.  Usually there are no more than 3-5 comments.  What caught my attention is a LinkedIn post that had 23 comments.   The original post referenced this blog post:  http://blog.angustheitchap.com/?p=159  In this post, the author talks about the iSeries application development community needing to pull together to DO something about the lack of support for the platform.  He asks the question: What have YOU done for the IBM i platform this week?

As a former iSeries application developer, I thought it was a good question, perhaps about 10 years too late, but a good question none the less.  Let me state for the record that the iSeries is a great platform and it is without a doubt the best box for business that IBM has. 

The problem is that it is a victim of its own success.  There is no other platform where an application written in the 1980’s could still run un-touched even though the underlying hardware has changed numerous times.  To me the core issue is this: IBM is no longer in the hardware business; meaning they don’t derive that much revenue from hardware anymore.  The majority of IBM’s revenue comes from services.  The iSeries does not need or generate the services revenue that other platforms do.  So in my opinion, it’s an economic issue and no amount of doing or community is going to change that.

I recently read an article about the state of the IBM “i” and the amount of complaining by IBM application development and business partner folk. I know several RPG application development folk, and it sounds familiar. That made me think about my Java Application development and career. Are there things to complain about, and uncertainty about the future? Yes, but there are 2 reasons why the Java community is in a better place; the business model and the community. Before the IBMers call for a holy war, I said COMMUNITY! I am not talking about the strengths or weaknesses of the hardware or software. The business model for IBM is that they make the hardware and software, and partner for the sales and service. I think that is a viable model until IBM competes in the sales and services with their partners. If a lead is brought in by a small partner, they are awarded by giving the business to someone bigger. This sets up a confrontational relationship between IBM, the big partners, and the little partners. IBM can also decide whether or not you are worthy to be a partner. Why does this affect the software application development team? Because most consulting firm are selling SERVICES not HARDWARE. If they are not seeing business because of political fighting, they don't have to sell it. There are viable options on other platforms, where interference does not happen. IBM never fostered a community, they created a hierarchy with themselves as the head.

Certainly Sun has done some things that made myself and others unhappy. Besides, complaining, we actively pushed to remove barriers in our path. We do have an open source Java. Is there a IBM community that can work with RPG to make it work for them? I also think its about scale and timing. It's not like IBM software developers have their own AS/400 at their home. It's easy for me to create and use nearly any kind of application at my home in Cincinnati, and pretty cheaply. It makes it fun to tell non-technical people about my application development. Nobody but accountants want to hear about accounting programs. Java, and newer languages have grown up with the Internet. I have friends from all over the globe that have similar interests. If I have a problem, I can go online to a forum, friend, or web page to find what I need. I can read and write blogs to voice my opinion (like now). These things are not ingrained in the Legacy community, and in fact, have been actively campaigned against. It is my belief that any software, hardware, or service will die when there is no vocal community to support it.

A couple of weeks ago, I made the trek to Columbus and attended the Ohio chapter meeting of TechServe Alliance of which STAR BASE, Inc. is a member.  In talking with other owners and corporate executives, everyone is pretty much saying the same thing: “We are seeing more sales activity, just no commitments.”   Seems like everyone involved with Ohio Information Technology firms is in the same boat.  In Cincinnati, things might not be quite as bad as Columbus because there is less state government work.

So why is there a lack of commitment?  There could be many reasons, but it all boils down to what I call the FUD Factor.   Never heard of the FUD Factor?  We would not be a real IT Consulting firm if we couldn’t use a TLA (three letter acronym) and it’s not what you’re thinking!  FUD is short for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. 

When the FUD factor is high, people tend not to make commitments, changes or decisions.  Doing nothing seems like the safest choice.  A high FUD factor equals RISK and as a society, we have become very risk adverse.   When the FUD factor is low, decisions are much easier to make, less risky. 

With the economy down and so much uncertainty, the FUD factor is definitely high.  So is doing nothing really a good choice?  Things tend to move in cycles or patterns, it is the way of the world... Losers become winners. Winners become losers. Day yields to night; nights divide the days; summer gives way to winter. Life goes on...always as it always was...but never the same.

Will you be ready?
 

Having been in business for over 18 years now in Cincinnati, we have seen a few changes in the IT Solutions space.  It’s interesting to see what were once considered cutting edge technologies slowly fade in to oblivion.  It’s also very gratifying to be able to change and adapt to the newest IT Solutions. 

The past couple of weeks we have gotten calls from both ends of the spectrum.  From the older side, we had inquires from two different companies running older IBM System/36 software.  I had thought most of that RPG 2 and OCL had pretty much been converted over to something else during the Y2K scare at the turn of the century.  I guess not.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have gotten calls from a couple of companies looking for some help with Magento ecommerce.  Magento happens to be one of the open source ecommerce packages we have experience with. 

This is not the first post that I have written about open source, check this one out.  If you are thinking about a sweet CRM package, check out this post.

One other thing, you might be wondering about is why the picture of the 1974 Dodge Charger?   I was looking for a picture that could represent something old that is also new and cool.  I may be biased, but I think that picture does it.   That is “The Beauty” at the Quaker State and Lube cruise in on Sunday night.  I typically go to the Colerain location.  Next time I go, I will bring “The Beast”.

 

I presented at this year’s JavaOne, and I recently got my results. I presented last year too, and I received my first JavaOne rock star award. Many of my Cincinnati application development colleagues wanted to know if I did it again, and the answer is technically no, but still a good show. JavaOne rock stars are awarded for technical presentations. My presentation was considered a panel discussion, so not eligible for awards. Our panel received a score of 4.68 out of 5.00 by our peers. I personally recieved a nice note for JFrets. Over 90% found our talk useful. The top 25% of talks began at 4.20, so clearly our presenters would have had the rock star status.
I am working on a new project called History Slider, that if in a demo state, I will give a talk on next year. So you may see the JavaOne rock star status by my name once again.

This is the last of a three part series; part one is here and part two is here. Many application development guys are wondering, what is the Cloud, and what is the Sun Cloud? Think of Cloud computing as a virtualized data center. In part one I talked about VirtualBox, which allows you to virtualize network components and resources. Think of VirtualBox working on the atomic level, taking small resources to create a virtualized network. Now Cloud computing takes all of the virtualized networks and utilizes them as resources in a virtualized data center. The Sun Cloud is a set of APIs to let you manage networks and storage areas as resources. You can cluster or categorize networks in any way you wish. You can manage user access to the resources, not unlike application development teams utilize in web applications.
What does all this mean to application development and management? It means that you can create a single network and copy or clone it. For example, you can create a single network instance with servers, storage areas databases, and clone the entire network for each region you manage. That means all networks are managed in one spot, and all regions are setup exactly the same. No application compatibility issues. You can, of course, add or remove components, but they are all have the same infrastructure. You can upgrade the virtual network, and pass the changes to the other regions. The electricity saved by running virtualized datacenters would be significant. You can connect to your partners’ virtualized networks to access their data. For application development teams, that would change how we design applications if we have access to external data and applications.

This was my fifth JavaOne conference. Since it is always at the Moscone center, I know pretty much every nook and cranny of JavaOne. Although smaller this year, I thought this was the best one yet. The people there were truly happy to be there, and combined with takeover news and a bad global economy, a bigger sense of cooperation. I would highly recommend coming to one if they still have one. Nobody, not even James Gosling (I was in a group of 20 who had a 45 minute meeting with him) knows if there will be one next year. The reason you come to JavaOne is not the presentations (they are great!), but the people. Meeting and befriending people who created your favorite blog, book, or technology is the reason to come. I remember meeting Craig McClanahan (co-creator of struts) in 2004, and saying "that’s Craig freaking McClanahan!" Last year, I was honored a share a picture of beer with him, Jarda Tulach (inventor of NetBeans), and Geertjan Wielenga (JavaLobby blogger extraordinaire). Application development people get to "network" with the best and brightest architects, technical press, and business owners. This year I got hang with the JUG leaders, NetBeans Dream Teamers, and the JavaFX guys. I wrote, and helped edit a YouTube video "pushing Java", and met more of my fellow Java music software developers. I literally have friends from all over the world (yes Cincinnati too), and I am considered an honorary Brazilian because of JavaOne. Larry Ellison, if you are reading this, please don’t stop JavaOne!

By the title of this post you might think that it is about an 80’s television show by the same name.   I really enjoyed Quantum Leap when it first aired and you can still catch re-runs if you have cable or satellite TV, but I digress.

In the past, I have talked about rate of change and its impact on IT infrastructure and application development. Today, I’m continuing along that line.

IT infrastructure is going to go through a massive transformation in the years ahead. Quantum technologies that were only theories in scientific journals just a few years ago are being prototyped in labs now. These new components will change the way we live forever.

Currently, data is processed by moving bunches of electrons about in huge batches. Think of the components in your PC as electrical plumbing. Data is usually stored as batches of electrons or in computer terms, bits. Imagine your computer’s hard drive as a bunch of very small buckets, some full of water, some not. This would represent the on and off that current computers understand or binary language.  This will change:

Improved technologies from emerging nanosciences are allowing us to replace batches of electrons with the smallest individual unit: the electron. As a result, computers will work at far higher speeds. Additionally, far less electricity will be required to do the same amount of work.  So what’s the big deal you may be thinking, that’s been happening for years.

The big difference now is “quantum superposition”.  In a nutshell, this means that a quantum particle can exist in multiple states and everything in between at the same time. This is because a quantum particle, such as an electron, behaves as both a particle and a wave.  Quantum physics is going to have a huge role in how we store and represent data in the future.

Next time, I will take a quantum dive deeper into this. 

 

1. Irreflexive  - means that the two roles cannot be filled by the same instance of an object.  Our Manager supervises Employee fact type is irreflexive meaning a particular manager cannot be his own supervisor. 
2. Symmetric - means that if a relationship exists between two instances of an object, then the same relationship exists in the opposite direction.  If Ohio borders Indiana, then Indiana borders Ohio.  Our Manager supervises Employee fact type is not symmetric.
3. Asymmetric - is mostly the opposite of symmetric.  If a relationship between two instances of an object, then the same relationship does not exist in the opposite direction.  Our Manager supervises Employee fact type is asymmetric.  Note that asymmetry implies irreflexivity.
4. Antisymmetric - is kind of like symmetric with asymmetry in specific instances.  So in the antisymmetric relationship, if the same instance of an object is playing both roles of a fact, then it is symmetric, but if different instances of the object are playing the roles of a fact, then it is asymmetric.  Here is an example of an antisymmetric fact type: Number is greater than or equal to Number.  It is symmetric as long as the numbers are the same, otherwise it is asymmetric.
5. Intransitive - Intransitive has to do with chaining relationships together.  If Object A relates to object B, and Object B relates to Object C, then intransitivity say that Object A may not have that same relation with Object C.  Consider parents and children.  Joe is the father of Mark who is the father of Tom, then Joe can't be the father of Tom unless there are some illegal behavior going on.  That is intransitive.  In most organizations, the Manager -> Employee relationship is intransitive.  Note Intransitivity implies Irreflexivity.
6. Acyclic - Means that for any object, I can't follow the chain far enough to get back to the starting object.  A parent can not be it's own descendant.  This constraint is very expensive to impliment in terms of processing resources, so it is typically not specified.  Usually Acyclic relationships are specified as Asymmetric.  Note Acyclic implies Asymetric which implies Irreflexive.

 

If you have seen one of my previous posts, you know that I have a new cell phone and new wireless provider.  We are Lotus Notes / Domino mail users here at Star Base, Inc. and we have installed the Lotus Notes Traveler plug in on one of our Domino servers  This gives us the ability to get two way, email, calendar and contacts over the air.  Since we have this capability, I’m in the process of updating my contacts in Notes. 

One of the things that I don’t like about the Nokia 5800 phone is if the person calling is not in the contacts, it shows the city and state of the caller and not the phone number.  I have not found an easy way to display the phone number, so hence my updating of the contacts. 

With that as background, I am using the add to contacts feature from emails that contacts have sent me in the past.  I’m surprised at how many people don’t use an signature block at the end of their email.  If you don’t, you are missing out on a great way to promote your business.  Its also a really convenient way to make sure your email recipients have your up to-date contact information.   My signature block is below.  (Note: I have left off the phone, fax and email because of spammers.)

I recently read an on article on Computerworld that researchers have found that IT workers who are "slackers" (usually application development guys) are more productive than the "by the book" guys. A slacker is a person (usually an application development guy) the surfs the Internet, makes a personal call , checks his mail/social network, etc. instead of strictly doing his work, and not "wasting" company resources. I know there are management types that would disagree with this. The article states that the brain works on a problem consciously and unconsciously, and often the answer comes when application development people are not overly focused on the issue. That's why most answers come the next morning after we have "slept" on it. A certain level of "peace of mind" also helps when a midday family update is needed.
I personally believe this is true. If you have been stuck on an issue, or have been slogging all day on a task, a break from the routine is needed. I am in information technology consulting, and the expectation is to work on problems continuously. If I am doing a short term assignment, let’s say 2 weeks, I would not be "slacking". If I am on a long term project though, it would be necessary. Application development people are not robots, I have days where everything falls into place, and I am getting many things done. Other times, I am not motivated or physically or mentally ready for work. For the record, my slacking consists of reading the latest technical news and Java technology advancements (like JavaFX, or Android). I am also keeping an eye on economic news too, because it is necessary for assisting in managerial decisions. It’s good to know that we "slacking" application development guys are more productive. Now get back to work!

“You can program yourself to be positive. Being Positive is a discipline … and the more adversity you face, the more positive you have to be. Being positive helps build confidence and self-esteem”  --Rick Pitino, University of Louisville Head Basketball Coach

In part one; I introduced the concept of being mentally tough in today’s economic climate.  This applies not only to IT jobs, but to any job.

Developing Mental Toughness

1. Starts with the right attitude and state of mind.  You need to know what your core confidence is all about.  Confidence comes in knowing you are prepared and courage to make hard decisions.  As long as no one dies, thing will probably be OK. 
2. Program your mind for success ahead of time with positive affirmations and expectations.   Expect the best from yourself; affirm what it is you are going to do to be successful.  Use goal oriented statements starting with “I will, I can, I am going to…
Focus on those things you want to occur, rather than things you’re afraid might go wrong. (I have been reminded recently it’s OK to have a plan B or a back up plan).
3. Make your behaviors routine.   Develop a systematic routine that clicks on desired mental-emotional state of mind. 
4. Poise and Composure:  Learn how to let go of mistakes quickly if things do not go the way you want.  The key part of mental training is about compensating, adjusting, and trusting.  If plan A does not work, go to plan B or C (See above.).  Be persistent and mentally tough; don’t allow frustration to undermine your confidence/focus. 
5. Take control of Negative Self-Talk: Reframe “stinking thinking” into positive task oriented suggestions.  Being aware of situations that cause you to get frustrated, rushed, intimidated, lose focus is a good first step. Then reframe the negativity into positive, mentally tough self-suggestions.  For example, in basketball instead of “I can’t hit that shot if my life depended on it”, let go, reframe it back into something more positive and task oriented “get a good look at the basket, see it, feel it, trust it”.  When I was doing a lot of application development, I can tell you how many times I was able to solve a problem just by talking to some one else. 
6. Look at failure as a stepping stone for future achievement.  Michael Jordan missed 9000 shots, missed 26 game winning shots, lost 300 games, yet he was a6 time NBA World Champion. He said that, “I failed over and over, that is why I succeed”.
7. Be a difference maker, step up when it matters the most.  Life is all about risks and it requires you to jump. Don't be a person who has to look back and wonder what they would have or could have done.  Nothing is forever.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Cool Hand Luke starring Paul Newman.  That movie has a famous line issued by the prison captain.  After trying several times to get Newman to conform to the prison life style that captain turns to his surrounding audience and utters the words to his surrounding audience; “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

I have used these words with my own children many times but I wish I could use those words with clients when within the business technology consulting space.  Far too many times projects do not go as planned and it usually is because of a lack of communication.  That is why in any IT application development project it is imperative that each business unit that has a vested interest in a given project makes it clear exactly what they expect and what is needed.

Experience has taught me that merely stating what you need and what is expected is not enough, especially in the area of enterprise application development.  Each party or business unit needs an internal champion for its cause.  As any given project progress each business unit needs to make sure there is are checks and balances against their wants and needs list to determine how many of their stated needs are being met.  If they are not being met the project needs to stop temporarily until everyone that is involved with the project understand that needs and expectations are not being met and the team collectively need to make a decision on how and when to move forward.

They IT projects fail because there is a lack of planning, a lack of level-setting expectations and an overall lack of communication.  Must organizations understand this but more times than not they do not learn from past experience and move forward without consensus.  They are well into the user acceptance stage with the built in functionality asked for but for some reason the final approver says this is not what I asked for.

So what goes wrong with the 80% project failures, and what can we learn from this?  Several things occur on many levels! 

Let me list some of the reasons for project failure and actions that need to be taken
.

• Consensus was not attained – it is apparent in most failed IT project that the approver and the business unit leaders have different, and at time conflicting, goals for the project.  Make sure there is “buy-in” along the path of development by everyone involved.
• Expectations are not managed – the approver wants one thing and the developers built something else base on the feedback of various business units.  Make sure you manage everyone’s expectations throughout the lifetime of the project
• Usually the final decision maker is excluded in most of the development meetings.  This is a very bad practice.  This responsible executive must be in on all major decision so there is no pushback at the end.

The lessons here are clear.  Identify the stake holders, come up with a communications plan, implement the plan and make sure there is communication and cooperation from each vested participant to ensure that your project does not fail.
 

There has long been talk among application development team members of the questionable practices of Microsoft. There have been discussions on alternatives to "good" companies like Apple and Google. Google’s motto has been "do no evil." Apple has been held up as an example of how to do it right, but recently they seem to have been using the same practices as the Redmond outfit. Apple’s iPhone is very popular; in fact, it’s the best selling smart phone. The purpose stated by Apple for the smart phone was to "shake up" the existing cell phone providers to give better applications to consumers. You don’t have to be an application development team member to know just how awful cell phones can be. The interfaces are slow and kludgy, and while Europe and Asia can fully utilize their phones, U.S. phones are purposefully crippled or "locked." This is so the provider can charge you more for the services you should already have. The iPhone shook up the world with the iPhone, and sleek, easy to use interface. You are not constrained by the maker; there are many apps that you can run and buy for it. The problem is, they have to be approved by, or more likely created by Apple. There is a public SDK for the iPhone, but there are restrictions. Some smart application development guys figured out a way around those restrictions, and can use a locked or "jail break" phone to run your homegrown applications. Apple is trying stop this by calling anyone who jailbreaks a phone a criminal. The EFF is fighting back, asking for an exemption to this law citing fair use. Fair use at one time meant that you could buy something, and it was yours. You could modify it any way you want. Some have argued that it’s Apple’s product, so they should determine how it is used. How would you feel if you bought a GM car, and you could only use genuine GM parts purchased at the GM dealership? Worse, if you didn’t, you went to jail.

That doesn’t seem like a "good guy" to me. I would keep a close eye on Google. They have been making some proprietary moves of late too. When the top player in your field has a "dirty" reputation, it is easy to differentiate yourself by being the "good" guy. Does being good mean locking out competitors and locking in consumers? Or is it just the way to do business?

I read today that unemployment has risen to 7.6%.  Yes, its official – we are in a recession.  However, that does not mean there isn’t opportunity because there is.  If everyone believed everything the press is saying our economy does not have a chance and the United States is going to cease to exist.

I also read today that the U.S. government is going to re-visit its parameters for H-1B Visas because they are being used by recruiting body shops rather than giving foreign nationals the real opportunity that they seek.  This means that application developers and specialist are going to be able to make up ground that they have lost to foreign nationals in the past.

My suggestion is for developers to increase their skill-set now before the economy begins to get worse.  Information technology consulting has never been a steady business it always has had peaks and valleys.  When the economy is good projects are plentiful.  When it starts to decline projects usually come to a grinding halt.  But is you have multiple skills it decrease your odds of becoming a statistic.

Organizations try to do more and more internally rather than outsource it when the economy begins to falter.  The more skills a person has the better chances one has to stay employed.  This holds true for IT staffing, development and consulting.  Additionally, when a developer or infrastructure architect can show an organization how to safe time, investment and people through the implementation of their solution they will endear themselves to that particular organization.

Good information technology strategy can more than pay for itself in this economy.  Organizations everywhere are dependent on technology and they need processes to become dynamically automated so they can accomplish more with less while the move towards models of efficiency that will contribute to the productivity of the organization.

Make it your mission to learn more applications and methodologies that can greatly increase the productivity of any company.  To do this is to build value for the organization and you by ensuring there will always be a job for those that are willing to innovate and create a better way.  

This is your opportunity.  Make it happen!