Entries Tagged 'work' ↓

This is a success story about a guy I’ll call Bob. Bob and I met 2+ years ago and then connected via LinkedIn. We haven’t had a lot of contact since but during that time developed enough of a relationship that I was curious when I saw his update: ‘looking for technology leadership positions in Chicago’.

We’re always looking for top talent, so I sent him a note. We chatted on the phone. I connected him with a peer of mine and they chatted. We got together with our boss and invited him up. He came up again to meet with the CEO. And I just heard that he accepted a position with us.

Awesome. This is a clear demonstration that a short status message on a social networking site can result in great things. You never know where that Tweet, that Facebook post or that LinkedIn status update will lead. Great stuff.

Congrats, Bob — and thanks for posting that update. You’re going to love your new job.

For reasons I’m not going to delve very deeply into, I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about how people become good programmers. Two things jump out.

First, learning to program is like learning to speak another language. There’s new syntax, new verbs and new ways of thinking about stuff you took for granted when you only worried about one language. When learning a new spoken language, you have familiar ideas that you need to express in a new way. In a programming language, you have have familiar things you need to accomplish but you have to do that within the confines the programming language sets up. Either way, you have to adjust your way of thinking to get what you want.

Second, to get good at programming, you have to do it a lot. Why? Good programmers develop something akin to the muscle memory talented athletes rely on. Part of the goal of practicing a sport is to get so comfortable doing the key moves that you don’t have to think in order to do them well. You can then devote your brain to the tiny details that help you win. This same approach delivers a substantial advantage in programming. You get to stop thinking about the basics — variables, expressions, loops — and concentrate on the complexities of what you want to accomplish.

Finally, I’ve also been wondering whether or not everyone can become a good programmer. I don’t know the answer to that. I firmly believe that more people can become good programmers than do, but I have no way of quantifying that. Many people either never attempt or quit trying before they get good. Why? I suspect one factor is not having either of these experiences — language or sport — in their life and so don’t have a psychological pattern for success.

I haven’t mentioned logic and math. They definitely help, but I should point out that some of the best programmers I know didn’t come from logic or math or even formal computer science backgrounds. They came through language.

Just a couple of Sunday morning thoughts. What do you think?

A prospect asked me the other day, “What’s your value proposition?”

That’s a fair question and something I’m comfortable answering in a number of contexts.  However, this time, it made me think about value propositions more generally.  I wanted to put together some broad categories and think about their associated challenges.  Here goes.

Silver — the customer already knows what they want and you know how to do it.  Value: you can execute.  Challenge: executing an existing idea becomes a commodity as soon as someone blogs about the method.  Think writing a simple computer program.

Gold — the customer knows they have problems but not how to solve them.  You help them define their problems, figure out how to solve them and can also implement it.  Primary value: you can communicate and design.  Challenge: once you define what they need, it can usually be boiled down to an existing solution and execution is low value.  Think implementing an existing software package.

Platinum — you know the customer and can help them see an opportunity where none existed before.  You can help them flush it out, design it in detail and implement it.  Primary value: you can synthesize disparate information and create something new.  Challenge: ideation, communication, design and execution are highly intertwined.  Realizing the value of the new opportunity requires substantial expertise in all areas, which is rare and very valuable.

What do you think?  Are these decent buckets to group value around?  What other buckets are there?  What other challenges are there?

Personally, I usually land between Gold and Platinum — I think.  I always want to land in Platinum, but the world being what it is, I don’t always make it.

This post to my work blog got some interesting feedback today so I figured I would do a rare cross post.

Dear IT Leadership: Please Lead

Cheers!

I’ve been more active over on the work blog this last week than I have been here.  In case you’re interested:

* Cloud Converter, an open source toolkit I created for migrating objects from dirt bound databases to the Salesforce.com cloud, has a bunch of new features.

* I shared some Salesforce.com Metadata Lessons Learned based on my experience working with them.

* I posted a Salesforce.com Upsert Code Sample that I hope other people find useful.

* I picked my Top Five and a Half Amazon Web Services / AWS Factoids based on a couple of days spent on it.

Finally, I’m back on Twitter and have been announcing these as I go.

That’s about it.  Back to blogging about oatmeal, dogs & Christmas lights.

Pretty excited — last night (yes, dear Facebook followers, while watching Weird Science) I put the finishing touches on Cloud Converter, a little bit of an app that automatically converts dirt bound db tables to SFDC objects.  It’s an early version but should be helpful to people who need to do this kind of thing.

Like me.

Cheers!

PS Yes it works on Force.com too.  Yes, Force.com and Salesforce.com are essentially the same thing. OK not exactly — I’ll give you that — but close enough for this blog post.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how much interesting input I need to produce anything like interesting output. What does that mean?

My ideal output is something creative, unique, interesting and memorable. This output could be something written, something interactive — along that line.*

When was the last time that happened? Excluding The Critter.**

It’s been a while. And I want to figure out why.

One possibility is too much input. Too much email. Too much TV. Too much context switching.

Some of my input lately has been to this effect. It all started when Merlin Mann announced a break from Twitter. It took me to his 43folders.com and then to his Making Time to Make. It’s a good article.***

So how do I disconnect? And what’s too disconnected?

To some extent, I need interesting input. The Daily Show gets me thinking about things in a different way. The occasional odd link on Reddit that makes me really LOL. I need the odd Ignatius. I need the HBR showing up from time to time. And to be candid even when I have what I need, I like (or I would like) a whole lot more.****

But what of this helps? What of it distracts? How do I tell the difference and how do I take control back?

The issue for me (I think, anyway) is processing time (throughput) that let’s me get to what I really want: output. There’s so much input I don’t get to process it in any kind of interesting way which means I never get to the output phase. I need to pare back. Like an input diet. Yuck.

In any case: I’m working on it.

To be continued.

–

Update: Incidentally, I went over to Merlin’s Kung Fu Grippe and found his Better post which also suggests a more limited input. But his is phrased more eloquently and more completely. And with an enviable conviction.

* What about Burrito Baby, you ask? I think it might be done. I filmed the next episode (Lalo’s @ MDW) but my heart is not in it.

** New nickname coming soon. And it will be awesome.

*** It features Neal Stephenson who states that he’d rather write novels than emails. If you started the Baroque Cycle like my friend and I did, and then dropped it, you might be wondering if he’s been crossing back across that line a little too often.

**** There’s a list of other things I’d like to add in: Heroes, that California Gothic book I haven’t finished yet, video games (so behind). To name a few.

Moved to Zodeno.com.

Up early, i decided I’d go for an iPhone. It was not to be. Having seen the line at the Apple store on Michigan Ave., I trucked on over to AT&T. The line was much shorter, but they wouldn’t tell us their stock level and they in fact ran out before I got one. Very irritating. So irritating in fact I bothered to write about it somewhere where people might actually read it.

Video rant coming soon. (Sorry, ScooterGirl.)

If you go to that link you’ll notice the interview with the developer. I was in front of him. In addition to the sales tax idea (which is basically a mash up between the iPhone’s GPS and a Sabrix transaction tax engine — and if you look at that link you’ll note it ends in “campaign=70160000000Cg9P”; that’s a salesforce.com campaign ID if I ever saw one — nice!).

The developer’s other idea was tracking the residual value of non-durable consumer goods as part of an individual’s net worth. For example, if you could use Craigslist to convert a blender to $20, shouldn’t that be part of your net worth? Hmmmmm.

In final news, the company — or some photos we placed on Flickr, anyway — were featured on Office Snapshots. Note the beer, pizza and Galaga. I freaking love Galaga. I remember playing Galaga in a laundromat in Idaho Falls, plugging in quarter after quarter. And I have it for the XBox. Mmmmm.

It’s official: I’m booked for Dreamforce 2008. Maybe this year I’ll be able to get the somewhat coveted “blogger” credentials that my boss sported last year.

If you’re going to be there, look me up. Definitely like to meet other SFDC bloggers.

And I could use your help. Go here to suggest a band. Please suggest Modest Mouse. It would make my day if they made it.

I’ll post more details about the who the what and the when as the date gets closer.

See you at Moscone.