MacArthur - Clarkson Scale

I recently watched a re-run of Top Gear and it got me thinking. Ellen MacArthur was the star in a reasonably priced car. The discussion turned to the record breaking round the world sailing voyage.

Clarkson realised there are people like MacArthur who push the limits and people like himself who don't.

This made me think that perhaps we are all on a scale - the McArthur - Clarkson scale.

At one end you have those like McArthur who push the limits. This is not just physical but in all spheres. Great examples of this end of the scale are:
Sir Richard Branson - business and adventure
Sir Ranulph Fiennes - adventure and human endurance
James Dyson - invention
Bill Gates - business, IT

There are many more, please your suggestions in a comment and I'll post an updated list.

The other end of the scale is those who don't push the limits but simply push the remote:
Jeremy Clarkson
James May

There are more (not just Top Gear presenters). Post a comment with those who should be included.

If such a scale exists it leaves us with 3 questions:

1. Where are you on the scale?
2. Where would you like to be?
3. How do you make the transition?

Personally I occupy a middle ground. I occasionally push the limits of my own endurance, but in equal measure I push the remote. I’d like to move towards the MacArthur end of the scale, hopefully a new office location will enable me to cycle to work - a practical step towards getting fitter by pushing my own endurance.

Where are you at?

What's Happenning?

Well, I've been really quiet recently as work is going nuts. It feels like I'm working on a hundred projects all at once and there's just me to do it.

Still it's good to be busy right? You know busy is one thing running around trying to juggle multiple balls in multiple circuses is probably not good.

In some spare time I did manage to make it to @tynetwestival which was awesome. Loads of people having fun and raising money for charity water. This event represents the big revolution in internet technology.

The internet is an international network of computers at the simplest level. With tools like Twitter (follow me @nathj07) the social network is really taking - this is not just geeks with computers any more. While the Testival was happening in Newcastle it was also happening all around the UK and all around the world. All people who may not haveknown each other previosuly getting together to make something happen. All of that enabled by social networking.

That's what's happening - social networking is the future of the internent. theinternet is becoming less about machines andmore about people.

simple solutions hard to implement

Most of us would agree that the world is not ticking along nicely thank-you very much. There are many issues around the world that are portray the exact opposite; Iraq, Gaza, Global Economy and local economies, Zimbabwe, Aids, homelessness, poverty, abuse of all kinds. The list goes on, what is frightening is that I came up with that list straight off the top of my head.

Don't get me wrong I'm not here to depress us all, there are plenty of good things happening out there too. But, I do find myself asking the question 'What is the root cause of the trouble we see? then I move on from this question to the second question 'What is the ultimate solution?'

Well, I don't claim to be an authority on these matters and I'm really interested in penning up discussion on this, as you will see working together has to form part of the solution.

The Cause

It seems to me that the answer to this question is simple. The cause is a break-down of relationship, before that is selfish desire. Please realise I'm not pointing fingers and I'm as guilty as the next. I remember hearing someone talking on the 10 commandments once and he said there was only one he struggled with - jealousy. This jealousy in most of us doesn't move to conflict but in many cases it does. It does however lead to the bad lending practices we have seen in recent years.

So we take a step back and look at the cause of jealousy. Is it simply someone being better than us, or having more than us? I don't think so. I think that ultimately jealousy is caused by a lack of love for our neighbour.

In review we see that relationship breakdown is caused by jealousy and jealousy in turn is caused by a lack of love. You see if you truly love someone jealousy is not an available emotion.

The Solution

There is a solution, and like the inauguration speech is not one pf party politics, it is not my side against yours, it is not my idea versus yours. Those debates add to the problem they don't resolve it.

What is the solution? As hinted at in the cause the solution is to love your neighbour. This sounds simple but the simplest solutions are the hardest to implement. Have you tired to love your neighbour? I love my wife and my kids, my parents and siblings, I even love my in-laws and my friends. But my neighbour? The trouble with love is that it requires a basis of relationship first.

This is starting to sound cyclical, I need to love my neighbour to re-build relationship, yet I need a basis of relationship with my neighbour in order to love them.

This simple sound bite solution is very difficult to implement. All is not lost yet, I'm not ready to give up on this idea yet. Have you seen the film Pay It Forward? A young boy decides that if whenever we received an act of kindness we should pay it forward not back. So I'm kind to you, you're kind to someone else, someone I may not know and so it goes. A great idea, simple once again, but sometimes being kind in the first place is tough. In the film people are kind to strangers because they have received kindness first. But that's the movies how do you do that in the real world, in a world full of suspicion and skepticism?

I realise this post is getting long so I'll cut to the chase. I believe, and lets discuss this, that the Bible has it right. Jesus says the first commandment is the most important - love God (to paraphrase). You see God loved us first, if we love him back we start to see people the way He sees them - with love.

So there's my take on the world how we could move forwards to a better world. But this is not about my ideas, this is about discussion. I want to hear what you think, I want to talk about this, you never know we may come to an idea that can truly change the world.

some good, some bad

Having just returned from BETT - the exhibition on technology in education I am both excited and frustrated.

Some of what I saw at the exhibition was astounding, take Microsoft Surface. Having played with this first hand now I am truly amazed by it. If I had the money I would have ordered one there and then for myself. The system recognises the presents of objects on or hovering just above the surface. The objects 'within' the surface display can then interact with those objects placed on the surface.

That's all well and good and I'm sure there is a place for this in education. I saw a fantastic demonstration of some of Apples products - Garage Band for instance could revolutionise teaching of music but also add new dimensions to teaching other subjects. Having the ability to make high quality audio so easily gives new space for teaching of all subjects to move into. As an example a reciting of Shakespeare could be recorded and edited and played with and the technological understanding is gained but some is a deeper affection for Shakespeare. I admit the Garage Band demo was aided by the presence of gifted musician - always helpful with music software.

The things that really impressed me were these very fancy items, but my overwhelming feeling is one of frustration with IT in education.

In the UK the government has said that every school must a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) and by 2010 parents must have access to a subset of management information relating to their child(ren). The big issue is that no-one has really defined a VLE. It seems to me that the VLE is simply the platform on which to host content. It's an education specific content management system; a set of tools to enable teacher to create their own pages to display whatever content they like.

The second issue is the lack of communication between products. A VLE may read from the management information but it will not write back to it. The VLE may not come with any content and the content providers may not plug into the VLE. The latter of these points is being addresses with an XML standard called SCORM. However as with most XML standards I have come across there is an element of ambiguity and resultant interpretation leading to more than one variant of the standard.

So what is the answer? I don't know to be honest. I'd like to see more of the companies talking about their products with the aim of tighter integration. It may take a third party to act as an integrator to get the products talking but it should be possible - it happens in most other industries.

What I have learnt is this. If the VLE is to succeed content is key and key to content is enabling the user to be a creator and not merely a consumer. Every child with an Internet connection at home will use some form of social networking for pleasure, they will probably use instant messaging to collaborate on coursework. Any system implemented by any school or education body needs to be aware of this; web 2.0 is about people not functionality.

Agile Development

I know Agile Alliance has been around since 2001 so perhaps I'm a bit out of date but I only just discovered it recently and I love it.

So what is this agile stuff then? Check out the Agile Alliance to really know what's going on but in short it is a great way to develop software. 

As you know from my recent debacle with Amazon I bought some books on Agile Modelling and Agile Documentation. If you develop software I recommend them both:

Agile Modelling - Scott W Ambler

Agile Documentation - Andreas Ruping

As a software developer there are many times I have settled down to a project and weeks later written no code at all but produced a wonderful set of documents and models that no-one outside the techie world understand and no-one inside the techie world really needs. Agile methodologies challenge this position.

I have also come into projects where there is no documentation at all and Agile challenges this. The basic Idea as far as I can tell is to model what you need to model then code, giving deliverables quickly that engage the stakeholders and get them on boars - they pay the rent after all.

Being fairly new to this I've got limited experience of it but my latest project is using this and we are only a week in and I have a deliverable almost ready for review. This is great news for my boss and even more satisfying for me.

Another key to Agile development is simplicity, look for the simple solution. Or, to use a phrase that has become a mantra for me 'just because we can doesn't mean we should'. 

The virtues of keeping it simple are obvious - easier to develop and maintain and cheaper to discard when it doesn't work, and lets be honest there are plenty of ties when it doesn't work.

What to do when it doesn't work? Have the courage and humility to admit and move on. People respect that and they generally give grace to see the result they need.

So, how is it working out for me? Well on this project - a digital learning environment - it's a case of so far so good. I'll keep you posted here on how it goes.

That's all for now - got a deliverable to, well deliver!

What makes the difference?

I am just about to embark upon a new project - the implementation of a Virtual Learning Environment. There will be some level of development involved in this project as no out-of-the-box system fits our requirements.

The one question I am asking myself in the decision making process is 'What makes the difference?' What is it that will mark one system out against another? How to we decide whether to buy a system and customise it or to build a system ourselves? If we build it ourselves what is it that will make the difference?

Let me illustrate this with a simple analogy. Take two cars, Hyundai Accent and Mercedes E-Class. There are many things in common with these two vehicles. They are both cars (yes the Hyundai is a car technically speaking), they both have four wheels plus a spare, they both have an engine, they both have steering wheels, they both have seats and body work, they have dashboards and all manner of other items are in common. Yet I reckon if you got into either car without knowing which you could tell. What is it that makes the difference?

In the case of the cars the Mercedes has a better build quality so the sound of the door closing is nicer, the seats are more comfortable, there is more leg room, the dashboard contains more gadgets (though you wouldn't see them if you were blindfolded). There are many differences between the two cars and they are the extras, the touches beyond the basics, the features that make driving a pleasure and not a chore, the quality that means you enjoy the drive.

So, when I look at software solutions I ask what makes the difference? When I plan a software solution I look at the basics and then once they are perfect I add the extras that make using the software a joy.

This idea is applicable to all aspects of life. When I take my wife out I go the extra mile - a nice restaurant, ask the grandparents to take the kids. Things that make the date special.

If you are in a customer facing business provide your customers with all that they expect and more - make it a pleasure to do business with you.

When you take on any role or project ask 'What makes the difference?' and the strive to match up to the answer.

Then I got poor service

I reported recently the excellent customer service I received from DesignHouseUK, now I am sad to report that one of the biggest Internet retailers has failed to give me anything like decent service.

The company is Amazon. Now, I'm simply reporting what happened to me on this occasion and I am not passing comment on the company as a whole. In fact, until these recent orders I have always been happy with them. So what happened?

In November I ordered a book from Amazon as a birthday present. This was early November. By Early December I had received an email explaining there was a delay and they were expecting to dispatch the order between 12th and 18th December. The 18th rolled around and I got another email explaining they didn't know when the order would be fulfilled.

By this time the birthday was long gone, but still keen to buy the book I checked other sites and discovered, amongst those listing it, that it is out of print. Surely Amazon knew this and could have either removed the listing or listed it as out of print.

I guess no harm done, there were other presents and I'm not out of pocket. But then more recently I ordered a couple of books and started a trial account of Amazon Prime. I was told the books would be delivered by 17th December - the day after ordering. By the 22nd they had not been delivered so I emailed Amazon.

I wont paste the whole email but I will say that it was full of contradictions. In one paragraph I was told the order was still at their fulfillment centre. I guess that's a sort of warehouse and not a retreat centre in which products find fulfillment. A few paragraphs later the email informed that the items may be at my local Royal Mail Delivery Centre - how is that possible when they are still in the warehouse?

The email was clearly without specific reference t my problem, offered no help or compensation unlike DesigHouseUK. All of this led me to ponder why large companies think they can get away with poor service? Cases such as my Amazon order are rare with Amazon but when they do they should respond better.

Well, thats my updated over the festive period. I would like to wish you all the very best for 2009 and challenge you to set aims for the year now, think what you would like to write in Christmas letter next year and then figure out how to get there.