Conecuh Software

I’ve got my ups tracking number, so hopefully my G1 will arrive soon. I think it’s a little too much to hope that it will arrive tomorrow, so I guess I’ll post the unboxing pictures on Monday.

I’ve got two units coming - one for me and one for my daughter. I sure hope it passes both the geek test, and the teenage girl test….

Ranting below….

I’m a software developer. Almost everyone I know knows that. Many of my friends are software developers or other computer professionals. The one constant in all of our lives is fielding requests from friends for free technical support. Below are the most common requests:

• My DSL is acting up, will you come over and look at it?
• I can’t get E-Mail, will you come over and look at it?
• My Internet is broken!
• Where can I get free music?
• I’d like to get the new version of (very expensive software package), can you get me a copy for free?
• Can you help me start a website?

(more…)

Don’t flatter yourself. Your content is most likely not the compelling variety that your boss has at the top of his RSS reader. It’s just hard to compete with the likes of 37signals, Seth Godin or even the wacky designers over at lesseverything.com.

Be forewarned, however. Even though your current boss is not hanging on your every word now, the odds are that she’ll see it at some point. If you decide it’s time for a scathing post on the parking situation, or someone’s lame decision to require cover pages on all TPS reports, you’ll probably get a few viewers you didn’t expect.

More and more, though, prospective employers are taking a look at candidates online life during the interview process. CareerBuilder reported that 22% of hiring managers look at a candidates online life (blogs, social networks, etc) currently, and an additional 9% plan on starting. A lively Slashdot discussion ensued around this particular article, mentioning some candidates’ propensity to post pictures of themselves drinking and committing illegal acts.

More and more, blogs and social networks help define who we are, and where we stand on issues. It’s important to remember that the Internet has a very long memory, and something you say today may haunt you in the not-to-distant future

Why do home grown frameworks (web and database mostly) seem like the right thing to do? I’ve had the opportunity to use a few in my day, and I think the reasons are:

• Not invented here
• We’ve got too much invested already

Both of these reasons (IMHO) stem from hubris, and end up costing many times more than just biting the bullet and accepting another framework as potentially better code than yours. NIH is among the worst, but it’s easy to spot, and easier to diffuse. “Too much invested” is often an disguise for

We spent a long time on this one idea, and abandoning it would make us look like we don’t know what we’re doing

Time moves on. Don’t live in the past. On the outside chance you’re right, investigation of other frameworks will encourage you to open source the one you’ve built. You’ll certainly get some ideas out of the endeavor.

GoBigNetwork posted the question Thursday “Are you Winning the War at Home?”. I think they said it best with

more than 50% of the decision to stay at your startup lies with the spouse at home

I consider this a key question to startups, especially early stage startups where the employee count is low. While all of the points in the post are dead on, I think they missed a key point.

The CEO should be genuine, and genuinely concerned with the employees family

I’ve seen a couple of situations where the CEO, or members of the management team had tough messages to deliver to the employees, and were able to do that because they were genuinely concerned about the families of the employees. While the employees get a dose of Kool-Aid daily, the spouses are generally more immune to spin, and are more skeptical. Genuine concern tastes much different than spin, and will keep key employees out of the dog house for a significant amount of time.
Just my .02.

I’ve been biking to work since 28-May-2008, nearly every day. I procrastinated for several weeks before that, giving excuse after excuse about why I couldn’t bike to work. Here are some of the most popular:

• No Showers at work
• Too many hills
• Dangerous traffic
• I’m not in good enough shape

(more…)

How to predict and prepare for layoffs
(Originally prepared for BALU Barcamp/LUGFest ‘07)

What?

This post deals with identifying the organizational behaviors that *may* lead to layoffs. This post may be a wake up call for some. Hopefully, most in the audience will breath a sigh of relief that their current employer doesn’t have these traits.

These traits were observed from within the development / IT arm of various companies, so that is the point of view expressed. Many of the items below are valid regardless of the size or ownership of the company. I’ve just observed them in these contexts.
(more…)

A couple of weeks ago, I had occasion to buy an industry specific reference book. In typical impulse mode, I called my local bookstore Books-A-Million, and inquired about the book. I’m a big fan of Books-A-Million, mainly because they’re an Alabama company, and I live in Alabama. I like spending my money close to home, and have as much of it stay in the local economy as possible. Here’s the paraphrased dialog:

Me> I’m looking for a book, and I have the ISBN number can you look it up?
Salesperson> Sure - what’s the ISBN?
Me> 0-7-6-4-1-3-2-6-3-6
Salesperson> I show we have two on the shelf. Let me check for you
Me> (Puzzled) - I’ll just come down there and get it. Thanks.
Salesperson> Let me check for you. Sometimes they are not in stock. Let me check for you.
Me> (Puzzled) Sure.

Salesperson> I can’t find it on the shelf. Shall I order it for you?
Me> No. I’ll keep looking. I’d really like it today
<Hangup>

This exchange was repeated 5 times that day, with various Books-A-Million stores, with the same results until one of the stores found the book on the shelf.

In the midst of this search, I dialed the local Barnes and Noble, looking for the same book. This exchange was much shorter, since the inventory system showed they didn’t have the book. Total time: less than 1 minute.

Which store has systems that help? Obviously Barnes and Noble. Books-A-Million has an inventory system that is very ineffective, and is probably a harbinger of ill times ahead. Consider the following points:

• Books-A-Million has to dispatch a representative to check to see if a book is on the shelf when a customer calls. That costs money. In our case, probably $2 per store for Books-A-Million, and $.20 for Barnes and Noble
• Books-A-Million is most likely overstating their inventory. When creditors hear that their loans are less secured than they originally thought, they won’t be happy
• There may be a theft or shrinkage problem at Books-A-Million
• Companies or employees that are being hired to perform inventory may be causing more harm than good. Two weeks before I searched for this book, at least one of the stores had performed inventory. I know because I was there on the Sunday morning that they were taking inventory

In any case, Books-A-Million has a potentially serious problem with their inventory system, and needs to have it checked. This system isn’t helping at all, and is causing harm. It’s most likely causing employee problems, since the employees can’t rely on it. It’s certainly costing them money. I appreciate the willingness of the store personnel to check the shelves for me, but I’d rather them save us both time by having an effective and reliable inventory system. Once they have that, they can provide the information online, and I can find the closest book to my house and go pick it up, without bothering anyone.

Think about it - when I navigate over to Digg and my processor utilization jumps to 100% because of the video advertisement, I’m burning more electricity than if there were a discreet text advertisement.

In addition to “lap warming”, this must be contributing to global warming as much as anything else (due to electricity usage). Flash advertisements seem to be the worst CPU offenders, especially those that have animated cursor tracking like the Sony advertisement on digg.com

Maybe it’s because I’m using Linux or maybe it’s Firefox - either way I’ll be looking around for a flash video / flash advertisement blocker later today.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been running Linux on my work laptop. I’m a C++ (among other things) developer, so the tools on Linux are in most cases more mature than the tools on Windows. A constant source of angst was the cisco VPN software that I was forced to use. This software had several problems:

• Kernel Dependent - needs re-compilation after every new kernel release
• Restricted access - You, or a friendly IT person, must have access to a password protected Cisco site to download the software
• Slow to update - The source for the VPN software doesn’t track the kernel source and tool chain changes closely. This means you’ll need to be able to make a few code changes to support a new kernel or compiler occasionally
• PCF file requirements - Again, the friendly IT person has to provide a profile so that you can use the vpn client

Recently, however, I found the NetworkManager-vpnc package for Fedora. It’s an awesome package that automates almost every aspect of VPN connection. Some of the benefits are:

• Packages for your favorite distribution - no more re-compilation
• Integration with NetworkManager - yay!
• Integration with the Gnome Keyring
• BEST - Split tunneling, whether IT allows it or not

Simply install the NetworkManager-vpnc for your distribution, enter the group password and your login credentials, and voila!

If you don’t know the group password, you can discover it by using this handy website:

cisco vpnclient password decoder

I hope this helps - Happy VPN!

dhw