Updates....

As 2008 comes to a close it has been a busy last couple of weeks for me. Yesterday I was at IBM learning more about Eclipse (and the various plug-ins, etc.) and about the open source version of Websphere called Project Zero. So, today I've been working my way through the various tutorials and trying to learn more about the web 2.0 development environment. I have also been looking at Joomla and Drupal. All of these are various content management systems that help developers create rich internet websites. I'm guessing that blogger itself was developed using a content management system. Unfortunately, this is changing the way that web developers learn....as some of the technical details get lost in the mix. But, it does allow your average web developer to really focus on developing a better website, rather than an average site.
So, learning about Web 2.0 is based upon the other project I've got going on...the iPhone application. My team, The Test Monkeys, has been working on our business plan. Some of our sticking points with the business plan revolve around the profit model. Since this is an iPhone application that we'd prefer to deliver for free we need to come up with an advertising revenue model. I'll be meeting with an Senior Manager at StarCom Worldwide, a friend, that is going to help me brainstorm on a revenue model. Next is trying to get some capital that will allow our team to all have some iPhone 3Gs and some form of Mac computer to develop with. Right now I'm the only iPhone user and another team member is the only one with a MacBook. Makes things difficult.

Oh, and I've been working on my book, Thoughts Through the Information Systems Life Cycle: A Management Level Approach for Success. Right now I have a "working" set of chapter titles and the foundation for a couple of the chapters:
Introduction - How did this Book come into Existence?
Ch. 1 - Are We Doomed From the Beginning?
Ch. 2 - Getting the Key Stakeholders Onboard! The Project Plan
Ch. 3 - Requirements Management and Documentation - Not your Father's Requirements Gathering Techniques
Ch. 4 - Scope Your Project - Not Your Life
Ch. 5 - Resource Management - People, Equipment, and Colocation (Oh My!)
Ch. 6 - And Then There was Software Development
Ch. 7 - Budget Management...Did We Do Our Due Diligence?
Ch. 8 - Scope Revision - Be Communicative At ALL Levels of the Project
Ch. 9 - Are We There Yet? QA & SQA
Ch. 10 - Did you Test the Test? UAT Success
Ch. 11 - And the Project went on...and on...and on...
Ch. 12 - We're Done. Now What?

Tell me what you think of the titles....and possibly any suggestions for key topics that should also be discussed. The book will likely take me a good year to write if I can find someone willing to hire me and the other venture I have going on with the iPhone application, so if you see this posting 2, 3, 4, 6 months after it has been posted, still feel free to comment.

I've also been working out again using the P90X DVDs. Wow, they do a great job with those workouts. I'm not in any kind of physical shape to work out like I did when I ran track in College, but I can manage to at least get through these workouts....I'm doing the easy ones without weights. I can only imagine the level of soreness when I add in using the bands and a pull-up bar.


So, that has been the past couple of days. I've also been talking with Allstate about the offer they gave me. I admit...we're in tough times, but seriously, should someone accept an offer for less than their last place of employment that has only had great performance reviews, success on individual and group projects, and stellar academic performance? Sort of a rhetorical question, as the obvious answer is NO. So, I gave Allstate a lot of credit on their events to get talented students excited about working at Allstate...but seriously, you have to pay for top talent also.

Fortunately, Booz Allen Hamilton called me out of the blue. They liked the fact that I had a clearance and all of the experience and education I have. So, this position is based just east of St. Louis in a town called O'Fallen, Illinois. I've never been there before...but, I know Booz Allen Hamilton to be one of the absolute best companies to work for from a career progression and work/life balance point of view. So, everyone that reads this post (which is incredibly long) cross your fingers for me. I'd love the opportunity to work for such a widely known global organization!

Harvard Business Review - December 2008 Case Study

When Steve Becomes Stephanie:

Let me first write a disclaimer that I'm not an expert and that I did not read the expert opinions after the case. However, this case was probably the oddest one that I've read so far. Not that transsexuality is odd...it was just a very difficult one for me having no background.

First, the question:

How can Henrietta help Steve tranisition in a company where not everybody is on board?

The key players in the case:

• Henrietta: Senior VP of Human Resources at LaSalle Chemical


• Karl Deiner: CEO of LaSalle Chemical


• Steve/Stephanie: Group Sales Director of LaSalle Chemical


• Alex: Co-worker with Steve in the Sales group

Overview of the case:

Steve came into Henrietta's office identifying his upcoming gender transition. This was a completely out of the blue thing as Steve is a married man with kids and considered to be an athletic and attractive guy. He's 38 and considered the goldenboy of the sales group. Henrietta asks Steve if he's going to take a non-client facing role during this process. Steve then jokingly replies, "So I'll just be another lower paid woman in the office?" There was some discomfort, but Henrietta has some due diligence to complete before talking with the CEO.

He outlined his transition timeline and within 6 months the changes will start becoming apparent. A couple of weeks later, Alex and Steve were waiting for a flight home and talking at an airport bar on a Thursday afternoon. Steve mentioned how valuable working with Alex has been to being successful in his new position and wants Alex to know what a great job he's doing. Alex acknowledges the compliment but does not particularly like Steve. Alex is in his late 50s and felt that Steve stole his job after a merger occured with Steve's past company. They caught the flight back and as Alex was catching up on emails he noticed an anonymous manilla envelope on his desk.

Alex was heading on a two-week hiatus as he helps his wife recover after a first round of chemotherapy. So, Alex opens the envelope to see confidential information about Steve's transition timeline. Alex then storms into Henrietta's office to sit down and discuss this issue of what he feels is completely immoral and indecent. He wants to know if Steve will be fired.

At the end of the case we find Henrietta working out how to address the issue to the CEO the next Monday and how to come up with a strategy to create a positive awareness campaign at the organization level.

The question again:

How can Henrietta help Steve transition in a company where not everybody is on board?

Personal thoughts:

Very tricky case. While gender transition is becoming more mainstream...to the extend where transgendered individuals are mistresses on prime time television shows and competing to become America's Next Top Model....I don't think much of corporate America has created a lot of tolernce and education material for employees.

While Steve has every right to transition, there will be some employees that don't believe it to be socially acceptable. As such, his role of being the Director of Sales, a client facing role, may be a tough one to keep while transitioning. Many times sales folks are hired because of their personality and looks. The case made mention of Steve being an attractive and athletic guy. Being in a client facing role I think it could be important for Steve to ask his clients what their opinion is working with someone in his unique situation. If LaSalle Chemical stands to lose clients, then I don't think Henrietta has much of a choice but to offer Steve a healthy exit offer.

Regardless of what the clients say, Henrietta does need to create an awareness training regarding the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community. Essentially, we're all people. Exteriors change based on plastic surgery and other chemicals all the time....but we're still the same on the inside. Steve may start doing his job even better after transitioning into Stephanie as it will be a huge weight off her shoulders.

One thing is absolutely for certain, if an exit offer is extended to Steve of maybe 1-2 years worth of salary, Alex (his older co-worker) should NOT be given the promotion to the Director role. This won't be a one-time occurance in a company...and his acknowledgement of feeling that being transgendered or transsexual is immoral, he is not management material.

Phew...well, those are my thoughts, did anyone else that read the case have an opinion?

Amazing Race 13 Finale - quasi spoiler warning

The Amazing Race finale, I think this was the 13th Amazing Race....although it hardly seems like it could be this many races....wow. Anyway, the race finale was in my hometown. Not where I currently live, which is Chicago--but where I was born, Portland, Oregon.

I even took some pictures over the summer from my trip right where the actual finale happened, the Pittock Mansion. Everytime I'd go visit my grandma and grandpa there would be some sort of walk after a meal. The walk would usually end up at the Pittock Mansion.

Isn't it cool when you know exactly where the racers are running all over the place trying to find things and you think (go up one street and turn left!)....I remember when the finale happened in Chicago and they were running all over the place. Hmm...anyway, it was very cool seeing the finish line so close to "home"

That being said, on to my regularly schedule postings!!

Upcoming Posts....

Well, I finished my 2nd Master's degree. Exciting news. But, what I want to do is re-learn the material that I've likely forgotten...or never learned while simultaneously indexing this information for myself and others. After all, what's knowledge worth if you can't at least teach someone else what you've learned. I know I have more left to learn from others....so much that it is overwhelming to think of how it'll all fit without forgetting stuff.

I will also shortly be posting on the new Harvard Business Review Case, "From Steve to Stephanie." This will be an interesting case...as we are definitely in need of being more aware of diversity in the workforce and how to behave appropriately.

But, back on point. The material will be indexed from various textbooks. This could take a matter of months...but most likely at least 1 year. After all, I spent over 3 years learning all this stuff the first time through.

The material ranges from all of your standard business practices:

• Accounting - mostly just Activity-Based Accounting (ABC)


• Economics


• Finance




• Financial Analysis & Decision Making


• Investment Management


• National and International Finanacial Management




• Business Law/Ethics


• Leadership Management


• Marketing


• Information Technology Management


• Operations Management


• Competitive Strategy

To more technical material:

• Usability Engineering


• Information Security Management


• Building Internet Applications with ASP.NET and C#


• Database Design


• Internet Marketing


• Information Systems Project Management


• Systems Analysis and Design


• E-Business Strategies


• Business Architecture Techniques


• Voice/Data Networking

If there are specific areas of interest I can start on a particular topic. But, they will be indexed with fairly understandable tagging methods so it can be accessed pretty easily.

Otherwise I'll just start from the left of my bookshelf and work my way right over the coming months/years. Each post will have a top level tag like "Internet Marketing" and will then have secondary tags identifying chapters or topics covered in the post.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (for those of us in the United States) and at least a great week or weekend for those of you out of the US that don't celebrate turkey day.

Another Book Idea

One thing I've noticed from my experience in work and school is that we've really scratched the surface of an appropriate way to attack projects revolving around Information-based systems. So, much like the last time I came up with a book idea I'll throw the title out there and see if there is any comments driven by the concept.

The title:
Thoughts Through the Information System Lifecycle: A Management Level Approach to Information Systems

One of the key problems I'm seeing is the disconnect between the management and the "worker-drones" in an IT organization. If there wasn't such a disconnect we wouldn't all enjoy Dilbert cartoons so much.

But, the main idea is a management level vision of the SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle) integrated with observations at a professional level perspective. Any ideas/thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving (those that celebrate) and you will be prepping for the holiday season

IBM XML Challenge

I found this great website, XML Challenge. Basically it allows peopleto use their database scouring skills using XQUERY statements. While I have basically no knowledge of using XQuery statements with DB2 Express-C. When you get Express-C downloaded, I admit there is a bit of set-up difficulty. But, after those troubles pass you're ready to go.

There are some basic similarities between Oracle and DB2....but unfortunately, the XML challenge is demonstrating how differently these programs work. So, after you say "start the challenge" you are given 24 hours to answer 5 queries. And...the queries have to be 100% perfect. It is interesting how the logic works and how there is no additional feedback on the queries. Needless to say, I guess I had an error.

The following are my questions and my answers:

Question 1:Question #1: List the five countries with the smallest population in ascending order.

Answer 1:select name, p.population
from countries c, c_info ci,
xmltable('db2-fn:xmlcolumn("C_INFO.INFO")/country' COLUMNS "POPULATION" INTEGER PATH 'population',
"CTRY_ID" INTEGER PATH '@cid') as p
where c.id=P.ctry_id
and c.id=ci.cid
ORDER BY p.population;

Question 2:List the five countries with the largest total area in descending order (largest to smallest).

Answer 2:select name, a.total_area
from countries c, c_info ci,
xmltable('db2-fn:xmlcolumn("C_INFO.INFO")/country' COLUMNS "TOTAL_AREA" DOUBLE PATH 'area/total',
"CTRY_ID" INTEGER PATH '@cid') as a
where c.id = a.ctry_id
and c.id = ci.cid
ORDER BY a.total_area desc;

Question 3:Which countries have more water area than half its land area? As your answer, enter the name, population, land area, water area and coastline of the first country in the list.

Answer 3: select name, a.population, a.land_area, a.water_area, a.coastline
from countries c, c_info ci,
xmltable('db2-fn:xmlcolumn("C_INFO.INFO")/country' COLUMNS "CTRY_ID" INTEGER PATH '@cid',
"POPULATION" INTEGER PATH 'population',
"LAND_AREA" DOUBLE PATH 'area/land',
"WATER_AREA" DOUBLE PATH 'area/water',
"COASTLINE" DOUBLE PATH 'coastline') AS a
where c.id = a.ctry_id
and c.id = ci.cid
and a.water_area > (a.LAND_AREA/2);

Question 4:Which continents have the shortest coastline? For the answer to this question, enter the names of the continents in ascending order of coastline (least to most).

Answer 4:select con.continent, sum(a.coastline) "total_coastline"
from countries ctry, c_info ci, continents con,
xmltable('db2-fn:xmlcolumn("C_INFO.INFO")/country' COLUMNS "CTRY_ID" INTEGER PATH '@cid',
"COASTLINE" DOUBLE PATH 'coastline') AS a
where ctry.id = a.ctry_id
and ctry.id = ci.cid
and ctry.continent = con.cid
GROUP BY con.continent
ORDER BY sum(a.coastline);

Question 5:Which countries have the shortest coastline per square kilometer of (total) area? Exclude all countries that do not have a coastline. For the result set, enter a table of those countries with the name, the coastline per square kilometer as "COASTLINERATIO", the coastline, and the area. As the answer to this question, enter the first five countries in ascending order of coastline ratio.

Answer 5:select name, DECIMAL(a.coastline/a.total_area,6,5) "COASTLINERATIO", a.coastline, a.total_area
from countries ctry, c_info ci,
xmltable('db2-fn:xmlcolumn("C_INFO.INFO")/country' COLUMNS "CTRY_ID" INTEGER PATH '@cid',
"COASTLINE" DOUBLE PATH 'coastline',
"TOTAL_AREA" DOUBLE PATH 'area/total') AS a
where ctry.id = a.ctry_id
and ctry.id = ci.cid
and a.coastline > 0
order by (a.coastline/a.total_area);


The only real way that you'll understand what's going on is by actually going to the XML Challenge website and at least poking around a little. It does seem like a lot of fun...and if you get the answers correct you win stuff. So, you actually get some value back out of your 2-4 hours of thinking.

iPhone Apps

Ok. So, in a Usability Engineering course at DePaul I was part of a team that created an application that eliminates the need for purchasing audio tours at your local museum. I've posted the slides on my LinkedIn Account.

I'd love to get your initial response on if you'd be interested in the application.

The obvious challenge is buy-in from the museums. This eliminates the overhead of paying licensing fees to the audio tour companies. Corporate sponsorship and advertising can be embedded into the tours (for the profit)....and there are so many talented folks at these museums already that can create the content on a web-based tour generator that is yet to be developed.

Please, let me know what you guys think of the VERY low-fidelity prototype.

Fear.....and Greed

My parents, who have been great mentors in my life, have stressed that the stock market is driven on fear and greed. When I first started actively investing in 2001 I didn't want to believe this ideaology. "The markets are driven on the fundamentals," I said. My strategy worked fairly well for a number of years. Of course, I didn't realize rule #1. It's easy to make money in an upward moving economy. In a down economy things get very difficult.

These bailouts happen. The newscasters try to spin the bailout plans as being horrible, company-saving non-capitalistic measures. So, I thought I'd give my very small viewing audience a little insight as to my thoughts on the bailout plans. Since they seem to be ever-present in our minds....and I even got interviewed on the street regarding this bailout thing. I told the news people that what I'd like to see is:

1. Accountability -hold the people that created this mess accountable. Don't allow them to continue the actions that created this problem. However, this doesn't mean an immediate firing of all the C-level guys. But, it does mean that there needs to be a transfer of power.

2. Tranparency - we, the public and/or the shareholders (truthfully the public has become the shareholders with the bailout) should know where the money is being spent. Simple concept, no elaboration required there. But, the effort to deliver transparency may create some jobs in the IT sector to deliver an information repository....I'm not sure exactly how they'll do it.

But, a lot of people are agreeing with some of the folks out there that say "let the auto companies fail, let the banks fail...don't give them bailout money." To them I say, think about what the money is doing. What happens if these companies fail? If the companies fail and the pensions go away, well, the government foots the bill. Billions of costs are immediately transferred to the government without ANY job creation. Additionally, if the companies fail and the unemployment rate goes up...what happens? Yep, the government foots the bill there too. Benefits, compensation, etc. all gets transitioned to a LIABILITY on the GOVERNMENT's books.

Does spending the money required to help the company crawl it's way out of the hole and fund some R&D to create sustainable growth make better sense? Uh....yea, it does. So, my two cents there.

Oh, and Sarah Palin....seriously....2012....seriously....? Practice your speeches before you deliver them on a national level...because it is ok for me to make a runon sentance in class and feel a little silly. But, when you're not able to talk effectively to the national media what makes you think you can be a presidential candidate. Or, be able to hold a rational debate against one of the most polished and prolific speakers of the modern era in 2012? Perhaps you aren't thinking. Rant complete.

SQL Queries

A group member in one of my Usability classes asked me an interesting question regarding deleting records from multiple tables in a database.

My answer, well, it depends on the data. But, what does your query look like:

delete from MAIN_TBL where REQUIREMENT in
(select REQUIREMENT
from MAIN_TBL A, LINE_TBL B, DETL_TBL C
where A.REQUIREMENT = B.REQUIREMENT
and A.REQUIREMENT = C.REQUIREMENT
and B.REQUIREMENT = C.REQUIREMENT
and A.eff_status = 'I');

So, my initial reaction was....there aren't any attributes you're deleting. What are you deleting from MAIN_TBL?

So, I said first thing, is the select statement performing the way you want? Is REQUIREMENT really the primary key? How can requirement be unique? If it is, what do you want to delete? Do you want to delete the entire row of data and all the data in the child tables? Finally, is this TEST_DATA? If it is test data I'd probably try and delete the rows from one of the child tables first, then add in both child tables, then add in the parent table. Iteration is our friend.

Start with:

delete * from detl_tbl where requirement in
(select b.requirement from main_tbl a, line_tbl b, detl_tbl c
where a.requirement = b.requirement (+)
and a.requirement = c.requirement (+)
and UPPER(a.eff_status) = 'I');


So, yay. I get to use some of my database troublshooting skills

Allstate and Mensa

Two topics today. Completely unrelated. First, I had an all-day interview/information session with Allstate. I must say, I'm impressed with the culture and the environment. There are people from all backgrounds, and varying levels of education present. It made for a great day. So, kudos to them for putting on a great presentation.

The second topic is about Mensa. So. I took the test a little under two weeks ago. I know I briefly blogged about the details of the test and second guessing some of my performance. However, I'm proud to report. I've been given the green light....I apparently am smart enough for Mensa. So, I will soon be joining the society for those in a High IQ bracket. Very cool.

Alright. Since I had an all-day event today and a lot of work to do to prepare for my group meeting tomorrow....I have to get back to it. But, things do seem to be falling into place.

Usability Engineering

I'm in this class called Usability Engineering. It is a graduate course at DePaul. I may have mentioned it in prior blogs...but the main project in this class is to develop a mobile application. Which is very cool.

Our group came up with an idea with a mix of using the iPhone, GPS, and audio tours. The premise is simple. Who wants to go to the museum and use the clunky and unsanitary audio devices? There are other functional tid-bits, but I can't really give it all away, can I?

Anyway, Angelique, our team member with a penchant for graphic design, went to an Apple iPhone Developers Conference yesterday. I wish I could have gone....damn. Anyway, she ran our idea and some low-fidelity screenshots by one of the Apple guys. He seemed to love the concept....so there is an MIT $100k challenge that I may peek into....but I need a part-time or full-time MIT student on the team. Or, maybe just proposing the concept to a few museums. Luckily, Angelique works for the Adler Planetarium (made famous by John McCain and his projector comment).

Nevertheless, I was excited that the Apple Guys were interested....and we were at a stage where the low-fidelity prototype didn't really look like an Apple iPhone app. So, it was promising. Our team will be presenting to a few Motorola folks next week. I just wanted to blog about it....

I will try and get the screenshots available to the blog soon. Feedback will be welcome.

Book Idea to throw out there...

I've been applying for many a job lately. Some know this, some don't. But, from all of my insights gained from the Job Fair front and the job market front it appears that in this new digital age one of the departments of an organization that has typically been though of as a more hand-on people-centric divison has changed. The Human Resources Department. So, I thought about maybe writing a book on my thoughts.

The title would be:

"Go and Apply Online: Why HR has Taken a Turn towards Bits and Bytes"

Based on the title, what do you think this book would be about, and would you buy it if enough additional research was done?

November 2008 HBR Case Study

Ok, so I'm going to give my "expert" opinion on November's HBR Case Study. The case is called: "When Your Colleague Is a Saboteur". I want to stress that I have not yet read any of the expert opinions and this is my own little personal take on the case study.

Overview of the Case

The case tells us a story of Mark Landstad, a new Invenstment Banking Executive that has moved up through the ranks of CliffBank. He is sitting in his office going over a presentation that he will be giving to CliffBank executives on a company called Millhouse. He's searching through a network drive for updated information from the previous employee and was having ZERO luck finding the information.

He decided to ask his partner on the presentation, Nicole. He liked Nicole because she was so inviting and showed him around the office and introduced him to other senior managers in the division. He realized that Nicole would not be able to access her email due to a trip and began to write a second email to one of his mentors, Ian Beasley. Ian works at Millhouse and could provide a great deal of help to the presentation...but he avoids doing so as he didn't want to ask Ian for the help. So, he sent an email off to Nicole and continued working over the weekend.

On Monday he met with Nicole and asked her to quickly go over the presentation scheduled for a post-lunch meeting the same day. Nicole said she would review it and get back to Mark later. With 30 minutes until the meeting Mark was nearly pulling his hair out and Nicole hadn't given any feedback. She just said, "it looks good" and to get ready for the meeting.

In the meeting Nicole started the presentation and started to give additional information that Mark was looking for all weekend. Nicole deliberately didn't share this information with Mark. The CliffBank executives were so impressed with Nicole's information that Mark's portion of the presentation was never reached or acknowledged. After the meeting, Mark's new boss Paul told him that he should bounce Nicole's ideas off of his mentor, Ian. Mark did so, and Ian told him that Nicole had contacted him for a meeting as well. Another point that Nicole did not mention.

Mark became irritated and confronted Nicole. Her response was "I'm trying to grab ALL the credit on this project." Paul, Mark's manager doesn't really care about this problem and is really only interested in results.

So, the question that Mark is facing:
How can Mark regain is footing after being sabotaged?


My personal insights would be as follows:

Nicole is apparently a "shark" and not a true team player. As such, she must have a habit of this and the concept of "laying a pool of the dead on your way to the top" comes to mind. People with this mindset can still make it to the top...but they don't stay at the top because employees just won't work for them. So, eventually, Nicole will fail. But this doesn't really help Mark's immediate problem.

I would probably say that Mark needs to fight fire with fire on this particular project (as much as I hate thinking this). This is Mark's first project with CliffBank and as such, it is critical that he succeeds to put confidence in the eyes of the senior management. With his mentor, Ian, being an executive for the company that his project is for, Mark has a huge advantage in this situation. Mark should call Ian and explain to him that he needs "an advantage on this proposal to make a good impression with senior management and he does not want Nicole at the meeting." If Ian asks for additional information, he should provide it. Ian is aware of Mark's past, and is more likely to believe Mark in this crazy situation.

Forcing Nicole into a position where she has to take a back seat with Ian is a very harsh move, but he needs to demonstrate to Nicole that he isn't a pushover. Mark should intimate that he wants to give the information to Nicole, but wants this to be a "group proposal where they both get credit for success." if he does give information to Nicole, he should not give complete information. An even better alternative is to see if Paul wants to come to the lunch meeting if Nicole is there. With Paul seeing how well Mark gets along with Ian and Millhouse it is likely that Mark will be put into the lead on the project. This being said, Mark will need to give Nicole some of the credit on the proposal...or he may face constant problems on future projects. It may even be worth it to record future conversations with Nicole in case of future sabotage and to build a solid case for her dismissal. Any recorded conversations should be placed in an office vault due to the sensitive nature.

No executive team wants a member of the team to be solely after their individual success. A true test of a person's ability is not only their success rate, but their ability to teach others what they've learned along the way.

This was a difficult case for me to stomach and conceive...as I have never worked with someone like Nicole before. This is not to say that I won't the future...and I don't think I'd be able to have the same approach to the situation.

Pending Posts

I've finally uploaded about 100 more pictures from my trip. For the 1 day that I was in Los Angeles I took a lot of pictures. I'm also noticing that 90% of my pictures are just buildings and landscape. Why didn't I take more pictures with friends and family? Next time I visit family I vow to take ONLY family pictures. Anyway, I'll be posting lots of pictures in the coming couple of weeks.

I have also been putting off posting the November HBR Case Study. I will likely do this in the next week.

Time is starting to free up as school sort of winds down so my blogging may increase. I hope it does anyway. However, my job searching is ramping up immensely. So, unless I land a job and can just sort of lose that level of stress (which is pretty big given the markets and financial crisis...I refuse to blog about these topics) I may continue sporadically blogging as applying for jobs is truly a full-time job.

So, expect some "pretty" pictures soon. Since the train is nearly impossible to sleep in I often took both sunset and sunrise photos. But, please, take at least one multi-day train trip in your life. It is an experience....

I think that's all for tonight.

For those that are about to Rock. I salute you

First, Happy Halloween. I guess second, I'm writing this very brief blog to repost a couple of my more interesting video finds. This is to let those (who will remain anonamous) that were interested in my fun-factor to peek in on what happens in my mind. Yes...it can be scary!!!!! But, remember, it is Halloween.

Some may be aware that this blog started in an Internet Marketing Course. If you are at DePaul in a masters program that grants you the ability to take MKT 595, I recommend it. Great class, and I've been able to see some truly applicable parallels between the classroom and life. So, wit that said, the title, Blog...from Blammo! came from a memory of me watching Ren and Stimpy cartoons. If you're a guy...you may be more apt to remember these cartoons. I'm not being sexist....but us guys tend to watch more meaningless cartoony things than women. No offense to either side of the genetic divide I hope. Anyway, this was the video (or one of them) that inspired the title.




So, that was Log, from Blammo. Now, this is another video which I found to be hilarious. Especially now with the Mac vs. PC wars. Which I do believe are in some way or another legitimate. Macs have a "virtual Windows" application that simulates windows....so it can theoretically perform most of the standard business applications. Macs are more stable....etc. However, let it be known that I'm blogging on a PC. Mwaaahaahaa. But, what about Linux? So, this is a little overview about Linux.

busy....not lazy

So, I may seem to have been a bit of a flake lately on the blog front. However, I truly have been busy. So, I thought that maybe writing out the questions and then answers from books would help me study....but, actually, it probably is just more of a study tool for those just starting out regarding their PMP testing journey. I need to just focus on the PMBOK.

I have also been doing some simulation tests from Whizlabs. It seems that I pass this test. But, with really only around a 75%. That leaves a little wiggle room (of 30 questions). I want to get it up to around 80% before sitting to take the test (fortunately I've heard that the Whizlabs test is more difficult than the PMP exam) But, with the test coming up on Tuesday there seems to be a bit more studying to accomplish. So, I'm focusing on that--instead of the blog.

I did take the Mensa test today. I felt pretty good about the test. Everything seemed fine and dandy. But, when I got home I realized that perhaps I may have missed some questions on one section. It involved adding items together using a specific # of items. I added the items together just fine....but I forgot to go back and look at the # of items to see if they matched up. So, if a particular question had more than one answer....I may have written the wrong answer. *shrug* I'll find out the results in a couple of weeks. I'm certain to blog about it either way....and I just wish that this test could be used for the GMAT and/or GRE. I want to do a PhD program eventually, but I just don't have the time to study for those tests. An assessment of intelligence should really be good enough, don't you think?

Well. If you have any opinions on the matter...please, leave a comment.

PMP Questions

Ok. I know...I know. I've been sort of not blogging for awhile. I do apologize. Most of my online time has truly been devoted to applying to jobs. It appears to be a 4hr/day commitment to search through employee website for relevant jobs when performing a national job search. Plus, I'm trying to snazzy up my linkedin profile

I did send an email off the the Harvard professors calling for a MBA body of knowledge. I have not heard anything from them...which is disappointing. However, they could be busy with their students.

But, now I'm going to jump right into the sample PMP questions. What I am doing here is posting sample questions from Michael Newell's book, Preparing for the PMP Certification Exam. The following will be questions from the Scope Management Section. Tomorrow I will try and post the answers. If you have any questions regarding the answers please add a comment, as I will just post them as:
1. g
2. f
3. e

Good Luck.

Scope Management

1. Decomposing the major deliverabiles into smaller, more manageable components to provide better control is called:
  a. Scope planning
  b. Scope definition
  c. Scope baselining
  d. Scope verification

2. Any numbering system that is used to monitor project costs by category such as labor, supplies, or materials, for example, is called:
a. Chart of accounts
b. Work breakdown structure
c. Universal accounting standard
d. Standard accounting practices

3. A person who is involved in or may be affected by the activities or anyone who has something to gain or lose by the activity of the project is called a:
a. Team member
b. customer
c. stakeholder
d. supporter

Questions 4-6 refer to this:
A project manager is assigned to a project early in the project life cycle. One of the things that must be done is to do a justification for the project. Since very little information is known about the project, the estimates are considered to be rough estimates. The following table is the project manager's estimate of the cash flows that will take place over the next five years:

-----------------------------------------------------------------
End of Year Cash Flow in Cash Flow Out
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1 0 500,000
2 300,000 90,000
3 400,000 100,000
4 100,000 175,000
5 50,000 35,000

4. What is the payback period for this project?
a. One year
b. Two years
c. Three years
d. Four years

5. What is the net cash flow at the end of five years?
a. $50,000
b. -$50,000
c. $850,000
d. $100,000

6. If the net present value for each of the cash flows were calculated at a 10% interest rate, the net present value cash flow at the end of five years would be:
a. Greater than the total cash flow without the net present value applied.
b. Less than the total cash flow without the net present value applied.
c. The same as the total cash flow without the net present value applied.
d. Unable to be calculated with the information supplied.

7. A group of related projects that are managed in a coordinated way that usually include an element of ongoing activity is called a:
a. Major project
b. project office
c. program
d. group of projects

8. During the full life cycle of the project, a plot of the project's expected expenditures will usually follow a characteristic "S" shape.

This indicates that:
a. there is a cyclic nature to all projects.
b. problems will always occur in the execution phase.
c. there are high expenditures during closeout
d. the bulk of the project budget will be spent in the execution phase.

9. A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a new product or service is called a:
a. new product development
b. project
c. program
d. enterprise

10. A project manager makes a narrative descritpion of the work that must be done for her project. This is called a:
a. project plan
b. control chart
c. statement of work
d. project objective

11. An example of scope verification is:
a. reviewing the performance of an installed software module.
b. managing changes to the project schedule
c. decomposing the WBS to a work package level
d. performing a benefit-cost analysis to determine if we should proceed.

12. The process of establishing clear and achievable objectives, measuring their achievement, and adjusting performance in accordance with the results of the measurement is called:
a. strategic planning
b. contingency planning
c. detailed planning
d. management by objectives

13. Configuration management is:
a. used to ensure that the description of the project product is correct and complete.
b. The creation of the work breakdown structure
c. the set of procedures developed to ensure that project design criteria are met.
d. a mechanism to track budget and schedule variances.

14. A project manager is employed by a construction company and is responsiblbe for the furnishing of the completed building. One of the first things that the project maanger for this project should do is to write a:
a. Work breakdown structure
b. budget baseline
c. project charter
d. project plan

15. A project manager is creating a work breakdown structure for her project. In the breakdown structure the lowest level of the breakdown for the project manager is called the:
a. activity
b. task
c. work package
d. cost account

16. A project manager is reviewing the scope of the project and the scope baseline of the project. This includes which of the following?
a. the original project schedule, budget, and scope
b. the original project description and the project charter
c. the original scope of the project plus or minus any scope changes
d. the current budget of the project

17. A project manager has just become the manager of a project. The document that recognizes the existence of the project is called:
a. the statement of work
b. the project asignment
c. the project charter
d. the product description

18. A project manager is reviewing the work breakdown structure for her project. The WBS for the project represents:
a. All the tangible items that must be delivered to the client.
b. All the work that must be completed for the project.
c. The work that must be performed by the project team.
d. All the activities of the project.

19. A manager who manages a group of related projects is called a:
a. project manager
b. project expiditer
c. program coordinator
d. program manager

20. A new project has begun. The project charter has been written and the project manager has been assigned. The project manager is preparing the work breakdown structure for the project. The WBS is typically used for:
a. Explaining the scope of the project relevant to the client.
b. the basis for organizing and defining the total scope of the project.
c. Showing the resource conflicts that exist in the project.
d. the logical relationship between tasks in the project.

21. During the life of a project, the project will go through several phases--initiating, planning, execution, and closeout. Which phase of all the project is likely to have the greatest amount of its funding spent?
a. Initiating
b. Planning
c. Executing
d. Closeout

22. During the course of the project it is important that the stakeholders be informed of the progress of the project. One of the reports that is frequently used is a progress report. Which of the following is true about progress reports?
a. they allow stakeholders to judge the performance of the project according to its plan.
b. they are generally considered to be overkill on very small projects
c. they require the use of earned value reports.
d. they must be produced by the project manager.

23. The coordinated undertaking of interrelated activities directed toward a specific goal that has a finite period of performance is a:
a. project charter
b. project
c. set of project objectives
d. program

24. The document that is proof of upper management's commitment to the project and gives the authority to manage the project to the project manager is called:
a. the project plan
b. the project goals and objectives
c. the project charter
d. the project definition

25. A project manager works in a company favoring the weakest authority for the project manager. The type of organization that holds the project manager to be the weakest is:
a. projectized organization
b. strong matrix organization
c. weak matrix organization
d. balanced matrix organization

26. A project manager has been asked by the client to meet the promise date of the project. The project manager analyzes the schedule before promising a date to the customer. The project manager uses the program evaluation and review technique to evaluate the project schedule. She decides that based on the results of the PERT calculations she can promise a delivery date of June 30. The expected value of the project completion date is May 30. If the project manager is willing to accept a 5% probability that the project will be delivered later than June 30, what is the standard deviation of the durations of the activities on the critical path? Assume a five-day workweek.
a. ten days
b. fifteen days
c. one-half month
d. one month

27. A project is proposed to a customer. Price and schedule for delivery are agreed upon. The work breakdown structure is agreed to as well. The customer request that one of the milestones of the project be completed by a certain date. The project schedule is reviewed, and it is found that the expected completion date for this milestone is considerably earlier than the date requested by the customer. The date for this milestone is which of the following?
a. Consideration
b. Summary activity
c. Constraint
d. Suggestion

28. A project manager is managing a project. The original scope baseline of the project was budgeted at $100,000. Since work on the project started there have been seventeen authorized and approved changes to the project. The changes have a value of $17,000 and the cost of investigating them prior to their approval was $2,500. What is the current budget for the project?
a. $100,000
b. $114,500
c. $117,000
d. $119,500

29. In a very large project having a budget of $5 million and a project team of over one hundred persons, the project manager constructs a work breakdown structure. The project manager will do the WBS to the detail level of which of the following?
a. task
b. activity
c. WBS element
d. work package

30. A project manager is managing a project that has reached the end of the planning phase. The work scope has been agreed to and definitive cost estimates have been completed for the project. The total estimated cost of the project is $100,000. It is reasonable to expect that the project will not cost over which of the following values?
a. $100,000
b. $110,000
c. $125,000
d. $175,000

31. The change management plan should be included in which of the following?
a. scope management plan
b. communications management plan
c. configuration management plan
d. quality management plan

32. A project team has made up the work breakdown structure for a project. Senior managmenet for the company and all of the stakeholders including the client have approved the WBS. The client later requests that a change be made in the project, which will cost a considerable amount of money. The client says that the company's salesman promoised this feature prior to sign-off on the WBS. Who should pay for the change?
a. the client should pay
b. the company managing the project should pay
c. both the company and the client should pay part of the cost
d. the change should not be implmented

33. A project manager is managing a software development project for a hospital. There is a new computer available that will speed up the development process considerably. The new computer costs $50,000 including shipping, installation, and start-up computer will cause a gross savings of $100,000. What is the net present value of the savings if they occur one year after the expenditure for the computer? Assume a 10% interest rate.
a. $90,000
b. $40,900
c. $45,555
d. $91,110

34. A project manager is managing a project during the planning phase. She chooses to use a prcedence network diagram as a graphic planning tool to assist in making the project schedule. The most important reason for using the network diagram as a graphic planning tool is that it makes it easier to see which aspect of the project plan better than the other tools available?
a. the probability that the tasks will be completed on time
b. the logical relationships between activities in the schedule
c. the start and finish dates of the activities
d. the float between activites

Just busy...I promise

While some of you may be new viewers of the blog...some may be long time (since April 2008) readers. I have been extremely busy with school/applying for jobs/preparing for the PMP exam/applying for jobs/working on group projects, etc.

I still have a few more postings of pictures from my summer adventure left. The trip from Portland, Oregon to Los Angeles, CA to Albaquerque, NM. Trust me...there was a helluva story in that trip.

Plus, I'm needing to talk about an October Harvard Business Review Article about a Body of Knowledge for Management. Very good article that should stir the management community up a bit and maybe you'll send off a quick email the Harvard professors that wrote the article.

Anyway....I have to quickly prepare for another group meeting...but please--stay tuned. I will have a flurry of posts very soon.

Mensa Anyone?

So, I received notification that there is a Mensa Test Day coming up. This will be pretty much a nationwide event. You can check out the details at Mensa's web site.

Do I have any readers that are members of Mensa? Are there any true benefits to being in Mensa? I'm nearly positive I can get in...but what I'm really curious about is if someone is a member and has been able to sequester a job based on being a member.

Any input?

I'm a member of Phi Kappa Phi...this hasn't really helped me. But, it was neat to be honored like that. Top 10% across all the graduate programs was a pretty cool feat. This was at Wright State University. I'm uncertain if a 3.872 GPA is high enough at DePaul. We shall see....

October HBR Case Review

So, much like last month I am giving my case analysis with blind eyes to the expert opinions provided after the case. My format will be a brief outline of the case, the case question, and then my input on the case.

Can Knockoffs Knock Out Your Business?

Brief description:

The case starts with an outside consultant locating and seizing roughly 100 tons of fake products from a warehouse in Hong Kong. The consultant then calls the CEO of Ruffin, Bill Bronson to let him know that the seizure occured. We then find out that Bill has a vested interest in tracking down knockoff products from a nearly fatal accident involving a knockoff watch representing his watch company.

Bill is currently in Dubai and working with Kamil Zafir and Nels Volgren. Kamil and Nels were discussing the upcoming protocols being built into their products that will make reproduction nearly impossible in 12 months. The new product security protocols are partly relying on a laser-etching device purchased from China. They've also been doing some simple things like evaluating the contractor's raw material orders to "red-flag" when they order too much product.

Two weeks later, Bill was in Beijing and noticed an abundance of knockoff products. Lily Wang, Ruffin's east asian director, told Bill that the knockoffs were "free billboards" and they weren't "lost sales"

Bill has added additional lawyers to the staff, employee time is now having to be allocated to testify at the nearly 20 different civil and criminal lawsuits. Essentially, profits were being eaten away by legal costs.

Case Question:

How far should Bill take his campaing against counterfeiting?

Personal Analysis:

Well, I think that some of the efforts that Bill has initiated are excellent countermeasures to the knockoffs. The laser etching and other special markings are an excellent way to help customers verify authenticity. However, knockoffs are an inevitable byproduct of a high-end brand. A clear solution to this problem is to eliminate the outsource production process. Bring the production of the watches and other products back into company hands. This method will help to reduce the leak of confidential manufacturing techniques. Now, you may say that corporate espionage will still happen. While this is possible, it is much less likely than putting corporate products in the hands of external outsourcers in a foreign country.

If the company chooses to stay involved with a foreign outsourcer (which is legitimate from a profit margin perspective) I think that they need to dictate the production facility policies to punish those involved with corporate espionage with jailtime in their local country. Put forth some counter-intelligence efforts...push some fake product designs to each facility and see what is sold on the black market. This could be a method to find the "bad eggs" and get rid of them.

Just some thoughts....as I'm not entirely familiar with these issues on a practical basis. So, my thoughts are entire theory-based. Don't get me wrong...I want to have some experience in those situations. I just don't have any yet.

To Seaside and Beyond

Ok. As a disclaimer...these pictures were all taken on my iPhone. Additionally, I am not a professional photographer. If I were, would I use my iPhone?

This first picture is driving from Bend, Oregon along Route 20 towards Black Butte Ranch. You can see the 3 sisters. Yes, the sisters are mountains.

This is a picture of much of the journey. Some of you viewers may not be familiar with highways in Oregon. Well, this is not really the NORM, but it is an average view of what you see along the highway in the western region of Oregon. Giant trees!!




These are pictures of Detroit Lake. Still driving from Bend to Seaside. However, this is along Highway 22.



And now we are entering yet another of the many tunnels that drive through the mountains in Oregon. OoooOOOO spooky, right?


In this picture my cousin and I are driving to the coast along Highway 26 and approaching Highway 101. For all those that love the show AxMen. This is what they do....I suppose I shouldn't say too much. My great uncle is in the logging business...but it is definitely hard on the eyes to see these great trees lying along the mountainside.


Me climbing the Oregon Heritage tree and showing just how big this tree is...or was. I guess it was struck by lightning last fall. So, only about half of the tree is still standing.








Welcome to Seaside! Pretty darn close to the mountains...yet right at the beach.




Ok...my cousin and I went to the room. Hit the beach for about 40 minutes. Trust me, the Pacific Ocean is not warm in Oregon. But the waves are good. So, after briefly checking out the beach...and the beach bunnies we drove over to Cannon Beach. It is a short 10 minute drive...and is where parts of The Goonies was filmed. This is a far-off picture of Haystack Rock.






One of the best things about the West Coast and the Ocean is truly watching the sun set into the ocean. If you've never been to the West Coast....I recommend traveling there for a sunset. Unfortunately it was a little cloudy for sunset but this is it.




The next few pictures are a series of pictures of Haystack Rock under different lighting during the sunset.










After doing the sunset at Cannon Beach, Brian and I returned to Seaside. That evening we did all the regular things one does at a beach town. Played various games at the local arcades and went to the bars. Now the bar scene has a lot to be desired....you can ask me about that if you're interested in visiting the area.

But, the next day I wanted to get a few more pictures of Seaside. So, the next two pictures are of the beach and me chilling with Lewis and Clark. Can you imagine what Lewis and Clark thought as they finally came to the Pacific Ocean? Makes me want to be an adventurer and explorer out there discovering new things and places.

Where do you apply for that job??

updates..

So, something strange happened. I received my AC Adapter from Sony. Which is good. But the studpid Adapter isn't working. I have to call the Sony Support Team again. Very disappointing.

My classes:
TDC 425: Voice/Data Network Fundamentals
IS 433: Information Security Management
HCI 440: Usability Engineering

Ok, so the classes aren't that weird. But, they may keep me a little busy this quarter. They all seem to have some extra work and projects that may take up my free-time.

The PMP Exam studies are going well. I may post some sample questions and then post the answers. This may be better than outlining what I think is important from the various chapters in the PMBOK.

As far as my vacation pictures. I will be posting the pics that EVERYONE is waiting for--Seaside and Cannon Beach, Oregon in the next couple of days. So, please stay tuned...until the next episode.

Sony VAIO Support Staff

Ok. As I am posting you...I'm posting via my Sony VAIO laptop. I bring it with me on vacations, commuting via the train to Chicago for school and sometimes for work-related engagements downtown.

Anyway, regular wear and tear and wrapping up my AC Adapter has caused the wiring to basically wear out. This was a problem of failing to charge my battery for the past few weeks. I recently discovered the issue was related to the wiring....so after localizing the problem I called up the Sony Support team.

The tricky part was that I called them on 9/12/2008 and I purchased the laptop on 9/9/2008 from Best Buy. So, my limited warranty was tecnically expired. After talking with the support team. Which the first call was only 26 minutes (included all the waiting on hold). I explained the situation to them and was honest about my limited warranty being expired. At first, they were adamant that I would have to purchase the part.

I then explained that I have had a great experience with my VAIO. Probably the best laptop I've had so far (which is true). There is just the one problem with the battery. Which is really a design flaw. Sort of like the iPod and iPhone earbuds have a design flaw. From the AC adapter that plugs into the computer there is the wire that sticks straight out of the "box". When just about anyone unplugs and wraps the cords what do you do? You wrap the cord around the boxy exterior. In so doing you put stress on the part of the cable that is coming out of the box. This is why many laptop power supplies and headphone jacks don't go straight up or out of the box. They have a 90 degree extension. So, from continuous wrapping the wiring wears out...and eventually needs to be replaced. (Probably a good topic to discuss in my Usability Engineering course).

Anyway, at the end of the day I had to fax the support staff a copy of my receipt (which I luckily had) and they would send me a new Adapter free of charge.

I had a very good experience with the support staff. And although I heard a lot of laughter and chatter between other coworkers in the background...which makes me think that their work environment is fun...but could make some customers feel self-concious if they aren't informed/computer-savvy people and have been struggling with the support team.

So, I thought I'd write a post about the experience. They did a great job and understood that 2-3 days demands leniency if Sony wants to maintain their brand image and customer base.

Good job Sony!

new ideas...I think.

So, I thought of a couple of new business ideas. Some of you may know that my grandma has dementia. If not, now you know. But, the taking of pills is a constant struggle for her. First thing....she doesn't remember if she's taken pills for the day. Second, the pill-taking process is extremely difficult. Simple things like an inhaler are almost impossible to do without directions.

To solve the first thing, I was thinking that a new type of pillbox would be perfect. For those that use pills, a standard plastic box that has 7 compartments with a letter representing the day. So, the new pillbox will be much the same with a few extra bells and whistles. First, an electronic locking mechanism that will disallow people to open the next day's pills until....the next day. With the idea of this being electronic...we need a power source. A simple battery will work. But, batteries die. So, there needs to be some sort of auditory cue to notify you when the batteries need to be replaced or recharged. Ok, so there's the locking mechanism. Next, how do we know that it is time to take the pills. Someone with dementia doesn't realize that they should even look at a pill box to take pills. So, there needs to be a visual cue. I'm not stuck on the idea...but an organic LED or some form of visual notification needs to be developed so that it will draw the attention to the pillbox. A flashing light....something.

Ok, so the box is functional at this point. But, unfortunately....the last step needs to be customizable. The pill taking directons. A simple one page laminated direction could probably help.

So, it isn't 100% perfect and I'm sure there are a lot of extra issues. But, please let me know what you think.

I'm thinking someone could make this and sell it for at least $20-$30 per box. Some may think this is WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. But, for a personal service that provides the same function of helping someone take their pills is $9/day (that's $2340/year for 5 days a week or $3,276/year for everyday). Would you spend $30 for a pillbox that gets rid of that type of yearly cost?

That was idea #1...I have another one for kids and altering the baby monitor device to embed it into regular headphones.....but I haven't sat down to really think this one through.

McKinsey Quarterly Survey - Business and Society Panel

I just responded to a survey request on the role of business in societal issues like the environment, poverty, etc. Kind of interesting. I recommend that you go to the McKinsey Quarterly site, sign up, and take the survey as well. You get a "bonus article" however, it is a free article that you can find on their archived website. Which is a little bit of sneaky behavior.

It was interesting to think about how we all know that big business was, and still is, a major contributor to the greenhouse gas issue. Surprising little factoid, did you guys know that cows are the largest producer of greenhouse gases. The methane that they produce does more damage to the ozone than anything else on the planet. Mind you, the cows are in such abundance because of our desire to eat them and make shoes. But, neat little factoid that you may not have known.

The survey was basically asking what our opinion of the impact that businesses have on helping to fight the environmental issues, the level that they should be involved in assisting research, what we think the population's view are...etc.

Kind of cool, anyway. I'm busy studying for the PMP exam as well as applying to firms (some of you may be reading this....BOO!) and trying to keep or improve my pitiful 3.83 GPA in grad school. I swear...2 marks of B+ and it is impossible to get a 3.9 or higher.

"Damn!" ~Stewy Griffin

Harvard Business Review - Sept. 2008 Case Study

For those of you that haven't picked up September's issue of the HBR I will give a brief synopsis of what the case is about.

First, the question:

"Are Brady's worst fears justified?"

Synopsis:

Barton Brady is the CEO (I think) of Serendipity Associates (SA). It is a consulting firm that specializes in strategy...or at least branding. Two of Brady's biggest clients, Pixar and Dan Brown have just pulled out of SA to a competing firm. A senior partner, Yasmin Buonarroti, suggested that it was from a price-war loss...but that didn't make sense to Brady as margin pressures weren't really a concern of his firm.

Yasmin was waiting for Brady in the boardroom when he arrived at the office and showed Brady a blog post from Rhetorical Butler talking about SA in a VERY negative light. (It is likely that "Rhetorical Butler" is Hank Wittgenstein who is described to be a rogue philospher that heads up a competing firm. Wittgenstein is a low-cost consultant that is outsourcing some of his work to Ireland.)

We end the case with Brady going for a walk to think about how he will respond to this blog to stop the hemmorage of his client base.

Personal Analysis:

(I am writing this before reading the Expert advice...hopefully I have a matching opinion)

Brady's fears are definitely justified. With an upcoming competitor trying to strategically position himself as a low-cost and high quality consultant it will pull clientele away from more than his consulting firm.

In today's digital age a blog post can be detrimental to one's brand and no matter the response....the message is out there. That being said, it is important that Brady create a post speaking about the benefits of keeping the consulting teams "local" or at least "regional" to better service customers. He needs to further outline why outsourcing work will inherently reduce the quality when a firm adds degrees of separation. He will also need to address the issue of the blogger, the metaphor overuse or misuse in the consulting industry. It will be VERY important that Brady does not attempt to specifically address his company...but the industry at large. Talk about re-inventing the SA brand into its own sans-metaphor society that delivers sustainable results to clients.

I think that the concept of globalization is great to expand current lines of business. But, to deliver the type of work that strategic consulting firms are known for.....the consulting team will need to be working with the company and have a large presence at the company site. The concept of outsourcing consulting work will only reduce the quality of work.


So...that's my take on the Case Study. I apologize for the stream of conciousness type of writing I did there...but I've got a lot of things in my hopper.

Has anyone else read the case? Do you have any additional insights or suggestions???

More pictures. Mt. St. Helens.

I apologize for not posting more pictures recently. I've been doing all sort of productive things:

• Ordering textbooks from Amazon


• Applying for the Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification Exam through the Project Management Institute. This will hopefully help land me a job when I finish up graduate school.


• Reviewing the Top 50 Most Prestigious Consulting Firms of 2009 according to Vault.com


• Applying for positions at many of the firms on that list in hopes of some interest. I'm sure I'll get a few callbacks.


• Following up with some contacts that I have at firms. I think I should have done this sooner....oh well.


• Catching up with friends.


• Preparing for school starting up this week.


• Finally getting my Title and Registration changed from Ohio to Illinois.

The majority of my time...anywhere from 6 to 10 hours per day has been tied up in the whole job thing. Sometimes I think it is more arduous finding a job than actually doing the job. Look at the presidential race for crying out loud. Barack Obama before and after. He's got some gray on him after the past 2 year of campaigning.

Anyway, on to the pictures.

Starting the journey....


From a Portland tunnel to a Portland bridge.



Driving along the Highway to St. Helens.



Still driving long the highway....driving through a lot of VERY small towns in Washington. But, I liked seeing the "Blue Mountains" in the background and also the giant lakes.


Yay...finally here. 460


Holy cow....snow in August at 3800 feet?!?!


Starting the climb up the mountain...through the forest.



Clearing the forest and heading into the mountain.


Getting prepped. As you can tell my cousin Brian and I were prepared. I have my jeans and polo shirt with plastic bag. No poles--no hiking gear--no camel back.


The first ridge...little did my cousin and I know that there were a few rock ridges to come. A 2-hour estimate round-trip to get up turned into over 4 hours just to get up the top. The glaciers in the background were cool.


Glaciers......


My cousin Brian excited about approaching what we thought was the top of St. Helens.



Brian a little disappointed that we had a LONG way to go.


The clouds come rolling in....yep. Clouds, not fog.



Through the clouds we go.


Ahh...above the clouds. Yay.



Yep. I added a rock to the pile. I'm pretty cool.



It's hard to picture...but this is nearly straight up. And not pleasant...very soft ground. After all, it is ash from the volcanic eruption. Actually, if you squint your eyes and look at the "path" you see 2 black dots (or a black blob). That is a group about 30 minutes ahead of us.


At this point, we're WAY above the clouds. It almost looks like this picture could have been taken from a plane.



A look down the mountain.



My cousin heading down from the summit. I took 3 pictures basically from where the last picture was (but up). You see the TINY speck moving. It's him.



Halfway down the mountain. Kind of neat to see all these glaciers....


Nearly running down the mountain so that we don't get stuck up there at night.


Approaching sunset.



Yay! We got out of there before sunset. It was then time to celebrate our climbing expedition at one of the new spots of Portland. Hooters.




After we finished at Hooters. We then drove to Bend, OR. Apparently we drove through such cities as Damascas, Boring, Zigzag,etc. Who would have thought that there were such strangely named cities in Oregon.

In the next post I guess I'll be showing the trip to Seaside, Oregon. Now that I've finally realized that what I'm doing is trying to hit the Picasa Web Album that I'd apparently created with my account...I can upload pictures REALLY quick and link to them.

Portland Rose Garden and the Pittock Mansion

Before I move on to Chapter 2 in the PMBOK or the August Case Study in the HBR I need to post some more pictures of my summer adventure. Once again all of these photos were taken with my iPhone. So, the image may not be "perfect" quality....but it can put in in the perspective of being there...or wanting to be there.

The first section is from the Rose Garden. I took a ton of pictures while I was here...and they were mostly for Michelle....if you saw the earlier picture she did for me of "Superwoman" that I posted in June (I think). Anyway...I'm posting some of the pics that I thought were kind of special or at least demonstrated how big this Rose Garden in Portland was.

This was just one of the Rose Garden Signs. There were many different signs representing the different areas of the rose gardens.


Obviously this is just a picture of one of the fields of roses. I wanted to capture the enormity of the area.









Doesn't this rose look sort of like it belongs on cake frosting?








The Pittock Mansion sits above Portland. Kind of a neat old mansion. Here are a few of the pictures that I took of the Pittock Mansion and from the Pittock Mansion's backyard. Apparently this is a photogenic spot as when I was there wedding pictures were being taken as well.

As a kid I would go running with my grandpa in the Portland Hills and he lived roughly a mile away from the Pittock Mansion. So we would frequently walk up to the Pittock and then run in the forests down the hills and then walk back up. Afterwards we'd have hot chocolate and some crackers with cream cheese. Yum.



This is a view of the front of the Pittock Mansion.


This is the view from the backyard of the Pittock. Portland, Oregon.


This is a picture of the back of the Pittock. I made sure to take the wedding party out of the picture....they were defiitely having fun though.


This is the old Butler's quarters. It is actually built into the hill and has a lower level. From the lower level they would serve as a "security gate" and the main level would serve as the living quarters of the servents. I'm not sure no matter how wealthy I am in the future (or if I am) that I'd have servents. Seems odd in present day society.


Another picture of the front of the Pittock Mansion.


This was the old carriage house at the Pittock. I think they've done a good job on this area...looks nice.


In the next section I will post the pictures from the trip to Mt. St. Helens and while I was there.....man just thinking about that climb makes my knees hurt again.