Building Internet Applications

Ok, so this title may be slightly misleading. But, I am really talking about a class I took last quarter that was titled "Building Internet Applications". Apparently I was the only student to receive a perfect 10/10 on the final project--and a perfect 100% in the course. Very cool.

So, I need to document this fortuitous event in the blogosphere. yay! It feels good to get the highest grade in the class. I just wish that I could do that in the business courses. I get mostly As. But, never 100%. Crazy.

I also have an interview with Teleformix tomorrow. It is a Software Engineering job (which I don't want). We'll see what it pays...it is becoming much more difficult to turn down these jobs in this economy while I'm searching for a new career at a consulting firm.

Michelle's Surprise

So. One of my confidants in life, Michelle:

sent me this picture. I called her superwoman because she's one of those people that are not only capable of doing a ton, actually does a lot and has done a lot in life. She's always giving advice on things as well--a real amazing woman.

So, I thought I'd share this picture with everyone...since it was not only extraordinarily funny (you can see she's doing the superman song in her head) but she just looks like a knockout in this picture. Although, this could partially be a response to one of my own superman photos of yesteryear....


Please leave comments so I can pass them on to Michelle...she needs some encouragement this week. Her birthday is coming up in August, and may also need some kind words on how old she appears to be turning. :)

Business Idea....

I've just been asked to put together a website for a buddy of mine. A really basic site as he is just starting up a shotokan karate dojo. Kind of neat...but it got me thinking.

Steve has absolutely ZERO knowledge in setting up a website. But, he already purchased his domain name and things are moving along.

I've never come across a back-end administration tool that will allow a non-technically savvy person to update and edit their existing page data just as it appears in the current website.

Sort of like going from the non-editable version of a page directly to an editable version by maybe adding a &admin=true&password=blahblahblah. Not only that, but allowing them to add/edit/delete pictures and other multimedia, etc.

If there is such a program, please let me know. Otherwise, this could be a surefire solution for a lot of webmasters and non-technical website owners to update their website efficiently.

Oh, and I just got the new HBR. Centennial Special Edition...sweet.

Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery

Some of you readers know that I'm pursuing a Business Information Technology MS Degree. Some don't. Regardless of this fact, I'm currently studing Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BC/DR). So, what exactly is BC/DR you say....

Well, the professor, one Mary Sandy, defines it as "a basic methodology for how to analyze and prioritize risks, arrive at criticality ratings, evaluate financial and non-financial losses, and determine a strategy for survival."

I think of it is two things.

1. The Business Continuity portion is how businesses can keep the business operational, and hopefully competitive, it its industry during or after a time of disaster or crisis.


2. The Disaster Recovery aspect appears to be specific to the IT portion of a company (in this class). So, this portion of the class is looking at strategies to restore one's Data Center. Does that mean that any sort of data loss is a disaster? Personally, I don't think so...plus it always depends on the industry and the nature (purpose) of the data.

So, ultimately, these things always depend upon not only the current state of the business. Meaning, which areas are currently on mission critical projects to the organization. In situations where products are being developed and near production time or ship time, these functions may require a quicker recovery than normal. Not only that, but specific hardware components or software packages may require pre-purchasing before any sort of disaster.

It seems to be an interesting and incredibly important topic for businesses....although I'd hate to be the guy trying to scare companies into buying products and services for Disaster Recovery.

stock market fiasco

So....today the Dow Jones market went down 360 points. The Nasdaq went down almost 80 points. Not good.

But, the silver lining....things are relatively cheap right now.

General Motors (GM) went down nearly 11% today. What are the odds that it will rebound at least 2 or 3 percent on or near the open of the market tomorrow?

Same goes for Ford (F). Down 5.5%, likely to bounce at least 1.5% in the morning.

These are just my personal observations....but I think the term is actually called "the dead cat bounce"

We'll see what happens.

DishyMix Podcast

So. I've been listening to some of my new podcasts. One I highly recommend is called DishyMix. It is run by a woman that has grown through the ranks of marketing and really become a "heavy hitter" in the Internet Marketing industry.

She has other C-level individuals come on the show and talk about themselves, how they got where they were, and what they feel about today and tomorrow.

Even Steve Wozniak, "The Woz", has been on the show.

It appears to be a weekly. And show length varies from 20 minutes to 45 minutes max.

Age and Innovation

First, a disclaimer. This is basically just a rambling of what is going on in my head this minute.....

So, I am combining two distinct thoughts here and trying to identify if there is an underlying pattern. Plus, I'm hoping for some comments on what others think. I know there are people looking at the blog (thank you google analytics) and you're likely smarter than me. So, I'd love to hear from you.

First Innovation: defined as an introduction of new things or methods.

Next Age: defined as the length of time during which a being or thing has existed.

So, what I'm trying to think about here is the concept of "Does someone need to be young to be innovative?" or "Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

We've all heard that as you get older, you get more sedentary in your beliefs. You've had experiences...and you stick with what you know. Is this true? I'm not sure I'm the best candidate to answer this (being only 28.95 years old) but I'll give it a go....

I'm thinking that I want to take the typically MBA response. It depends. There are always exceptions in both categories. Young people that can't "think outside the box" and also old people that can be highly creative.

Why would an older person be less creative? If they've had a ton of experiences in life--wouldn't they be more open to creative ways to solve problems? They have likely seen more than one way to do things and have a potential knowledge that can combine solutions to be more effective.

On the opposite side of the coin. Why are younger people thought of as being more innovative? I mean sure, all these Gen Y folks (which I'm "technically" not a part of) have lived all their life in front of a computer....in front of a television screen, or behind a video game controller. They've been successful in complicated military strategies from playing World of Warcraft. They've seen myths busted on the Discovery Channel. They've been checking the news on CNN for years. They've been exciting their brains with Starbucks. The question is...how does this make them more innovative (while they're young)? Does it make them more innovative? My personal answer is that it definitely makes them more socially aware. They have a global perspective--which is critical to being successful (yes, I personally thing globalization is GOOD) But I don't think that this makes them more innovative. I think it makes them more likely to question the norm. But, they still just question, they don't create innovative answers.

I don't know. I'm done thinking about this topic. Any insights? Opinions?

Opinions on Energy

I'm curious if anyone has opinions on Ethynol. Personally, I don't think that it is a viable alternative energy source. It may be "sustainable" and the quotes are there because it really isn't possibe for us to switch over to ethynol currently and still have the same demand level. It isn't sustainable given the current usage and future demand. Of course, neither is oil. Herein lies the problem.

So, what are the alternatives?

Is Hydrogen power the answer? Its only byproduct is basically water. Hydrogen and oxygen. How would we make this available?

Is Windpower the answer? Lots of places in the world where we could have windmills. Both land and sea.

Is Solar power the answer? Is this a solution. I know there have been great advancements in the film technology. Could we add these to commercial buildings and power the earth? Could we profit off this?

Is nuclear energy the answer? Scary thought...but this could be a lot of energy for population growth.

Geothermal power? The earth isn't really cooling down...can we harness the exothermic reations in the earth?

Hydroelectric? Can creating dams help? What are the repercussions of this on the environment?

Do we need to have a centralized power grid pushing out energy? Or do we need to have a decentralized power grid where everyone basically generates their own power. If they generate more than they use...it goes back into the grid for the heavier users?

How could we implement this globally? I know there is a debate on the US not doing anything because some of the other countries like China and India are bigger producers of pollution. But, if we can create a method, or approach to solve this issue....how do we get the message out there?

So, there are a lot of questions here....I'd love to hear some answers. Or at least comments.

Bachelor Parties...

Well, I wet to a bachelor party over the weekend. I think we all had a blast. But, we ALL drank way too much. I know I did. I woke up like death was chasing me home. And the highlight of the drive home was the fact that I actually had sunglasses to wear. So, I can't actually discuss the evening...guy code. But, I can say with certainty that Donny slept pretty much all night from 8:20pm on. I felt bad for him knowing that he had to work the next evening.

Personally, I was basically worthless all day Sunday. I know I certainly couldn't eat anything until about 9 in the evening the next night. I drove home after being out cold from 1am to 6am and slept from 7 until probably 12:30. Then just laid down and watched movies. Sort of reminds you of those college parties....

On to other things...

In other news George Carlin died. Which is a bummer. RUFUS! I was living in San Diego when Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure came out. Rufus was the man. We will miss you. This one's for you George: "Piss, Shit, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, Tits"

McKinsey Quarterly

Well, I thought I'd do a daily message. So, last night I went to the Kellstadt MBA Association's Third Thursday Event. I had a great time...and I really like the new location at Plymouth Bar & Grill. Met a number of people, including a former President of the association and future teacher of the Undergraduate version of Internet Marketing at DePaul, Adam Garcia.

Besides Thursday evening, I really didn't do too much today. I started studying the PMBOK (2004 Edition). Is there a newer one yet?

I was asked to be a part of the McKinsey Quarterly Executive Surveys. Very strange for a graduate student to be asked. How does one get asked about these things? I mean, I anticipate being an important executive someday...and I think I can definitely contribute to the business community immediately. I want to. *shrug*

If it has any value I may put it on my resume....since I am trying to enter the consulting field after this 2nd Masters at DePaul. Eventually I do want to teach some college classes and add back at a higher level than being a college track coach and a Graduate Assistant. But, I'm not terribly certain about PhDs. Those take a lot of effort...and even more time.

I've also started planning my summer trip. As it currently stands:
Visit my buddy Lubomir (Penn State PhD student) @ Penn State:

• July 18 - 21

Return for 1 day then off to Dayton, Ohio to visit friends and colleagues, maybe check in on my renters (don't get me started about my renters...arrgh):

• July 22- 29

Return for a few days....then off to Albaquerque, NM as I'm going to be a godfather!!!

• August 5 - 15

I will then head off to Las Vegas for a week and meet up with my cousin. I'm anticipating a lot of alcohol. A good amount of sunburning...and a ridiculously good time. I'm hoping that my friend Erin can meet up during the beginning of the trip there...

• August 16 - 22

Then I think I'll be able to ramp up on the job hunt...and get ready to be a Graduate Assistant again while finishing up my degree. What companies do you recommend? You can see my resume at: My Resume. And I'm thinking about:

• McKinsey & Co


• Bain & Co


• Deloitte


• Accenture


• A.T. Kearney


• BCG


• Booz & Co


• IBM Global Services

Any other suggestions....?

June 2008 Harvard Business Case - Why Are We Losing All Our Good People

So, The June 2008 Harvard Case is extremely near and dear to me. It doesn't completely mirror my personal experience, but it is close. I will give a very brief synopsis now:

A company, Sambian Partners, is losing its talented people. Many of those that are leaving are the star employees. The case starts with Mary Donillo, the HR VP talking with Tom Forsythe. Tom is leaving the company after 8 years and a great deal of success at the company. Mary is trying to identify why he's leaving. He mentions a partner position at a larger firm and more oppportunities. She doesn't understand exactly why he's leaving. Sambian has been very good to Tom, and is on the CEO's short list of high performers....but Tom still left.

Helen (the CEO) and Mary decide that there have been a number of "high flyers" leaving the company recently and are trying to determine why. So, they do an employee survey. In the meantime, another high flyer is rumored (accurately rumored) is talking about leaving. So, Helen brings this employee into the office and just promotes her on the spot. Mary (HR) doesn't feel that this was a good decision.

When the survey comes back there isn't any defining problem that the employees identify, but a few employees talk about "deadwood" in the PM ranks.

So, the question: How can Sambian discover what's really driving people out the door?

My personal take: (I have not read the "expert advice" yet)

This company sounds like it is at a turning point. It is either time to let go of some of the stars that the company has developed....or it is time to grow the business. My entire reason for starting a second Master's degree was based upon what I see in the case. A lack of career advancement opportunities. As a "high flyer" at a small office with low turnover rates it is impossible to advance up the management ranks. Even during times of layoffs....who's the last to get fired? Management. Unfortunately, what is likely the root problem that causes layoffs...Management. So, how does an employee continue in the same role while still seeing light at the end of the tunnel at their next job role without communiation from management?

Management needs to start clearly defining the expectations that they have for their employees and what is required to advance in the company. If employees meet those requirements, management has to "make good" and increase the responsibility level of their employees.

comments? Alternate takes?

Podcasts

So, I may have gone a bit overboard. I finally caught up with my podcasts last May and was doing a pretty good job of keeping up to date. So much so that I was able to listen to a couple of audiobooks.

Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture
we all know who this is...and the book. I definitely recommend the book.

Elizabeth Kostova - The Historian
This was a fictional book about Dracula. If you're remotely interested in the genre I recommend it. It is a mix of Steve Berry's The Templar Legacy and The Davinci Code. Of course, it does have the context of being about vampires.

But, I found a bunch of new podcasts that I recommend:

**Just as a disclaimer. I haven't listented to all of these yet. I downloaded them yesterday. Also, this isn't a complete listing of all the podcasts I listen to. As such, most of my listenting is in the passive sense. Sort of like talk radio playing in the background. Your ears perk up when you hear something interesting.

Please leave me comments if you have any other suggestions. I may be listening to those suggestions already...but it is always very good to get feedback.

Marketing:

• Ad Age Video


• DishyMix: Success Secrets from Famous Media and Internet Business Executives


• Internet Marketing: Insider tips and advice for Online Marketing


• Managing the Gray - Marketing for the New Media Professional


• SEO 101 | The Beginning SEO Podcast


• Web Marketing Strategies, SEO, Web 2.0 Trends and Tips

Business and Management:

• BusinessWeek: Inside Wall Street


• BusinessWeek: Luxury Leaders


• BusinessWeek: The Debate Room


• BusinessWeek: Customer Service Champs


• David Maister's Business Masterclass


• Fearless Millionaire: Law of Attraction


• Forte Forum: The MBA Value Proposition


• Harvard Business Review: Editor's Preview


• InvestTalk: Advice in Money Managment, Investing, Financial Planning, Retirement, and the Stock Market


• The Look and Sound of Leadership


• Mercer Wealth Solutions SuperTalk


• Secrets of the Job Hunt

Project Management:

• PM Lessons Learned


• pm411.org Project Management Podcast


• Project Management Methodology: Articles and Videos

May 2008 HBR Case - Will Our Customers Bail Us Out?

For those of you that haven't had the opportunity to read the May 2008 case study I'll give the highlights. A company, Clarinda, is struggling and already downsizing. It can ask the customers to hep keep the company afloat--however, will this hurt the company?

David is heavily leveraged in debt on the company and is being forced to stay on the course to try and turnaround this company. So, he is trying to determine how to get out of debt with the company and get out of the picture. They just lost 1/3 of their yearly business and have some major problems.

Dave wants to contact his customers and inform them of the company's situation but is getting told not to by peers and lawyers. The answer should be "Things are fine." Their largest customers has an opportunity to help Clarinda, but Dave was struggling with how to approach them--and what to say to them.

My personal take on what Dave should divulge to the customers:

Personally, I think it is extremely important that Dave discloses the current state of the company. Why the layoffs occurred, and the future of the business. If his customers in this industry are as loyal as the case infers this is going to be very important to disclose the current state of the business. There appears to be a great deal of trust in this industry, and Dave would be weakening the trust between him and his customers if he did not have full disclosure.

Regarding Dan, the drunken salesperson. I think this is something that must NOT be disclosed to customers. I really feel that this should be handled in-house. The best case scenario is to sit down with the guy and lay the cards on the table. Express how Dan has changed over the past couple of years and how that is impacting their business. They're close friends. When a friend confronts you about something you're not doing or something you are doing that is hurting themself and others around them it can be an eye-opening and hopefully life-changing event. If this is the case, GREAT--they can mend their issues and move forward. Otherwise Dave is highly likely to lose a very close friend and valuable member of the business.

So, I will tear through June's Case study soon enough...until then...you may see some more new blog postings about other things....

Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock

Well, I must admit that I'm a big fan of the new Guitar Hero Game, Legends of Rock. If you want to actually check out their website it can be found here. But the basic concept is that you play the guitar.

Some of you may have read the Harvard Business Case study that talked about the open source electronic gaming system that had a "music synthethizer". Should they do open-source? Of course, I'm no expert. But, of course the answer is yes. Now, they need to have a standardized API set....but people that are passionate about improving their existing technology are always going to be very careful in their development. So, it is a great strategy to open up the software to outside developers.

I just realized that this blog is a perfect avenue to answer all the HBR case studies....maybe I'll be more in depth on the next one or two. Since the digital music device case is a couple months old I should be able to do that fairly quickly here.

Deloitte Networking Event (Diversity also)

So, here I was an unsuspecting graduate student excited about an opportunity to "schmooze" with the Deloitte folks...I show up early (first one there) and just relax.

All the DePaul and Northwestern students (undergraduate and graduate) stand in line, sit down, talk amongst each other. And then....."the games begin".

Diversity in the workplace. Now I definitely understand how important it is to be a diverse set of people at work. Different cultural experiences, different genders, different backgrounds, etc creates a more complete and robust project. But seriously...do we need to talk about it for 3 hours?

I think a more effective measure of "pushing" the information to employees would be to provide the information in a digital format. It seemed obvious that we were there to network...and not to be lectured. So, the information about diversity and the different groups and activities that Deloitte is involved in is extremely interesting (and I'd love to be a part of them as a future employee) but until I'm an employee, the groups aren't that interesting.

So, Deloitte, definitely continue inviting students to participate in networking events. Definitely allow the students to communicate with the employees. But, with a ratio of 5:1 (student:employee) and only an hour to talk....it is draining to both parties to get and push "face time". I recommend providing the majority of the diversity information in either booklet or digital formats and keep the precious time to just talk-time.

Ok...I've procrastinated studying long enough. Back to Internet Marketing.

Studying Anxiety

So, some of you don't know....I'm pursuing a 2ND Master's degree right now. So, doin this I am really focusing on a career transition from programmer to consultant in the IT Industry. Not really on the programming side, but really focusing on the strategy that one needs to align their business and IT functions to maximize productivity. <-- That was kind of a mouthful.

But, as any good graduate student. Anxiety ensues during finals week. Unfortunately, at DePaul there are 4 finals weeks every year (quarter-based school).

Yesterday was spent toiling away on an Internet Application in ASP and C# (12 hours). You can see those efforts at: this location. I know....not really a VISUAL spectacle. But, trust me....this is well beyond the scope of the class. And I don't even know ASP.

Schedule this week:

• Tuesday:


• MIS 798: Business Architecting Presentation


• Presenting to the Illinois Humane Society


• Strategic Value-Add Propositin for the next 4 year. Healthy lifestyle choices for 8-12 year olds. How? Why? Where? When? Who?


• Wednesday:


• MKT 595: FINAL EXAM


• Covering topics like:


• Second Life and Virtual Worlds (this reminds me of Johnny Mnemonic and a little known TV show VR.5.


• Competition on the Internet - "Internet Speed"


• Mobile Marketing (Fat Client vs. Thin Client techniques)


• Internet Retailing


• Analytics Gathering for e-Commerce (KPI Reporting Tools)


• "Cookies" Why do we need them???


• Caching. Is it good? Bad? Who is it good for? Definitely not people wanting to know who visits the site....
• 
  
• How to approach a marketing email....(best practices)


• Marketing channels on the Internet.


• Social Networking. What are the advantages of these sites for marketeers....
  Maybe some of the site that different age groups frequent.


• User-Generated Content on the internet. Podcasts...VCasts, YouTube, etc.


• Kirkpatrick & Phillips Model (this seems applicable across anything...not just marketing)


• Copyrights


• DRM


• Privacy


• Security


• Thursday:


• IT 430: Building Internet Applications


• Presenting the website


• maybe I'll have time to improve the looks of it...because it just looks bad.


• definitely need to come up with some better test data.



• Friday:


• GOTTA PARTAYY...and get ready for the SUMMER SESSION which starts next Monday.

Fortunately, no grading until next week either.

Unfortuately, grading next week. (gotta take advantage of my existing skills somehow)

Goodwill efforts: helping my athletes from this year train over the summer.