The Seattle Freeze

There’s a supposed phenomenon known as the Seattle Freeze. It is said people in this town are openly friendly, almost in an extreme, but they don’t easily dive deep into new relationships. So people seem nice but they don’t really want to be friends with you. Seattleites (I love that word) are somewhat polarized about if it’s a real thing or not.

I’ve read blogs and forums discussing this and many people say it’s absolutely true and “happened to them”. So far I can not comment on the validity of this; I’ve not been in town long enough to form any friendships. But I can tell you that the people of Seattle are amazingly welcoming! This is nothing like what I’m used to in Denver

My wife points out that Denver’s culture stems from it’s old-west roots and the cowboy ethos of ‘minding your business’ still pervades our sensibilities. That’s not to say Denverites (not as cool a word) are cold, but there’s a definite edge. Random conversations with strangers take place when required and scarcely go beyond the basics of “nice day” or “your dog is so cute!”; restaurant workers are polite enough but don’t really engage beyond the dance of their profession and store workers will largely ignore you unless you approach them.

Not so in Seattle. From my first meal there I was taken aback by how engaged my server

was in talking to me, she was really pushing a conversation not just an ordering process. The folks at the coffee shop are overwhelmingly bubbly and have a way of lifting up your day (imagine your best Starbucks barista and then double it). I have a little pub down the street from my apartment and I’ve been 3 times, when I walk in the door they call “Hey Denver!” from the conversation that I had with a waiter on my first visit and they come and TALK to me. I’ve had strangers seated at the bar strike up detailed conversations about not just the game on TV but about my job, my move, and their lives in Seattle.

None of these conversations have been superficial and when I revert to my learned behavior of neatly wrapping up the topic and going back to “minding my business” these people don’t give up on it, they ask another question or come back to something I’d said earlier and continue the conversation.

My apartment is on the ground floor and rather than ignoring me sitting in there, people wave at me when walking by! People chat me up at the bus stop. I don’t know if there is a Seattle Freeze or not, if there is it will take me months to discover, but in the mean time these people make it hard not to feel engaged in the city and its culture.

I’ll keep you posted!

To blog or micro-blog, that is the question

Way before Twitter caught the attention of Oprah, Shaquille O’neil, and Obama, people were trying to decide what it was and if we needed it.  I’ve heard it called Lifecasting, Braincasting, and half a dozen other silly things.  My favorite handle is “micro-blogging”.  But what does that mean?

 

Micro-blogging (and yes, for me that’s Twitter but there are other platforms) at times is a great way to meet new people and build relationships.  Other times it’s works like an RSS feed, bringing me news and interesting information.  But I’ve found micro-blogging doesn’t stimulate new learning the way that traditional blogs can.  To me it’s the difference between reading the headlines of a newspaper and reading the editorials.  I enjoy the deeper thought process and interactions that happen in blogging.

 

Many people think of blogging in terms of their own writing, putting their thoughts out for others to see.  But blogging isn’t about writing – it’s about conversations.  In my opinion, you aren’t an effective blogger if you’re just writing an online diary and hoping people read it.  You need to engage in conversations and see what others have to say.  Hopefully some of that is in comments on your own blog but much of it needs to be in you following other blogs and responding to then.  Sometimes my best ideas start out as comments I write on someone else’s blog, which I later expand on and build into my own more fully developed blog posts, or they just become things that are part of my thoughts/beliefs/learning but never get written down at all.

 

I think of it this way, blogging is an intimate dinner party filled with deep discussions and debates; Twitter is a happening cocktail party where you’re having short conversations and meeting interesting people but not getting into much detail.  Some of the people at that cocktail party may later become business associates and perhaps even friends, but most will just share interesting thoughts or funny stories and that is an enriching experience too!   

 

Don’t miss either party, they are both worth your time.

 

It’s not easy, being green…

It’s so hard to know what is the right “green” behavior.

Is it better to throw away a still working incandescent bulb and replace it with a CF bulb?  Or should I wait for the old bulb to die before putting it in the landfill?  I hate waste… which is worse, wasting the bulb or the electricity?

Truly, a green car

 

Which is better for the environment, using an electric garage door opener, so that the door is open when I get there and I can pull right in, or opening the door by hand and having the car idle while I do it?

 

I know that you don’t get something for nothing (that’s physics man) – so using your car stereo or headlights puts a drain on your engine (uses gas).  Or does it?  It is possible that the alternator produces more electricity than the battery can store, so it’s just going to waste, maybe the headlights are “free” to use?  What about an elevator… I usually take the stairs when no one is around and ride the elevator if someone else is there waiting… I mean it’s going up anyway, right? I’d assume that it requires more electricity to raise an elevator with 2 people in it than it does with just 1 person, but what if the motor doesn’t adjust it’s power output based on need, it could be that it supplies the same power regardless of the weight in the elevator. 

 

I have heard that the reason trains and big trucks are left idling for long periods of time is that it takes more gas to start them than it does to idle them for hours.  I’m not sure if I believe that… but I assume there is some waste in starting an engine… so what’s the break even point?  I have taken to turning my car off when waiting for trains, but maybe I should at long stoplights too?  I can’t believe it takes more gas to start my car than it does to idle for 2 minutes at a major intersection.

 

This past weekend I drove 42 miles round trip to recycle styrofoam blocks.  On the upside, I completely stuffed every square inch of my vehicle, taking 5 completely full 55 gallon trashbags of the stuff to be recycled.  But I burned 2.5 gallons of gas doing it… did I do the right thing?  My wife says “styrofoam in the landfill is forever, your car emissions will get cleaned out of the atmosphere over time” but I’m also thinking that the petroleum used is gone-forever, never to be replaced… hmmm… 

What is a boy to do?

Thoughts from the Fuselage – May 2009

Thoughts from the Fuselage – May 2009

Ideas, thoughts, musings, and drivel captured while commuting by air.

Pat Metheny’s “First Circle” is one of my all time favorite pieces of music.  Try the live version on “The Road to You”, it surpasses the studio version.

Captain announces Seattle weather as partly cloudy and 57, eliciting gasps of pleasure and “oh wow” from the passengers.

The sight of Mt. Rainier never ceases to amaze me.  It’s 14k size dwarfts the 14-ers in Colorado because it starts @ sea level whereas the Colorado mountains start from a base of 6k feet.  But more than that, Rainier’s solitude magnifies it’s grander and it’s conic shape belies the power of it’s creation and the danger inherent in its very existence.

Oh Captain (my captain), we haven’t hit so much as a ripple in the air in over 60 minutes, are you ever going to turn off the fasten seatbelt light?  Did you forget about that those little cokes they served us a while back?  That’s it, I’m getting up, and just to spite you, I’m gonna walk through first class and use their fancy front-of-the-plane toilet!

At least a quarter of the people on the Monday-morning run (aka, the commuter special) have noise canceling headphones.  They all look so relaxed.  I think it’s time to cash in my 2 year old loose change jar and get some for myself.

Does anyone else actually read the in-flight magazine?  I do it every flight, every time. But now that I’m traveling regularly I’m screwed because I’ve already seen this one.  I don’t want to read it again… but habits die hard, $5 says I thumb through it at some point prior to landing when they make us turn off our iPods – the longest 20 minutes of any trip.

Captain arrived 45 minutes late for our flight because of Seattle traffic.  When he gets on the PA he explains the situation and apologizes for the inconvenience.  He says “We have a favorable 75 knot tailwind which will shorten our flight time down to just 2 hours, so we’ll keep the petal to the metal and get you there as quick as we can!”  That made me smile.

Today I cashed in my piggy bank (I’d been saving coins for several years) and bought a pair of Bose QC2 noise canceling headphones.  So far I’m liking them, though they don’t let my ears pop easily as we climb and descend.  The music sounds great and they really do take the edge off the engine noise. I can’t wait to see how they perform on my daily bus ride to work which is so noisy my earbuds can’t keep up.

OH MY GOD!!!!!  A 737 just passed us, heading the opposite direction, just a bit off our starboard and a little lower.  I have *NEVER* seen a jet that close in the air; it was close enough that there was no mistaking it as a 737.  Moments later we flew right over his contrail.  WOAH!  I’m sure it wasn’t as close as it seemed, but it was way closer than I’d have liked!

Neighborhood Pride

Something that has really struck me is the tremendous sense of pride that Seattleites take in their neighborhoods.  It’s a real source of identity for them in ways that Denver simply doesn’t have. 

 

Frankly the Denver-metro area doesn’t really have the concept of neighborhoods.  Yes there’s 5-points and Capital Hill and a few others near downtown, but mostly people talk about their towns, not their neighborhoods.  Englewood, Westminster, Northglen, you can’t even tell them apart.  I’ve never felt a sense of identity from those towns.

 

In Seattle it’s broken down at the neighborhood level – Ballard, Magnolia, Queen Anne, West Seattle, Capital Hill, First Hill, Phinney Ridge, Green Lake, Madrona, Columbia City, Beacon Hill – These are all neighborhoods that I’ve learned about in my first few weeks in town (to say nothing of the dozens of surrounding communities I can name).  And everytime people talk to me about where they live they litterly begin lobbying me to live where they live.   And in group settings the conversations take on a competitive edge!  Here’s a typical exchange that I’ve had over and over again in the last 2 weeks: 

 

• (unknown)Ballard-Fan: Where are you looking to live?
• Me: We’re really liking the feel of West Seattle.
• Ballard-Fan:  WHAT?!  Why would you live there?!  You should come look at Ballard!
• Me: Yeah, I’ve driven through there it’s really nice looking.
• Ballard-Fan:  Serioulsy, we’ve got the locks, these great Scandanvian restaurants, fantastic old houses, and it’s sooo funky!
• BeaconHill-Fan joins the conversation: Yeah, but really you should check out Beacon Hill, the commute is SO much easier and the access to the highway rocks!  Plus we’ve got the light rail connection coming this year.
• GreenLake-Fan gets up and walks over:  I’m in Green Lake, you can not beat the lake area, with beaches and buskers and families all around.  The festivals are fantastic. People run and bike along the lake, we’ve got the zoo, we’re near the university…

 

It’s wild!  

 

Leaving Old-town Longmont is hard but no matter which neighborhood we choose I know I’m going to find a strong sense of community and that’s important to me.  And by the way, the West Seattle crowd might be the most devoted of them all!

My Sun-set

 

A few people (well more than a few) have been asking me what prompted me to leave Sun and Colorado for a new job in a new city.

 

I’ve always been a Sun guy, in fact I took a pay cut to join the company 8 years ago.  I love their products, I love their innovation, I love their culture, and I especially love their commitment to doing the right thing.  I had a great career at Sun and it was hard to leave that all behind but there’s something special in this job at Amazon that I couldn’t resist.

 

At a high level, I’m a program manager (which is an uppity way of saying I’m a project manager with a big scope).  And while I have great passion for Project Management that alone wasn’t enough to lure me, after-all I was one of the leaders of project management in Sun IT.  It’s what I get to program manage that’s so awesome.

 

About 2 years ago I began hearing a buzz about “Web 2.0″ and “social media” – this was new to me and I began poking around the space to see what it was about.  What I learned was that the social/community aspects of these so called “social media” tools were really about taking the static “go-read-a-web-page” experience into an interactive place where you gain value not just from the content the provider puts out but from what the community builds around it. 

 

I’ve played with blogging and micro-blogging, wikis and twikis, document repositories and collaboration tools of all kinds all with an eye toward helping PMs manage their projects and teams.   As I shared my thoughts with the PMs in Sun IT I found the usual bell curve of reactions from the team:  from enthusiastic to interested to skeptical to “why the heck would anyone do that?!!” 

 

Interestingly those reactions were more varied tool to tool than they were person to person.  It wasn’t that Bobby loved the tools and Sally hated them, it was that some of the folks who couldn’t see the point of micro-blogging got totally into wikis and some of the people who loved micro-blogging didn’t see the value in a more traditional blog.  The lesson to me is that social-media isn’t a single tool, single type of communication, or even a single idea.  The whole point, like the content itself, is that social-media is whatever you WANT it to be.

 

So… what’s the job then?   I’m responsible for knowledge management and social media programs for Amazon’s technology workers!  What was a hobby area for me at Sun, a place where I played with new ideas and how they fit in with project management, is now my day job!  I will be running projects to deliver those tools, and more importantly, the communities around them for Amazon’s employees.

 

I’ll explain more about what “knowledge management and social media” mean in the coming weeks but for now I need to get back into the routine of blogging.  I wouldn’t be much of a leader if I said “hey Amazon, you should be blogging” if I wasn’t doing it myself! My posts might be spotty for a while as I get established in a new job and a new city, and I’ll be busy getting my family ready to move here too, but I’ll be writing more as time goes on, thanks for sticking with me!

Back to the Gym!

I’ve been pretty quiet on the blogging front lately. After getting off to a promising start last year I moved into a new house and began spending a majority of my time stripping wall paper and painting walls (that was of course after packing and unpacking a house full of goods) instead of blogging. Then I got started again but got kinda busy with work for a while and stopped. That stretched into the Christmas holidays which is a busy family time and for the first time in years I stayed off the computer completely. Then I got started up again in the new year only to go radio-silent while I explored some new career opportunities at Sun, Google, and Amazon.com.

In the days since my decision I’ve been swamped with closing down work, saying goodbyes, and trying to plan a move of myself and eventually my family to Seattle. There simply wasn’t time for writing. But these things are just excuses…

Blogging is like working out – if you get a few sessions in a row under your belt you get into the routine and you do well. But as soon as you miss a couple of days it’s pretty easy to miss weeks and then months and suddenly you’re not a blogger, you’re just someone with a stale web page. So it’s time to push myself “back to the gym” , to get into the routine, to share and participate in the conversations that are happening and maybe even build some (mental) muscle.  See you there!

Who moved my musical cheese?

U2 - No Line on the Horizon

I just finished reading an article in which U2 drummer Larry Mullen has criticised music downloading, saying it has become soul destroying for young bands who want to become famous.  (Interview on @U2)

I don’t I agree with his assertion that the change in the music industry and music consumption is a bad thing:

“People don’t buy albums. It’s about individual songs. It’s very difficult for young bands and they end up having to do things and sell themselves in a way that would have been offensive when we were starting out.”

Back in the day the album became this pseudo art form unto itself, from song layout to artwork. Concept records like Rush “2112“, Pink Floyd “The Wall“, Styx “Kilroy Was Here” and others were all about the album, not the individual songs. But people don’t consume music that way and songs still got parsed out of the album, edited, and put on the radio.

I think today’s model entourages stronger song writing because each song must stand alone to be worthy of purchase/download. You don’t end up with a few weak songs getting on board because they “fit the concept”. The music industry has changed for the better.

Larry also makes points about free downloads and again I disagree.  Yes some people will steal the music outright, but others use the free downloads to see what they like – if it’s good, they go buy more and they introduce it to their friends. I think music downloads are a way to market your music without a the backing of big record label, radio, and all that comes with it (payola).

Bands can now reach a global audience via the internet and niche listeners can find niche music. Back in the heyday of Napster (which was truly music thievery) I used to play in a band and we put our music online. Another band in Australia (Dom Halpin & the Suspects) found it and wrote to me. We exchanged song ideas and bought one another’s CDs. I still love their music and I would have never found them (or vice versa) if not for downloadable music.

Personally I love what technology has done for music.  Sorry Larry.

I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.

Bob Worrall, Sun’s CIO wrote an article for Forbes called “Sun Microsystems’ IT Tips.”

Here’s an excerpt about datacenter power reduction:

Thinking Ecologically, Thinking Economically.

Since the power consumption of data centers doubled between 2000 and 2005, it’s no surprise that 25% of an IT budget is consumed by energy costs alone. Some analysts say infrastructure power usage will soon cost more than the hardware itself.

So it’s clear: What’s good for the environment is imperative for business. When thinking green, think about the dollars you can save with more ecologically friendly technologies. Going green is the responsible choice both environmentally and fiscally. By using best practices in data center design and hardware consolidation, Sun was able to cut our utility bill by over 60% in our Santa Clara, Calif., data center facility. Today’s eco-friendly products not only cost less upfront but also make the total cost of operation significantly less.

And that’s the mindset CIOs should use when approaching management about moving to more green products. In 2009, hard numbers will matter more than a green philosophy, and we suggest that CIOs arm themselves with as much compelling data as possible.

I think Bob is right, but it’s not so easy to accomplish. One of the challenges IT professionals face is finding the funding to do hardware upgrade projects, replacing old inefficient kit with newer more friendly gear.  One solution is to get the company to break down the divisional budget boundaries.

Reducing power consumption more often helps the Facilities/WR budget and not the IT budget.  IT executes a very expensive project and Facilities soaks up the annual savings.  It makes sense to fund the IT project with money from the Facilities budget, but this isn’t easy to do in many companies, partly because the budgets are siloed between organizations and partly because the expense of the project is one-time capital and labor while the savings are in on-going run-rate.

Generally the two orgs will do what’s best for them and not what’s best for the company overall.   CFOs need to get involved and break down the barriers that are created when you dole out pots of money.  That will encourage the “we’re all in this together” approach that’s needed to tackle these ecologically/economically friendly projects.

Kill Your Weak IT Projects Now

Kill Your Weak IT Projects Now | E-Oasis Alerts

Blaine Berger of E-Oasis (@eoasis for you twitterheads) wrote this article back in November and I’ve gone back and re-read it several times in the months since then. It’s still as relevant now as it was the day he wrote it.

Almost every company of any size has IT (Information Technology) projects at various stages of completion. Many of these may have substantial resources dedicated towards them and yet they wander in the desert of incompleteness. Can you afford this?

Too many projects carry on via shear inertia. Project Managers and business leaders need to have the courage to ask the difficult questions when no one else will:   Does the business case for this project still hold up?  Would we be better off stopping this project and redirecting the resources somewhere else?  (Or go for the gusto and ask “Why are we even doing this project?”)

You may ruffle a few feathers but that’s only because people don’t like having the spotlight turned on. It’s the right thing to do.

As Blaine says:  Kill your weak IT projects now. It may be painful, but it’s long overdue and you know it.