When I was just a young 2LT in the Army I learned about force multipliers, or essentially using a combination of elite troops, elite weapon systems, terrain and natural features to give your unit an edge. (This is probably why I became a field artillery officer. The combination of science and massive combat effectiveness always appealed to me). Anyway, as I said, force multipliers are those things that allow you to be more effective than you might otherwise be.

Since I have been back at Sun I have seen a bunch of force multipliers. One force multiplier that has been critical to our success as an engineering organization is the PTS (Product Technical Support) team. In my former life at Sun I worked closely with Anand Vaidun and his crew of world class engineers. These guys provide top tier support for our customers around the world. They are intimately familiar with the architecture and design of the fibre channel stack and have the ability to provide binary relief for any system that may need a fix. In any respect, 7 days back at Sun and I see the force multiplication that Anand and his crew have on core engineering. They provide engineering support around the clock and effectively cause our team of engineers to act as though we are a much bigger force. Thanks gang!

Another force multiplier is the effectiveness of the tools I am using. The content aggregation on my Sun Web page allows me to log in from any client and see my calendar, email, organization, employee directory and blogs with no fuss. It really is cool not to have to install a bunch of software applications, reboot, or worry about patches and revision levels. With a nod towards my earlier blog, "It just works". I am productive (or at least active) with very little effort.