Sun in Sports, IT, and the Community Trey's Transcripts

Last week I celebrated my 12-year anniversary at Sun. Since it coincides with the ending of one fiscal year and the beginning of another, and on a larger level (likely) the ending of one phase of Sun history and the beginning of another, it makes for a good time for reflection. While I might have a little more fun with this theme over the next month, I thought I'd start by listing 12 things that have stuck with me during my career. These aren't necessarily the "Top 12", and range from formative experiences to whinging, but you get the idea. Enjoy!

1. Great Teams can do amazing things. I've been fortunate to be a part of many great and talented teams at Sun. Some of the most successful efforts that I've experienced were with a small but exceptional teams. You can do all the right process steps and follow the guidelines for successful projects, but at the end of the day there's nothing like working with great, talented people.
2. Walk a mile in another's shoes. Requirements are more than what's in writing. It's great to have written and signed-off requirements. While it helps the odds, it certainl doesn't guarantee that you meet the business needs. We once delivered a project that met the letter of the requirements, but it didn't meet what people actually did. We went out into the field and did their job for a day, and then took those learnings back into the system. Then it worked.
3. Office Space. In this case, I mean literally. There was once a move freeze, and my colleague and I, both new managers, were waiting for the next available office (holding 1-1s in open cubes is not cool). Somehow, one of the open offices were eying was suddenly filled, and with an individual contributor no less. The explanation was that it was "a carefully orchestrated sequence of events" that was in motion before the freeze. A small thing in the grand scheme of things, but it was one of my earlier Dilbertesque experiences. A corollary to this is that it's good to be friends with the office space planner! Now where's my stapler...?
4. You manage what you measure. One of Bill Vass' Top 10 Rules of IT, I have seen this ring true year in and year out. The best example for me is when our customers complained of intermittant poor performance on one of our websites. We implemented some process and transaction monitoring tools. That pointed out deficiencies in our architecture. When we deployed using an improved architecture, we improved performance by over 33% (and availability went up as well).
5. T-shirts R Us. Sun was famous (or infamous) for having a t-shirt for every occasion. The vendorware trend is down in general, but I think I have a whole drawer (and 1/2 a clothes line) of t-shirts and polo shirts. Though I don't think I have all the stats to back it up, I'll go out on a limb and say that the quality of the shirt was inversely proportional to the success of the project. My nicest shirt is for a project that never saw the light of day!
6. The court of infinite appeals. One of the more frustrating things that I've experienced is when somebody comes in at the last second and puts up a roadblock. This is fine when it's your manager or direct chain of command, but the situations I'm talking about are with peers and colleagues and other folks who feel that they have a say. Having a release canceled on a Friday night literally an hour before it was to begin is not fun, given all the preparation that went into it. Every now and then a little dictatorship on projects is a good thing.
7. Change is bad. People will think that the system that they're using is the worst ever, until you try to take it away. At that point, it becomes revered. Obviously there are change acceptance practices that help with this, some of which involving cheese. But along the lines of walking in someone else's shoes, the more folks can really have input into the change, and see that input be reflected in the product, the better off things are.
   
8. Mission Critical global deployments. People always want things to work perfectly, but let's face it, people are used to flaws in client software. There is however a different standard when it comes to backends and middleware. That stuff just has to always be running, especially for a 24x7 system. It takes a different mindset when writing the code too, as you have to be as resilient and fault tolerant as possible. Oh, and nothing helps in system stability like having developers on an on-call rotation!
9. KISS. No, not Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter, but rather the adage obout keeping things simple. Fewer components mean fewer failure points (and see the above about needing to be rock solid). Elegant architectures don't always translate into performing highly available systems. It's good to dumb things down every now and then, because simple works, not to mention that it's easier to troubleshoot (remember that point about being on call?).
   
10. Spin City. There's the realistic part, which is that unlike wine, bad news doesn't get better with age. Learning how to distill potentially complex information into concise statements that help your audience understand both what's going on and what's needed is a skill. Practice it. At the same time, beware the "inversion layer" that sometimes exists, meaning there's one version of the story on the ground, and another version floating around at different management layers, usually due to somebody crafting a version of the truth for their purposes. Hopefully you'll recognize when that's happening.
    
11. What happens on the road... Can be really fun! I've traveled to about 7 countries and several US destinations for Sun. I felt welcomed everywhere I went, even if the meetings didn't always go well (but they usually did). I learned so much from so many different people, and expanded my culinary tolernance quite a bit. I was also lucky to travel with colleagues who were also great friends, which made the trips even more special. We got done what we came to do, but we were also able to soak in a little culture and perspective, and that made all the difference.
    
12. Relationships matter. This is obvious, but it seems like a nice way to end, coming full circle from the first point. Sun is more of a relationship-based company than most, but I think it still translates. I'm fortunate to have worked with a lot of great people and have built a lot of good relationships. Some of them were forged by fire, others by happenstance. No matter,  they've been indispensible in enriching my work and personal experiences, and it's one thing you can take with you.
    

Does anybody have other adages that helped shape their careers?

... of Colorado Technology. Last night the Colorado Technology Association held one of its largest events of the year, the Technology Networking Event. Over 800 Colorado technology professionals, many of whom were of VP or CxO levels, found their way to Mile High (aka Invesco Field) for this little shindig. That's right, this was held in a football stadium, but in a club level lounge, so you almost forgot where you were. How times have changed...

For those not familiar with CSIA (yes the acronym doesn't match the name above, we'll let it slide), it is Colorado's Technology Association, an influential non-profit organization which serves to develop the Colorado technical and academic community. Its membership comprised of over 700 technology companies who have a presence in Colorado, CSIA focuses on connecting individuals and technology companies of all sizes, advocating for forward-thinking technology legislation with government officials, and encouragement of next generation technology start-ups. Sun got involved based on the StorageTek acquisition, and Kristin Russell, VP IT Operations, represents Sun as a Board Member for CSIA.

I'm not a seasoned veteran of these types of events, but it does have an interesting dynamic. It's like a high school dance, reunion, and socialite ball all rolled into one. Some folks hang out near the walls, others are circling to find the right person to talk to, more are catching up with old friends and colleagues, and everybody's being introduced to somebody. I can certainly say I did all of the above. But that's sorta the point (at least the ones where you're talking to somebody).

Aside from networking, the other draw of the event was a silent auction. While some of the money obviously covers CSIA's costs, a large portion goes to its educational initiatives, particularly regarding STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics for K-16 education). Sun's aforementioned Kristin Russell raised over $3000 for an hour of her time. Gee, if an hour of Kristin's time is worth $3000... well you do the math :)

So it was a fun and successful event with numberous networking opportunities, and more importantly, it was a great way to support the current state and invest in the future of the IT industry in Colorado. So stay tuned, because there's another great event happening in early April!

Most days it's good to be a Sun employee. Today was a great day to be a Sun employee. We were honored to host Colorado Senator Mark Udall as part of his Colorado Workforce Tour (too bad they didn't have t-shirts). He met with Sun Executives and got a tour of the campus and facilities, but the highlight (for us) was a Town Hall event.

The Senior Senator from Colorado essentially did Q&A for about 45 minutes. There were a broad range of questions regarding FISA, government effectiveness, and President Obama's Iraq troop withdrawal plan. I managed to sneak in a question regarding the government's renewed focus on IT and how it's reflected in the stimulus package. He mentioned initiatves around electronic medical records, broadband buildout, and aerospace would play a key role. Along with aerospace, Colorado should see some activity in NOAA and NREL as well. That led to the topic of the day, which was environment and energy policy.

We probably spent half the time on energy and eco-innovation. I imagine that suited Mr. Udall just fine, as that's one of his policy strengths and passions. He was particularly complementary of Sun's leadership position in Eco Reponsibility, both in terms being a green company, as well as how our products position others to do the same. The point was also made that global oil production is at its peak, so we need to move agressively towards alternative and renewal forms of energy. This isn't news of course, but it was inspiring to hear him talk about the issue and challenges so thoughtfully. We spoke of issuing a challenge for energy independence and having 25% of our energy come from renewable sources within 10 years. It didn't quite go as far as the space challenge issued in the 60s, but at least there's movement and momentum, unlike the previous 8 years. Similar to the way Jonathan talks about innovation, Senator Udall stated that out of crisis comes opportunity, and that we need to seize that opporunity, on this topic and several others, to strenthen America. We each should think about our response to that call to action.

All in all, not too shabby for a Saturday morning!

Two weeks ago I guest lectured for an Managing Business Processes class at CU's Leeds School of Business . The subject was the role of technology in business process improvement and systems development. Some of the topics were pretty familiar: Software Development Lifecycle, CMMI, Project Management e.g. Prince2, plus some newer things like SOA and SaaS. We even talked about how IT might look in the future. The fun of course was in comparing the theory with experiences. Plenty of good questions and discussions, especially considering it was an 8am class!

Though I'm a little biased (my father was a professor), all I can say is that if you have a chance to do something like this, it will be rewarding for all involved.

Last time,  I said that hopefully I wouldn't wait until the 2006 MLB All Star Game before my next entry, but alas I did. But was worth it (for me)!

I didn't have tickets when I went back home to Pittsburgh, but I figured I'd give it a shot. If it was anything like the '94 game (the last NL victory as it turns out), it would be a blast. I perused eBay, but decided to go down to the Home Run Derby to check out the street prices.  Let's just leave it by saying I purchased a ticket... The Derby atmostphere was terrific and all the local establishments were packed. And this was just Monday. I couldn't imagine what it would be like the day of the game.

Tuesday came, and I was not disappointed. The area was packed by 3pm as they rolled out the Red Carpet the players. After they passed, it was organized chaos as fans filled the Clemente bridge and the area outside of PNC Park, possibly the most beautiful ballpark in baseball.




The seats were definitely worth it, as I had a great view of the downtown skyline and was pretty close to the field. If only my camera had a zoom or panoramic lens.



After sitting down with a Primanti Bros. sandwich, player introductions began. The roar was deafening when they introduced Pirates Freddy Sanchez, the NL's leading hitter, and Jason Bay, the leading vote-getter for outfielders. I barely had time to put down my beverage when Ichiro, the first batter, hit a foul ball that landed 4 seats away!



The sides traded a couple of homers, but pitching and fielding ruled the day. Chants of Fred-dy, Fred-dy repeated throughout the game as he made some dazzling plays at short and second. J-Bay had a hit as well, which got a huge ovation.

The NL was clinging to a 2 - 1 lead with 2 outs in the 9th, with relief ace Trevor Hoffman on the mound and the crowd out of their seats. Could it be the first NL victory since '94? Could the NL maintain its winning streak in Pittsburgh (they were 4-0 to that point? Not so much. Michael Young saw to that, driving in 2 runs to give the AL a 3-2 lead.  Mariano Rivera did the rest to save the game, as most of the AL can relate. You could put the All Star Game in Pittsburgh, but you couldn't take the Pirate-like season out of the All Star Game. The NL suffered a 1 run loss, which is fitting given that the Bucs were 9-25 in 1 run games at the break.

Outcome aside, it was a fanstastic event, and it was great for Pittsburgh to be in the baseball spotlight again, even if just for a week. Missed the excitement but want to see the game? Download it at MLB.com, powered by Sun!

Hmm, somehow this post got deleted. Suffice it to say I had a great time watching the Bucs and Sox in Fenway.