Shaun MacRae http://blog.shaunmacrae.com Just another WordPress weblog Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:42:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Geek Empowerment http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2012/02/04/geek-empowerment/ http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2012/02/04/geek-empowerment/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:32:12 +0000 admin http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/?p=559 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> A colleague at work was recently asked to gather requirements from his users before progressing some clever ideas he had about some of our products.  He responded with a Henry Ford quote from many years ago: ”If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”.
I found myself agreeing with him, and quickly transitioning from a belief I used to have that business end-users should drive the development of business solutions to a belief that only IT professionals, enthusiasts and turbo-nerds should be driving the development of business solutions.
In fact our industry IS changing.
IT professionals are innovating at a faster rate than any of their business counterparts can keep up with.  The recent Facebook IPO is a confirmation to many that geeks are quickly becoming the seed of innovation and are creating the most business value within their organisations.  Facebook took ‘User-Driven’ development and turned it on its head with ‘Developer-Driven’ development whereby they didn’t necessarily ignore there users, rather they learned from their users and made their own decisions about what was best for their users.  It’s not that they didn’t trust their users, they just trusted themselves more.
Google appears to follow a similar philosophy with its ‘strictly-engineering’ culture.
And Apple is world famous for proclaiming that they only focused on building things that THEY would enjoy using.  They innovated and invented products that their users never imagined possible.
So, in changing times, how do we as IT professionals engage with our end-users and business/domain experts?  Of course we must learn from them, and of course we must empower them.  After all our primary goal is to create value for them.  And if we do that they will evangelise our products and help us create value for their friends as well.
Also I think there is a new bread of technology professional required here.  I think IT pros will busily build clever information solutions that domain experts can then implement and configure in various ways to achieve their business solution.  The days where you had to know how to program in order to implement a high-value business solution are over thanks to innovations in technology and advent of enterprise information and development platforms like MS Sharepoint/MS SQL/WordPress/SAP/Oracle/…
Undoubtedly this creates a great deal of tension between business end-users and geeks, and of course the lines get blurrier and blurrier as we develop layer on top of layer of technology.  Where will you find yourself as an IT pro in this new paradigm?

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]]> http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2012/02/04/geek-empowerment/feed/ 0 Capturing the Moment http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2012/02/04/capturing-the-moment/ http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2012/02/04/capturing-the-moment/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:56:00 +0000 admin http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/?p=543 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> First off, apologies for not having taken this blog seriously for a period of time.

It’s not that I don’t like blogging anymore, or that I think I’m too cool. :)

Actually, I did have to give it some thought.  I used to spend a ton of time blogging, then micro-blogging came along and it seemed too easy to get caught up in consuming content and never creating content, or cheating by using the various ’share’, ‘retreet’, etc. options that have become the norm everywhere.  Every once and while though, I feel like I want to capture something that can’t be captured in 140 characters.  I think it’s important to sit back every once and while and capture the moment.  Blogging for me is the discipline of considering something seriously and documenting your conclusions, for yourself and for any one else who may have an interest.  And I know many other bloggers have written articles that I have greatly appreciated, on personal notes and professional.

During my hiatus, I have been populating a list of topics I would be keen to write about in the near future so please stay tuned.  In the meantime, here is a quick update:

Corporate Life

I’m still working in Australia for a Mining Technology and Consulting company.  It’s been an interesting and very challenging few years.  I’ve learned a lot on so many levels – many through unpleasant experiences, some through quite pleasant experiences.  The journey has been somewhat technical, but also largely commercial.

Business

I continue to participate as a co-founder and technical lead for racquetnetwork.com.  It’s also been an interesting and very challenging few years working through many of the same elements.  How to remain passionate and true to vision but also doing what you need to do to earn a $ and prove value.

Family

My wife and I are happily expecting a new addition to our family this August, and couldn’t be more excited.  We are increasingly settling into our new home in Brisbane and are very much looking forward to this next chapter in our lives.  Kelly has luckily arranged a 10-on, 21-off work schedule each month, and that is providing us with so many opportunities for quality time with each other.  We also had the blessing of friends and family for 3 weeks back home in Canada just this past Christmas.  It certainly had us thinking about our imminent return home.

Volunteer

I am hopefully still adding value for cosmoshealth.org - albeit remotely.  This has recently stretched my IT skills (in the true offline/physical/intranet sense) to the near brink, but I think I’ve managed to pull through for CHC and couldn’t be happier with some of the outcomes.

Travel

I’ve been travelling a lot.  24 cities and 10 countries in the past 2 years.  Luckily, for many of them Kelly and I were both able to make the trip which added to each experience tremendously.

Tech/Geek

Despite my interest in the art of commercials as of late, I am also becoming increasingly geeky.  I have less and less patience for people :) and find myself really struggling to get people to buy into the next generation of tech.  I am inspired by other geeks who also struggle with people, namely Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerbug.

In the corporate world, I am really excited about Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Enterprise Business Intelligence (BI), and for the first time in my life rallying behind Microsoft as they enter into a leadership position (IMO) in this space.  I am fully behind MS Sharepoint 2010, MS SQL Server 2008R2 and all of the bits and pieces built on top of, and complimenting this technology stack as a fully fledged business solutions development platform for the intranets.

For my hobbies, I am currently rallying behind the open-source WordPress and Buddypress platforms as a fully fledged business solutions development platform for the internets.  For all of the same reasons.

For my personal interests, not a lot has changed over the past few years despite in fact everything has changed.  I am still fanning it up for Google and Apple.  Namely Google for my web-needs and Apple for my hardware.  Newest game-changers for me respectively are Google Latitude (tracks my every move and provides me with insightful intelligence as such), and Apple iCloud for storage and management of all of my music, making me at long-last completely in the cloud.

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]]> http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2012/02/04/capturing-the-moment/feed/ 0 In Case of Fire http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2011/10/02/in-case-of-fire/ http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2011/10/02/in-case-of-fire/#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:54:19 +0000 admin http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/?p=539 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> From a colleague at work.  Too funny.

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]]> http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2011/10/02/in-case-of-fire/feed/ 0 Yet Another Map of Australia http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2011/01/17/yet-another-map-of-australia/ http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2011/01/17/yet-another-map-of-australia/#comments Mon, 17 Jan 2011 08:35:15 +0000 admin http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/?p=535 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]>

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]]> http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2011/01/17/yet-another-map-of-australia/feed/ 0 Compiling http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/04/06/compiling/ http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/04/06/compiling/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:49:03 +0000 admin http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/04/06/compiling/ Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Compiling

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]]> http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/04/06/compiling/feed/ 0 43 Essential Controls for Web Apps http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/03/11/43-essential-controls-for-web-apps/ http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/03/11/43-essential-controls-for-web-apps/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:54:32 +0000 admin http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/?p=531 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Colleague at work found this great list of must-have web controls.

http://www.uxbooth.com/blog/essential-controls-for-web-applications

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]]> http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/03/11/43-essential-controls-for-web-apps/feed/ 0 The Rise And Fall Of Waterfall http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/02/10/the-rise-and-fall-of-waterfall/ http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/02/10/the-rise-and-fall-of-waterfall/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:25:49 +0000 admin http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/?p=529 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]>

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]]> http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/02/10/the-rise-and-fall-of-waterfall/feed/ 0 Brick Recruitment http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/02/08/brick-recruitment/ http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/02/08/brick-recruitment/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:49:09 +0000 admin http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/?p=526 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> HOW TO RECRUIT THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB?

Put about 100 bricks in some Particular order in a closed Room with an Open window.

Then send 2 or 3 candidates in
The room and close the door.

Leave them alone and come back
After 6 hours and then analyze
The situation.

If they are counting the
Bricks.
Put them in the accounts
Department.

If they are recounting them..
Put them in auditing ..

If they have messed up the
Whole place with the bricks.
Put them in engineering.

If they are arranging the
Bricks in some strange order.
Put them in planning.

If they are throwing the
Bricks at each other.
Put them in operations .

If they are sleeping..
Put them in security.

If they have broken the bricks
Into pieces.
Put them in information
Technology.

If they are sitting idle.
Put them in human resources.

If they say they have tried
Different combinations, yet
Not a brick has
Been moved. Put them in sales..

If they have already left for
The day.
Put them in marketing…

If they are staring out of the
Window.
Put them on strategic
Planning..

And then last but not least.
If they are talking to each
Other and not a single brick
Has been
Moved.

Congratulate them and put them
In Top management

source

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]]> http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2010/02/08/brick-recruitment/feed/ 0 Christmas Lights http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2009/11/12/christmas-light/ http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2009/11/12/christmas-light/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:15:55 +0000 admin http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/?p=522 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Colleague at work sent this through. Priceless…

ditto

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]]> http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2009/11/12/christmas-light/feed/ 0 Winter http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2009/08/17/winter/ http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2009/08/17/winter/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:25:29 +0000 admin http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/?p=511 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Ha ha. Living in Australia now, I sure don’t miss feeling like this:

image0011

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]]> http://blog.shaunmacrae.com/2009/08/17/winter/feed/ 0