There's lots to say about the girls growth; but, for the last couple of hours they've been asleep and I've been focusing on work. I realize that most of you aren't interested in my work life. No biggie. Feel free to ignore this post. Writing it helps get it off my chest.
The Theory of Constraints idea continues to pick up steam. I've been evangelizing the idea at least once a day since returning to work last Monday. There's only been one person in the mix who wasn't convinced; but, he's a pretty influential person. Everyone else, including some with more influence, see where I'm heading and agree that it really could be a big win for Adobe. I've also got the presentation nearly ready for the end of the month senior management offsite. I've got two hours with about 15 senior managers across the suite. Many of them I've already hit up on the idea, so it shouldn't be that difficult to get through the offsite.
The sales pitch continues to get better as well. I've got it down to about 2 minutes to cover the most important ideas. It needs to shrink down to 20 seconds before I go after the Sr. VP of engineering. I'll have to hit up the CEO sometime this summer if this is really going to succeed. I've also converted two people to my crusade who want to put in energy to make it happen, one of whom can help shake up the business folks at Adobe to see things our way (my network is mostly on the engineering side.)
Evangelization (or salesmanship if you prefer) will take up the rest of February and probably one to two weeks of March before I roll up my sleeves and start pushing for actual funding. Then the real politicking begins. It won't take much to get going, probably about $200K for the first six months. After that it could get expensive. But the payoff looks to be in the $1B - $2B range for the second year, so its really worth pursuing.
Wish me luck!
18 February 2009
15 February 2009
Another Nail
Another nail in the coffin for those who belief in unsubstantiated mythology. There's so many earth-like worlds likely in the Milky Way. I really hope we detect life off earth before I die.
Another Blow Against Intelligent Design
The people who believe in an imaginary sky friend will be upset to hear this.
14 February 2009
Social Inertia and Lethargy
Billmon wonders why political and business elites aren't afraid of a populist, violent revolution in the US. He posits:
The answer, I suppose is either that they have lived so long in the bubble of power and privilege that they no longer realize that moments like July 1789 or October 1917 can happen, or that they are supremely confident that populist rage can always be channeled to the right, where it can be easily controlled.
Either way, it amounts to the same thing: A total unawareness that at the end of the day, the only thing standing between them and the guillotine is sheer social inertia.
There's also the very important point that people have to be extremely downtrodden before they consider violent revolution. Give us bread and circuses and there isn't much that will make us revolt.
The answer, I suppose is either that they have lived so long in the bubble of power and privilege that they no longer realize that moments like July 1789 or October 1917 can happen, or that they are supremely confident that populist rage can always be channeled to the right, where it can be easily controlled.
Either way, it amounts to the same thing: A total unawareness that at the end of the day, the only thing standing between them and the guillotine is sheer social inertia.
There's also the very important point that people have to be extremely downtrodden before they consider violent revolution. Give us bread and circuses and there isn't much that will make us revolt.
Good Times
An old friend found me last week online. We hadn't seen each other in 22 years. It turns out, he lives not to far from me and works a couple of blocks away. We met up tonight over at my place. Great time. It was like we never were apart.
For those who knew me as a child, it was John Wall from Dover. He's in the PhD program for Chemistry at UC Davis and doing very well for himself. Its the same old John (which is why I'm up late tonight.)
For those who knew me as a child, it was John Wall from Dover. He's in the PhD program for Chemistry at UC Davis and doing very well for himself. Its the same old John (which is why I'm up late tonight.)
11 February 2009
Some Good News for a Change
Solis passed committee. Score one for improving the foundation of a just economy. You must have good wages for working people in order to have a universally good standard of living. Without a universally good standard of living for all workers there can be no true justice.
Another Blog
So I've started a second blog as part of my job. This one is nasty. It covers a really hairy aspect of my job, responsibility for Adobe's installation and licensing technologies. I inherited installers in 2007 and licensing in 2008. They both are unglamorous, time consuming and fraught with esoteric problems. Its the least attractive part of the software business and its landed on my lap.
I put up the first post late last night and have > 20 comments already; plus a fair number of links to it from others. Luckily, we've been doing customer outreach for about a year now and most of the REALLY ANGRY customers have already blown off steam. So the comments here are fairly friendly thus far.
I put up the first post late last night and have > 20 comments already; plus a fair number of links to it from others. Luckily, we've been doing customer outreach for about a year now and most of the REALLY ANGRY customers have already blown off steam. So the comments here are fairly friendly thus far.
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