Sometime in the late 90's, I was watching an interview on NBA Inside Stuff of a young man who, a few years prior, had made the jump from high school to the NBA. That may be common these days with several high schoolers being drafted every year, but at that time it was still a fairly rare occurrence . This individual was the focus of attention because he was exceeding expectations. No one predicted the level of success he had achieved in such a short period of time. That player was Tracey McGrady aka T-Mac.
As a basketball fan, the interview was interesting, however, it was his response to one question in particular that has remained with me all of these years. When queried about what surprised him most during his time in "The League", he said initially upon arriving in training camp, he was under the impression that everyone in the NBA could "do everything", i.e. that each player was adept at all the skills required to play the game. Yet, in reality that was not the case; some players did not dribble well, others did not pass well, others were poor shooters, etc., and his shock was due to the fact that these were the best basketball players in the world.
His observation stayed with me, because I've come to realize that it also holds true regarding the software industry and business in general. Conceptually, if one substitutes a software development/consulting company for a NBA team, IT professionals for basketball players, Silicon Valley for "The League", and industry knowledge and skills, for basketball knowledge and skills, T-Mac's observation remains valid.
Specialization can be seen in both the NBA and the software industry. Phil Jackson, an average player throughout his career, is arguably the best coach, or "idea" guy of his time. His Silicon Valley counterpart would be Steve Jobs, in my opinion, who's probably never written a line of code in his life. Michael Jordan excelled as a player, but has had marginal success in the front office. His computer/software engineering counterpart, i.e. "arguably the G.O.A.T (greatest of all time)", I see as Steve Wozniak since he designed and developed both the hardware and software for Apple's first computer. Yet, I doubt his name would appear on anyone's list of great executives.
All-in-all, specialization appears to be the way things work best in a team environment.You don't want Shaquille O'Neal playing point guard, or Nate Robinson, the shortest man in the NBA, playing center on your basketball team. Apple probably wouldn't have been as successful with Steve Jobs designing and developing the company's hardware and software, and Mr. Wozniak handling the business side of things. One should always play to his or her strengths. Rest assured, if you excel at at-least one critical skill, and have the desire, you'll make it to the top of your chosen profession. But, one should never rest on their laurels, and one should always seek to improve in other areas.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Finally...The Arrival of the Tablet-PC
The cover of the March issue of Wired magazine proclaims "How the Tablet Will Change the World". Now that is a very bold statement given tablet computers have been on the market since the early 2000's. Yet, pre-orders for the iPad were strong, indicating that tablet-pc's appear to have arrived in the eyes of consumers.
Over the years, have you noticed that screen sizes have been increasing on virtually all devices that visually present information to the user; television screens have been getting bigger, computer screens have been increasing in size and the same can be said about mobile phones. The logic behind this trend is simple: you want the largest screen practical for the situation, because a larger screen facilitates a better user-experience. With respect to computers, tablet-pc's in particular, it means that more information can be presented to the user and in a much friendler format than competing technologies, like a netbook, but in a smaller overall package than say a laptop.
I purchased my first tablet-pc, a Fujitsu Stylistic 3400, in 2003 when I sought "the largest screen practical" for a mobile solution I had envisioned. Several competitors had already entered the market with cell phone and PDA based solutions without much success. A tablet-pc provided a much better solution. And, even though the tablet technology was not fully mature at the time, the solution was solid.
Now, I have yet to use an iPad, and from what I've read it's missing some key features and functionality that may hurt it in the long run, i.e. multi-tasking, flash support and a USB port(s) to name a few. But, in addition to those features, my ultimate tablet would also have:
Over the years, have you noticed that screen sizes have been increasing on virtually all devices that visually present information to the user; television screens have been getting bigger, computer screens have been increasing in size and the same can be said about mobile phones. The logic behind this trend is simple: you want the largest screen practical for the situation, because a larger screen facilitates a better user-experience. With respect to computers, tablet-pc's in particular, it means that more information can be presented to the user and in a much friendler format than competing technologies, like a netbook, but in a smaller overall package than say a laptop.
I purchased my first tablet-pc, a Fujitsu Stylistic 3400, in 2003 when I sought "the largest screen practical" for a mobile solution I had envisioned. Several competitors had already entered the market with cell phone and PDA based solutions without much success. A tablet-pc provided a much better solution. And, even though the tablet technology was not fully mature at the time, the solution was solid.
Now, I have yet to use an iPad, and from what I've read it's missing some key features and functionality that may hurt it in the long run, i.e. multi-tasking, flash support and a USB port(s) to name a few. But, in addition to those features, my ultimate tablet would also have:
- a pointing device or trackball or both for navigation, not my fingers (The ability to resize windows with your fingers is nice, but I don't know many people who still resize their windows)
- handwriting recognition (There is software available for this)
- a camera for pictures and video conferencing
- docking station support
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Getting Acquainted
Ok…I’ve finally caved in and started a blog. After several years of browsing the thoughts of others, I feel now is the time to speak-up, claim my piece of the intellectual web, and share my thoughts, opinions, experiences, and lessons learned…and to be heard by anyone willing to listen. To start, I feel it best I introduce myself.
For roughly the past seventeen years, I’ve been working in the information technology industry in various capacities; mainframe computer operator, computer programmer, QA engineer, software engineer, independent contractor, and software product entrepreneur. At the risk of dating myself further, I’ve had the dubious experience of programming not only in assembly while obtaining my degree, but also using punch cards as a member of the last team to be granted that “honor” while training for my military specialty at Ft. Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama back in the late ‘80’s. In short, I’ve seen a lot.
What have I seen? Well, I remember when IBM and WANG ran the world. I remember when Tandy computers used cassette tapes…remember those…to store data. I remember using the BASIC programming language in high school to program Apple IIe’s, storing everything on five and a half inch floppy disks and having to print to a dot matrix printer. I remember programming in Fortran 77 as an engineering major my freshman year in college on my school’s mainframe. I remember being mesmerized by Mitch’s Apple Macintosh: Mitch was another freshman student on my floor. It was the first time I had seen a computer with a graphical user interface, and I would spend hours exploring the options on the menu bar, the preferences and the settings – all after I finished pitting Mike Tyson against Rocky Marciano or Muhammad Ali in boxing of course - the whole time thinking to myself, “How do they do this?” I remember when a computer with a 66 megahertz processor was considered fast. I also remember when downloading one picture off the network at 9600 baud took 6 - 10 hours. Man…those were the days.
But, those days are gone, pleasant but fading memories of the information age’s adolescence; a time before Netscape brought the Internet to the masses by commercializing the web browser, before the term “dotcom” had any meaning, before stock options became popular outside of Silicon Valley, and before an old friend of mine coined the phrase “Dotcom Paid” with respect to all of the new wealth being created. It was a time when many of us, me included, got involved simply for the love of the game.
Love is what eventually led me away from engineering to computer science. My senior year, I worked as a maintenance programmer at a small shop that built CAD software for the Macintosh. That Mac development experience, and my love for America Online, opened the door for me to the Dotcom industry, the impact it is having on our society and the unprecedented opportunities that it provides.
In 1993, after switching my major to computer science a few years prior, I had an instructor pay me a tremendous compliment. He told me I had a gift. Now, I don’t know what he saw in my work, but after seventeen years in the industry I realize that I’ve been fortunate in that I have been able to identify several trends and/or technologies in the industry years before they were adopted by the mainstream and dominated their competition. For example:
For roughly the past seventeen years, I’ve been working in the information technology industry in various capacities; mainframe computer operator, computer programmer, QA engineer, software engineer, independent contractor, and software product entrepreneur. At the risk of dating myself further, I’ve had the dubious experience of programming not only in assembly while obtaining my degree, but also using punch cards as a member of the last team to be granted that “honor” while training for my military specialty at Ft. Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama back in the late ‘80’s. In short, I’ve seen a lot.
What have I seen? Well, I remember when IBM and WANG ran the world. I remember when Tandy computers used cassette tapes…remember those…to store data. I remember using the BASIC programming language in high school to program Apple IIe’s, storing everything on five and a half inch floppy disks and having to print to a dot matrix printer. I remember programming in Fortran 77 as an engineering major my freshman year in college on my school’s mainframe. I remember being mesmerized by Mitch’s Apple Macintosh: Mitch was another freshman student on my floor. It was the first time I had seen a computer with a graphical user interface, and I would spend hours exploring the options on the menu bar, the preferences and the settings – all after I finished pitting Mike Tyson against Rocky Marciano or Muhammad Ali in boxing of course - the whole time thinking to myself, “How do they do this?” I remember when a computer with a 66 megahertz processor was considered fast. I also remember when downloading one picture off the network at 9600 baud took 6 - 10 hours. Man…those were the days.
But, those days are gone, pleasant but fading memories of the information age’s adolescence; a time before Netscape brought the Internet to the masses by commercializing the web browser, before the term “dotcom” had any meaning, before stock options became popular outside of Silicon Valley, and before an old friend of mine coined the phrase “Dotcom Paid” with respect to all of the new wealth being created. It was a time when many of us, me included, got involved simply for the love of the game.
Love is what eventually led me away from engineering to computer science. My senior year, I worked as a maintenance programmer at a small shop that built CAD software for the Macintosh. That Mac development experience, and my love for America Online, opened the door for me to the Dotcom industry, the impact it is having on our society and the unprecedented opportunities that it provides.
In 1993, after switching my major to computer science a few years prior, I had an instructor pay me a tremendous compliment. He told me I had a gift. Now, I don’t know what he saw in my work, but after seventeen years in the industry I realize that I’ve been fortunate in that I have been able to identify several trends and/or technologies in the industry years before they were adopted by the mainstream and dominated their competition. For example:
- In 1993, I became an avid user of America Online, becoming an employee upon obtaining my degree in 1996. By 1997, America Online was the #1 Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the world.
- In 1997, I identified Java as the language of the future, making it the foundation of my skill-set as I transitioned into software engineering. By 2000, Java was the most sought after programming language in the world.
- In 2003, upon hearing about a new class of software being coined Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), I identified Flash as a force to be reckoned with and focused my entrepreneurial ventures in that direction. Flash – love it or hate it - is now the most widely distributed software in the history of the Internet, as well as the clear leader in the RIA space.
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