Our photo gallery has been updated to Coppermine 1.5.3. I'm still working on adapting the theme. Version 1.5.3 is a major upgrade from the 1.4.x series that was the Coppermine platform for the last year or so.  The point of posting this, however, is just to have an excuse to put up pictures of the kitties. 

I've been using cloud data storage for a long time, and you may be using it, too.  At a previous employer, we used LiveVault for near real-time offsite backups.  I have several hundred megabytes of mail stored at Google.  You are probably storing mail with your provider.  We're already in the cloud, with only a password between us and the public.  If you use Mozy or Carbonite, both of which I recommend for personal use, your PC has been duplicated somewhere "out there" or "up there".

I just signed up to use ADrive. They offer 50 GB of free storage.  For a few extra bucks, you can get automated backup tools.  I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with ADrive, but I thought I'd check it out.  In the process, I've begun defining my ideal personal or small business cloud storage solution.  It would offer

• PKI encryption using the openGPG standards
  The process of sending to the site would encrypt with my GPG public key. Thus, only I could decrpypt data when downloading it.
• Two factor authentication
  Access requires both a password and a single use code sent via SMS.
• Crossplatform support
  Windows, Mac, Linux, with command line tools and, in the Linux world, support for rsync

What do you want from an inexpensive, comsumer cloud storage solution?

I often use the Google web mail system to read my sterndata emai, as well as mail for my Gmail account.  If you use Gmail, turn on some of the labs features to punch up your mail experience.

There are two ways to get into the labs settings: Click on Settings, then the Labs tab or click directly on the laboratory beaker at the top of your Gmail screen.

The features I find most useful are

• Sender Time Zone
  What was the sender's local time?
• Quote selected text
  Only quoted text will appear in a reply
• Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat
  Send text messages directly from the Gmail screen.
• Google Calendar gadget
  Adds a box in the left column which shows your Google Calendar. See upcoming events, locations, and details.
• Got the wrong Bob?
  If you're emailing more than two people at once, Gmail will check if you meant to include Bob Smith rather than Bob Jones based on the groups of people you email most often.
• Don't forget Bob
  Once you pick some email recipients, Stern Data Solutions Mail suggests more people you might want to include based on the groups of people you email most often.

There's an old joke that us IT folks find very funny.

Q: Why could God create the world in only seven days?
A: There was no installed base

I'm deep in the process of implementing a corporate content management system. The software base is Confluence, a wiki with a lot of enterprise friendly tools.  The test system is in place and I've started the process of seeding it with documents. 

So far, I've identified four primary sources of information.  There's a big, shared folder called "S-Data". Within that folder, there are folders named by functionality and individuals.  The second information source is personal folders. Each person also has their own personal folders on the big file server.  Sometimes important corporate documents are in the S-Data folders, sometimes in their personal folders. Email (specifically, the Exchange server) is the third information repository.  There are things recorded in email that are recorded no where else.  In addition, the Exchange server hosts public folders that function as a CRM and document exchange.  Finally, there's an intranet hosting documents and discussions, with contributions from the corporate office and a distributed network of affiliates.

It has struck me that I'm not implementing a content management system.  I'm implementing a Knowledge Base, a system that should contain the sum of knowledge about the current state of the organization. Going forward, the version control features of Confluence will create a historical record, documenting what has changed over time. Strategically, this is A Good Thing.

Strategically, yes.  But, oh my, the task of organizing and sifting is proving painful.  It would be so much easier to buy a Google Search Appliance, let it index all the content, and put up a search page and call it "Our Knowledge".  You and I both know that's a straw man argument.  It finds everything, but still doesn't give you history, context, or control.  Using a search tool Band-Aids the lack of consistent structure, framework, and planning. It's a short term fix that lets us avoid the painful process of changing thought and business processes.

It's time to think hard about how the knowledge trees are structured.  The goal of the project is a Wikipedia of corporate knowledge, deeply crosslinked, with the most commonly accessed information most closely at hand.  I don't yet have the right tree structure, but I have one overriding organizing principle:  No Band-Aids.

Well, it's here.

It would have been good to have a couple more billable hours today, but I used my time to follow two live blogs (Gizmodo, Engadget) of the Event That Will Change Everything, while edging ever closer to the slippery slope of the fanboy.  I already have several faded black turtlenecks.  I may  start wearing my jeans without a belt. 

There are a few things keeping me from putting a tent up on Michigan Avenue in front of the Apple store.  The iPad doesn't have a camera.  This would be a great tool for on the go video conferencing via Skype.  It's also not clear whether it can, in fact, be used for VOIP applications.  It's also not cheap.  How much memory is really needed?  It comes with 16, 32, and 64GB at $100 for each bump from base.  And the 3G capability is another big chunk of change, even before adding $15 or $30 per month for service.

The big reason to wait is that this is version 1.  We all know that a year from now, Steve will be on stage showing off iPad 2.0 and It Will Change Everything.

In his book that defines the job search methodology most commonly used among those with whom I network, Orville Pierson recommends defining a) a target market and b) a list of companies to target in that market. The market is defined by your qualifications, experience, passions and desires, preferred work ecosystem, and geography.  At each networking meeting, the participants pass around handbills with a list of their target companies.

Pierson has it right.  You have to have some idea of where to focus your search or you'll just find yourself trusting to luck and the kindness of strangers.  Each of us, with his or her list of target companies, uses the list to focus our search and tell those in our networks how they can help us just as they are telling us how we can help them.

I go to a fair number of networking events and something about this has been bothering me.  The reason for this blog posting is to try to think this through.

I'm not sure what to name the problem.  Maybe it's regression to the mean, the power of brands, or the comfort of the herd. The result is that target lists are strikingly the same, from person to person.  I collected 8 handbills with target lists at a networking meeting yesterday. A supermajoritiy of them listed Allstate, McDonalds, Walgreens, Sears, Abbott, JP Morgan Chase, and Boeing. This is consistent with the handbills and discussions at other networking events.  Whatever the principal operating here, these obvious targets eclipse many other opportunities.

I read that small businesses lead the economy and will create the workforce expansion to end the current employment crisis. If so, that's the market to target.  The problem is that it's a hard place to research.  The companies aren't going to be Crain's Book of Lists and won't be in the databases of public companies.  We've probably never heard of most of them.

How do we find them?  It's time to change our networking strategy.  The current strategy can be summed up in the outline of a typical network speed dating interaction:  This is who I am, these are my target companies, who can give me some contacts?  Let's put that strategy aside for a while and replace it with this interaction:  This is who I am, this is my value to a small company, who knows any companies that might appreciate that value and where can I find places where such companies gather?

At this point, finding contacts has to be secondary to developing a list of targets that will be viable in the economy of 2010 and 2011.  Each company you find that you never heard of before is a victory, and a stepping stone to finding other companies like it.  Put less value on the list of the big, well known targets that receive hundreds of resumes for every open position.  Find the small companies. You'll have less competition, aren't facing automated resume screening, and have hiring managers directly invloved in the hiring process.

What is your value proposition for a small company?  If you were a project manager in the PMO for the electro-widget division of a  multinational corporation, you're not going to find another job just like the last job in a 30-50 person company.  When the music stopped, there were a lot fewer chairs at those big organizations.  If you accept that there are fewer jobs just like the last one and too many competitors for them, you need an answer to this question. 

Don't network for contacts at the usual suspects, network for new worlds to explore.

I'm looking forward to an exciting year.  In addition to moving my career in new direction, there's a lot of cool tech that I hope to get my hands on and that I'm working with right now.

• Atlassian Confluence  is a combination of web site, content distribution system, wiki, and content management system.  I'm currently developing an intranet site using it, may be expanding that into an extranet and, maybe too, into a public web site.  Although not open source, it's not too expensive, and has developed an ecosystem of developers and fans who help provide tools and support. For more info, click here.
• iPhone 4 rumors are swirling.  My wish list is a replaceable battery, better battery life, an integrated task list via Exchange Active Sync, and (though it will never happen) the ability to manage music without having to use iTunes.  In the past week, I've seen release dates in March, April, and June.   Whatever.  I don't think I'm eligible for an upgrade until late summer.  And then, maybe there will be a Nexus Two.
• The Apple Tablet is probably the most hotly rumored bit of hardware right now. I don't think I want one, but it would be so cool to have one.  It's yet another step closer to Star Trek.  My real decision in this area this year will be whether to repair or replace my existing laptop computer and, if replacing it, to stay with Windows, go with Linux, or get a Mac.

2010 is going to be a better year, personally, professionally, and technologically.

I don't watch many current movies, so I don't really have anything to say as the news is full of discussions of the best of 2009.  I have been thinking, however, about the best and worst of the movies I've watched on TV over the last year.

Most enjoyable movie:  Kill Bill (vols 1 and 2).  Synopsis:  Kung Fu master falls in love with a woman who ultimately breaks his heart.

The movie is also about who we are and who we appear to be, and the myth of identity.  As Bill says,

Dear ENG member:
I hope you enjoyed the recent workshop about online presence optimization at ENG, the Executive Network Group of Greater Chicago. If you have questions about how to use my site about creating a branding web site, create one like it, or online branding in general, feel free to contact me, via email or in person at the next ENG meeting.