Tech Terror

The incidents of November 26 have left Mumbai shaken, more due to the impunity with which the attacks were orchestrated out and to a lesser extent due to our failure to link theresources at our disposal in a manner that might have prevented this series of unfortunate incidents at the onset. What came across strongly through the fervent news broadcasts were images of satcom phones, news of mobile intercepts linking multiple geographical locations and GPS locators - technology being put to nefarious use by the perpetrators of the crime. Then on the night of the attack, the anxious public was informed that those trapped inside various target locations were not veritable hostagtes - there were messages being relayed through Blackberry messenger, email, SMS, and web 2.0 devices such as Twitter.com - trying to provide the loved ones at home some solace from the gruesome video feeds being displayed on national TV.

This entire Mumbai terror that was played out as a prime-time tragedy across millions of Indian households has made clear, that the perpetrators of terror have kept pace with advances in technology. Using this as a foundation, if we are to scour other international hotspots - we see similar misuse of technology. Websites are used to spread disinformation and to serve as the mouthpieces of terrorist organizations, broadcasting their ideologies to the world. Subverting common digital interfaces to further terrorist agenda, has the world's security agencies constantly playing catch-up. To cite one method commonly, not actually sending email communication but saving them in draft mode - prevents the digital signature from leaving its mark across closely monitored global routers and gateways.

"Know your technology" - secure it and ensure that digital security is a by-word amongst all the people you know. Secure your email, your web-cam, your mobile phone and personal computing devices - lest they be subverted and put to ill-use by people who have nothing more at heart than the next morning's gory news headlines. Embrace web2.0 but also remember that the smallest slip-up can manifest with ramification of butterfly effect proportions in some other part of the world.

Vendor Interfacing

During my stint as a Project Delivery Manager, I have noticed the following points that require increased levels of consideration from Delivery Managers who are acting on behalf of clients:
Vendor Negotiation stage:

* Ensure that all aspects of Proof of Concept are signed off by both client as well as vendor, before commencement of the POC exercise - expectations management and delivery management issues may crop up otherwise

*Measure performance against these aspects during the POCEnsure that the vendor signs an NDA before the POC - especially when client data transmission is concerned

* These aspects tested for the POC, must surely be made part of the super-set of requirements that become part of the actual project, once it is initiated

*Never fail to inform a vendor(at least informally) whenther he has been accepted or rejected at a client - your relationship with the vendor has to endure beyond the client engagement

*Ensure that the requirements are correctly mapped out by the vendor during RFP stage

*Insist on a walk-through with the short-listed vendors of the requirements capability on their system - avoid nasty surprises later on when it comes to implementationInsist on meeting all projected team members, scrutinising their CVS, getting background checks done (in a formal manner) - avoid competency mismatch, especially with Large and small implementation partners

*Insist on interviewing the Team Leader - assess previous experience and map to current requirements. If found not suitable, especially for multi-tasking, then reject the candidate out-right and insist on replacement

Project Delivery - Implementation stage

*Ensure that a timeline is drawn up as part of a project plan with the implementation partner's(IP) team leader - get this verified and signed off by the client as well as the IPSet up a Steering Committee (to meet every month) and Project Committee (to meet every week) to monitor project progress

*Ensure that all issues are deliberated with the Project Committee and that appropriate escalation occurs

*Before escalation takes place, inform the IP and follow due processNever become personally or emotionally involved with the project stakeholders - impairs the delivery manager's ability to remain neutral especially during take-the-rap time(do not promote the IP etc.)

*Ensure that the IP team works harmoniously with the client team. Also be quick to point out internal friction points instantly to higher authorities both at client as well as IP end

*When in doubt, over-react - or else you run the risk of being deemed unprofessional.

*The ultimate aim of the project - i.e. completion within scope, budget rests upon the Project Delivery Manager - i.e. You and Nice Guys sometimes don't finish first

Project Management - reality bites

The success of a battle is determined by the way it is conducted. Projects usually imply the coming together of human resources, process and technology in a manner so as to achieve an end objective. Having managed a couple of technology projects, I am outlining a couple of simple principles that any project manager would do well to heed.
1) Never compromise on the quality of the human resources who are going to deliver the project. Insist on independent verifiable references and a personal interview of the members of the project team. Always insist on demonstrated capabilities from vendors. Always include reference calls with vendor's clients as part of the decision matric
2) Insist on a product liability insurance from the vendor/implementation partner - lots of companies in the US insist on this before implementing an IT project
3) Insist on a steering committee and project committee with appropriate representation from business and business sponsor. Insist that they meet up every fortnight and week respectively. Insist on free and fair feedback. Insist on reconciliation of observations with time-lines
4) Insist on sign-offs from business team before implementation commences
5) Ensure that the development is as per the PDCA cycle, include prototypes as a compulsory part of the development life-cycle
6) Hold the development team responsible for all quality related aspects
7) Perform QA check of stage-wise deliverables at every milestone. Ensure the QA check is verified by client personnel
8) Never let over-zealous business stake-holders influence project scope at any stage
9) Before start of a technology project out-line dependencies on departments, difficult to reach/manage people, technologies and agree a buffer time with the client
10) Insist on penalties/bonus structure between client and implementation partner - to incentivise/punish early/late delivery of project
11) Insist on an internal PM from the Implementation Partner, to handle intra team , deadlines, status calls. This technical PM should act as SPOC between the Project Delivery Manager and the development team. This avoids confusion and the very prevalent "chinese whispers" issue

Baseball Tech

Baseball has managed to keep technology out of its sanctum sactorum - the dugout. Unlike cricket, where the manager has access to computers and video real-time for predictive analysis, all that is allowed into the dug-out are printouts. These printouts may cover everything from ball-play strategies, mannerism analysis to hitter profiles (including hot zones, chase zones and power zones). Baseball it seems is still played as it used to be 50 years ago, or is it? Read on.
Umpires benefit from technology during the post-game briefing. The Ques Tec system uses 2 cameras sitting atop the stadium and 2 cameras at field level to analyse each pitch. The umpires can compare their calls at the end of the day with the calls made by the Ques Tec system.
Improving hand-eye co-ordination and identifying injury-inviting motions during ball-play is another area that is being tackled using technology. Pitchers benefit from technical analysis related to leg drive motion, hip rotation, shoulder and trunk rotation to arm motion.
Batters also benefit from technical innovations such as the Abner Batter training system (name after Abner Doubleday - the purported inventor of the game of baseball). This system is used to fire regulation baseballs at upto 90 mph. A screen in front of the machine shows a 3D animated image of a pitcher including grip on the ball, delivery and follow-through to provide a true and fair impression of reality.
Scouts have also been enjoying the largesse that technology has to offer, in terms of automation to capture pitch and hit profiles of potential big league players that they are tracking. They use a small stylus and digital screen based system to create motion traces of action as it happens.
Imagine, adding all of this to the list of gizmos already present in cricket. Brain-freeze!!!
Find out more about innovations in baseball at:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/sports/1283276.html

Surface Computing

This is just so cool. Possibilities are endless. Take a look folks - Microsoft Surface. The product of course needs refinement but then this is a step into the unimaginable.

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

"Leisure is more the rule than the exception, Surface lives where people gather"