Autumn Marathon

The really hot wave has broken. Unusual cotton-y clouds are...

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:07:27 -0400

The really hot wave has broken. Unusual cotton-y clouds are visible over Lower Manhattan and this little corner of the Brooklyn waterfront. No matter how busy the times, it’s important to appreciate the beauty in our surroundings.

July 4, 2010 - Teams representing Queens and Bronx playing in...

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:31:36 -0400

July 4, 2010 - Teams representing Queens and Bronx playing in Old Lyme, CT: a quintessentially American scene on Independence Day.

"My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, “Jeff, one day..."

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:16:30 -0400

“My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, “Jeff, one day you’ll understand that it’s harder to be kind than clever.” What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy — they’re given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you’re not careful, and if you do, it’ll probably be to the detriment of your choices.”

- Commencement speeches can be amazing; people’s stories are always worthwhile. This one is worth reading in its entirety (it’s very brief).

Jeff Bezos Princeton Commencement

(via soxiam)

The Spy Who Loved Me

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:00:00 -0400

I was approached on LinkedIn by Anna Chapman, one of the alleged Russian spies described by the New York Post as a “flame-haired 007-worthy beauty” on LinkedIn last November. Of course, I didn’t know she was “007-worthy” and, as a professional social network, LinkedIn excludes photo-sharing features. Ms. Chapman and I had never met nor had any other contact when she sent me an invitation to connect with the following message:

Jason, I am about to launch a tech start-up in NYC and looking for co-founder responsible for technology in the company. Would it be something interesting to discuss?

How come you know Russian? :)

- Anna Chapman

I responded as follows:

Don’t think that role is for me. I’m American, but spent lots of time studying, living and working in Russia - my profile covers a lot of it. Sounds like an interesting idea. Good luck!

Normally, I am interested in hearing start-up technology ideas (especially those connected with Russia), but something about her profile didn’t add up: youth, the absence of any tech credentials, the almost too-perfect resume struck a false note. And I didn’t really give it another thought until, having seen the name several times in the news stories about the spy ring, I realized the connection.

Gorgeous Pennsylvania Sunset: A Beatiful Summer Day in the WB

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:38:43 -0400

Gorgeous Pennsylvania Sunset: A Beatiful Summer Day in the WB

“Crash Years” - latest release from the upcoming New...

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 15:32:29 -0400

“Crash Years” - latest release from the upcoming New Pornographers album - some uptempo, power pop for a warm spring afternoon.

Bought a CD at a Record Store

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:39:00 -0500

…possibly for the last time ever. I spent about 20 minutes in J&R “Music World” this afternoon listening to Santana, browsing CDs (even a few LPs), and checking out what other people were buying. It reminded me what a great hangout well-curated record stores are. In general, I believe that information technology and the internet have added to the experience and enjoyment of music: it has become much easier to learn about new music, find out where to buy/download it, interact with other fans, and attend concerts. So, the short visit to J&R reminded me that we have lost something with the disruption of old-line music industry. I myself was there only because I happened to be picking up something at the J&R computer shop next door. And I purchased the new Sade on a CD only because the disc was cheaper than the download price on either iTunes or Amazon. The store was noticeably emptier than it was a decade ago. J&R is a very well-managed business: it will be surprising if it continues to devote so much of its expensive real estate to what is rapidly becoming a niche product.

Silly Love Songs

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:00:00 -0500

Thought I would post a song for Valentine’s Day and before I do, will indulge myself for a moment. Probably three-quarters of rock/pop/country consists of love songs: so there are a lot of great ones out there. When I woke up this morning, one of my favorite DJs was playing a cover of “Ring of Fire.” That song probably captures being “head over heels” better than any other pop song. My first idea was to post the Johnny Cash original. But I decided against it. Then I thought about playing the nostalgia card, as I have been doing a lot lately, and the song that came to mind was “Silly Love Songs” from Paul MacCartney’s Wings’ days. It doesn’t get nearly as much play as McCartney’s Beatles songs, but it is a great one nevertheless. Alas, I don’t own a copy of the song, so I can’t post it. The image of Cupid has been pretty vivid for me this Valentine’s Day and I haven’t listened to much Sam Cooke lately…so what I decided finally, for my listening pleasure and yours is to post his 1961 hit “Cupid.”

Sam Cooke, “Cupid” (1961)

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:24:54 -0500

Sam Cooke, “Cupid” (1961)

Turn,Turn,Turn (to everything there is a season)

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:10:26 -0500

Couple of big tech news items last week. Most prominently (absurdly prominent given other major world events) was Apple’s introduction of the iPAD.

I like it. It’s effectively an oversized iPhone/Touch and, in this case, size does matter. As some of my Silicon Valley tech friends observed, developers will be able to do new kinds of things with all that touchscreen space. As an eReader, it will blow Kindle away as long as Apple procures the right content. As a music/video platform, it will be excellent. For standard email/business apps, it will be only ok - but that’s not really a primary use. On the other hand, there’s a good chance that those developers will find different business uses in areas where the desktop/laptop paradigms don’t work. Importantly, I think Apple got the price point about right: consumers will buy the device, developers develop, and a new value will be created.

As someone in the market for a converged device, I’m not sure iPad is better than the $400 Win7 netbooks currently flooding the market. There are tradeoffs in each case. I’m writing this blog on a my new netbook. It’s the perfect companion for business trips, but I can see things that an iPad will be better at. Fortunately,at these prices, it’s possible to get both.

All of these devices are proof that “the network is the computer.” Which is to say, that the devices would not be very interesting if it weren’t so easy to access interesting content, interact with people, buy/sell and learn on the internet. ”The network is the computer” was a slogan of Sun Microsystems, Inc: it was coined back in the 1980s! I worked at Sun for over 10 years starting in 1997. Shortly after I joined the company, there were strong rumors that Sun would acquire Apple, then viewed as being on its last legs. Not long after that Apple brought one of its founders, Steve Jobs, back as CEO. More than a decade later, sadly, on the same week that Apple announced its new iPAD, Sun was swallowed by Oracle and no longer exists.

Running On

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:04:37 -0500

Today was the first day since New Year the daytime temperature got above freezing in WB. Was able to leave work a little early, during daylight, and after a quick errand, I decided to stop by Kirby Park to see if the paths were runnable. The park paths were clear, so I decided to climb up onto the levee to see if the riverside path was ok. It looked pretty dry, but on my way downhill to the car I slipped on a patch of black ice and fell right on my ass. Scraped the hell out of my right arm.

I did motivate myself to do a 6 x 1/4 mile interval workout on the treadmill back at the hotel. Not a lot of fun, but having the intervals as goals make the time go by quicker. Ran 4-miles total. Showered, then sat in the whirlpool and swam a few laps. I rarely swim - must have been inspired by “Up in the Air.”

I gave this blog a running name, but have rarely written about running. The name is only obliquely about the sport - the title is that of a wonderful Russian/Soviet movie of the 1980s. The film is Chekhovian in more ways than one. At the time I started the blog, I had run for many years, but wasn’t sure if the sport would sustain my interest. In the past year, I ran over 1300 miles, competed in a bunch of races, found a great running team and generally started feeling less like a guy who exercises and more like an amateur athlete. Not sure when, but maybe someday, “Autumn Marathon” will be a more literal title.

nevver: Prospect Park, Brooklyn 1886 Amazing photo! As...

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:54:08 -0500

nevver:

Prospect Park, Brooklyn 1886

Amazing photo! As someone who spends lots of time in Prospect Park, even I am not sure that I know where it was taken. Could it be main roadway bridge very close to Grand Army Plaza?

Ten Years

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:38:15 -0500

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of our family’s move to Brooklyn. We moved into a rented apartment and the kids started at PS 29. Economically, NYC was enjoying a bull market and the dot.com boom. I had just started a position at a dot.com myself. The IT world was concerned about overcoming the “Y2K problem.”

People didn’t know it yet, but all of these things were contributing to an inflationary bubble which would burst over the subsequent 18 months. It was an exciting time. Folks made big plans to celebrate the turn of the century. December 31 turned out to be an interesting day for many, including the virtually unknown Vladimir Putin who, judging from the expression on his face, was just as surprised as the rest of us by the New Year’s eve resignation of his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin.

It has been an eventful decade for all of us and over the next several posts, I’ll devote some thought and a few words to reflecting on all that has happened.

Brooklyn Mohawks

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:20:48 -0500

Brooklyn Mohawks:

Excellent post on neighborhood history from the premier Brooklyn history blog, Brooklynology published by the BPL.

Shea Stadium “lives” in Google maps even though it...

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:47:17 -0400

Shea Stadium Captured in Google Maps

Marker of Shea Stadium Home Plate Site

Home Plate View of Mythical Shea Stadium

Shea Stadium “lives” in Google maps even though it was dismantled and demolished with “amazing” speed after the 2008 MLB baseball season. The Mets have commemorated it with plaques marking the bases (strange how small the infield feels without a huge superstructure surrounding it). There was some controversy in the blogosphere about whether the plaques were positioned correctly, but according to the GPS in my Blackberry they are indeed in the right locations. In June, while my son tried out to be a US Open ballperson, I stood on second base and tried to imagine the Beatles performing in exactly that spot.

How We Work Now: Input Requested!

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:22:00 -0400

Globalization has garnered particular attention in the high-tech fields for a number of valid reasons. First of all, the high-tech workforce in the US is particularly diverse in its international origins and has been since the 1960s. Second, the nature of the work, particularly in software development, lends itself more easily to remote or distributed work, than many other kinds of work ranging from manufacturing to provision of services which require an “on-site” presence. These two factors helped lead the information technology industry to become a kind of standard bearer for “outsourced” and or “offshore” business models.

My long-time employer, Sun Microsystems, was not unlike many companies in its adoption of an offshore product development model. Founded in the early 1980s by a quartet that included an Indian and a German, it employed a cosmopolitan engineering force in California for its first 10 years before initiating product localization in Japan. During the talent shortages occasioned by the dot-com boom in the late ’90s, the emphasis moved to accessing hidden talent in places like India and China. After the subsequent “dot-bomb crash,” cost savings that could be realized by employing engineers at roughly 1/4 the Silicon Valley rate became a major motivation. Recently, the idea has been that by developing products in emerging economies, particularly in the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China), the company would enjoy greater success accessing those markets.

Since leaving Sun, I have been surprised at the degree to which the smaller businesses, non-profit organizations and political movements with which I have worked are also globalized. Ever wider availability of free software tools have made it easier for entrepreneurs and small businesses to give a professional and very “big” impression. In just a couple of years, we have moved from free email to telephone and video conferences, project management and CRM tools, custom web domains, blogs and wikis. Small organizations are now just as able to access remote talent and work with specialized vendors (outsourcers) as large companies.

These technologies have enabled very positive trends. They allow (even require) a degree of agility greater than any before - companies and movements are able to get off the ground in a matter of days. The technology also enables collaboration among individuals and groups in different countries which, in the long run, makes nations themselves more amenable to collaboration and diplomacy than to more hostile interaction. That’s a bit of a political aside in this article, but I strongly believe it to be true and worth noting.

Yet, as widespread as these technologies and work practices are becoming, my observation is also that organizations do not think through the reasons for deploying them. They almost always exaggerate the cost savings as lower wages are offset by communications, travel and other expenses. They almost always overlook the need for implementing a different (and usually more heavy-duty) form of project management. They tend to overlook the human dynamics of working in a distributed fashion i.e., are people in one disadvantaged in terms of effectiveness, visibility, enjoyment of work, career advancement, etc.?

For these among other reasons, globalized projects often fail to achieve their business objectives: I am writing a book chapter about global teams working on software projects. There are plenty of examples from my own experience that I will draw on, but would really appreciate some input from my friends and colleagues. Do any of you have stories that illustrate the points made above? Or do you disagree with my ideas and have others points to make? If so, would really appreciate your leaving them in the comments to the blog or writing to me directly.

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in...

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:34:09 -0400

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win … ” —President John F. Kennedy, address at Rice University, September 12, 1962 (via Moon Shot - JFK and Space Exploration - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum)

Tina Seelig, Stanford - Fail Quickly and Often

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0400

Tina Seelig, Stanford - Fail Quickly and Often

Failing Quickly

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:00:00 -0400

I recently lucked into a fabulous consulting engagement with an entrepreneurial start-up company which is launching a transformative IT product. It’s just the sort of company that I despaired of finding in New York City (such companies are much easier to find in California or in other pockets of the US). Though it’s a product I believe in and with people I can trust, I am avoiding treating this as just a job, and not only because I have not been offered an official position. I’m trying to heed advice that I pass on to aspiring entrepreneurs of all ages, given by Tina Seeling, Executive Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures program and author of the book What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20. Two of her ten lessons are:

You don’t have to wait to be annointed (i.e., don’t wait until someone tells you are responsible for something to start taking action); and
If your not failing some of the time, you are not taking enough risks.

There are a hundred reasons why a company like this can fail even if the basic idea is correct - bad timing, insufficient funding, poor implementation of the concept, stronger competitors, Just to name a few. And there are dozens of reasons why I might not be the right person to help the company: not technical enough, not salesman enough, personality conflict with the founder, with colleagues, etc. But in less than two weeks, I have developed some strong ideas about what the company can do to increase it’s chances of success. I’m not going to wait for someone to make these part of my job description to start making them happen. And if I do fail, I need to fail quickly, learn some lessons, and move onto the next venture.

Spring Half MarathonOn Saturday, I ran the Brooklyn Half...

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:31:29 -0400

Spring Half Marathon

On Saturday, I ran the Brooklyn Half Marathon - my athletic goal for the past six months. It was a warm, humid day and the race was huge - nearly 12,000 participants announced by the NY Road Runners club. Perhaps because of the size of the race, the weather and a head cold (the lingering souvenir of a recent business trip), I ran quite a bit slower than expected, finishing the race in an official time of 2:02:55. The first 3-4 miles felt ok - I was running 8 minute to 8:30 minute/mile pace which was around my target for the entire event. But as we ascended the final hill in Prospect Park, my energy and pace dropped off significantly. The final six miles of the race were flat and boring heading out to the beach and each one felt as if it could be my last. By mile 10-11, my pace must have been 10 minutes/mile or slower. Final time represented a pace no faster than some of my longer training runs. Nevertheless, getting to the finish line meant accomplishing an important goal which is to be acknowledged and celebrated. It was fun to hang out by the beach for a few minutes with my PPTC teammates. Running with a team is soooo much more fun that working out by myself: the “Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” is definitely overrated.

It’s summertime now, even if the calendar doesn’t admit it yet, so now is the season to enjoy the beach, some tennis as well as faster and better runs!

Photo from Flickr (via mason13a)