2022 in review and goals for 2023 : Work edition

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This year has been my most professionally challenging year for at least the last decade and all in a good way.

Prior to this year, I fixed complex IT problems. I did project management to make things work when there was no good project manager allocated, I did business liaison as a specialist, again just to facilitate the work I was delivering, but this last year its all been very different.

This year each of the 3 core areas of work has been a deliverable in its own right and my competency held to a high standard.

Management: People management on a much larger multi region team with different levels and types of people with different challenges, multiple projects all going on at the same time and not projects in the contract way, where you keep them all separate, projects that merged together, projects dependent on each other. There was an awful lot of plates spinning, In this, delegation has been my biggest challenge the scale of deliverables required has truly meant I have had to “Work Smarter not Harder” 1.

Technical: The normal technical growth continues and technology keeps on changing at its insane pace, so it was all in all absolutely fabulous, a real challenge but one that has been my bread and butter for 2 decades so its just a case of fitting it in with the other learning needs.

Business: The main project I am working on weaves multiple areas of business together and to my knowledge has not been done like this before, so a lot of truly complex business challenges come up suddenly 2, thus I’m expanding my knowledge on a daily basis, indeed I put aside 7 hours a week on training to accelerate this, this is making things that I only saw in the distance before, snap into sharp focus.

2023: My only fear for the upcoming year is it won’t be as challenging, because I’m enjoying it hugely 3. I am learning far more about the people side of project management, dealing with people who are quite frankly not wanting to come onto the same page as you, something that you don’t tend to have with clients when you’re a contractor. From the business side, I am going solidly for my CII certification and full SOX certification, so can reach a point where I can argue with authority with an actuary or with compliance lawyers. The constant technology push I’ve always loved. It’ll just keep going through. I spend my time learning, I spend my time digging through things and having fun. It’s a joy. It’s a non stress part of my job, but thankfully I still have lots to learn.

Bring it on!

  1. Mark makes a retching sounding sound at using such a phrase[↩]
  2. Even with the best planning done by competent BA’s[↩]
  3. My Wife says that its the least unhappy she has seen me in a while[↩]

Painting Guide – Blackstone Fortress: Dahyak Grekh

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Painter: Dultoriminis

Model(s): Main Blackstone Fortress original box.

Paint(s): Chaos Black spray, Caliban Green, Ogryn Camo , Retributor Armour, Leadbelcher, Rhinox hide, Mornfang Brown, Skrag Brown, Screaming Skull, Screamer Pink, White Scar, Nuln Oil, Agrax Earthshade

Method(s):

Base: Chaos Black spray.

Skin: base Caliban Green, wash Nuln Oil, mix Caliban Green 1:1 with Ogryn Camo, paint over skin with the exception of any recesses, highlight with Ogryn Camo.

Claws: Screaming Skull, wash Agrax Earthshade,

Leather: base Rhinox hide, wash Agrax Earthshade, layer with Mornfang Brown, and highlight with Skrag Brown

Steel: base Leadbelcher, wash Nuln Oil, highlight with Leadbelcher

Cape: Base Screamer Pink, wash Agrax Earthshade, layer Screamer Pink avoiding dark recesses, mix White Scar and Screamer Pink 1:1 for highlights.

NOTE: Retributor Armour on any trim you decide on for either leather or steel.

Paint Time: 4 hours

 

Corporate Terms: “Vendor” vs. “Partner”

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These 2 words are often used interchangeably in the corporate world, with everybody wanting to be a Partner never a Vendor, but they actually have quite a strict difference:

A Vendor

This is someone that’s selling you stuff and just sends you an invoice for it. it doesn’t matter what it is, it doesn’t matter if they give you a discount or freebee stuff, or how large the invoice is, If they send you an invoice and you pay and it’s a simple process like that, then they are a Vendor.

A Partner

Now, a Partner on the other hand is a Vendor that takes on some of the financial load or some of the financial risk for a given project or work. for example, if you are wanting to accelerate a project faster than your current budget would allow but are sure you will get the budget in the next years allocation. Then a vendor might say “look, we’ll give you five extra people for six months. and we won’t be invoicing that until next financial year” then they become a Partner, they have accepted a modicum of risk in the project or given you something that is more than just freebies. e.g. solid internal training that actually costs them something to provide.

That’s it. You don’t call yourself a partner until you’ve actually exposed yourself to some form of limited risk or given the client something that they cannot currently get.

Personal Opinion Addendum

How long does partner status last for? Traditionally corporations are like angels in that they have no memory, but in this case I tend to see this last to the first financial period that the Client company does not owe the Vendor company anything, e.g. if a Vendor forwards a Client a bunch of free consultancy or training at the beginning of a project, but then invoices for that consultancy in the next financial period, they have just used up their partner status, They will still be called a partner but it is unwise for them to assume they can use it until they again show they are willing to resume their investment in the project.

Disclaimer: As always these posts are not aimed at anyone client or employer and are just my personal observations over a lifetime of dealing with both management and frontline associates.

 

Painting Guide – Greater Possessed

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Painter: Dultoriminis

Model(s): Space Marine “Start Collecting” Box (out of print)

Paint(s): Chaos Black Spray, Bugmans Glow, Cadian Fleshtone, Druchi Violet shade, Zandri Dust, Agrax Earthshade, Ushabti Bone, Screaming Skull, Abaddon Black, Dark Reaper, Fenrisian Grey, Leadbelcher, Retributor Armour

Method(s): Spray model Chaos Black for base coat

Armour: Start with a 1:1 mix of Abaddon Black and water, then cover the whole model, as mentioned in other posts this is so if we need to do any corrections we have the right black as the finish, as Abaddon Black and Chaos Black are slightly different. next highlight all the black armour with Dark Reaper, I would also recommend leaving a small gap between the gold tip and highlighting along these parts to add more contrast to the black. Lastly a fine highlight over the Dark Reaper of Fenrisian Grey.

Skin: Base Bugmans Glow, next mix Bugmans Glow and Cadian Fleshtone 1:1 and layer leaving all but the darkest recesses, highlight Cadian Fleshtone, wash with Druchi Violet, once dry, do a second wash in the recesses, this will give the grim bruised and sore looking skin, finally highlight once again with Cadian Fleshtone.

Bone: Base Zandri Dust, wash Agrax Earthshade, layer leaving darkest recesses with Ushabti Bone, wash with Agrax Earthshade, highlight with Screaming Skull.

Trim: Base gold trim with Retributor Armour, wash Agrax Earthshade.

Steel/metal bits: Base Leadbelcher and wash with Agrax Earthshade.

Paint Time: 4-6 hours

Notes: Take your time with the skin, this is what draws the eyes attention. as long as you get that right the model will look great.

 

Corporate Terms: “Real time” vs. “Near time” for data sync

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Definition(s):

Real Time

Real Time data synchronization is the continual process of keeping a record identical between two or more systems. the timing for this is measured in milliseconds or single digit seconds and is controlled by triggering actions, e.g. “every time you write to a table you run the sync”.

Near Real Time or “Near Time”

Near Time data synchronization is measured in seconds or in single digit minutes, and is a fast Batch synchronization controlled by a schedule, e.g. every 2 mins.

Explanation and Considerations.

When you are talking about the data synchronization between systems, and requirements come up in initial project conversations, ALL business users and indeed most senior management will say “Real time” straight away, its a phrase they know, it is a speed they see on their phones and in a lot of social media. But when it comes to enterprise or legacy data exchange, it is something that requires significant changes or investment to get right.

Let me explain further. Real time is when an action is performed on one system, and it instantly alerts another system that a change has been made. That system can then pull or receive the data changes. It happens in real time, hence the name. Now, if you think about that, that requires a load of effort. There are lots of ways of doing this. You can buy fancy software that will watch the other system like a hawk. You can have transactional logs, which save an entry to a file every time a changes made. And then the other system can watch for those log changes and make the update, etc etc, all while the servers are trying to do their real job of supporting the users doing business, so to make this work you will either require lots of time, lots of resource, lot of money, or sometimes all three.

The real question is, does your business unit require that level of data synchronisation? The only way to truly know is to go and actually do a workflow assessment, work out how exactly they’re going to work with the data, that will give you your answer. Hopefully it will also give you an answer for exactly how long it is that the data can be in one system before it actually has to be in the other.

This is where Near Time comes in. Near Time is basically fast scheduling. You’ve got a schedule that’s looking for changes every few minutes. If it finds any changes, it’ll synchronise them, then repeat. It doesn’t require anything like as much special tooling or resources and very very rarely requires your to reconfigure or expand your existing systems. Nearly all data exchange systems will have this kind of thing built in. And so will be far cheaper and more reliable, and often be far nearer to what your business really needs.