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!
Mark makes a retching sounding sound at using such a phrase[↩]
Even with the best planning done by competent BA’s[↩]
My Wife says that its the least unhappy she has seen me in a while[↩]
For a lot of the major companies, the quick wins of moving to the cloud, which really translates to making it easy to vertically scale some existing servers is over.
We are now getting into the area of integrating serious existing systems with cloud services and having to match the expectations of cloud services to everything else that exists in the company.
One of the big things I’ve seen now multiple times is that we are trying to match the “everything is instant” “everything is real-time” expectations of consumer level products that are built totally in the cloud with existing on premise infrastructure and platforms. “What is the problem?” I hear you cry, just upgrade everything, but it doesn’t quite work like that. Now you have a cloud system that has an expectation of receiving data from internal systems, and indeed can pull data from said systems at real time, but the source systems just can’t take that load, everything from database servers, to internal network, to app servers are not designed for such a load. Not only are they not designed for this stress in general terms, but they have not had to work out the capacitance planning for it. A perfect example of this is transactional logging. When you enable transactional logging on source systems so that they can feed these monster cloud systems, that introduces an additional load across the board and these have not been planned for, not only are these not being catered to at an IT level , but they are often ultimately driven from other business areas and the normal slow business growth planning of humans.
The points to be learned from such problems are:
Communication, communication, communication: With all of your existing people. You will find you will have communication issues, but this is not down to them not wanting to grow or change. This is simply down to the speed that the internal systems is set to grow is not aligning with the cloud systems expectation. You have to work with people from all areas. You have to get them involved from the minute you’re starting to do this. Try and give them a heads up on what you’re going to do. They often have to plan their budget and how much they spend on infrastructure change and people hiring a year in advance, suddenly turning on your AWS servers and cranking them up to 11 does not help them.
Expectations: Most of your customers for your systems are now expecting consumer level speeds. All of your social media plans are nearly real time. Now, all of a sudden you are expecting that from human and IT Systems that are buried deep under a whole raft of procedures that you have not changed for decades. You cannot provide real time updates to such things with only changes to IT systems, you need to bring along the business systems that are supporting them. Explain this to your cloud system consumers so they can set their expectations along real human lines.
Fear: A little bit dramatic, but its a real statement, people fear change, if you do not work with people on this they will fear these changes. To gain proper improvements from cloud systems you have to work with everybody, introduce them to the advantages and their place in such a changed world, help them grow as you are helping the IT systems grow.
The best analogy I can think of to explain all this is from the image that is headlining this post, from “Appleseed” a famous comic by Masamune Shirow which confronts a lot of the issues of change in the world. One of the doctors in the comic states “You can’t give someone a Cyborg Leg Just like THAT, It’d tear out when they try to run”. Think of your move to cloud in thoese terms.
Anyone who knows me will find the idea of me not wearing headphones at all times a strange one. For the last 6+ years, I’ve been a faithful purchaser of the Sennheiser PXC series, gently working my way through the range from the 360 to the 550. However, when it came time to buy a spare battery (after repeatedly losing the devils), I discovered that the familiar style I’d grown accustomed to had changed. This wasn’t initially a problem, designs evolve, after all, so I thought I’d simply buy the new version. But I quickly realized the updated design featured angled ear cups, and that’s a deal-breaker for me. Angled cups mean I can’t wear them the wrong way around, which I prefer when positioning the cable or buttons on a certain side or addressing Bluetooth signal issues caused by my head. Moreover, angled cups prevent me from comfortably tucking one cup behind my ear, a necessity when I’m onsite with a client. Nothing leads to a headphone ban quicker than managers being unable to call you whenever they want.
Requirements:
Over-ear design.
Bluetooth and wired connectivity.
Standard ports: I absolutely despise proprietary ports designed to squeeze more money from me for replacement accessories.
Vertical alignment: Headphones must be vertically aligned, not tilted.
No noise limiters: I’m not a child, and I prefer my music loud.
The Choice:
I initially considered the new Sennheiser PXC, but they failed due to the aforementioned tilt issue. Sennheiser’s other suitable models tipped too far into hipster territory for my taste. Bose headphones were too expensive and didn’t feel sturdy enough to withstand my lifestyle. Plantronics models were simply too large and tended to fall off my head. Enter an unexpected outsider in headphones but a venerable name in music: Marshall and their Monitor Bluetooth headphones.
The Good:
Strong Bluetooth: The Bluetooth connection is significantly stronger than Sennheiser’s. I can leave my phone on my desk and comfortably move around my flat without any signal issues—a massive improvement.
Snug fit: These headphones fit tightly and snugly, which may be too tight for some (like my wife), but it’s a definite plus for me.
Sound Quality: The audio is richer, fuller, and significantly louder than the Sennheisers, a major upgrade.
Dual Input: While working, I often use the Pomodoro timer from my phone via Bluetooth but remain wired in for calls and other audio needs simultaneously. The Marshall headphones handle both connections effortlessly, a pleasant surprise.
The Bad:
No lateral movement: Given their classic design, I didn’t expect lateral movement, and the lack of additional joints certainly enhances structural integrity. However, without lateral flexibility, I feel extra pressure when tucking one ear cup behind my ear.
Control knob: This is an annoying gimmick—it’s actually a mini joystick rather than a knob, making it fiddly and unintuitive. Changing volume should involve turning a knob, not nudging a joystick.
The Unexpected:
Replaceable headphone pads: My beard and stubble tend to shred headphone pads, leading to frequent replacements. The Sennheiser pads were always a pain to change, whereas Marshall’s magnetic pads are refreshingly easy to swap out.
Retro feel: These headphones gave me a nostalgic flashback to my dad’s old Pioneer SE-205 headphones, a set I adored years ago, a delightful retro touch.
The Conclusion:
It’s still early days, and the Marshall headphones aren’t quite as gentle on my ears as the Sennheisers. However, the substantial upgrades in nearly every other aspect make them a clear winner. Recommended.
Life can sometimes just feel too stressful for complete happiness. With all this contract-related stress at work hanging over me, I just don’t feel like fencing. It’s not the fencing itself; it’s all the traveling when all I really want is sleep, or, in my case, time to handle work-related tasks.
This has been my third week of skiving, and it’s definitely going to be the last! Unfortunately, I can’t fence tomorrow either, as I’m meeting my accountant. So, in the last three weeks, I will have only attended two club nights, one lesson, and two squash games. That’s shockingly poor, ideally, I should have managed twelve club nights, six lessons, and three squash games. Still, I’ll sort it all out and get back on form.
On another note, has anybody else noticed the weird effects fencing has on other sports? Take squash, for example. I used to enjoy it and was quite good during school, but now I’m completely useless, and it’s all fencing’s fault. I lunge for every ball, and if it gets too close, I instinctively attempt to “prime” it, which clearly doesn’t work and usually results in funny looks and sarcastic comments from opponents.
Additionally, the subconscious urge to stab your opponent with your racket rather than chase the ball doesn’t exactly promote “fair play” (though it certainly improves your score when your opponent hides in a corner). Even my sense of distance is completely messed up. If a ball goes over my head, do I turn around and hit it properly? No, I shuffle backward and crash into the wall, usually getting hit on the head by the ball for my trouble.
Moreover, fencing terminology slips into everyday speech, confusing non-fencers. Referring to points as “hits” and matches as “fights” tends to unsettle others. And no matter how tempting it may be, never attempt a flèche on a squash court, there simply isn’t enough room, as evidenced by the Stickfight-shaped holes at Harbor Exchange courts!
On the bright side of fencing, someone finally bought one of my t-shirts from Zazzle, prompting me to improve the website layout. Although sorting the CSS was a huge pain, especially ensuring cross-browser compatibility without using tables, it’s finally done, thanks to some online help. Please let me know if it needs further tweaks.
Jo Maynard is making fantastic progress with digital art and will hopefully have her own section here soon. For now, check out her work at http://pwincess.deviantart.com.
Leicester is coming soon, and I am determined not to mess it up! Normally, it’s scheduled on my eldest child’s birthday, but this year they’re off to Euro Disney with classmates and parents, frankly, being stuck on a coach with all those kids and parents sounds nightmarish to me. So,
I’ve got the weekend free to fence. If I achieve a good top 32, I might sneak into the top 50 rankings, but that’s a sad calculation and probably best left unspoken.
Lessons with Steve have been fantastic lately. He’s really pushing me mentally and physically, delivering varied and challenging lessons each week. It’s unfortunate he’s been unwell recently, and my lessons might reduce due to possible workplace changes, but that’s the life of a contractor.
At the moment, I’m living a bit like a fencing hobo (have sword, will travel) while waiting for “42” to finalise his house move. I’m sharing space with Jo and Marc’s pets, and it’s been eye-opening to see how hard coaches actually work behind the scenes, so spare a thought for them next time you think they’ve got it easy.
It’s been a while since I had a good rant, so let’s dive in. Bristol was another competition, another messed-up pool round, and another exit in the 64. However, I did enjoy a sweet moment of revenge by beating an opponent who previously defeated me. Although Tristan Parris later thrashed me, breaking a sword and leaving me battered, I at least got some good footage for a recent video. Thanks to my loyal readers, Stickfight made it into the top 20 fencing websites globally!
Sadly, I missed Sussex due to family commitments; my son insisted I stay home. But I’ve added new t-shirts (54 designs now!) and received our first submission from “Tarmac” on FencingForum.com. Heriot-Watt University will also use Stickfight movies at their sports fair, very cool! Feeling miffed about missing Sussex (especially with Ben Measures placing Last 4!), I’ve ended up doing DIY at home.
Today’s my first lesson with Steve in two weeks, he’s had back problems, and I’m dreading how rusty I’ll be after minimal practice.
One bizarre occurrence recently involved mysteriously discovering toothpaste on my shoulder at work, with no clue how it got there despite thorough investigation, a truly baffling mystery.
I recently joined Haverstock, where I’m enjoying tougher competition, and had my first intense, satisfying lesson with Marek. The facilities are great, apart from slightly ominous-looking showers!
Bristol competitions can be alarming: during female foil and sabre events, unsettling noises reminiscent of “Barbarella” make foilists and sabreurs appear terrifying. Honestly, I sometimes think they should all be locked away.
At the season’s first competition, illness kept me from performing well. I scraped through pools embarrassingly, mostly against teammates from various clubs I attend. I narrowly lost in the 64 after a stern (but motivating) pep talk from Chris Howser. Although frustrated, I appreciated the humorous moment provided by Hugo from Haverstock, whose confusion over photo-taking led to a memorable video moment.
Finally, a quick family anecdote: my son’s fencing weapon preference was humorously revealed when I jokingly mooned my family, only for him to express disgust, not at the gesture, but at the train ticket clenched in my teeth, revealing him tragically as a potential foilist!
That’s all for now, I have plenty more rants coming soon!
