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A Role Model For Change
In the comments section of the Horse And Buggy post, Steve Vinoski was gracious enough to provide links to four IEEE Computer Society columns that he wrote a few years ago on the topic of distributed software systems. For your viewing pleasure, I’ve re-listed them here:
http://steve.vinoski.net/pdf/IEEE-Serendipitous Reuse.pdf
http://steve.vinoski.net/pdf/IEEE-Demystifying_RESTful_Data_Coupling.pdf
http://steve.vinoski.net/pdf/IEEE-Convenience_Over_Correctness.pdf
http://steve.vinoski.net/pdf/IEEE-RPC_and_REST_Dilemma_Disruption_and_Displacement.pdf
Of course, being a Vinoski fan, I read them all. If you choose to read them, and you’re not an RPC (Remote Procedure Call) zealot, I think you’ll enjoy them as much as I did. To view and learn more about distributed software system design from a bunch of Steve Vinoski video interviews, check out the collection of them at InfoQ.com.
I really admire Steve because he made a major leap out of his comfort zone into a brave new world. He transitioned from being a top notch CORBA and C++ proponent to being a REST and Erlang advocate. I think what he did is admirable because it’s tough, especially as one gets older, to radically switch mindsets after investing a lot of time acquiring deep expertise in any technical arena (the tendency is to dig one’s heels in). Add to that the fact that he worked for big gun CORBA vendor Iona Technologies (which no longer exists as an independent company) during the time of his epiphany, and you’ve got a bona fide role model for change, no?
Most Days, Some Days
On most days, the daily view statistics box for this blog looks something like this:
On some days, it looks like this:
It’s the trend in stats snapshots like this latter one that thrills me – not the total number of views. When I see one and two hits on a bunch of posts, as opposed to a bunch of hits on one or two posts, it indicates that I may have actually connected with someone on some level. What it doesn’t indicate, is whether it was a positive or negative connection.
How about you and your blog? What, you don’t write down and share at least some of your experiences, thoughts, ideas, and/or opinions? Why not?
Do one thing everyday that scares you. – Baz Luhrmann
Failure, Failure, Failure
There are tons of experts, articles, books, and references on the ephemeral topic of “change”. Over the years, I’ve read my fair share of books on change and one of the best that I’ve stumbled upon (so far) is “It Starts with One: Changing Individuals Changes Organizations“. Authors Black and Gregersen assert that the 3 major brain barriers to organizational change are:
- The failure to see
- The failure to move
- The failure to finish
The book is targeted at leaders who’ve “seen” that major change is needed and who feel compelled to move their orgs into the future. It provides a boatload of examples and solid, pragmatic advice on how leaders can help the DICforce see, move, and follow through on cross cutting change initiatives.
Black and Gregersen should follow up their nice work with a book on a more pervasive problem; the failure of corpo leaders to “see” the need for change in themselves. The sequel would advise the boatloads of leaders in this category to get off their duffs and continuously probe, sense, and decide what changes are needed for their orgs to remain viable in a fast changing and hostile external business environment.
At a certain age institutional minds close up; they live on their intellectual fat. – William Lyon Phelps
Bad leaders fail to “see” the need for change until a crisis jolts them into reality. That’s because the dudes in the head shed get comfortable with past successes and feel no sense of urgency to change anything – regardless of what they say. To paraphrase Carolyn Wells; ” actions, or a lack thereof, lie louder than words“.
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