Victus pro Scientia Opus -- Food for the Knowledge Worker

A New Chapter -- KMA and Sentri

"Even in the perfect world where everyone was equal
I still would own the portal and be working on the SQL."

-- Elvis Costello, "Every Day I Write the Book," with geek liberties taken

I'm excited to announce a new chapter in the direction of the team I've have the good fortune to work with for the last several (nearly six) years, and in my career:  KMA has sold its SharePoint practice to Sentri, Inc.

Starting today, Monday 13 February 2012, I'll be Sentri's General Manager of Strategic Services, with responsibility for Sentri's SharePoint and CRM practice areas. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to build upon what I've spent the past twelve years doing: helping business decision makers improve organizational performance using Microsoft business productivity technologies.

In addition to a strong existing SharePoint practice, Sentri has world-class capabilities around Microsoft core infrastructure and application platform technologies, so the combination of breadth and depth from Sentri and KMA is truly exciting.

When I take stock of where we are and how we've gotten here, I am thankful for the following:

• the time, capital, and wisdom invested in the SharePoint practice by KMA's founders Jorge Rodriguez and David Goldstein. I've learned an incredible amount from them over our time working together.
• the counsel, ideas and support of my business partner Jean Tufts and former colleagues such as Chris McNulty, Sadie Van Buren, Florin Muntean, James Henry, Sean Megley, Liz Hatch, and many others. Their ability to generate great ideas and execute on them with clients was the foundation for much of what we currently are, and they all pushed me to be better than I would have been otherwise.
• the clients and community members who provided constructive accountability as they learned alongside us over several generations of SharePoint product releases.
• the Managed Partner team at Microsoft, including world-class PAM Barrie Mirman, who now has one less partner to manage, and whose insight, energy, focus and commitment are unparalleled anywhere I've seen in Microsoft in my twelve years as a partner.
• the SharePoint community, who has embraced our thought leadership and given us a stage on which to tell our story.
• last but not least, I am thankful for the passion, commitment. and collegiality of KMA's SharePoint team, with whom I look forward to writing the next chapters in this story.

Expect to see more frequent updates via this medium now that the deal is done. It's early in this book, and there are many more chapters to be written. 

Geek Reads v2008.5: Predictably Irrational

[Like two bloggers I really admire, I have chosen to take some of the summer off, needing a break from blogging to take some time away from work, etc.  Unlike them, I am asking for forgiveness rather than permission.  I'll work on more frequent posting going forward.]

While on vacation, I devoured about five books, the most notable being Dan Ariely's "Predictably Irrational," a fascinating look at how we make decisions, guided by invisible but measurable forces.  [sorry, no blog articles about Elmore Leonard beach reading]

Ariely, in addition to having a truly compelling personal story that I won't spoil here, details at great length the research he and colleagues have done into how we make decisions.  Some of the insights he provides into such subjects as:

• the allure, and the true cost, of free things
• how our perceptions of value can be influenced and "anchored" by pre-suggestion (with an interesting example of how Ariely valued his reading of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" to his students)
• placebo effects, and why more expensive drugs increase them
• people's over-valuation of, and over-attachment to, things they already have
• how arousal changes people's decision-making processes
• things that make us more honest and dishonest

will be useful in assessing my own decision processes, and those of my clients, colleagues, friends and family. Although many scientists consider the social sciences to be the "softest" or "least pure" of all disciplines, the empirical evidence that Ariely uses to prove or disprove his hypotheses really brings to life these themes.

Upcoming events -- June 2007

Just an update at June 8:  I've been limited in my postings of late due to some time out of the office for fun and family commitments, but also because of the remarkable amount of new business opportunities coming our way at KMA (insert metaphor here:  treadmill, spinning plates, firehose, etc.). 

Of course this is purely anecdotal (n = 1, kind of a small sample size), but the adoption of tools like Office 2007 and especially SharePoint 2007 have been taking off and driving a ton of activity in KMA's (Microsoft Information Worker Gold Partner) world.

Look for upcoming posts on:

• Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference 2007 in Denver in July
• my colleague's impressions of TechEd 2007, held this past week in Orlando

and look for me at events such as:

• Project Management Institute (PMI) meetings
• Mass Technology Leadership Council meetings (esp. the upcoming sales/marketing roundtable session on creating incentive compensation plans, which looks great)

Meanwhile, KMA is growing and hiring qualified .NET and SharePoint resources.  Contact me for details if interested.

Blog about blogs (with bonus)

It had been a while since I refreshed this part of my blog, so I thought I would add some noteworthy Microsoft blogs/bloggers, and some favorite blogs that I really can't start my day without.  From Mary Jo Foley (ZDNet blog about Microsoft) to David Maister (Professional Services guru) to Nick Carr ("IT Doesn't Matter") to Curt Schilling (the most opinionated and articulate blogger to ever help the Red Sox win a World Series), there's something there for all to enjoy -- check out the blogrolls down the right side of the page.

Also, compliments of my colleague Sadie, a little lagniappe especially for readers who may be more business-savvy but less technically oriented:  a "how-to" video for getting started with RSS.  If you read this blog via RSS, it may not be for you, but if you have a parent, brother-in-law, etc. who is perhaps not so technically inclined, this could be very useful indeed.  It's also relevant because it illustrates how new technologies/media have the potential to change how we communicate this type of data.  It's silly, but surprisingly effective.  Think about this approach vs a traditional document or (God forbid) PowerPoint "how-to" presentation. Enjoy!

Click To Play

There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don't. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don't know where to start.

New Year's Resolution

Normally, I make a resolution that is centered on improving a behavior I don't like about myself:   e.g., exercise more, swear less, organize better, throw my curveball for strikes more, etc.   However, I think that this year's resolution, based on an idea from Charles Green by way of David Maister, will be simpler, and more positive: 

I will be more thankful for what I have. 

That's not to say there aren't many areas to be improved (just ask my wife, or anyone who knows me well!)  :-), but I hereby vow to spend more time focused on the good things in my life (family, friends, colleagues, health, opportunity, etc.) and less on my or anyone else's shortcomings or limitations.  Less negative energy, more optimism.

To that end...thank you for reading in 2006 as I learned how to blog, found my voice, and hopefully provided the occasional entertaining or useful nugget. I look forward to providing more in 2007.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Summer Reading 2006

I just returned from a week away (hence no post last week), and had the chance to read a couple of good books during my time on the beach.  They weren’t exactly about the digital age, or high-level technical and business issues, but it wasn’t hard to unearth a few timeless themes that apply to the world we live and work in today.

Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis uses several stories from the formative years of this country to illustrate the deep personal relationships among a core group of the founding fathers of the USA.  A few themes emerge that still appear to apply and hold true today:

1.       The degree to which strong personal relationships and a foundation of trust among a small group of leaders impacted history.

2.      Cultural differences between North and South, some of which appear to live on to some degree today (it's not hard to project onto modern characters John Adams’ shoot-from-the-hip style in MA contrasted with the more genteel and idealistic style of his rival and friend Thomas Jefferson in VA)

   

The Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman follows some very accomplished and talented chefs through the CMC (Certified Master Chef) program, the opening and managing of world-class and highly successful restaurants, etc. 

Noteworthy themes here are:   

1.      The personality types of chefs obsessed with perfection: pursuing it, measuring it, and balancing it against the need to “get food out the door” in a busy restaurant.

2.      Creativity in action, and the value of efficiency in chefs’ motion and effort.

   

Each of these books is worthy of a recommendation, although the latter is the much quicker read.  Depending on your choice of subject matter, you may enjoy one or the other more, but as kind of a literary omnivore, I enjoyed both.

   

Note:  Back to more technical stuff next week, as we focus on FY2007 planning with Microsoft and I attend Office 2007 training.