OP Prepper

There are three Star Wars Trilogies. One began in the 70s, one in the 90s and one in the 2010s.  Of the three, I would say that the original trilogy is obviously the best.   Why is it that, despite the advances in technology, star power and available budget, the oldest movies in the franchise are the most well done?  In Red Letter Media's hilarious 7 part Phantom Menace review  "Plinket" suggests that George Lucas may have been a victim of his own success.   By the time 1999 came along George Lucas was the biggest name since... George Lucas and no one would dare tell him he was wrong.  The guy MADE Star Wars!   As a result,  there was no one to give an honest critique of the movie.    Everyone assumed he knew better and thus Jar-Jar, Midichlorians, and little Annie's "yippie" all entered the Star Wars Canon forever.   As liberating as complete autonomy on a project can be,  it can also harm your outcome.   We are all creatures of bias and assumption.   When

The pandemic has led to some unexpected worlds.   I am not an epidemiologist and I am not a formal educator, so you can imagine how odd it was over this summer to find myself helping to formulate a safe reopening strategy for schools in my state.  The world of education advocacy can be a strange and surprising one to say the least.   It was an education advocacy non-profit called "Virginia Public Education Partners" (VPEP) that asked for my help.   They had no shortage of skilled teachers and administrators in their ranks, but they wanted to look at the challenge from a practical operational perspective.   They wanted to go beyond a "wish list" and approach State and County leaders with an actionable plan that directed efforts to achievable goals.    They wanted a "Readiness Plan" where "ready" meant a safe and clean learning environment for public schools.   Where then do you start when all your prior experience has been around IT systems and Fa

I have found, that the greatest obstacle to overcome in a Technical environment is not always the technology.  More often than not, it is people.   This is not to say that people themselves are to blame. Most of the time, I find that the people I work with, especially the ones who often get flagged as “problematic” have the best interests of the business and their own staff at heart. In fact, it is their passion for their work that leads them to be proactive stakeholders and “passionate advocates for their environment.”  This passion can be a powerful tool, but it can also create powerful conflict when the goals of the stakeholders conflict.  This often leads to arguments and even accusations of sabotage.   Such accusations are patently unfair, because, in almost every case, everyone involved wants the same thing.  Success for their team.   So how does this happen?  How do these conflicts arise? In almost every case, it is from a failure in the old “3 C’s of teamwork” Communication, Co

It seems too common that day 1 “launch day” becomes a tangle of confusion and unexpected complications. These can hurt a business in erosion of confidence, not to mention the direct investment in setting things right. Unfortunately, many businesses do not take the time to prevent this chaos by ensuring Operational readiness before that fateful day. Operational readiness has a dozen definitions across a wide variety of environments, from Military, State, Corporate, Facilities to Information technology. I believe that, regardless of the environment there are some key questions that a good Operational Readiness effort should answer. What You Have: This is your inventory. While we may be tempted to assume we have this in hand, an inventory is not as simple as the hardware directly tied into your solution. If you are “ready” it means that you know exactly what is at your disposal. This is a full catalog of your physical and your human resources. Physical inventory is easy enough, t