by Gary Mintchell | Dec 28, 2009 | Automation
Saw an article on ComputerWorld that the leading cause of software project failures is complexity. Duh. Although I’d add “culture” as right up there at the top. In my first software project, we only got a fraction of the benefits because top management didn’t understand what we could do. And few wanted to use it.
That leads to another thought, though. Charlie Gifford spoke to an Automation World writer for our January issue and says much the same thing about problems within the manufacturing software business. Basically it’s gotten too complex, too expensive and too large. Watch for his comments along with Jim Pinto and Jay Lee in the article on innovation when it’s posted in a couple of weeks
What do you think about your software projects? What would you like to tell suppliers? Let me know. You might look into attending the soon-to-be-announced MESA Conference this spring and talk to software vendors face-to-face to express your thoughts and concerns as well as to get their response.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 28, 2009 | Automation
Just six years ago this month, I started playing with blogging. I’d been reading Dave Winer, Robert Scoble, Om Malik and a few others. Automation World, my new project, was now up and running. It was time to try something new. I wrote to someone (one of those self-proclaimed experts) about what I was doing sometime in the spring and he said he couldn’t figure out what I was doing. I’ve never heard of him again 🙂
Blogging has gone through many changes over the past half-dozen years. It was originally about linking to other bloggers and adding your own comments. It was, and remains, a personal medium. But there were no other bloggers in the control and automation space. Then companies decided it would be a great way to get out their message. So company blogs sprung up like mushrooms after a Spring shower. Since blogging is really an easy way for publishing your ideas, new companies began using blogging as the publishing platform. Engadget for new products in technology (I’ve been trying Automation Gear for the same thing in our market space). TechCrunch, GigaOm, Huffington Post and many others for news.
After this time and experimentation, only Walt Boyes has kept up the blogging consistently from a journalist perspective–except that blog has morphed into more of a magazine blog than a personal one. But it still keeps going. Most company blogs that I have followed have withered due to the demands of feeding the beast regularly. Jim Cahill keeps the Emerson Process Experts blog going. And Emerson’s Greg McMillan does a good job updating the Modeling and Control blog. Eric Murphy keeps us current with OPC news. Let me know about any I’ve missed.
The other thing about blogs was the able to subscribe via RSS feed and then read the news when I wanted. This worked well–and still does. Of course many people want to know the latest, breaking news. So they also use Twitter and try to monitor a constant stream of real-time news-oh, and still get their work done. It’s a little like the stock ticker. I’m not ADD enough for that. I batch my Twitter reading, too.
This blog has evolved over the years and picked up a fair number of subscribers considering the limited number of automation people in the world. I’ve always tried to mix industry news, manufacturing news, analysis, soccer, personal stuff and thoughts about living. As I start year seven at the end of a tough economic year, I look forward to seeing what I wind up doing this year.
I always enjoy your thoughts. Please continue to write. And post comments and subscribe to comments to keep the conversation going. I love a thoughtful debate. If you comment and I reply, that doesn’t have to be the end of it. Learning comes through iteration. I was on the high school tennis team (not bad for a geek) and a good rally.
Hope your Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year) was refreshing and fulfilling. I hope your new year is one of hope and growth. May your blessings be plentiful.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 28, 2009 | Commentary
Are you busy making New Year’s Resolutions? Not me. I haven’t for years. And even though I spent the 80s and some of the 90s listening to those motivational speakers (Waitley, Dyer, Tracy, et. al.) talk about setting goals, I don’t do that, either. What I do in envision the type of person I want to be and the things I’d like to accomplish and then work on changing habits. Sometimes I do have to stop and take stock of my commitments to see if I’m overextended. But usually the problems are that I’ve lost motivation or focus for a little while and need to get them back. Leo Babauta talks about this in a recent post–20 Key Questions on Motivation and Habits. Recommended reading as you think about your new year and what you can accomplish.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 28, 2009 | Commentary
Technology blogs have been buzzing with supposed facts about a new Apple “tablet” to be announced Jan. 26 (at the Apple developer event). The name–“iSlate.” Well, I doubt that it is a tablet “PC.” I mean, I’d love to have a tablet that I could carry on airplanes and at conferences rather than my somewhat heavier MacBook.
In fact, for years I used Palm devices much like a tablet. I had Word to Go and Excel to Go and could input reasonably fast with the Grafitti handwriting application. But Palm wanted to play in smartphones. It left the tablet/PDA market behind. Then, it couldn’t execute a decent smartphone. My museum has three generations of Treos to prove it. I’d love for Apple to do a tablet, but I don’t expect it. Input is too difficult, yet, evidently, in order to catch on with huge numbers of customers. The number of people who would use something like me probably numbers in low 4 digits–to small to bother with.
What made the iPod go? Try iTunes. Then apps. What made the iPhone go? Apps. (Plus great design, of course.) What’s the latest fad? Electronic book readers. Who’s the leader? Amazon–who just happens to sell books. What if you had a larger iPod Touch, with not only iTunes but iBooks and iMovies and iTV and iMagazines and … well you get the picture. Plus it has WiFi and perhaps even 3G/4G?
I have not bought a Kindle. I read lots of books. I’ve only seen one in all of my travels–and the guy only read on it for about 15 minutes. But several people I follow on Twitter swear by them. Maybe I’ve figured it out.
There are two or three types of reading I do. First is light reading for entertainment–novels, mysteries and the like. These would be ideal for an iBook. Except I do very little of this proportionately to other reading. The second type is a large variety of magazines. I hate the “flip book” technology that we all want you (the reader) to switch to in order to save much money in the form of printing, paper and postage (oops, I mean save the environment by trading in a renewable resource–trees–for a non-renewable one–electronics). Maybe I’d read magazines in that format if there was a way to “cut” an article out that I wanted to save. I’m not sure that reproducing the complete magazine experience with ads would work, though, and that’s a catch. Magazines need ads for income. The third reading type I indulge in is reading for learning. I underline, make comments, outline and otherwise live in these books. I’m not sure that an electronic book would work for that.
So, for 2 out of 3 and a sexy platform, maybe I’d get an iSlate (or whatever). But it would be just one more thing to carry around (and not be able to read during the last hour of the return from my next trip to Europe).
Oh, and Amazon loads in plenty of DRM restrictions on its books–and I guess you can’t transfer from one device to another. That’s something Apple has figured out with iTunes. Jobs knows how to negotiate.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 22, 2009 | Operations Management
In high technology circles, the talk is of the death of newspapers and magazines. The “dead tree” stuff. Wait a minute, aren’t trees a renewable resource? I’ve recycled almost all my paper for well over 20 years. On the other hand, electronic devices are not renewable resources and recycling, if it can be done at all, is complex and expensive.
Just a thought — from a guy with a foot in both camps.
