SWAT’ slaves

Рабы ОМОНа (article in Russian)

A bit unpatriotic, but THAT should be spread as wide as possible.

Some pics about Moscow SWAT forces:

Statistics generation: custom solution instead of Reporting Services

Today we’ve finished one project which took a plenty of time to be realised – a custom statistis module based on SQL data and realised as MOSS\WSS (SharePoint) webparts kit.

We have extremely tough queries and quite complicated data model, so we decided to get another solution:

• The whole thing is divided into 5 parts each describing different business viewpoint of the data; all these viewpoints have been deployed as custom web-parts with initial constructor implemented with 1st webpart.
• SQL code takes about 14 500 (!) lines in 6 different UDFs, which all were written by one person; another guy created webparts.

Finally, we’ve done it. Hurray!

How management would use information: PR in reactions

Alexander Zurabov, ex-head of the “Aeroflot” board – How Management Would Really Use Information: How Management Would Use Information (article in Russian).

I’ve translated a bit to make it readable for English-speaking users:

It’s a pity, but in every airline’s business accidents may happen (induced by techical fails, people or crashes) – and often the whole company’s future is defined in 3-4 hours after the accident (as proven out by historical experience). Even more – it’s future is defined in PR nor airfield, where all the people know what to do in emergency situations.

Actions of PR persons define how quick official commentary comes out, how precise it is, who takes responsibility, how rapidly passengers’ lists are publiashed, how quick and effective hotline works, etc. So the whole company’s future depends on how quick a lot of people will become a fine-tuned mechanism where each gear knows what, how and when would it do, and how to cooperate with colleagues…

Then he describes his own experience:

Most of the people (mostly managers) didn’t know what to do in an unknown information field while being high-qualified in their own fields of expertise.

Best practices (mostly painful) show that people can team-up in times of crisis and become a single mechanism in one case: if they knew what they and their neighbours would do.

Now the best comes – about informal & unstructured knowledge:

The thing is that no one formal system will show full frame, talking about business object  or man’s body; right in that unformalised zone real experts’ experience and insight work at full throttle.

As for me, that’s the most inmortant lesson I’ve taken of this article:

It’s better to hire expertise instead of qualification.

BTW, just another one idea I’ve got last morning:

We buy opportunity, not goods.

We buy opportunies, not goods

Got this idea like a flash last weekend:

We buy opportunies, not goods.

I’m 99,9% sure that idea already came to somebody’s mind, but! it’s always important to understand it by yourself.

Getting hired in IT: How-To

Just’ve found a nice article on how to get hired. No, not Just Another One Clever Article, but a really interesting one – it’s about the IT:

If you’re like many other IT professionals, you may feel like you’re a little fish in a big ocean.

You are.

With so many people seeking jobs today, you cannot afford to be just another John or Jane Doe who’s looking for a job in IT. You’ve got to stand out. Here are some things you can apply immediately to help differentiate yourself in your next job interview or when it comes time for a promotion, or just to win over those who matter…

As having some experience as being hired as IT-specialist I could advise points of strength for jobseekers:

• Get listed in professional social networks.
  …as being seeking a job (I’ve been hired after my account and professional info was found at LinkedIn).
• Get certified.
  Invest in your education instead of wasting your time while seeking for a job. Certified workers are more preferable compared to all the others.
• Tell your friends.
  Being hired by recommendation of a friends is the olderst method

Moscow jams in streaming video

Just’ve found an extremely useful tool for getting to workplace in time: streaming video of Moscow streets.

1. Jams on Akado
   Shows streaming video of the roads, but no road load level on the map is shown.
2. Jams on Yandex
   Shows streaming video of the roads, road load level & accidents are shown right on the map.

Mahatma Gandhi about the customer

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.

He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.

He is not an interruption in our work – he is the purpose of it.

We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to serve him.

Mahatma Gandhi

Twitter extensions for Google Chrome

As a Chrome-living Twitter user, I’ve tried to find a perfect microblogging tool for Chrome since Extensions feature was released in the latest beta.

1. First was Brizzly, which I liked first:
   • pro: it provides you with access to Twitter and Facebook;
   • contra: a ‘loading’ screen is shown each time you open it.
2. Then was TweetDeck – which didn’t succeed either because my admin banned Adobe Air installation.
3. Seesmic came next – and still is my selection for ‘heavy’ online Twitter tool.
4. Now I’ve decided to uninstall Brizzly and try TwitterBar and Twopup (will post a short review here later).

Which Twitter clients do you use?

P.S.: decided to uninstall TwitterBar – Twopup works faster and gives much more options.

Somniloquy

Сомнилоквия – Он говорит во сне (in Russian)

Somniloquy or sleep-talking is a parasomnia that refers to talking aloud in one’s sleep. It can be quite loud, ranging from simple sounds to long speeches, and can occur many times during sleep. Listeners may or may not be able to understand what the person is saying.

Sleep-talking usually occurs during transitory arousals from NREM sleep, which is when the body does not move smoothly from one stage in NREM sleep to another, and they become partially aroused from sleep. Further it can also occur during REM sleep at which time it represents a motor breakthrough (see sleep paralysis) of dream speech, words spoken in a dream are spoken out loud.

from Wikipedia.

2010: One (of 5) Change in the Way We Work

Transparent, “adult” arrangements — My favorite change is the growth in what I like to call “communities of adults” — a philosophy of recasting the employment relationship from one of paternalistic care to adult choice. A simple example is offering a menu of benefit options and letting employees choose those that work best. Further along the spectrum would include encouraging employees to “own” their own feedback process or even set their own compensation levels. These sorts of changes wont settle in this year, but theyre coming. I expect well see more examples as the year progresses

from “Predictions for 2010: Five Changes in the Way We Work – Tammy Erickson – Harvard Business Review“.

Think that could be the best trend for next few years in HRM\TEC.