systematic viewpoints

I’ve not written in months and nobody seems to care. I’ve worried about my hidden identity, my current status (which precludes airing much in the way of IP) and I’ve become more of a commenter as myself than a poster as systematic…I’ve put a few things elsewhere under my True Identity and I like it better that way. And yet…I can’t seem to bring myself to just say goodbye to systematic viewpoints, inasmuch as it feels like a part of me. Maybe I’ll just come back now and again to toss out some pithy remark, or maybe I’ll just get the nerve to stop.

It’s been quite busy hereabouts. But honestly, besides the demands of my job I’ve slacked off posting because I’ve been trying to figure out just where I want Systematic Viewpoints to go.

When I began wiritng this blog two and a half years ago I was with a huge corporation where I’d run the intranet since the late 90’s. By 2003 I had deployed then was managing their ginormous Peoplesoft portal. That role widened to include user experience across a few dozen HR apps. Then I got downsized out of a job. I’ve since been very happily employed as an enterprise portal consultant and while I have functional chops in the HR space my sweet spot is the enterprise portal strategy space.

Originally I went anonymous because I knew my prior company had no appetite for blogging so I took pains to avoid exposing too much. As a management consultant I feel even more bound by my commitments to client privacy and my company’s IP. Yet I still think there is room for worthy comment and discussion, but I find myself thinking twice every time I think, “I should write about that”.

I enjoy writing this blog…even though I have little in the way of analytics, so for all I know there’s only two people in the world reading it! However, I’m not quite sure whether I’ll continue blogging or not.  If I do, my focus will almost certainly drift a bit from being HR centric, although it would almost certainly never go away entirely. If you have a point of view, I’d love to hear it. Post a comment or drop me a line at systematicviewpoints@gmail.com.

Cheers,
systematic

Sorry to say that holidays, new client/project kickoff, writing for my company’s annual and pleasurable physical world activities have conspired to leave little left for systematic viewpoints. I will be on track soon, enjoy the peace and quiet in the meanwhile.

It’s all Thomas’ fault.

Clearly not having enough with blogging about enterprise matters, he has shown us his sartorial leaning by introducing Dedicated Followers Of Fashion, or DFOF. Here he passes comments about the state of fashion in the tech community - apparently menswear in particular. Fun and occasionally snarky in a good-spirited way, I’m getting a big kick out of it and if I ever do run into him, I’ll pick my habadashery carefully.

Recently, Thomas and Cote posted some photos/videos featuring fetishistic messenger bags, and that’s where my troubles began.

I’ve had a long history of seeking the ‘perfect’ bag, a pursuit that shows all signs of being a lifelong habit. Either circumstances or dissatisfaction with some darned thing leads me to look for improvement, and just a week prior I was nosing around a luggage shop, apparently buying my daughter a better bag for her High School belongings. While the kids were distracted I snuck looks at the Manhattan Portage, Victorinox and lesser brand offerings.

Seeing the photos and video of Crumpler bags got me downright twitchy. I was determined to be rational about it all, so I ran aorund in a frenzy looking at Chromes, Timbuk2s, Briggs and Rileys…to no avail. They each had a fatal flaw of some sort or the other. But I wasn’t going to just cave in and order one, because the Crumpler was flawed as well - no outside pockets. I knew I had to see the bag for real.

Living in the NYC metro area has many perks, one of which is that there is a store that stocks anything you can imagine somewhere. I know there’s a Crumpler shop in the West Village, but I don’t get down there often. Today I stopped at B&H - a place I avoid because it’s very easy to get very stupid in there. But I was on a Mission. I headed straight to the bags and found the Part and Parcel. It took about 30 seconds for my remaining resolve to disappear, and I nabbed it along with a Thirsty side bag to compensate for the lack of external pockets.

So, here’s the bag porn:

Even the wrapper bag has the little Crumpler dude. Nice touch

Thirsty Large on it’s hang tag

Front

Back

Flap open

Swallowing a wide screen Dell

Dr. Strong-Tron tag - look closely, he’s made of bags

For a small pouch, it can hold a lot. The bottom is a stretchy neoprene-type material.

Video iPod, Blackberry and earplugs case

This bag is seriously built, better than most I’ve seen and seems quite comfortable. The strap is wildly long - I’m 6′ 3″ and it can hang below my knee - from top of strap to bottom of bag measure 4 feet! Adjustments are simple and the padding is super without being overly bulky. Hopefully I’ll keep this one more than my usual 18 months!

But the important question - why black when Crumpler makes such amazing colors? I spend a lot of my consulting time doing strategy with high-level execs. Low floors on Park Avenue are not good places for orange or robins-egg blue bags. Black blazer, black bag.

I’ve been nervously watching streaming news today. I received a call this morning from a friend who was evacuated in the San Diego area, their neighborhood was aflame today.

They’re safe an a friend’s in a nearby town and it seems like they may have gotten lucky since their home isn’t listed as burned down, but many people have lost homes that recognized in the videos, homes I drove past just weeks ago when I paid my friends a visit. Odd how I heard mention of the fires for the first time when my clock radio went off this morning but it didn’t become in any way relevant to me personally until the phone rang.

Best wishes to all, I sincerely hope you’re somewhere safe .

I’ve been absorbed with preparing a strategy presentation to be delivered next week. It looks like 4 days of out-or-town meetings, too. The following week is a vacation, so it may continue to be quiet here. Or not. Hang in there.

>Tracking code here, nothing to see.

My cycling trip through Puglia was nothing short of wonderful on all counts. The landscape, company, guides and people were completely enjoyable.

The US holiday weekend is approaching, and on Tuesday I start my new consulting job. I’ve enjoyed my respite and I’m looking forward to getting engaged again. I don’t know if my new comapny has a blogging policy; considering that they take a positive stand on the role of social computing and the potential of Enterprise 2.0 I’m hopful that I’ll be able to continue in a more direct manner.

A bit of Puglia for you. Ciao!

Yesterday I went to Iridium with my friend Ken. We saw Kenny Garrett with Pharoah Sanders. I have always credited Pharoah with opening my ears to jazz. Arguably a lot of things came first, but I will always remember a day when I was a freshman in college, driving around Albany in a beat up 1965 Pontiac. I was listening to a ‘progressive’ AM radio station out of Pittsfield Massachusetts (this was 1974 or 1975 and there was no FM on my old beater of a car) and a jazz tune started playing. It had a pleasant tune and strong vocals, with lots of interesting percussion going on - shells, booming drums. As I drove along it got more and more intense and compelling. Soon I was so amazed that I pulled over to the side of the road and listened intently as the music went completely out with wild baritone saxophone playing and the vocalist yodeling furiously. It gradually came back, finally ending up back at the vamp and vocals. I’d heard “Hum Allah” and my life was different. The next day I was at the record store and very soon I was listening to Coltrane, Dolphy, Davis and other groundbreaking musicians.

We couldn’t stay for the late set, so we made our way to the door. Pharoah was there speaking to someone. I stood right behind him, and when he turned I said to him, “Can I just say thank you for 30 years of joy?” He looked at me and replied, “Have you been listening that long?” He smiled, shook my hand and moved on. It felt really good to be able to thank him for that day and all the things that have flowed from it since then - maybe it was the best part of the evening.

Today I accepted an offer to be a principal consultant focused on enterprise portal strategy and design. I’m excited about this, the firm has a strong usability and design focus and I like the people there very much. I won’t start for another month, partly because I’ll be going to Tuscany for a week and a half of cycle touring. Hopefully this firm will look kindly on blogging, in which case my mask of anonymity may finally be removed.