Category: Education

An inspiring day out with codebreakers and the first electronic computer…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Digital devices and the environment, Education, Security, Uncategorized

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The Badger visited Bletchley Park and The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) last week. It was a fascinating, atmospheric and inspiring day out, and very rewarding to hear the many visiting international tourists, young families, and elders say their expectations, like the Badger’s, were exceeded!

Bletchley Park, the home of British codebreaking, is where Alan Turing cracked the Enigma code and a birthplace of modern electronic computing. The secret activities of this truly historic site profoundly influenced the outcome of World War 2. Seeing and hearing about the work of the codebreakers, the tools they used, and the highly atmospheric huts where they worked instils marvel at the brilliance and dedication of those involved. The place is a wonderful memorial to the exceptional patriotism, commitment, discipline and ingenuity of the codebreakers who, 75 years ago, were instrumental in the birth of electronic computing. Awesome!

Bletchley Park was involved in the design of Colossus – the world’s first programmable electronic computer. Colossus helped analyse enemy ciphers in the run up to D-Day and a functioning rebuild of this beast is on display at TNMOC. It’s full of thermionic valves not silicon chips, and for those of you who’ve never seen a thermionic valve the picture above is a small subset of those on Colossus.

Seeing Colossus and all the other computer hardware and software exhibits at TNMOC really brought home how far electronic computing has come in 75 years. It also makes you aware of just how the silicon chip has revolutionised electronics and fuelled digital tech’s exponential growth in the last 40 years. It was sobering to stand in a room full of late 1970s mainframes and realize that a smartphone has more instantaneous functionality, processing power and storage than the sum of everything in the room!

On the way home, while stationary in heavy traffic, there was ample time to reflect on a great day out. Both sites provide a reminder of how important scientists, engineers and mathematicians are to finding solutions to seemingly intractable problems. They also show and that experts 75 years ago were in no way inferior to their counterparts today. The impressive ‘there’s no such word as can’t, try’ attitude of the codebreakers provides a stark contrast to some of the ‘I can’t, it’s too hard and it’s not fair’ complaining that pervades some parts of today’s social media.

As the ‘Smart Motorway’ signs decided to stop being smart, the Badger’s co-visitor asked if any philosophical nuggets of wisdom came to mind from the visit. The Badger thought for a moment. Yes! Take every opportunity to get an education – preferably as a scientist, engineer or mathematician – and don’t be fazed by whatever problems are put in front of you. And remember, ‘there’s no such word as can’t, try’…. If Bletchley Park’s people hadn’t tried, we wouldn’t have the freedoms and computing technology we have today.

Customer centricity in online banking? It’s people not technology that make you feel valued…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Business, Education, Online Services, Systems Integration, Uncategorized

Banks seem to believe ‘customer centricity’ means encouraging us to do everything online so they can close local branches. Where the Badger lives, for example, there were 6 branches five years ago – now there’s one. That’s not a problem for most of us – provided, of course, online services are joined up and work well. If not, customers get grumpy, re-evaluate their loyalty, and consider moving to where there’s a better ‘customer centric’ experience. The Badger’s doing just that! Why? Because of a recent experience applying for a savings account online with a bank where the Badger’s used their Internet Banking service for >10 years.

Things unfolded thus. A letter arrived saying the interest rate on an existing online savings account was reducing by more than a third. Shortly thereafter another letter arrived saying a ‘loyalty’ account with an enhanced rate could be applied for online. Time for action! The Badger logged in, applied, and was given a reference number. The account would be accessible in Internet Banking within 7 days. Seven days? Nah, surely with modern IT and an established long-standing customer it would be quicker. Hmm.
Seven days passed. Nothing happened. A standard letter then arrived saying a) the account couldn’t be opened because the Badger’s address didn’t match the bank’s records, and b) the Badger could correct his address via Internet Banking or by visiting a branch. The Badger logged in, found that all his details were correct, and was baffled. A 25-mile round trip to the nearest branch ensued.

A 25-minute conversation with a helpful cashier revealed that the bank had two customer records for the Badger, identical except for two slight differences. One has the Badger’s house name and street name, the other has the same plus the house number in the street. One has the Badger’s title as Dr. and the other as Mr. The cashier ‘sent some emails to get the data aligned’ and the Badger had to reapply for the account at the counter with the cashier.

The Badger was unimpressed. The original application was made when logged into Internet Banking so, surely, it could have been validated correctly and immediately? Surely with today’s powerful IT and modern technology, a bank has a single view of its customer and can identify from two near identical customer records that they’re the same person? Hmm. How silly to think that!

The Badger drew the following conclusions from the experience. Firstly, that the bank’s Internet Banking services are ‘bank centric’ and not really joined up or ‘customer centric’. Secondly, the experience at the branch reinforced the importance of face to face interaction with real people to make you feel like a valued customer. It’s this interaction that makes ‘customer centricity’ real…not technology. Loyalty is rattled. The option to move elsewhere is under active consideration…

A Tidy-up leads to ‘Privacy Rebellion’…

Posted on by The Information Badger in AI & Robotics, Climate & Environment, Digital devices and the environment, Education, Internet of Things, Privacy and Surveillance, Uncategorized

The Badger’s performed a much overdue tidy-up of his home office and more mementoes, defunct gadgets, old books, reports, and papers were found than anticipated. It started as a quick tidy-up but morphed into an archeological dig that triggered fond memories and wonderment. It’s amazing what accumulates in nooks and crannies!

Three things of note found were a 1999 Company Annual Report, an associated 1999 slide set from the company Leadership Conference, and a Palm Pilot from the same era. Tidy-up progress slowed while the Badger read the Report and the slides because in 1999 the company was a market leader in SMS and data transmission to mobile phones, and part of the slide set covered the future of mobile phones. Today, 20 years later, the company doesn’t exist, and the Badger’s smartphone hugely exceeds the vision painted in the slides. It reminded the Badger that company’s come and go and just how much information and mobile technology has changed our lives. And the Palm Pilot? Well the dust was wiped off…and it still works! The Badger’s wife wants these items to be recycled, but they’ve just been moved from the office to a nook and cranny in the garage. She doesn’t know this yet!

During a short break in the tidy-up, the Badger’s wife sighed philosophically and commented that ‘Technology has driven lots of good in the last 100 years, but the negatives have always been down-played until they’re blindingly obvious and cause everyone to run around demanding change. In the next 20 years it’ll be the same in the digital world.’ She elaborated a little with ‘Oil, nuclear, cars, planes, antibiotics, plastic, and palm oil have advanced our lives, but it’s only recently that everyone’s realised their impacts are unsustainable. People are fickle, it’ll be no different with AI.’

A fair point perhaps? The Badger nodded playfully and added that ‘data’ was the future critical commodity, and that there could be a ‘privacy rebellion’ when the general public fully appreciate that the conveniences provided by the Internet of Things and AI could mean the current concept of a private life disappears. Impish speculation, of course, but items about voice recordings (here, here and here) and facial recognition (here and here) just illustrate the need to be wary of what goes on behind the tech in our homes or on the street.

So, there you have it – a tidy-up leads to the prospect of a ‘privacy rebellion’. Why not have an office or man-cave tidy-up of your own? It’s therapeutic, you’ll reminisce, you’ll find gadgets you didn’t know you had, and it could even spark a philosophical discussion with your partner about the future. But best of all…you might get brownie points from your partner for recycling, even if you’re really just moving things from one nook and cranny to another…

Quiz night, ‘What 3 Words’, and is tech solving problems that aren’t really problems?

Posted on by The Information Badger in Business, Digital devices and the environment, Education, Internet of Things, Privacy and Surveillance, social media, Uncategorized

The following questions were asked during a quiz night at the Badger’s local Public House:

Who said ‘If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions’?

What geolocation mechanism can locate you anywhere in the world to a 3mx3m square?

The Badger’s team got the answer to the first one right, Albert Einstein, but we got the second one wrong. Our answer was GPS, but the quiz master said the answer was ‘What 3 Words’ – which you can find out about here and here and a specific example of its use here. The Badger’s team complained loudly, but to no effect. Why? Because it transpired the quiz master is a fan of the ‘What 3 Words’ smartphone app. Although the Badger’s team were not quiz night winners, the Einstein and ‘What 3 Words’ answers triggered a subsequent lively debate over rather more post-quiz beverages than prudent!

The debate centred on ‘Is tech increasingly solving problems that aren’t really problems?’. One team member cited digital number plates on cars (see here and here) as an example of something motivated only by making money. They speculated the ‘solution’ had been invented in 5 minutes and that 55 minutes had then been spent trying to invent the problem it was trying to solve. A reversal of Einstein’s wise words! Another team member was adamant that ‘What 3 Words ‘ is unnecessary given GPS is routinely part of modern smartphones. The Badger’s contribution to the debate was simply this. Entrepreneurs will always have ideas for making money, marketeers will always try to persuade us we need their solution to solve a problem or inconvenience we didn’t know we had, and we should never take tech at face value and always understand what’s happening to our data if we want our private lives to be just that…private.

Oiled by the beverages, the debate boisterously descended into a game that invented amusing word combinations, aka ‘What 3 Words’, for the location of well-known landmarks. For example, orange.ballon.home and wooden.plank.palace were proposed for the entrances to the US White House and UK Houses of Parliament, respectively! Eventually seriousness returned, and we concluded that tech should focus on solving the real problems of life and the planet, and not things that make us lazy or mean we don’t need to learn for ourselves or take personal responsibility for our actions.

At the end of the night all the team got up to leave except for one individual who said they’d stay to be like Einstein and spend 55 minutes thinking about a problem – whether they could actually get up to leave – even though they’d already thought of a solution – to just stay at single.malt.whiskey and have another drink. Did we laugh…just a bit…

‘A flock of corporate seagulls arriving from abroad’…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Business, Education, IT Project Management, Uncategorized

Periodically the Badger catches up with the BOFH column in The Register. It’s a longstanding, insightful and amusing column, and if you’ve worked in IT you’ll relate to the content no matter what your role. A piece from a year ago relating to the arrival and manipulation of auditors has triggered the Badger to start thinking about his own audit and review experiences. That thinking, however, as been interrupted by a call from an ex-colleague in a tizz because their project was to be reviewed by a ‘flock of corporate seagulls arriving from abroad’. The Badger simply recounted the following to establish some calm.

Many years ago, the Badger’s employer was a subcontractor to a US IT prime contractor running a £500m UK IT programme. Prime and subcontractor teams were largely co-located, but relationship, commercial and cultural tensions meant things were difficult. One day the prime’s Programme Director announced that three ‘experts’ from his US head office were flying in to conduct an ‘audit’ to help improve matters. The Badger was to be interviewed during the audit.

The one-hour interview happened 48 hours later. The visitor spent 20 minutes emphasising his seniority, experience, and that he had a direct line to the US CEO, the next 35 minutes asking questions from a standard checklist, and the last 5 minutes double checking he hadn’t missed any. The Badger was unimpressed, but pleased. Why? Because the auditor did 75% of the talking!

Three days later the audit team fed back to the prime’s Programme Director and subcontractor leads in a sparky meeting. Their message? Fix non-compliances with company policies and processes and all would be resolved. No one believed it! The Programme Director openly called them ‘valueless seagulls flying in to get the airmiles and to crap on my team’. The Badger might have been a smidgen more diplomatic, but not much. The auditors said they’d report him to the US CEO! They did. Nothing happened. Their final report was shelved.

The Badger took this from the experience. If you’re interviewed by a ‘corporate seagull’ you’ve never met, then assess if they’re any good in real-time during the interview itself. It’s easy to do. Don’t be in awe. Watch for an ego, the priority given to structure and process, listen closely, and stay silent as much as possible. Only answer the questions you’re asked – don’t embellish, elaborate or offer opinion. You’ll quickly see that a poor seagull will focus on the interview process or themselves and not you or your tactics. A good seagull, however, will quickly see you as a challenge, dynamically adjust their approach, and try to run off with your chips! Stay steadfast to your tactics in both cases.

The Badger’s ex-colleague called back this morning. They were disappointed. Why? They were expecting seagulls but what arrived were sparrows. Where’s the fun and value in that, they asked…

What’s more important….Fortnite, or an education?

Posted on by The Information Badger in Computer gaming, Education, social media, Uncategorized

The Badger’s never played Fortnite and has never really embraced gaming as a natural pastime, so the recent Fortnite World Championships – apparently one of the top 10 ‘eSport’ events of 2019 – have been an education!

Apart from playing an occasional motor racing game on X-Box with younger family members when pestered to do so, the Badger’s gaming experience centres on Space Invaders, Asteroids, Flight Simulator, and Pac-Man from decades ago. Today games are much more sophisticated, addictive money-making machines and gaming is big business. In 2018, for example, consumers apparently spent $43 billion in the USA alone. It’s also yet another reminder of how hardware and software has rapidly developed and changed personal entertainment.

Video and computer gaming have never been part of the Badger’s lifestyle, but it clearly is for many millennials and post-millennials. That’s fine…after all, every generation is different! However, as parents we should always worry if our offspring are seduced into spending many, many hours a day gaming. Responsible parents, of course, always try to inject balance and common sense, even when rebellious offspring may not be receptive. It’s important to persevere now that gaming has morphed into ‘eSport’ with life-changing amounts of prize money winnable by youngsters whose adult life experience is limited.

In the Fortnite World Championships a 16-year old from Pennsylvania won $3m and a 15-year old Brit has pocketed close to £1m. Yesterday morning the Badger listened to a radio interview with the 15-year old and his mother with a mixture of horror and pride. Horror that the youngster spends up to 10 hours a day playing the game, and pride that his mother has fought hard to make sure he concentrates on schoolwork and getting a good education. Even though her son has won a lot of money, his mother didn’t sound as if she’d be backing off from insisting her son concentrates on his education. Good on her!

The interview also triggered a question from the Badger’s wife! The one in the title of this blog item. The Badger’s answer? Education, obviously. Why, she asked, given the speed with which the world and society is changing and you’re a dinosaur? That last bit hurt! The Badger’s answer was this. Because education arms people with the widest set of interests, awareness, skills and tools to help survive the broad rigours of real life in a modern society, and Fortnite doesn’t. With education your life can go in many different directions, as the Badger has found. Without it comes vulnerability, especially in such a fast-changing world.

The Badger’s wife just smiled. She suggested that since the Badger was already educated, he should invent an eSport for ‘the dinosaur generation’! Now there’s a thought…didn’t see that coming.

Smartwatches? Remember to be an individual not a data point…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Digital devices and the environment, Education, Internet of Things, Privacy and Surveillance, Uncategorized

The Badger’s trusty Tissot watch, worn every day for 25 years, has sadly expired. It’s been replaced with a new traditional timepiece made from Titanium. Before buying the new watch, the Badger explored general purpose smartwatches, both online and at the local tech store. There’s a wide range available with rich functionality and the market is growing strongly. So why didn’t the Badger buy one? Ostensibly because ultimately the salesperson rightly triggered the Badger to think hard about their upsides and downsides, something that should be done for any tech purchase! The Badger decided he’d never use all the apps and functions, didn’t want to routinely charge a watch, and didn’t want data from its use to become part of the data trail the tech giants already have on the Badger to use for their own commercial gain. Put simply, the Badger realised that a ‘private’ traditional watch which doesn’t need apps meets his requirement and will last for the next 25 years.

Like all tech, smartwatches have upsides and downsides. However, consumers rarely spend enough time thinking about the downsides before adopting or buying tech. We are fickle and easily persuaded by clever positioning and marketing that concentrates inevitably on the positives. Is, for example, issuing smartwatches to children to track their movements a useful, helpful and convenient benefit, or is it a significant downside and erosion of personal privacy when the concept was subsequently rolled out across a wider society? The Badger thinks the latter because, in extremis, your smartwatch adds to the data trail in a completely connected world and that means others can run your life, not you!

The Badger’s not anti-smartwatches, just suspicious and cautious about the use of the most valuable commodity in the current world – our data. Josh Lifton, CEO of Crowd Supply, is quoted as saying “If you want to be considered an individual and not just a data point, then it’s in your interest to protect your privacy.” Spot on! We should all think more about our privacy and about being an individual rather than a data point.

Technology moves fast and, of course, drives progress. Louis Bleriot became the first man to fly across the English Channel 110 years ago this week and just look how far global aviation has come since! Will today’s smartwatches be quickly overtaken by new developments? If Elon Musk is making implants that link the brain directly to a smartphone then the answer has to be yes! The Badger’s certain of two things, however. Implants are not for him, and his traditional watch will preserve his privacy and individuality for many years to come. Don’t be put off buying a smartwatch, just buy one not because it’s trendy, but because you’ve really thought through the pro’s and con’s, are clear that it meets your requirement, and you’re confident that you’ll remain a private individual rather than being a data point with someone else controlling your life…

‘The arrogance of acquisition’…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Acquisitions, Business, Education, IT Project Management, Uncategorized

The Badger’s following the legal battle relating to HP’s acquisition of Autonomy in 2011 with interest. It’s providing a fascinating insight into many facets of the acquisition process and the dynamics once the spotlight moved from deal closure to integration. The Badger’s interest stems from having had some involvement integrating three or four acquisitions during his career, and one experience of being ‘acquired’.

The failure rate for acquisitions apparently sits well above 50%. That’s unsurprising given the diverse factors involved. Bringing large groups of people together with different personalities, ambitions, behaviours, cultures, working practices, and IT and financial systems across multiple offices and geographies is always risky! Doing the deal is one thing, but it’s the subsequent integration where the rubber hits the road, workforce hearts and minds are won or lost, and success or failure is determined. One point the Badger learned early in his acquisition-related experience was that people in the acquiring company always unwittingly radiate ‘the arrogance of acquisition’ which conveys that they know best! This can quickly alienate ‘acquired’ people and make the road to success bumpy.

The Badger’s first post-acquisition integration experience involved presenting to a group of ‘acquired’ business leaders on how to manage risk on their delivery contracts. The body language of those present and absence of questions suggested something had not gone down well. After the meeting ended, the Badger approached the most senior attendee for feedback and was told ‘you were trying to teach grandmothers to suck eggs and they felt like second class citizens, which they are not – they are mature and very experienced professionals’. The Badger quickly realised they were right! Talking ‘to’ them rather than communicating ‘with’ them was unwittingly arrogant and never going to win hearts and minds. The Badger adjusted his approach to be inclusive, to listen and be respectful, and everything subsequently went smoothly and successfully. The Badger learned to avoid ‘the arrogance of acquisition’ when dealing with people during integration activities post-acquisition!

Which brings us back to HP and Autonomy where the likelihood of a successful integration looks to have been low from the outset. In this case ‘the arrogance of acquisition’ mixed with post-acquisition leadership disagreements will have created a particularly challenging, polarising and uncomfortable environment for the workforce. Shame, because winning people’s hearts, minds and allegiances is central to the success of an acquisition, and it’s also people that bear the brunt when an acquisition is a failure. So, does the Badger have any view about what individuals should do in the integration post-acquisition? Yes. Watch for the ‘the arrogance of acquisition’ and call it out. What happens in response will provide an insight to the future ethos of the fully integrated company and the next career decisions you should make…

Social Media; Key for heritage and social history

Posted on by The Information Badger in Education, social media, Uncategorized

Some years ago, volunteers in the village where the Badger grew up created a Facebook ‘nostalgia’ group to share heritage information, reminiscences and photographs about the village and its community. It has a large membership and the volunteers do a great job maintaining the site’s focus and content. This week there was a post with a black and white photo the Badger had never seen before but instantly recognised the people in it. The photo, taken in the 1960s, was of a bunch of 8 to 12-year old children, the Badger’s friends and playmates of the time!

Memories came flooding back. Our ‘gang’ had great fun. Our parents let us out in the morning, and we played outdoors in the fresh air all day, only returning at mealtimes. We climbed trees and built dens in the woods, played ‘Cowboys and Indians’, hide and seek, hopscotch, skipping, football and cricket, and rode rickety bikes. Halcyon days! Families eventually moved and we all grew up, losing touch in the process. The photo, however, triggered a spurt of additional posts that showed the ‘gang’ are alive and kicking, all be it widely spread geographically. And most of us are members of the village nostalgia group!

The photo provided an instant reminder of just how different life is for today’s children. The photo’s in black and white because that was the norm for a time when the family camera was used mainly for special occasions or events. Back then television was black and white, a household telephone was a luxury, and roads were not clogged with cars. We made our own fun outdoors and considered the cuts and bruises from our adventures to be badges of honour. Photos like this one tended to be consigned to the family album and were rarely widely shared. They come to light – as this one has – when parents have passed away, and someone shares them using today’s technology so they can become an accessible part of the Badger generation’s social history!

In 50-years’ time, when today’s children look back at their own social history, they’ll have a rich tapestry of text, digital photos, sounds, and videos captured as they happened and readily stored for posterity in the cloud. Their generation’s social history will be comprehensive, much more accessible, and they’ll be able to see, hear, and re-live their own halcyon days at the press of a button. Will they be interested in that strange time immediately before the internet, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, personal computers, games consoles, smart devices, digital photography, wearable tech, and global communication enabling the instant sharing of opinions, concerns and content? The Badger hopes so, because looking at history and its social artefacts helps to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

Finally, a thank you to Facebook – for once. The village’s heritage would be less accessible without it and the Badger’s ‘gang’ would be lost forever.

Smart Meters; Hardly a success…

Posted on by The Information Badger in Climate & Environment, Digital devices and the environment, Digital Transformation, Education, Internet of Things, IT Project Management, Smart Meters, Uncategorized

If you’ve worked extensively on major technology-intensive programmes then you’ll know to expect bumps in the road as new hardware, software, communication networks and processes are introduced to users in the real world. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the UK Smart Meter programme is in the press again!

The target for every UK home to have been offered a smart meter by the end of 2020 isn’t going to be met. Rollout is stalling. Just look at the Q1 2019 rollout numbers! It isn’t credible that the target can be met, but the relevant government department ‘remains committed to ensuring every home has been offered a smart meter by the end of 2020’. This has to be taken with a pinch of salt when even the CEO of Citizens Advice – a charity helping citizens resolve life difficulties with free, independent, confidential advice – thinks the target is unfeasible and must be delayed to ~2023!

Delay means more cost, and the published estimates of consumer bills reducing by £300m/year in 2020 and £1.2bn/year by 2030 will inevitably be revised down. Who pays? The consumer. Although many technology professionals have worked very hard on this programme to get the new software, hardware and communication networks in place, the overall programme has the whiff of white elephant territory and it’s a struggle to see it as a good advert for major ‘Smart’ government initiatives.

Who’s at fault? No doubt many entities will point fingers at each other, but – as the November 2018 National Audit Office’s report noted – the buck stops with the government department that currently still ‘remains committed to ensuring every home has been offered a smart meter by the end of 2020’. The Badger has a simple view. The numbers don’t fib. The costs are ever rising. The business case must be stressed. Fault is rarely with a single entity; it rests collectively. What’s needed now is less rhetoric, spin and defensiveness, and more honesty, realism and greater respect for the end consumer in the roll out.

The 2018 Smart Meter Progress Report ends with the statement ‘the Government has committed to update the cost-benefit analysis for the Programme and complete a stock take of consumer benefits in 2019’. The outcome from this – if it happens – may be the uncomfortable reading that produces a trigger ‘event’ for ‘revision’ of the programme. Time will tell. Meanwhile the Badger not only saves money and the climate without a smart meter, but also avoids the higher tariffs levied by suppliers when consumers exercise their right not to have a smart meter. These may be digital times but one thing’s clear. £11bn and counting, stalling rollout to ambivalent consumers, delay, questionable cost/benefit and the whiff of white elephant are hardly success indicators…