Stephen W Nolen Blog

Technology is a Tool - Not a "Tool"

2011-11-06T12:00:00.001-06:00

Technology is a Tool

(Just an excerpt from the most recent IT Update at the City of Shawnee I wrote. Nothing earth shattering but quite true IMHO)

Just like the caveman used a club and fire, the modern man and women have tools to do the jobs of the day. The computer, and other technology, are simply that… tools of the current time. Yes, we still use clubs and fire, but just like in the caveman days, the ones what knew and used the tools the most effectively survived yet another day and thrived.

It’s pretty hard to think of any position at the City where a computer type device doesn’t come in to play somehow, somewhere… or won’t be in the near future. Meter readers use handheld devices, janitors use email, offices workers spend a majority of their time on a box, Police have laptops in their cars, Fire has iPads in their hands. Water and Sewer plants run on embedded systems, and Cemetery workers use databases and soon GPS and GIS. Garage mechanics lookup manuals and help online, and soon line workers will be using iPads to see their networks of water and sewer pipes.

So when we hear someone say “I don’t know much about computers” I pause and think: “How do you do your job then?” I know, maybe we’re partial to the whole technology thing since that’s our job to keep it all working, but seriously, how do you do your job the most effective and efficient way if you don’t know the tools you use?

If you’re waiting for someone to show you everything you need to know then you’ll always be behind the learning curve. Just look around a little and you’ll see all kinds of help waiting there for you to be proactive with. On the COS Intranet you’ll see Computer Self Help, INCODE Help and Documents, Global Records information, how to add printers, setup email, and more. And once you are using a piece of software, nearly everything you need to know is often lurking behind that HELP button or menu item. If you say you don’t have time to learn, I challenge you that you don’t have time NOT to learn how to be more effective with the tools of the 21^st century… technology and computers.

Just don’t use the club or fire I talked about on the Computer.. that doesn’t help.

Presenting YouTown - Learning about OKC.gov

2011-10-27T08:59:00.004-05:00

In October of 2011, I had the opportunity to assist in a presentation on a mobile app the City of Shawnee is currently testing / deploying for one of our mobile solutions as well as sit in on a meeting about a major website redesign project the City of Oklahoma City has underway. Interesting and informative day.

YouTown App Presentation

The presentation audience were government entities, primarily State Agencies and Libraries, from across Oklahoma attending the annual Oklahoma State Webmanagers Group (OSWG) - See #OSWG hashtag on Twitter or the OSWG Website for more information. Although I did not attend many sessions due to presentation coordination and planning time on site, both Governor Mary Fallin and Oklahoma State CIO Alex Pettit were keynote speakers at the conference.

The presentation went well with DotGov Inc/YouTown's Director of Government Operations Sid Burgess leading off the discussion about the history behind the app, and an overview of the company. Sid has been a local Gov 2.0 advocate in Oklahoma City for several years and was the brains behind the past Oklahoma Gov2.0a (applied) forums that brought in Open Government and social media experts from across the nation for presentations, City Camps, and discussions. Sid is moving to Seattle to open up the first DotGov offices in the United States the end of October 2011. He will be missed greatly by many in the OKC and beyond area.

Derrick Silas, Web Communications Development/Social Media Specialist from Enid continued with their involvement in the YouTown Beta test run, why they chose YouTown and how to setup various features of the app from the dashboard control. Derrick is deeply involved in the re-branding of the City of Enid and their use in Social Media and Mobile access and helped to bring YouTown to the forefront for Oklahoma cities.

I then discussed the news feeds, the ability to repackage existing data from your existing RSS feeds and the mapping options with emphasis on how we at the City of Shawnee are generating dynamic KML maps of all the various data feeds we have such as CAD Calls, nuisance properties, Police Incidents, etc. We appear to be the only YouTown user of the 300+ cities participating in the app that are currently doing this dynamically. However, we are lacking in general GIS maps such as zoning, water and sewer lines, etc as this information needs to come from the proper department in either SHP or KML formats to be utilized.

Although the audience were not City or Town based, DotGov plans to rebrand the app as simply DotGov or DotGov Mobile and market up the layers of government as they have done in other parts of the world. This provides the ability for a single app to aggregate news/events/mapping and service feeds for end users in a single app solution if desired. There are challenges, but acceptance at the City level has surpassed their expectations and projections to date.

If you haven't already, you should download the YouTown app in the App store for Apple devices or the market for Android devices. We will have a story in the Shawnee Outlook Magazine in the near future that will be timed with a press release and official publication of the YouTown app as well as our City of Shawnee Mobile Website.

I did stay and listen to marketing expert Korey Mcmahon from Norman Ok talk about using Social Media to market basically anything. Good session with general discussions of the various channels, motivational information about the possibilities and tools to monitor and use in the Social Media world. Nothing strikingly new based on our past use and experiences at the City of Shawnee but reaffirming if nothing else.

I also had a long lunch and coffee with Sid Burgess discussing the YouTown app, DotGov's future plans, and a City's needs and limitations, resources, etc as well as some technical features behind our data. DotGov is also working towards Open Data standards in government services and data that can allow better data exchange and more transparent government. I was asked to consider future travel to Seattle for a two day brain storming / discussion session to help explore the directions of DotGov and the needs of Cities similar to ours.

Link to a news release we are in: http://www.launch.is/blog/gov-20-youtown-brings-power-of-paying-parking-tickets-to-and.html

Oklahoma City Web Site Redesign

While at the OSWG conference I was asked via Twitter by Oklahoma City Creative Manager Zach Nash to attend a public meeting about the redesign project of the Oklahoma City website (OKC.gov) at 6:30pm that evening. Zach was presenting / presiding over the meeting and was looking for input for discussions. I dropped by the meeting to learn more about their process. Unfortunately this particular meeting was very lightly attended with mostly staff from the PIO's office and IT being there. This is a City the size of OKC and that is the participation they get at this point. :-(

Although discussion was limited, it was another good opportunity to talk again with OKC IT and PIO contacts such as Zach and the Director of the Public Information and Marketing department Kristy Yager as well as IT R&D Specialist David Grothe and IT employee Dustin Gabus. The presentation was helpful outlining existing issues and future goals of the OKC marketing department and website as well as their hooks in Social Media. Information on their efforts to collect input to plan the redesign can be found at http://www.OKC.gov/Redesign including their ongoing survey page which may be helpful in the future for our efforts. They are using a wide variety of input options including the survey, public meetings, email, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Wireframing apps as well as old school postal mail. A big outreach effort to insure the direction is what citizens want and /or expect.

Just another day well worth it outside the office…

-Stephen W Nolen

Life...

2011-01-27T10:00:00.016-06:00

So you fight the battles, figure out how to get through the best way you think you know how, make what you think are wise decisions, look forward and try to plan your best route through this thing called life and then WHAM - smack in the face it can all unwind.

Of course when you look back you usually see all those mistakes you couldn't see at the time. Those mistakes you should have seen but didn't. Maybe someone told you about them, pointed them out, but...

Those same mistakes also seem to be because many, if not most of those decisions, plans, and maybe even dreams where self centered, very much about YOU only.

It's funny and sad how you can get so tied up in what you think is "living", that when something hits you in the face and life stops for a moment for whatever reasons and makes you ponder, what you really care about the most may be already be lost and those things you were "living" really do not matter much anymore.

I'm sure like everyone says when you pick yourself back up and get back on the road of life things will get better again. Hopefully they don't get bitter as well. Just picking your way through the crash is very difficult, scary, and sad.

I recently heard this quote the other day but it is so fitting for life:

"Cherish today what you have because you don't know what tomorrow will bring or take away."

And true to it's form this does happen....

The Future is Young...

2010-05-20T18:00:00.002-05:00

Information Technology managers have to deal with "new" often as technology itself changes daily, but as the work force gets younger, IT managers also have to deal with "young".

The challenge, in my mind, is going to be how to "Manage IT", but provide the resources and creative outlets to meet the demands of the next "young" generation. The generation growing up in the socially connected world of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, and beyond... WAY beyond in fact as new ways to communicate and work are added every day. Where time at work and time at play have no clean edges. Sometimes that is good - the melding of personal communication and work skills at least in the Government world where MORE transparency, collaboration, and participation is not only desired but ENCOURAGED and not only for our citizens and customers of the government, but for it's employees as well.

"UnManaging" Managed IT

For those that have managed networks, systems, applications and Internet access for very long, you know the challenges faced to keep that balance - Secured and controlled, but not restraining. Of course 'restraining' seems to be quite relative depending upon if you are "in" IT or not. To some not being able to spend all work day on Myspace, Facebook and Youtube IS 'restraining', for others anything besides official "approved" websites is insubordination. Finding the balance both technically and administratively is one of the bigger challenges I see facing IT and management in the future.

Obviously you have to empower your employees, citizens and customers to use the modern tools of communicating and getting things done while insuring all this is done without wasted time, resources, and money. Letting things "be free" while not giving away the farm... or City... or country in the process. A place where fewer FILTERED SITE ACCESS LOGGED screens are encountered but more productivity is obtained through true collaboration and communication.

But it takes more than just empowering citizens and employees to use social media tools to do their job better, it also takes the mature use of those tools by employees AND citizens for the betterment of the entity, not just the enjoyment and entertainment of the employee or the anonymous bashing of public officials or entities by the Citizens.

Can it be done? Sure. HOW can it be done? Not sure..... yet.

It should be very interesting in the next few years as "Gov2.0" concepts take over the historically bland world of local, state, and national governments entities.

Stay tuned - the ride should be worth watching.

-Stephen W Nolen

Online House Updated - Home Automation

2010-01-24T09:16:00.013-06:00

Fueled by many cups of 1/2 Caff coffee (hey you have to cut down when you get old), cold and wet weather and a huge need for an update, I've spent my spare time in the past week or so updating our Online House and home automation system. The house can be visited HERE and the descriptive history is found HERE.

We've had an "automated house" since way back in the 80's when I had an old VIC 20 computer turning lights on and off. The next step up was in the 90's when we moved and I purchased a JDS Timecommander Plus system. The new system provided much more capability and is still the stable work horse for our system. When we moved to our current house in 2000, the system moved with us but the installation was half hearted. It worked fine and spent the past 10 years doing it's job but needed to be cleaned up and some new features added and some broken features fixed.

I feel I have somewhat accomplished that... but there is plenty more to do. The biggest need was to get a better mobile phone interface. The house has had mobile access for a very long time when "WAP" and "WML" were the only thing a phone understood. With the advent of the new smartphones and the iPhone that world changed and a much better interfaced was needed. The iPhone can handle the main site but it is still not optimized for small touch screens. The basic screen is shown at the right and allows access to most all the features and information the house provides. This interface will continue to get updated as ideas pop up and time allows. For now it is much easier to use from anywhere in the world to not only know what is up in the house but to control things as well.

Some of the "new" features... although planned all along, just not implemented, are the integration of the HVAC units so I know when and for how long each unit runs. Not a big deal but nice to know for cleaning filters and maintenance issues. I also re-integrated the washer and dryer that had to be removed when new units were purchased. Another fix, not new feature, but a handy item to have the system tell you when the machines are done across the speakers instead of waiting for that high pitched beep that I can hardly hear anymore...another getting old thing I guess.

On the new side all new paging and email routines were added to keep me updated even if I am not looking at the house remotely. Items such as burglar alarm, garage door opening during the day, motion detection when there should be no motion, phone calls, etc were added. A new routine to speak the current weather forecast was added that gets the Yahoo weather RSS feed, breaks it down and speaks it on command. Handy sometimes. I also added some bluetooth based proximity sensing. The system knows when I am around the server and can act upon that. Nothing really programmed in yet but the capability is now there.

The biggest thing added was putting the house on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/NolenHouse. Yeah, I know... WHY? Because I can? Because *I* like the idea. There are only a couple houses I could find that have done this and with my work on @ShawneePD and @ShawneeFD it was so easy to do... so WHY NOT?

I also updated the basic look and feel of the control pages replacing icons from the old clipart versions to new, more modern looking ones from across the net. I also changed the color theme "back to blue" because that is what I like.

But what about security?
That is the biggest question I seem to get and it *IS* a valid one. With all that information out there couldn't someone figure out when you are home or not and break in. Sure they could... just like they could your house by simply counting cars or watching the house. Of course THAT is what all the automation is about. Webcams that capture pictures, motion sensors that know when someone is there, burglar alarms watching windows and doors, and more that will not be listed here. So yes, it is a concern but the house has been online since 1999 doing it's best to protect and serve.

Of course there is always the watch dog... no, not THAT one...

For more information about Home Automation visit the Wiki or visit SmartHome.com.

Reflecting on the "Oughts"

2009-12-30T18:07:00.007-06:00

Ok, I know - it should be "naught" but "ought" is how I've always heard it. With that out of the way it actually surprised me that we are at the end of a decade. I guess it shouldn't have - I pretty much remember the end of the 60's and the moon landing, the end of the 70's as a party haze, the end of the 80's as a career building time, and the end of the 90's as the end of the world as we know it. At least the Y2K EOW (End Of World) was a nothing.

I do remember 2000 more distinctly as I would guess most do. I remember as a kid in the 60's and 70's how OLD I would be at the end of the 'century'... the 2000 wow factor. It came, it went, and nothing happened. I remember being 'on call' on 12/31/1999 in case the world did end, like I could really have done something about it.

So now we are at the end of the "oughts"... or "naughts"... whatever. Where did this decade go? Still odd how time is relative and you don't know it until you get older. I can remember 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd, 4th, 5th, then 6-7th... and then it becomes "middle school", "high school", "college" and all of sudden it's the 80's, 90's, and now the "naughts". I guess soon it will be "B50" and "A50" - BEFORE I was 50 years old and AFTER.

It has been an interesting decade - We watched the USA start out this century with great confidence, take a sucker punch and get mired in very difficult to "win" wars. We watched email spam grow from a minor annoyance to nearly 85% of email being moved around in bits and bytes. We watched the Internet go from a cool thing to use to a must have to survive in today's connected world. We watched trying to send data through a cell phone to the world go from 9600 baud to 1mb and the internet in your palm.

I personally watched my 69 Mustang rebuild project sit... and sit... and sit.. and then finally start, and then stall, and stall... I'm running out of weekends in my life here. But I still let building a one off go kart, making numerous Lego 'stop motion' animation films, and an 88 Turbocoupe and 85 Mustang SVO take my time.. but I did enjoy it.

We moved to our current home in 2000 so it's easy for me to divide the 1900's with the 2000's - they really are like two different centuries in my mind. I wasn't that crazy about the move but am glad we did now along with picking up the acre lot next to us to keep us from being blocked back in like in town.

So the "oughts"/"naughts" are gone and the 10's/Teens are upon us. What will the next decade hold? Personally it holds watching our son start driving his 91' Mustang GT (and praying he isn't as stupid as I was back then in my 69), watching him graduate and get through college (please, please get through college), and winding down my career. Where did that lifetime go?

I am *IN* the technology business but honestly can't imagine what tech changes we will see in the next decade. I'm sure we'll see the cloud take over our apps, more and more power in our pockets, likely direct connections with our feeble brains with more bio-tech integration and the complete move to everything digital.. it's pretty close already.

Is the future bright - sure it is! There will be twists, turns and tarnish on the bright future but it will be bright... and challenging. I hope to see a few more of these decade things pass by... ok, at least two or three.

Happy 2010 and here's to the 10's/Teens!

The Future is Cloudy

2009-12-06T20:15:00.000-06:00

That is for sure... how "cloudy" is still an open question...

That is "cloudy" as "in the cloud" for the future of Information Technology. It's only a matter of time and economics. When it's cheaper to outsource your IT needs to hosted "in the cloud" solutions, individuals, business and government will "follow the money". Things like security, control of your data, privacy, etc will be secondary considerations.

In Nicholas Carr's The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google, much of this is explained and is compared to the early days of electricity. There is a striking resemblance to the history of power, generation, and use and the path that Information Technology has taken over the years. It's a good read even if not totally perfect in regard to the future.

We've watched computing technology go from huge rooms with staffs of hundreds, to mini computers small businesses could afford with dumb terminals, to islands of smart but standalone PC's, and through to client/server configurations that mixed in the best of both local power and server power. Now applications are running on machines anywhere in the world and available from any connection, once again requiring very little end machine power.

The switch will not be overnight but little by little, app by app, solution by solution. Today, using web based email such as GMail is the easiest and most effective way of handling the most common "app" of the Internet. In the not too distant past, you had a desktop program that you had to configure to use whatever mail server was provided by your company or Internet Service Provider. Now you can use Gmail or other webmail solutions from any machine, anywhere in the world without an app. You can brand it under your own domain and few will every know the difference.

I used to scrounge around for an old version of Word so I could have a word processor on my home computer, one that I used maybe 5-10% of it's power for the actual writing I do. Today, Google Docs provides an efficient, effective word processor along with a spreadsheet program, presentation options and even form capture abilities... without any cost as an individual user.

Even in personal productivity using the Getting Things Done paradigm I wouldn't even consider an application that ties me to a single computer or hand held device. Not when I have options such as GTDAgenda or TaskWriter available to me. Available again from any computer or the trusty iPhone that is always in my pocket... and much easier to manage than a physical binder or notebook.

As cloud computing does take over, local IT staff need to be re-thinking our jobs and what added value we already have, and what other added value we can provide to insure the future of local IT support. Will all IT Departments be gone in the next few years from corporate or government America? Not likely but they WILL be redefining their role in the enterprise.

The days of managing the endless technical nuances of servers and desktop operating systems, keeping systems patched and secure, and making sure everyone has the latest version of their word processing and email program is quickly coming to and end. Soon local IT staff may be more concerned about keeping their Internet connection solid and making sure the local wires are in good shape... or not with the expansion of wireless solutions.

How long will it be until super thin clients running on expendable hardware that connect wireless to a cloud company's freely provided router that is remotely supported and managed without anyone being local? No long I would image... Not long. Actually it's already here in one form or another.

Hello, I'm a recovering Systems Administrator and looking for a job... might not be too long for that.

The Life of Busy

2009-05-09T09:32:00.004-05:00

Been busy lately? I would bet nearly everyone would say "yes" to that one. At least about everyone I know. Busy has been double busy for me lately for various reasons: Doing Interim Finance Director position on top of my CIO position during budget time for the Muni I work for, mother's knee replacement surgery and recovery, new puppy in the house that is still learning the ropes, yet another car project that I wanted but didn't really need, patio cover project on my mothers house, the list goes on and on.

I have never understood those people who say they are 'bored' or bored with life. My concern is I will not have ENOUGH life to get to the things I want to do. I joke that I can't die because I have too many projects to finish still. Maybe that is the curse of having too many interest. I swing through the wide ranges of three car projects, web development, an automated home, MX motorcycles, chopper and old bicycles, small robotics, video editing, brickfilming, home repair and expansion, and a vast other array of things that are just darn FUN to me. Too many interest, too little time I suppose but dang it I am going to have a good time while I'm here.

The big challenge still is motivation - the old problem with when I have TIME, I have little INTEREST and when I have INTEREST, I have no TIME. Right now I am really interested in getting further along on the '69 Mustang and the '85 Mustang SVO but work calls heavily and other projects and duties hang in the way. I'm sure as soon as things settle down I will have more time and then I will have moved on to something else that peaks my interest at the time.

So what's the answer? Make more time? Guess that is another hobby - time expansion modulation or something like that. My talk to myself is just to 'enjoy the journey' even if the physical ends never get there. Oh the challenge of a 'hobbyaholic'. (I'm sure someone, somewhere has trademarked that word but I'm using it anyhow)

Twitter and Productivity?

2009-03-28T11:16:00.007-05:00

Is Twitter Productivity an oxymoron? There are several posts in the blog world about Twitter and it's drain on productivity. I am seeing a different take on it myself - but of course, like any tool, it's all based on how you use it. Sure, Twitter can be a productivity drain - if you sit there and constantly monitor your friends and @reply all the time and turn Twitter into "Chatter" instead.

However, I've seen a different slant with it myself. Although my following is quite minimal, I've found I can use Twitter to put a little unseen pressure on myself that whatever I tweet I should actually be doing. One can use that to your advantage if done correctly. Instead of tweeting "I am eating breakfast at Tiffanys", I can tweet "Working the @Computer list" and I have set some pressure on myself that I need to either do or keep doing that post. In fact if I will tweet what I SHOULD be doing at the moment, I have a tendency to go ahead and actually follow up on that.

I have used that in reference to my weekly reviews before - I tweet "Working on Weekly Review" and feel at that point I better be doing that. Of course it's not like some follower is going to come to my house and make sure I'm actually doing that but if you play it right it's a helpful TwitterCoach for me.

Silly solution? Likely, but if you have any principles in regard to "what you say vs what you do" it can be a simple but effective tool to help Get Things Done in your world. Of course you are making a huge assumption that your followers are actually reading what you tweet - but some things are left better unknown than known.

Keep on Tweeting...
-Stephen
Image by ChrisMetcalf

Dealing With 50

2009-03-19T08:35:00.001-05:00

This month I end my era of being a "40-something". It's on to the big Five-O and on to bigger and better things... or I'm just getting old, it depends upon how you look at it.

As with most people getting here has been a blur. I still remember thinking as a child what it would be like to see the year 2000, the turn of the century. Something that not all generations get to experience. 2000 came and went and was highlight by the Y2K fear instead of the magic, or lack thereof, watching 1999 roll to 2000 (or 1999 to 1900 if Y2K was your thing).

Looking Back
Like most people, your past life experiences filters your perspective on life itself. I feel very fortunate that my life experiences have been mostly positive and my luck has been good. Especially since I really never had the vision of what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go in the past. I think I worked hard at the jobs I've had from car hop to now and was lucky to have bosses that gave me opportunities. Looking back I can't imagine me as a fifty-something giving a twenty-something some of the major projects that I had the opportunity to work on including long range plans and designs that may still affect people today. Time slips by for sure and before you know it it's all over.

I obviously have more interest and hobbies than I could ever expect myself to accomplish in one lifetime but I don't plan on giving up the battle. Between home automation, web programming, pushing technology and automation everywhere I go, personal robotics, rebuilding cars, bikes and motorcycles, making stop motion movies, computers in general and just making sure I live life day by day and enjoy my family and friends, time can get away from one.

So what's next?

Retirement? - Not for another twelve or more years for me.
AARP? - Already a member, they let me cheat or something at 49.
Aches and Pains? - Already have them.
Gray Hair? - Getting there.
Get Smarter? - It's getting much harder to do that.
Maturity? - Nah, never grow up.
Get Rich? - Still trying to figure that one out
Keep Living?

Yeah, that seems like the best option - Keep Living. I think I'll keep doing what I'm doing but also keep improving what I'm doing to make sure those around me and myself included enjoy every minute I have left in this lifetime.

Besides, I have too many projects. I won't be able to pass on until I'm 100 or something at the rate I am accomplishing them!

Live Long and Prosper - Sounds like a plan.
-Stephen

15 Seconds of Fame

2009-02-25T18:53:00.016-06:00

Just thought I would share my 15 seconds of fame for this year... well, maybe it's up to 30 seconds now.

After blogging here about some ways I have used Twitter at a local government LINK and LINK, a newspaper story followed LINK which then was followed by a couple TV news stories in the Oklahoma City area. As any government employee knows, many times "good" press is hard to find so it's always worth sharing it when it happens.

Both OKC Fox25 LINK and News9 LINK have now covered the activity which has helped spread the awareness of the Twitter features. Interestingly enough, both stories were different enough that they did not seem overly duplicated... or maybe am just biased. :-) Additionally we were mentioned in a CNN.com story about Law Enforcement agencies using Twitter LINK.

With Twitter gaining public attention the timing was right and having had the application in place since late November 2008 it worked out well.

Like the rest of the world anymore though, you blink and it's on to the next thing - I had my 15 seconds so now we're off to another adventure.

Full links of the coverage:
http://www.news-star.com/localnews/x426338338/Residents-can-follow-police-fire-tweets-on-Twitter

http://www.okcfox.com/players/news/top_stories/mywx_vid_2119.shtml

http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=9927580

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/13/police.social.networking/index.html

Working in Government

2009-02-08T10:20:00.002-06:00

Working in Government is different. I've spent 18 years in government one way or another and I can personally attest to the differences between government and private enterprise. Many are good, many are bad but it is different.

While working in government you always have a mission, a very important one in fact, of providing critical services to the Citizens of your city/state/tribe or nation in one way or another. Unlike private entities where the almighty dollar (or Yen, Euro, Peso, whatever...) is the driving factor, government has a clearly defined goal of helping those you work for and are one of. Sure businesses have owners and stock holders but again the dollar is the driver. They have customers as well which is the closest connection to citizens in a government but it still is different, the customer is the means for the dollar. In government, the customers, i.e. citizens, are point of your existence. Governments have citizens that literally depend upon you and your job as a government employee for their living standards, their safety, their water, sewer or even their life.

It seems a large number of the general public seem to think that "government workers" sit around all day long and just waste their taxpaying money but from eighteen years I've seen much different. Sure there are the time wasters, but I would imagine any business you look at has the same situation. There is also silo building where one department has deemed themselves more important to the mission than others and try to force issues one way or another. But overall, if your average citizen could spend a day or two shadowing a public servant, I believe they would be satisfied with what happens every day just to keep your city, state, nation or tribal government running. Is there waste in government operations? Sure there is. Is there waste in the corporate world? Just look at the current 'bail out' efforts.

It still irks me when some friend, family member or stranger makes the blanket statement of "the government" did this to them or "the government" did that to someone. Inside I'm thinking, "Hey, I may be THAT GOVERNMENT" that you despise and you have no clue what you are talking about.

More on Change

Recently I commented on 'change' and the point of insuring that Good Change is what is accomplished when change is demanded. If 'change' is presented as a platform it works quite well for those promoting themselves since each one of us then creates our very own image of what that 'change' may be. Our vision of the change may, or more likely may not, reflect the intent of those pressing for 'change'.

Over the years of being in Government I have seen many 'changes' - most elections rally on the 'need for change' platform during the campaign process. Many have no clue what they are going to change but we just 'need change'. I have watched great talented individuals with wonderful abilities in government be forced out because 'change' was demanded only to see the 'winners' of such battles later realize they have no clue what to change.

It is true that either you "change or you die" or "you grow or you die" - I work in the technology field so change, growth, and technology death is a daily occurrence. You truly due change or die in this field. But when people demand 'change', they need to define what change they want or they will be right back where they started and everyone will be demanding 'change' again.

Worth it...

To me, all in all working in government allows me to go home after work with the thought that I helped in some small, large, or medium way, to make things better for the citizens of the government I work for and not some top executive or stock holder wealthier. That in itself is a satisfaction that cannot be measured by any stock ticker.

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Tweeting Local Government: Revisited - Results and Tools

2009-02-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

Having discussed using Twitter in a local government operation before and now having things running for a few weeks I thought I would follow up on the subject. I setup the Twitter accounts for the local municipal government, the City of Shawnee, Oklahoma, automated some of the postings using various pieces of our website, found some online tools that make it easier to review/manage the accounts, and have just watched the activity. Nothing awesome or wonderful to report but steady results have followed. I thought I would follow up on how I accomplished what we've done so far and the tools used. There should be a local newspaper story in mid-February which I hope will increase the local awareness of what we are doing and help participation.

Online tools used...

TweetLater.com
For those notices that need to be sent out at a later date such as notices for Commission Meeting broadcast, planning sessions, or general reoccurring news and information, we use TweetLater.com. TweetLater lets you manage multiple Twitter accounts and schedule future tweets across one or more accounts. TweetLater will also scan for any @Replies to your accounts and send hourly notices which allows you to be notified of replies but not have to constantly monitor the feeds. If you want to follow all those that follow you, you can enable the auto-follow feature that can also send a welcome to the follower. At this time we are not following those that follow us from the 'big brother' feeling it may present to some. As our follower base grows, we will poll in the future to see what their opinion of being followed by the ShawneePD, ShawneeFD, of Cityof ShawneeOK are and make changes if applicable. I have not figured out if TweetLater has an API to allow feeding/posting scheduled tweets automatically from outside of their website but we can work around that for now.

Twitrak.com
I use Twitrak.com to get a full overview of the followers and any friends we are following on one page. The Friend / Follower layout works fine for me and the interface is easy enough to use. Plus the WallTrak is just kind of fun to play with.

Splitweet.com
For real time monitoring of the City of Shawnee accounts, Splitweet.com works well. It allows the monitoring of multiple Twitter accounts and the ability to Tweet across one or more in real time if desired. Splitweet auto-refreshes every minute or so and tracks 'brand mentions' and @Replies making it much easier to manage multiple Twitter accounts. Splitweet has a fun interface that is laid out well and easy to use. If you manage multiple Twitter accounts it can be quite useful for real-time activity.

Now on to the custom tools used...

CADCom - Computer Aided Dispatch Communicator

"How are are you posting those Police and Fire calls?"

That is a common question about the service. This is accomplished by a custom portion of the Shawnee Twitter engine developed in-house. It actually is a simple internal Active Server Page (ASP) that reloads every minute, checks the CAD database for new calls, checks to see if the Twitter accounts are to Tweet those calls and then sends the Tweets if needed.

The CADCom application was originally developed to allow Police, Fire, City employees and citizens to sign up for localized call notices through email. The user selects which call types to be notified, what time of day to be alerted, and an optional location center and radius to be alerted if the call was in that area. The application has not been pushed out for public use yet even though it was written years ago but should see the light of day in 2009.

By setting up the ShawneePD, ShawneeFD, and CityofShawneeOK twitter accounts up as CADCom 'users', and adding the bit of code that says Tweet these calls instead of emailing them the solution was born.

Integration with News, Agenda, Jobs postings
With the open API that Twitter provides, it makes it quite easy to integrate with web site code and we have used that to our advantage to automate postings. News releases that are posted by City employees to the front of the website can automatically Tweeted for the main City account with the headline and a link back to the front page. When Minutes or Agenda documents are posted to the website the information is Tweeted as well allowing citizens to easily follow what is available without having to manually check the RSS feed or the site.

We already email out job posting notifications but will add Tweets of the openings in the near future since the process is quite simple once the PostTwitter() function was built. With this function in place we can actually Tweet out anything of importance from the websites and will be reviewing and developing more solutions as they are uncovered.

Another feature that will be added in the near future is a basic 'Tweeting Page' for employees to post Tweets to the various accounts directly from their desktops. This avoids having to share the account passwords and allows Police, Fire and other employees to post short bursts of information from their desktops.

Closing...

There are the basics of what I have done in regard to Tweeting Local Government for the City of Shawnee, Oklahoma. Even without the custom code that auto-Tweets activity, local governments can use the free online Tweeting tools to keep their citizens better informed with little effort and no other costs.

Citizens should challenge local governments to look around at the options they have to help keep their citizens better informed and use those technologies whenever they can.

-Stephen W Nolen

Change: Be Careful What You Wish For

2009-01-21T08:00:00.002-06:00

Change - that seems to have been the key word throughout the whole US Presidential campaign. Time for Change, the need for Change, we must Change. The new Whitehouse.gov site promotes "Change has come to America" so it appears we are going to see "change".

I feel like we all need to remember that we should "be careful what we wish for" when asking for change - Change is not always the answer, GOOD change is the answer, but change can be very bad as well.

Any Change must be thought out carefully to insure it is correct change. Change for the sake of change is never been a pleasant experience and at the level of power the new winds of change are blowing, BAD change can be catastrophic.

Will we see 'change' in America? - I am sure we will - Will it be Good change? or Correct change? or Positive Change? Only time will tell but let's all hope and pray we see the right type of change in 2009 and beyond.

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First "Goal" of 2009 Accomplished

2009-01-18T21:46:00.006-06:00

Feels good to accomplish my first "Goal" of 2009 - figuratively and quite literally. My son and I finished up the install of his new basketball goal that was one of his Christmas gifts. The weather had been way to cold to get the pole up and my energy had been way too low to make it all happen.

The weather warmed up and my energy... well, actually I still felt the same but this needed to get done. It really wasn't too exciting to a 13 year old to look at a Christmas gift laying in pieces on the ground and in the box so we started the process.

One of my major goals for 2009 is to spend more time with my son. More time playing basketball, more time riding motorcycles, more time playing guitar, more time doing projects together. I can't out play him at basketball, and likely won't be able to keep up with him on the motorcycles, and dang sure can't play guitar like he does but maybe I can teach him something by working on projects like this. I figure I better enjoy knowing more than he does while I can since he is growing up way too fast for me to keep up. I'm hoping I will know more about computers and cars for at least another year or two so I better take advantage of it.

Looking through my "Goals 2009" list I find it interesting that only a few items are actual Getting 'Things" Done like getting the 69 Mustang running, replacing the roof on our house and getting better organized by continuing the pursuit of GTD. The rest of the list includes doing things with family "often"; like basketball, motorcycles, guitar, drag races, and date nights and enjoying the planned trip to Hawaii this summer. This year I simply sat down and looked back at what was missing from previous years and used that as the direction to take for 2009. Maybe it's just part of 'getting old' since Oh-Nine is Five-Oh for me.

Life is moving very fast and with another mile-stone dropping by this year personally things seem to be speeding up even more. I figure it's time to make sure that this fast forward time is paused every so often to stop and enjoy the moments that matter most. I'll keep looking up and shooting high in aiming for my goals and 'The Goal' that we just put up.

Resolution 2009 - Set Goals

2009-01-01T19:26:00.007-06:00

Yeah, that sounds rather odd I guess - a New Year resolution to Set Goals - but that is what I need to do more of. This continues to be a challenge for me; set the goal, work towards the goal, achieve the goal - makes perfect sense but never seems to have perfect execution.

It's not like I have never thought about goal setting. I remember a very good chapter of Carl May's A Strategy for Winning on goal settings. Carl's approach from back then is very similar to today with the points of;

Set Specific Goals
Put Your Goals in Writing
Develop a Plan and Determine a Deadline
Develop a Sincere Desire
Don't Take Your Eyes Off Your Goals
Concentrate on the Task at Hand
Don't Set Your Goals Too Low - Or Too High

You can see most of those points in today's productivity processes like Getting Things Done were addressed back then; Set goals, write them down, develop the plan, and word towards them with next actions.

It's not that I don't have goals, I have many... maybe too many - they just are not documented and worked towards. Just off the top of my head I have goals of getting my 69 Mustang running, finish up my laptop robot, build a big shop, build a Street Rod from all the parts I've collected, redesign my Home Automation system, and on, and on, and on.

Of course one can set all the goals you want and not get there if you don't work towards them. I guess the saying of "The DO is up to YOU" - but more on that later in a future post.

So in 2009 it's time to set, write, target and work towards my goals... may the force of goal setting be with me.

GTDAgenda - Goals, Projects, Next Actions and More

2008-12-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

Since I have recently been looking around for a replacement for my original web implementation of David Allen's Getting Things Done, or GTD, I took up the invite to review and try another online web based 'cloud' solution. An online solution is still the best method of implementing GTD for me, since a web solution allows access to my GTD system from anywhere I have a net connection. With web enabled phones, Windows mobile and iPhones and near ubiquitous connectivity, there are no drawbacks like having to be at a particular computer to "Get Things Done".

One online solution that has gained attention from many over the past several months is GTDAgenda.com. Recently I was provided an opportunity to review the site.

GTDAgenda offers all the standard GTD amenities including Projects, Next Actions, and Contexts which are required to utilize GTD to any extent. However, GTDAgenda takes this one more step and adds some additional features that can be quite useful. Of special interest to me is the Goal Tracking option. Goal setting and tracking is one area of GTD that I have been very lacking in. Obviously not good since setting, tracking and achieving your goals is vital to being productive and enjoying life. Enjoying life and "stress free living" is what GTD is really about underneath all the processes and concepts, so goals are very important.

GTDAgenda Overview
GTDAgenda uses top tabs or links for Goals, Projects, Tasks and Next Actions. By default the Next Actions tab is displayed as your start page, but you can select which tab to start with in the settings area. These areas provide the core GTD concepts that work with each other for emptying your head of all the "stuff" floating around up there, assigning them to projects of multiple tasks if required, and setting the "Next Action". Basically the Capture, Process, Organize, Review, Do GTD commandments.

The 'other' features are pushed off to the top right of the screen which keeps them in reach but doesn't get in the way of Getting Things Done on a daily basis.

Goals
As you move up from the 'runway' level, as GTD calls your daily "doing" process, and begin to look towards the future, you need to capture and document your goals in life. GTDAgenda provides a very handy way to do that, and an easy way to tag your projects to those goals so you are working towards them. This is missing in some of the other GTD solutions I have looked at. Goal setting in GTDAgenda is basic, but that is all that should be needed. You trap the name, time line, category, and priority of the goal. You can then tag a project to the appropriate goal but you are not forced to do so for those projects that are not applicable to a particular goal.

Projects
Projects are managed on the projects tab by capturing the basic information allowing you to tag that project to a goal during input. Nothing fancy here, just add/edit your projects as needed. On the downside I have found that when I am doing a weekly review or emptying my head, I quickly come up with a task or next action and then realize it is really a project of multiple tasks. Unfortunately this is backwards from how most GTD systems provide for input. Unless I missed something, GTDAgenda does not allow you to add a project on the fly during task entry which would be a useful feature. You can capture the task, go back and add a project and then go back and tag the task to the project, but on the fly project adding would be more efficient.

Tasks
Task management is simple and straight forward as well, allowing basic entry and tying the task to a Project and Context. Here is where it would be handy to be able to add a project on the fly as you realize this task is really a project. One area where GTDAgenda breaks out of the pure GTD mold, is by providing a 'priority' option. It is a simple 1-5 setting but can be useful when working through your weekly review. Yes, the priority may change but at least you have a capture of your thoughts at the time. For those of you who thought Tasks WHERE Next Actions, read on.

Next Actions
Task vs Next Actions - I have struggled a bit with that since reading and re-reading GTD. In GTDAgenda you can input as many tasks as needed for a project but then have the option to tag one, preferably, but more if needed, as a "Next Action". These then are displayed on the Next Actions tab filtering out all the other tasks. You still have access to the whole task lists on the tasks tab but can easily turn tasks into, and out of, next actions as desired. You also have an option to flag any projects that have not had a Next Action tagged for it which could help weed out any 'lost projects'.

Of course usually you will be living on the Next Actions tab while working your lists so this is an important working area. Tools are provided to filter down the task by context by selecting a context from the right side of the screen. Unlike some other solutions, you can only have one context active at a time. This make sense based on pure GTD level, but I personally have found myself filtering down to more than one context often. Items such as @DESK, @COMPUTER, and @PHONE can usually be grouped together for me to work through. Not a big hurdle, maybe I should just work one at a time anyhow, but I find it easier to see them on a larger list many times.

That is the core of GTDAgenda in a few short... okay, maybe not so short, paragraphs. Fully functional even at the free level, powerful enough to Get Things Done from any connected device, but easy to learn.

What I like...

Next Actions AND Tasks
I like the way you can list numerous tasks for a project and then tag one or more as "Next Actions". This is how I usually work in that I like to dump all the thoughts or tasks for a project while they are in my head and then filter down the full list to just the next action for that project. This may step outside of pure GTD to some degree where just the next action is captured but I like the clear my head when I can and can never just think of the next action on major projects.

Mobile Access - a GTDAgenda Strength

Mobile access via a Windows Mobile phone or iPhone is critical to me for an online GTD solution and GTDAgenda provides a clean, clear and concise mobile display. You can filter down tasks or next actions by context such as @Errands and check them off as they are completed via your mobile device. You have access to all the areas in GTDAgenda and can add task items as needed. You can't edit a task beyond Mark as Done or Delete from what I could find, but that would not be overly common besides cleaning up your list or tagging a task as a Next Action. The most lacking item in this area appears to be the inability to view the Notes attached to the task and/or next action. This is an issue to me since that is where I usually store information such shopping or errand lists instead of making each item an action itself. I was pleasantly surprised, however, that the GTDAgenda.mobi site worked well even on my old Moto Razr phone's web browser as well as my Tilt.

What I'd like to be Different...

One pet peeve I have with websites in general are those that use fixed width formats and GTDAgenda does indeed use a fixed width layout. I know there are arguments on both sides in regard to fixed vs fluid layouts but I always hate using a site that is fixed at 1024 or smaller and I am viewing on a 1920+ pixel monitor with all this wasted space around the app. Not a deal breaker by any means, just annoying to me.

Adding projects on the fly and the ability to view notes from the .mobi site would really help the usability of GTDAgenda but are not deal breakers.

Also it is difficult for me to justify a pay per use site with all the free or ad supported options available on the web. Although the free version of GTDAgenda does allow you to use it, you have to limit your goal, project, and contexts decisions. It is nice, however, to be able to review the options and look and feel of the solution. Of course even the unlimited version only comes out at $5.82 per MONTH if you pay annually and I blow more than that in change each month so why wouldn't one pay that to improve your productivity?

The Other Stuff
Beyond Pure GTD
GTDAgenda offers some features beyond the Getting Things Done methodology that could be quite useful and have been covered in other reviews.
GTDAgenda offers Checklists, Schedules and a Calendar option. The Checklists is included in the free version while I believe the Schedules and Calendar are only available in the paid versions. The Checklists are available in weekly, monthly and yearly views and allows you to setup ticks for things that need to be done repeatedly but that you do not want to include in your tasks or next actions. Pretty handy for items like exercising, paying bills, or those annual items that are easy to forget.

Email Notices and Additions
Just recently added to GTDAgenda is the ability to turn on or off a daily email of your Next Actions. Looks like it's an all or none option without the ability to select which actions but that is not necessarily a bad idea, you should likely be reminded of anything you have deemed a true Next Action anyhow.

You can also send email to GTDAgenda to create a task, project or a context using the unique email address that is created for each of these items. The email address is displayed on the bottom of the screen for that project, task or context. Possibly handy but a little messy keeping up with the email addresses. I didn't test this option out but I can see where it could be useful if you use GTDAgenda as an incident tracking system allowing inbound emails to be stuffed into a 'pending' project or context.

Conclusion
GTDAgenda is a feature rich Online GTD solution, but straight forward and easy to use. There is quite a bit of power available if you take time to learn the options, but one can easily sit down and be setting up projects, task and goals within a few minutes of logging in.

GTDAgenda also has a forum for customer support and interaction and appear to be constantly reviewing and adding features or enhancing existing ones if they are warranted. I believe Dan Baluta from GTDAgenda is dedicated to building a quality GTD solution for online users and adding some nice options to help boost productivity of his customers as well.

If you have not tried out GTDAgenda and are looking for an online solution that is simple, yet powerful withou a big learning curve, GTDAgenda serves up GTDers quite well. Even with the limits of the free version, those starting down GTD path will benefit from the integrated solution and structure while power GTDers will enjoy the add ons such as checklists and schedules from the pay version.

In any manner, you should take a look at GTDAgenda and make your own decision. for either $3.28 or $5.82 per month you will benefit from goal tracking and easily tagging your projects to those goals which will help you achieve them and just using the free version will get a GTD "system" working for you.

"Productivity is Dead. Long Live Productivity"

2008-12-24T22:30:00.001-06:00

"Productivity is Dead. Long Live Productivity." That quote is from one of Dustin Wax's latest post over at Stepcase Lifehack. In his post Dustin discusses the various backlash movements against "productivity" and Getting Things Done (GTD) in particular. He talks about 43 Folders Merlin Mann's movement away from what he calls "Productivity Pr0n" earlier this year, Glen Stansberry of LifeDev's redefining of the site and Leo Babauta's Zen To Done (ZTD) ideas from a year earlier. The post is titled "Toward a New Vision of Productivity, Part 1: Transformation" and is a good read. There are to be twelve different installments of this series so it will be very interesting to follow along for the next few weeks and should be a must read for all the GTD productivity hacks around the world.

What seems odd to me, however, is that many are seemingly pronouncing the end of productivity and all the blogs, news, hacks, and more that have become the staple of "productivity" over the past few years. It's as if the big dogs have burned out and thus the rest of us must follow. That the end of productivity is near and we all must find something else to obsess over.

Actually, it appears the main issue is the focus seemingly has been on productivity for productivity's sake, and not for the main purpose of the by-line of Getting Things Done - "The Art of Stress Free Productivity". Like the humans we are, everyone seems to have focused on the easy part: the process, the system, the structure, and not the rest of the book. From my read of the book, a big point of getting all the stuff and 'things to do' organized in a 'system', was not to prove how productive we are or get a more done, it was to get all that stuff organized and out of your head so you concentrate on those things that ARE important such as the things that have meaning. That 50,000 foot concept that Allen talks about in Getting Things Done - the looking at your purpose of being on the planet type of thought.

In reality that is the HARD part of life - the thinking part that makes us stop the busy work and look at where we've been, where we are going, and what we are looking for out of life. Getting Things Done was never meant to be the panacea of life to me, it was meant to be one means of getting past the "busyness" of the day to day life and on towards the end meaning of life which I feel is enjoy living and living what you enjoy.

Zen To Done, which I personally favor, expands the core GTD process steps of Collect, Process, Organize, Review, Do, adds some to cover other items outlined in Getting Things Done and put them into basic 'habits' which are easier to understand than how it is outlined in the book. Honestly that concept was very helpful for a simple someone like me. If you look at GTD in general you see the first three habits of Covey to Be Proactive, Begin With the End in Mind, and Put First Things First right there inside GTD - it's just a process for doing so.

So is Productivity Dead? Hopefully not but maybe Productivity for Productivity's Sake is dead. No loss there for sure. Mann says “If you’ve crossed the river, you should quit carrying the boat.” but there will be many different "rivers" in life that you'll need that productivity boat so I for one will not be selling my productivity boat just yet.

Check out Dustin's series and post your own comments here and there - it should be an interesting start for 2009.

What we have...

2008-12-21T09:25:00.002-06:00

It's that time of the year to over spend, over eat, and under appreciate what most of us really have in our life. It seems the gifts get bigger and more expensive every year - or maybe that is just having a kid growing up to be a teenager? I know I am over eating again this year since the scale tells me so. I also know I am under appreciating my life since I have not stopped to think about my blessings in a while.

It gets so confusing when you mix in the fantasy world of TV where stars compare TV sizes and how many "whips" they have on Cribs or where a 16 year old gets a $350,000 "Sweet 16" birthday party to the realities in the world where kids do not have Christmas presents or a new bicycle because the parents do not have a job or other reasons.

In the offset of the TV world last week, I had the honor of helping a local church, Faith Christian Outreach, hand out 414 bicycles to kids around our area for Christmas. We donated money for a bike and my wife was asked to bring cookies for the snacks they provide for the kids and parents receiving a bike, so we thought we would go out and help the process. With at least 100 church members already there I really didn't know what I could do to help.

By chance I thought I would stay at the exit door and help the kids and parents get the bikes out of the building and in their vehicles if needed. That ended up being one of the best seats in the house in my opinion. By then the busy part of the initial presentation and the 'cheer leaders' that were hailing each recipient as they moved through the line was over but the emotions were still there.

I must have said have a Merry Christmas and have a nice holiday 400 times that day but seeing those kids from 3 to 13 with wide eyes of amazement and joy and parents with teary eyes of appreciation and thanks was something I really needed to wipe away some of the blindness I have to appreciate what we have in our lives. Many told me thanks and that without this their kids would not have a bike at all. An amazing number of the kids were saying thanks on their own without that nudging that is usually needed by a parent. Kneeling down there and watching those happy little faces as they were still in awe of pushing their new bike around brought up the teary feeling and itchy eyes many times that day.

I suppose it is the normal 'American' concept anymore - more is good - bigger is better - cooler is required and spend, buy, and feast our way through the holidays but at least for a short period of time I have stopped, looked around, helped just a little and tried to appreciate what we have.

Discussions with Mr. Will Power

2008-12-14T10:00:00.001-06:00

I had a good talk with Mr. Will Power the other day... no, not the actor/educator but the real Mr. Will Power. He's a tough old man in my world, sometimes being the most tenacious guy around and others the laziest. Sometimes he shows up when he's least expected and other times cannot be found when you need him most.

Will, we're on a first name basic anymore, is great to have around and is full of good intentions but sometimes hard to motivate. Maybe it's a communication issue. Will needs to know what the goals are in order to do his best job but sometimes *I* don't even know what the goals are myself so how do you communicate that?

My biggest concern with Will Power though, is the reliability factor. Even when we both know what we're trying to accomplish, it seems Will likes to disappear when things get tough or there are important decisions to be made and leaves me all alone to take care of things. I really can't do some of those things on my own and need Will Power to help me out.

I've tried many of the old ways to improve Will Power. I've tried pep talks, setting those small goals and making sure he makes it to them, and other ways as well. I'm sure I can change Will Power if I really want to right? I just need to find that right angle or that special seminar that I can use to say "See, I told you so".

Will and I are trying harder to get along with each other though. I try to give him a pep talk daily and he has promised to be more reliable. Time will tell as new challenges arise if Will Power sticks to his word or not. In the mean time I guess I need to check in with Mr. Hard Work and Ms. Persistence and see how they are doing since it does take a team effort to get things done.

-Stephen

Twittering Away Local Government

2008-12-04T17:40:00.001-06:00

How should a local government use Twitter, the micro blogging service that has gained so much popularity? Should it be 1.0 broadcast only? Should it be totally 2.0 interactive or should it be somewhere in the middle? Or should Twitter even be in the mix for local governments?

Some time ago I setup a simple Twitter account for the local government I work for to use as a test for keeping people up to date without them having to check our RSS feed, sign up for a notification system, or visit our site. Right now it is a test, no publicity, no front page story, just testing the waters. The @CityofShawneeOK account picked up a few followers just based on our location but we haven't done much with the account yet. The long(er) term plan is to use the account for notifications when formal meeting Agendas and Minutes are posted, when local news is updated on the main website or when general information needs to be sent out to concerned citizens.

More recently I added some code to an internal notification program I wrote that is used to update key people inside our local government via email, when certain types of Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) or 9-1-1 calls come in, to allow posting to a Twitter account. The accounts @ShawneePD and @ShawneeFD push out certain Police and Fire related calls and updates. This is basically the same process used at the Charlette NC South police department. My solutions builds on the CADCOM (Computer Aided Dispatch COMmunicator) program I build a few years ago but never fully implemented.

Then I read THIS ARTICLE and now I question the initial concept, or at least the total concept. Obviously push only is not what Twitter is necessarily about, although it is often used that way. I like to see the activity come up in my Twitter window better than email and I can easily determine if mobile notifications are desired through my Twitter profile setup for those accounts.

However, my current concept seems to break all the rules of Top 5 Ways to Screw up your Corp Twitter account so is the solution useful at all?

Comments anyone - Should we Twitter away Local Government or not?

What else in a local government could Twitter be used for?

GTD for You? - TaskWriter.com

2008-11-16T10:05:00.010-06:00

I was recently contacted by folks at TaskWriter to take a look at their online GTD (Getting Things Done) based solution at TaskWriter.com and participate in their Beta project. I already have my own custom web based "system" so I was weary of even looking at something else but decided one evening to check it out.

I was amazed at the easy sign up process, at least for now. Pick a user name, type in and confirm your password and wham! – you are in. I was fully expecting twenty questions plus some capshia I couldn't read followed by having to validate an email address before I could even see the main screen - but no such hassles here. Hopefully they can keep the 'bots away long enough to keep this in place.

I initially just poked around the main screen and was impressed with the simple yet effective layout. The main pane in the center of the screen holds your "list of doom" so to speak. A handy input area at the upper corner allows you to input your "tasks" quickly and a nice filter tool bar on the left is available. You have Task, Calendar, Archive and Define tabs in the main screen which makes it simple to view and very intuitive.

I did look around for the use of term Next Action since Getting Things Done is very oriented around that term but since this is TaskWriter and not NextActionWriter (hey, the domain name is still available) I guess the word Tasks makes more sense - Actually that is what I've always called my 'next actions' anyhow.

The Tasks

Each task/next action can be assigned to 1) a LIST to appear on, 2) a PROJECT to be included in, 3) a CONTEXT to be done by and optionally 4) a due date. I have historically kept all my next actions in one list and simply filtered by context but I see the benefits to keeping the next actions defined in different lists as recommended by David Allen's Getting Things Done book. By default there are a few lists, projects, and contexts to use which do make sense but you can easily add others as needed. I do wish it was easier to add a project on the fly since many times what you think is a single next action quickly turns into a project with multiple actions while clearing your head. I added a #Add Project project name that I use while capturing if there is not a current project and then add the project later and move the tasks but it does take more time.

The simply yet useful layout is refreshing but the filter options are where the benefits begin to really appear. You have instant filtering abilities by list name, by context, by project or by due date. And I mean instant - no page reloading or waiting. That may sound minimal but can be a hassle such as in my current solution since you can easily loose focus. This is done all in the local browser since Taskwriter is written in the Google Web Toolkit framework. You can apply filters by multiple selections within any of the types which is very handy. For example you can see your @computer, @home, and @desk lists @ the same time. This works quite well for me since when I classify a context I sometimes do not apply the sharp edges as needed making it easy to miss a next action when looking at contexts. When I'm @Home, sitting @Desk and @Computer I can instantly see what I could be doing. Which is depressing sometimes but there would be excuses that I didn't see it in the list with TaskWriter. If you are using due dates you can also select by several selections that are handy allowing you to filter out task that are not due until later on or have no real due date.

Tasks or "next actions" are easily entered in the quick "add new task" area allowing you to name the task, select which list you want to put it in, select a project, apply a context and optionally set a due date. It's pretty easy to get a next action into the system. The only current issue to me is that most of my items are really projects with multiple next actions. It is not a big issue to add a project in TaskWriter - click the 'define projects' link in the by project filter box, click Add Project and input your project info. What is really nice is that the default project selection in the task input instantly changes to your new project without losing any input you've already done. If you prefer a larger area to input or you want to capture notes for a task during input you can use the Add Task button above your lists and a larger input window is available.

Another simple but excellent feature are the keyboard shortcuts during input. Another feature often missing from online applications forcing you to over use your mouse. When adding a task in the quick input, CTRL + ENTER saves the input and while entering a task in the large input you have an additional option of ALT + ENTER that saves the one you are on and sets you up for another task / next action. Makes things much faster when clearing your head or inputting from a capture list. You can also easily change up a task / next action by clicking on the context on the right side of the screen allowing your to re-assign the list, project, and context which all show up in one window.

The Calendar
The calendar option is used to get a monthly view of those tasks that you have assigned due dates to. It is not going to replace your main calendar and you do not have any direct input abilities - it is a simple but effective tool to get a visual on upcoming due dates for tasks/next actions you have in your system. I recently added a calendar view to my custom system as well since it is very difficult to visualize dates by only looking at a list with due dates.

The Archive
The archive section is where completed task go to bed - but not completely forgotten. When you check off a task as done,it shows up in your list with a line through it and grayed out, giving you that satisfaction of marking someone off a paper list. You then have the option to click the icon on the far right and move the task to the archive where you can view task as desired.

Define
The Define tab is where you customize TaskWriter to match your lists, contexts, and projects. Lists, contexts and projects can be edited here, notes added, and deleted if need be.

Recommendations
Overall I was personally impressed with the easy to use interface, very flexible filtering, and ease of input that TaskWriter offers. There are a few items that I use in my custom system that are handy and would be missed.

One is there doesn't seem to be a mobile version yet - even something simple that allowed you to view basic lists and input would be essential if you planned on using TaskWriter. I do understand a full blown mobile solution is apparently in the works so that will be nice in the future.

Another is the ability to complete a task/project but fire off a copy of the completed task with a future due date. I use this for re-occurring task such as "pay bills", "check smoke detectors", "check vehicle fluids", etc. These are not appointments so I do not use my calendar for these since I do want to track them until I complete them. This just keeps me from having to re-enter those. I suppose one could just re-set the due date in TaskWriter instead but then you wouldn't have that warm fuzzy feeling of marking that line through that completed task - even if it is just a 'virtual line' when doing it online.

If you are into GTD and are looking for an effective online solution with easy inputs buy very flexible filtering, TaskWriter.com might be the solution you've been looking for.

Personally I am going to give it a try for a while since the filtering and easy access make it quite appealing. Just have to figure out how to handle mobile access to my GTD needs now.

-Stephen

Photo Credits:
Pen and Paper photo by cpsutcliffe
Calendar by joelanman

25 To Life

2008-10-19T10:15:00.006-05:00

25 to Life - that is the sentence at this point..

Ok, ok it's not a 'sentence', it's a commitment. My wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this past summer. a quarter century, 9,125 days. Not counting leap years - those are nature's way of giving us a little extra time here on earth that is harder to count.

Where did the first twenty five go?

That is always a hard question to answer as you get older. I remember standing there in my white tux with my Dad outside the church going through the motions for pictures but definitely not knowing the adventure I was embarking on. I remember the 'I do', the people, the cake, and Karen almost setting her hair on fire.

I remember our first house, an almost new Turbo Coupe Thunder bird, and moving on to our next house. I remember bits and pieces of the good and the bad. The time spent together doing the simple things and the time away on vacations and date nights. I also remember the fights, disagreements, and arguments but can't remember the reason for hardly any of them.

I remember her desire for another house, to get out of the city and me not understanding the big deal. I'd likely still be in our 800 square foot first house based on my motivation. I also remember and enjoy daily how it feels to be out of the city in a bigger house and a couple acres to call our own.

I remember the long weekend before our son was born and the beautiful sunny Sunday morning when he came into this world. That son who is now taller than his Mom and fast approaching me.

The first 25 are gone, blurry memories of the past. Images to remember, emotions to relive in our minds. Lessons to not forget, but to use to do the right things in the future. Memories to let go of but still embrace.

We made the first 25 so I guess all that is left is 'Life'... hopefully longer than than the first 25 years. I'll take that 'sentencing' any day!

Photo by Stephen W Nolen

Teenager Eve

2008-10-07T23:34:00.005-05:00

Well, tonight is the last night of NOT having a teenager. Tomorrow at 8:35am it's all over... and it's all beginning as well.

The first twelve years have been a big blur but quite wonderful and I hope the next thirty or more (hopefully I'll live that long) will be even better.

Gone are the days of helping him learn to ride a bike, draw a picture, read a book, and take a nap. Now it's on to how to drive a car, use your agenda, wash your clothes, and organize your life. How to plan for tomorrow but enjoy every minute we have hear on earth. How to insure the future but still not worry too much about how we'll be getting there but enjoy the journey instead.

I am looking forward to watching the new directions his personality takes, his new interest that are found, new passions that develop, and new worlds he follows. I understand I will almost hate him, and he will hate me, at some point during the path to adulthood but hopefully that will be short lived and leave no hard feelings for either of us. I only hope I can be as good as a father to him as mine was to me and instill something that will follow him forever.

It's really all about the journey but it's hard to remember that as we live in the moment.

Goodnight child - and good morning teen. It's going to be fun.

Image by Stephen Nolen

Man Hug

2008-10-06T18:45:00.000-05:00

You know, that awkward kind of "pat on the back / shake your hand / but not real close hug like thing" that men do when they have to. To me, a Man Hug is something you do when you have to, and you've known the person for a long time. Like an uncle or brother, a special friend or something.

So what the heck happened when suddenly that is how you feel when hugging your own son? When did THAT happen? I remember picking him up, rocking him in the middle of the night, carrying him around and protecting him and now I'm confused how to greet him - a hug or a handshake? Where did the little kid that I used to pickup and hug without question go to?

Time is brutal when it comes to watching your child grow up - you pray everyday that they WILL make it, that they WILL succeed, and they WON'T get hurt or lose their way but it also HURTS to watch those special moments disappear when you least expect it. Things like reading 'Hank the Cowdog' books at bedtime, playing Legos on the living room floor, or watching him take his first ride on his scooter, bike, and motorcycle realizing that the car is next. Heck, he's already driving the car around the lot...

It's proud moments of seeing learning, success and growth interrupted by suddenly obvious transition points when he starts kicking your butt in video games (long time ago) and playing guitar - both real and the "Hero" versions better than old "Dad" ever will. It's moments of fear when you think about the 'big bad world' that he will have to face followed by calm when he holds the door open for the little old lady, says thanks and remembers to put the toilet lid down every time without any prompting.

Those are the moments when you think - he'll make it - he's a great kid... or teenager... or young adult... Wow - whatever he will be the next time you turn around.

I have to say live life by planning for the future but enjoying every minute you can. I think I'll go give my son a HUG. Happy 13th Birthday Austin!

Break - Fix - Break

2008-09-29T22:12:00.006-05:00

It's always amazing to me how things seem to break around the same time. The old 'when it rains it pours' adage. It seems at least in my life, that I cruise along for quite some time and everything works just fine. Then when one thing fails, the others follow... like they are talking to one another or something.

Lately I've had my share of Break-Fix-Break issues at home and at work. At home it's been 1) A blown up riding mower engine (see the pretty picture - I can't believe it doesn't work anymore?), 2) a dead weed eater, 3) a tuneup on the Turbocoupe TBird that made things worse, 4) the old F150 pickup runs, doesn't run, runs and doesn't again, and at work it's been a battle with the Computer Aided Dispatch server and some simply upgrades to the backup applications across the 13+ servers we run. Not to mention someone ran over our mailbox and the light went out in the refrigerator - I know, pity me.

Now apparently the dishwasher felt left out and and stopped doing it's job - maybe it just decided it wasn't getting enough attention or something?

The riding mower is fixed - nothing a $500 new engine can't resolve. Actually that was about $400 cheaper than other engines I found and this one was new to boot. It was actually kind of interesting pulling it apart and putting it back together. I replaced the V Twin with a single cylinder of the same horsepower so it sounds quite different with one big bore - better to me at least. The original engine smoked on and off out of the right cylinder from day one and it looks like that is the rod that let go first. I should have taken it back in the beginning - oh well. First time I've blown a mower engine at least - was interesting - losing power - right cylinder smoke and then bang, crunch, crunch, crunch - ouch!

The weed eater is fixed for the most part as well - interesting what the 10% ethanol will do to plastic fuel lines and how the dissolved plastic line mucks up a carb. Some new line, a cleaned up carb and a couple hundred pulls on the starter and it's eating weeds again at least.

The old '87 F150 is actually running now - after bypassing the dual gas tank selector and dropping some plug wires off my old Mustang engine and some cleaned up used plugs. Almost good enough to sell the darn old thing now so I can concentrate on the '69 Stang again. If it wasn't for the one cylinder that is down it might be worth keeping.

The Tbird Turbocoupe runs MUCH better in 3rd, 4th and 5th now at 18psi boost but bucks like a wild horse when pulling in 1st and 2nd. I'm assuming it is a knock sensor/timing issue but haven't done the FIX on that one yet.

Work problems are just normal - I wait too long to replace a machine due to the 200+ other things on the list and it finally gets to the have to get it done asap mode. We'll make it work though.

And now the dishwasher - I know more about how a dishwasher works now that I care to admit but that doesn't look like it will make this one 'fixable'. The impeller that drives the whole 'washing' cycle has let go from the main motor shaft so I may be just buying a whole new washer instead. Not happy about it since this one is only a few years old.

Oh well BREAK - FIX - BREAK - that IS the cycle.

Just holding my breath to see what fails next...

At least I learned enough from my Dad to do almost all of the 'fixin' myself.

Thanks Dad - I do miss you!

The Man

2008-09-18T21:41:00.000-05:00

I sit in my car at the Sonic drive in enjoying the air conditioning, listening to the latest 'terrible' news of the world and nation and enjoying the comforts of my car while waiting for my food.

Not ten feet away sits a older man at the outdoor table. He looks to be late forties or so, close ot my age. His ragged clothes show his rough life, his scrubby beard has some gray tint to it and his skin is multicolored from unhealed scars of the past. He rocks back and forth in the summer heat.

Across from him in the chair sits a large light brown teddy bear, a red bow ribbon decorates it's neck with permanent smile sewn into it's face. It's brown eyes stare at the man and seem to have more compassion than those passing by as people zip in and out to get their food and car hops zoom past in a frenzy. It is an odd site for a summer day.

Before long he lifts himself out of his seat, pickups up the few coins on the table left from the drink he purchased and clutches his prescription medicine bottle as he prepares to leave. He then reaches over to the teddy bear that is still smiling and gently lifts the bear into his grasp as if it is a small child that needs special handling. The bear makes it's to his shoulder and seems quite content peering out. The man then wanders past my car with obviously no particular place to go. He makes his way past the other cars pulling in and out, changes direction, and then changes direction again before heading off down the street obviously looking for a place to sleep tonight.

A chill runs down my spine as the reality sinks in.

How did this man get into this situation? Someone brought him into this world... he was someone's baby... someone's toddler... and young adult, someone had to take care of him long ago.

What were their dreams for his life? What happened in those years that have past?

How did he get here today, with his teddy bear, his medication, and the few coins he had with him? What was his dreams? ... and where did they go?

Then it really hits me - this could have been me - or still could be me someday.

Got Things Done

2008-09-07T22:14:00.006-05:00

Well at least the weekend was semi-productive. I managed to get a few things done that were hanging out there in my GTD list as well as a few that were not. I did managed to tune up the old TurboCoupe T-Bird with new plugs, wires, cap and rotor but ended up having to cough up extra money for a re-manufactured distributor after a mounting tab broke off while I was taking it apart. Oh well, it can't hurt anything in the long run. I also installed the new to me headlight switch and re-dyed the interior - helped make the car much more presentable. And now it smells like PAINT inside instead of smoke... for now at least.

Otherwise I finally finished out the little 'Tree Patio' that we use early in the morning for coffee and relaxing. Something that had been hanging around for a while. Nothing fancy, just a nice place to sit and enjoy the morning.

I also finally purchased and put up an extra fence panel to hide the 'Storage area' - that is code for the junk pile location for those that do not know. This blocks the view when you pull up and from the street so my other half should be a little happier.

As you can tell I used my @OUTSIDE and @TBIRD contexts over the weekend.. :-)

To Hang or Not To Hang...

2008-09-01T09:07:00.005-05:00

That was the question – Folders that is.

Getting Things Done strongly suggests that you NOT use the green hanging folders in your reference and project folders and I tried that. For about a year I’ve tried to just use plain folders in order. Sorry – That just doesn’t work for me. I found it difficult to find the right location to put the item, and problematic to even get things in the file drawer effectively. Even looking for something was slower as I had to work through the alphabet to get to the basic location.

So I finally gave up and went back to green hanging folders for all filing. Reference, Projects and everything else. It is just easier for me; easier to file something away - just label the folder, find the letter, and stick it in the folder. If the green folder is too full for that letter I pull an empty one from the front and stick behind the full one. It's easier to find things as well since I have labeled the hanging folders A-Z and I can jump to the most likely letter and scan until the next one. I know this isn't some magical solution but it just works better for me.

With this in mind the long weekend at least felt productive. I refiled everything, created a permanent reference filing cabinet, and used one for pure projects and re-re-reorganized things to clear off the desk, inbox, and my mind somewhat.

Otherwise it was a nice weekend following my Sister's trip to NYC via Twitter and TwitPic, enjoying the outdoors while not re-filing, and cooking out for the immediately family this evening.

Back to the real world tomorrow with a long Tuesday including management team meeting, crown replacement for my tooth, and a long evening meeting to boot. But Weds and Thurs are off to an OML conference for a small presentation and helping with a round table discussion on municipal websites... should be an interesting week.

Four Priority Tips?

2008-08-27T22:58:00.002-05:00

The 4 Ideas That Will Revolutionize Your Productivity - Practical advice on personal development, productivity and GTD is a pretty good read on some primary things to concentrate on while trying to get things done. I'm still very rough on the prioritizing part and the "Prioritizing by Needs" is rather interesting in that area. Can it make a difference? Not sure. I am still battling the 200 Next Action syndrome and what do I do next or what is most "important". First I have to UNSchedule the 15 hour work days that I've set my self up to fail on.

This is very similar to Time Management For Systems Administrators by Thomas Limocelli that sets priorities as things that must be done TODAY, Soon, or later.

So I guess THAT is my current priority... figure out how to prioritize?

GND?

2008-08-26T20:54:00.005-05:00

Although others have blogged about it before, and quite humorously I might add, I have felt more like I am in GND mode instead of GTD mode that I want to be. That is Getting Nothing Done...

I guess I need to admit that a LOT of time lately has been spent changing offices and moving servers around at work, but I still feel like I am not making progress on the 200+ "Next Action" items I have in my work list.

I am actually re-reading the Getting Things Done book which is helping further understand the missing pieces from the first times I've read it.

I bought the guys I work with copies of the Getting Things Done book as well hoping they will read it so maybe things will make more sense at work when I'm talking about it - time will tell.

Heck, maybe I am just in a down time just before things really start to come together... yeah, that's the ticket... downtime before massive productivity... sure... that's it... yeah. Wow I need to take a break after thinking that hard.

Actually THIS is a much better solution

Awesome Mother

2008-08-19T20:43:00.008-05:00

Well, yeah my biological mother is pretty awesome as well but the other night I watched Mother Nature put on an awesome lightning show before the rain began. First time I had just stood and watched old Mom do her stuff in a while and it was quite refreshing. First time I think I have ever tried taking some pics and video of a storm as well. Of course the pics just can't do any justice of being there, listening to the distant thunder, the patter and smell of the rain.

I used to never really think about rain or really appreciate it - well sure after 103+ degrees for a week or so you do 'appreciate' it but not like I should. A friend I know kind of changed that somewhat after talking about how she loves the rain. To me it's usually an inconvenience, to her it's a joy. To me I like to stay out of it, to her she likes to get out in it... I don't know, after watching that lightning I think I'll stay under the patio when it's raining around here but she is probably luckier than I am as well.

I have to say that so far this year August has been much different than I thought it would be. August is usually the hottest month in this area but I guess July decided to take that over this year.

I think I'll add 'Watch the Thunderstorm' to my GTD list and make sure I make time when the opportunity comes up again!

For the birds...

2008-08-17T18:31:00.003-05:00

Having worked on Saturday to catch up from my 'Office Move' last week and spending most of the day Sunday outside, the weekend has flown by. I did get to do some 'for the birds' work done on Sunday though. The old bird feeder I had built several years ago was worse for wear and needed replaced so I built a new one with the same basic design. So far only the hummingbird, finches and sparrows are the only ones that have checked it out. It even has plastic guttering - although I may pull that back off. This is an 'improved' version with an aluminum floor that will not rot out and a cap to keep the moisture out.

Otherwise I spent the whole day working on @OUTSIDE context items including cleaning the patio fans and reversing the blades so they won't sag too much, helping Austin mow and enjoying the mid 80's temps. Much better than the 103+ that we were having there for a while. The battery died on the riding mower after Austin parked it... just wouldn't turn over even after re-charging and jumping. Put a smaller garden battery I had sitting around and it worked fine. New battery time already :-(. Now I have two expensive batteries to purchase since I want a new one for the TurboCoupe so I can move that weak one over to the old '87 F150 to get it started again and try to figure out what is wrong with it.

Well - On to another work week. Hopefully we will get Ryan setup in his own office now that I'm out and we can start fire walling time for each of us to be more productive daily.

My Wonderful Connected Phone... Or Not?

2008-08-16T20:20:00.003-05:00

So I've had a mobile connected phone now for a while.. Three years maybe? I know it's always there for me whenever I need to send an email, read one or jump on the net. That great feeling of knowing that GoogleMaps is just a click away on the phone if I am not sure where I'm...

Sorry, had to check an email...anyhow, where was I now.. Uh oh yeah, I'm prety much never lost with GPS and GoogleMaps and that is comforting. I know I can always jot down my idea in my task list or fire of that inspirational email anytime. Or even.. Just a sec.

Ok, back again. A reminder that I need to remove from calendar popped up again. BTW These things are great for that too, NEVER missing that important meeting or appointment. I think the one that just popped up was about exercising or something. I always just dismiss it and go on but it sure is handy.

This phone is pretty darn...

Dang, another IMPORTANT email there.. Sorry. Anyhow, it is really handy having this thing with me all the time. Heck i'm even typing this up on it right now. Sure i will have correct a few thumb typing or stylus pickle... ack, stylus PECKING errors, pickle errors, but it sure is handy being able...

Whoa, an actual voice call interuption there. Why do people have to CALL ME, can't they just EMAIL me! Don't they know I.T. people hate to talk on the phone. I'd even rather JOTT someone than call them. So, anyhow, I'm not sure what i would do without this thing anymore.

It's so nice having this tethered to me all the time. Nice always having my work email and my calendar with me. All my work notes and a link to the big 'todo list of doom' at work always available just a click away through the net. Able to browse through hundreds of Next Action items on this... well, this very small screen actually.

Anyhow, it almost makes me feel like i'm ALWAYS working! And that is a... Well, I guess that isn't a "good" feeling... But it is a... Well it is a... Hmm.. man, it's like a ball and chain! I can't get away! The dinging, the ringing, the reminders, it COULD be an important email, I better check it. Oh, that is the text message sound - must be something wrong at work. Another reminder - take the trash out?... I thought I did that LAST week! My GTD inbox of projects and ideas sitting in my task list that I have to process is there just begging to get ...

Ack. Another important email!

I have to go...

200%

2008-08-12T21:48:00.003-05:00

Why is it that I either feel like I can put forth 100% effort at home OR 100% effort at work but not both every day?

Last week I was 100% on home projects... worked on them, got several done, and felt good but was coasting at work trying to decide what to work on next.

This week I'm 100% on at work getting some things done that needed to be addressed long ago - specifically clearing out the current upstairs server room in order to make it MY office and let our Software Support specialist finally have his own office. (I told him in December 2005 that we would soon move the servers and let him have the office we shared - it is still like that as of August 2008).

This week at home has been a nothing... a good nothing but a nothing. I've rescheduled all my GTD tasks, barely had the desire to do much of anything and spent the last couple of evenings watching the birds and the rain or laying around in the hammock. Not that those are BAD things and down time is a very real need I suppose but this happens quite often.

Where is that 200% (naturally, without drugs, hyper caffeine or other forced results)?

Maybe I need to start thinking 50/50 more often.

Another Day, Another Shower

2008-08-10T22:23:00.006-05:00

Yeah, that's a good thing - I know. We all take a shower or bath everyday... well, MOST of us do and we KNOW who you are out there that do not!! Anyhow, that 15 or 20 minutes each day is rather interesting to me. It seems to be the time I spend the most time 'thinking' actually. The motions are pretty robotic by now; wash hair, rinse, wash face, rinse, wash body, rinse, rinse off shower wall, squeegee wall, etc. BUT during that one percent of my day I am either planning my day out or pondering the results of the day depending when I actually take the shower.

During the week I have already done a quick review of my calendar and have all these thoughts of the day floating through my head. That 15 minutes is where I'm on physical robot action while my head is planning the rest of the day and what I hope to accomplish, what goals do I really have for TODAY - not this week, month or year but just today. I'm trying to find those 'big rocks' as Covey would say to fit into today's actions. I do think I need a water proof PDA/Phone though since I have to capture those thoughts as soon as I'm out of the shower or they can disappear.

In the evenings after working around the house all day it's a different type of thinking. A thinking of what I DID get done; the lawn, the house, the new vertical blinds, the latest accomplishments on the 69 Mustang or Turbocoupe or whatever else I feel good about getting done that day. I also seem to say 'thanks' to the higher powers in life for what I have, what I am able to do, and that I am still here to do those things during that time.

It's off to another work week and I will be 'thinking in the shower' again in the morning I guess. I still need to make sure those 'big rocks' get in the schedule first since right now I think I'm drowning in sand.

The $2,000 Lunch

2008-08-08T22:04:00.003-05:00

I had lunch with my wife...

It cost me $2,000...

Ok, it wasn't just the food but still.

With a donation from Karen's mother we were supposed to look at a couch. We did... and we looked recliners... and we spent $2000 - twice as much as the donation.

Oh well, change never ends right. We had owned the chairs for longer than Austin has been around and the couch we had was nice but used to be my mothers. Hopefully this 'new' stuff will last as long as the old stuff did.

About work...
On the work front another week gone by. Although I do not really feel over productive I do feel better about what I DID get done at least. I have promised myself to do a 'weekly review' Saturday morning before starting the weekend. I have the complete incident list from work and hope to review it and pull out the important things - hopefully not the urgent... unless it's important AND urgent. Why is this so difficult?

On the Personal front...
My personal GTD list is still way too big but I've resolved to just keep chipping away at what I can get done. Hey - I'm NEVER bored that's for sure.

Week gone by..

2008-08-07T21:41:00.002-05:00

Well almost another week gone - been pretty good though. I have my task management back under control at work, not that I am getting lots done but everything has been re-negotiated/re-scheduled and I only have 10-12 hours per day in the list for the next couple weeks now. No I am not getting 10-12 hours of things done at work - just scheduling them.

Anyhow one big project is winding down - the development of an online Crime Alert system for the police department. End user sign is done, managing those members is done, adding the alerts to the database is done and I just cleaned up most of the email them all code today. One down, 159 more projects/task to do.. at work. Yeah, I'm never bored.

I am back into my personal GTD task management website as well with things rescheduled - only 88 projects/items in there at least. I'm not feeling too guilty about re-negotiating/re-scheduling them since at least the are not forgotten.

We are very close to having all the servers moved to the new server room at work as well which will allow opening up the existing room for my office. I promise my software support person we would not be sharing an office too long... that was December 2005.

Slowly but surely...

Quick day...

2008-08-04T22:24:00.001-05:00

Wow.. first day back at work in a while went really fast. This was a
Commission meeting but with a very short agenda it was only 45 minutes
long... much better than the FOUR HOUR meetings of the past. But then
again very little business was done. I am trying once again to really
get into time management and project management and actually see some
progress.

Unfortunately my scheduled task end up totaling 12-14 hrs per day so I
have to renegotiate many but I think that will clear up as more gets
done... time will tell.

The challenge will be sticking with the system better than in the past
and making sure I do a weekly review of goals, projects, and the
current situation.

--
My Domain: http://www.StephenNolen.com
My World: http://www.Protowrxs.com
My Humor: http://www.StupidSigns.com

End of Vacation II

2008-08-03T19:40:00.004-05:00

Well this is the end of Vacation Part II. I took off another week to finish out this summer. Spent most of it at the lake with family and ended it with a birthday party for my mother. The party's over so to speak. It's not that bad since I hope to be moving into a new office which will be the former server room so it will be a new beginning as well.

I spent most of this day getting ready for the birthday party (cleaning, prepping the cook out food, etc) after having coffee on the tree patio area and reading up on some GTD tips. Weekly Review - the thing I have NOT been doing that is a big part of GTD and other time management concepts. Gonna start that this week.. ha.

Here are some pics of the party;

The Cake - Yeah, it's weird

Mom enjoying the weirdness;

Here is a little video of the weirdness;

Busy day

2008-08-02T21:49:00.002-05:00

Well I said I was going to use this to keep track of what I DO get
done so here is today:

Watched Austin mow the yard and mowed my little piece that I keep
green and finished up the details for him - it was over 100 again so
that was fun.

Cleaned up the living room finally picking up the paperwork I had
scattered everywhere

Cleaned up the Lego corner moving everything into the 'Play Room'
which is also the studio for stop motion

Setup the play room so all the Lego is easily available, a little
better organized and ready to animate - now we'll see if I actually
animate anything.

Vacuumed the house and dusted it most of it - fun fun.

Listened to Austin learn a new solo from a Skillet song - amazing how
easily he can pick up something like that

Watered the plants and my little piece of green.

I guess I do get some things done. If I get too much done I'll crash on the Futon in the 'animation studio' - ha!

-Stephen

August Already?

2008-08-01T12:07:00.002-05:00

Wow? It's August already - where did the summer go. I think I'll start using this as a 'What I Accomplished Blog' since I have no idea what I have accomplished over the past several months.

On the fun side we just got back from a short family trip to the lake - LittleGlasses at Texhoma. Thought it would be long since we were staying three nights but it ended quite fast. We even made it RAIN... something we do well when we go to the lake. At least we stayed in a nice three bedroom trailer instead of a tent.

The last few months have seen a few accomplishments I guess;

The 88 Turbocoupe is up and running with working A/C and 21+ mpg even when I hammer on it all the time.
I released another lego animation for the old Poodles song Toy Town People - Odd but fun little song.
I have most of the outdoor plants on auto-pilot watering wise now so they actually may survive.
I even have a small green patch of grass in front of the patio - I can handle mowing that little bit more often especially since Austin is mowing the rest ;-)
We changed up the patio a bit moving the old A Frame swing to the 'forest' and buying a cafe table, chairs and a small fire pit. Haven't used the fire pit yet but maybe when it gets below 100 degrees for a change.
We used our 25th Anniversary gift money to buy new vertical blinds and drapes for the house. Something Karen has wanted for some time now.

Sizzling summer fun - with 100+ for several days now it IS sizzling for sure.
-Stephen

Wow - Work - Plus a new-old car

2008-04-27T22:20:00.004-05:00

Wow.. spent the whole weekend cleaning up cars. That's a lot of work. Washed both the old van and the F150, vacuumed them both out, waxed the truck, armor all'd both of them and more. That's the bi-annual cleaning I guess.

On the other side we picked up yet another vehicle to add to the mess. A beat up 1988 Turbo Coupe Thunderbird. I had a 1986 TC back in 1986 and loved that car. The 87/88 version came out and it was even cooler. I never could afford an 87/88 but drove the 86 for over 10 years until it was crunched in two accidents within three months, neither of which was my fault. Recently I noticed 87/88 TC's showing up on ebay and other places and one appeared in the local Craigslist so I thought I would check it out. It is much rougher than I wanted BUT it does have a pretty much unmolested engine/tranny which are the hardest parts to find. My son and I spent most of the day Saturday doing a complete clean up of the interior since it was quite dirty.

I had hoped for a driver that I could detail and eventually rebuild but this one is going to require much more work than that. First up is a freeze plug replacement BUT it's the plug between the block and the flywheel so I guess the whole engine/trans is coming out and being rebuilt which is way more up front than I planned.

In the mean time we did take it down the block and back slipping clutch and no boost included. At least the brakes worked well!

Fabulous Poodles - Mirror Star

2008-03-30T17:48:00.002-05:00

This was one of my favorite music videos to animate a few years ago. Tony Demur came across it and commented:

Stephen

Really enjoyed your animation for my song "Mirror Star" and so glad there's still people out there who remember us!

All the best, Tony De Meur

I am actually working on a simple animation of Toy Town People.

Mirror Star - The Fabulous Poodles

The rest of my brickfilms can be found on YouTube

Time Management for a System Administrator

2008-01-27T09:22:00.001-06:00

Since that actually is my title, I couldn't pass up a read for this book, Time Management for Systems Administrators by Thomas Limoncelli. So far it is really interesting in that it mixes Getting Things Done (GTD) concepts with the real world of constant demands and interruptions of being a Sys Admin.

Interestingly enough it appears I already have all the pieces; one calendar, help request system, log every request, and more, already in place. I just haven't connected the dots and run "The Cycle" that is used in the book. I've ready many time management books and see the common theme rise up again... the trick still is just DOING THEM.

Stupid Stuff Continues

2008-01-24T21:44:00.000-06:00

Been burning some coding time at my old StupidSigns.com site lately. They site has been falling off visitor wise over the past year due to lack of attention. Tried CafePress for some calendars and the content was deemed 'inappropriate' soooo I made my own, popped a donate option up and linked to my own PDF versions. People can still get them for free but we'll see how many Stupid $Buck$ fly my way.... likely zero but we'll see. Was good to do some coding on my own sites for a change.
-Stephen

Where's there's Progress there's Pain

2008-01-22T19:35:00.001-06:00

I guess that stands true with me. Although I DID get the floor pans installed in the 69 Mustang including fitted, welded and seam sealed, I have paid for that it with a literal pain the back.

Last week I wasn't sure if that was the problem after getting most of the driver side done and having to get straightened up last week. But after spending a couple days finishing up the drivers, installing the passengers side and fitting and installing the seat pans I was unable to hardly stand or walk on Tuesday morning. Ended up losing a day of work over it (not good - just more to do when I get back) and stuck in a chair and in bed with loads of pain meds to make it through. The Chiro once again fixed me up but it's still not very comfortable.

Maybe that is why I have been putting that off for so long??

Oh well.. hopefully time will heal. I did get to sit in the car with an old seat in it.. first time that has occurred in a very long time.

Something done...

2008-01-15T19:03:00.000-06:00

Well after griping in the last post about where did the time go, I actually got something done the next day. I ended up getting the driver's side floor pan fitted in my 69 Mustang and started welding it up (ran out of CO2 gas) and did some fitting on the passenger side. The project has loomed over me for several months as I thought it was going to be very hard. It hasn't been easy but not that bad.

I also got the GoMo going with adjustments to the governor and throttle linkage and popped some mufflers on it for my (and the neighbors) ear's sake. Still not fast at about 18mph but working. The guys over at ATLMA thinks it has a coil problem which might explain why it doesn't run like it calculates out on paper.

Here's a link to the short video of it running.

2008?? - Where did '07 Go?

2008-01-12T08:23:00.000-06:00

Wow.. new year.. same old stuff. Lots of finance type of work at work instead of working on critical IT problems. Not much motivation at home to get the Stang moving along. Same junky house and no motivation to clean it up right at least. So will 2008 be any different? Not unless I get things together. I do have some goals that I hope (need?) to get done this year so all it not hopeless.. there's just so many of them it seems overwhelming sometimes. For example just on a personal level:

2008 Goals...

Mustang floor pan installed, sealed and interior installed
Mustang trunk and rear valance fixed
Mustang engine balanced, built, engine bay painted and engine and trans installed
Rear disc brakes completed, springs replaced, and brakes working
Wheels and tires on the car and get it back on the ground
... and the 192,432 other detail items that have to occur to get the car running again.

Other home front items?

Tile the kitchen, bathroom, and utility area... never tiled before, should be interesting.
Replace the roof.. think I'll pay someone to do this one.
Completely clean and organize the house including the computer room, garage, and all closets (that should take all year)
Paint the house.. well at least it is only trim
Replace the garage doors (more painting... ugh)
New vertical window blinds... mostly money
Replace faucets and drains (hard water is a killer)
Fix the various little things messed up around the house (porch light, patio lights, etc)
.... there are plenty more

Yeah.. I know, these should be in my Getting Things Done (GTD) system right. Many are, seems that has made it seem even more overwhelming sometimes. I'm still searching for the best system(s) that work for me.

Oh yeah.. 2008 goal:

Take down the Christmas decorations - I better get that one done before the next Christmas but no telling... :-)

- Stephen

Rat Rod Bikes?

2007-10-09T10:58:00.001-05:00

Like I need another hobby or project but I'm somewhat fascinated by a bike site I recently ran across. The Rat Rod Bikes site is an interesting take on fun with bicycles and building. I've built bike choppers and have tried trials and still have a chopper to finish, but the rat idea looks like fun. In fact I've stooped low enough to purchase a few oldies off ebay to play with. These all at least appear to be in very nice completion state so it may be hard to rat one out or make too many changes. Time will tell.

The first one on the left is the most interesting one as it is supposed to be a Pre-WWII Schwinn with a baby carrier. I think it would be a fun resto project.

The next one is an 'English Bike' supposedly from the 40's or 50's with very tall seat stays and a two speed hub. Kind of interesting as is.

The next one is a 60's Ladies Ross with a three speed hub and all original as well. Seems kind of cool with everything still there.

The last one is a classic 1972 10 speed. I remember being 13 years old and wishing I had one of those fancy "10 speed" bikes back then. I did finally buy one but I have no idea what brand it was.

Progress... and work...

2007-09-09T21:25:00.000-05:00

Short weekend and lots of work. A relative has been in the hospital and needed some work done on his van and truck so my cousin's husband and I put his van back together and changed the water pump on his pickup. Was kind of nice getting greasy again... it's been a while.

We have a Finance Director at work now so I really expect to get back to the Information Systems duties and out of finance which should equate to more energy at home and more Mustang work.

The patio cover is done and all the concrete poured so I just need to some guttering and that project is done.

I did get two post holes dug for another cover I am building between some storage sheds to keep the weather off some things. For some reason that was something I REALLY didn't want to do but it only took about 30 minutes... .

Off to another week.. this one much longer than last...
-Stephen

Who wants more work!!

2007-03-26T21:06:00.000-05:00

Apparently I do, I do!

With the resignation of my boss Becky Cragin, (I can't blame her at all) I have been asked to step into part of the duties of the position as an interim. I will be filling in for the Finance Director portion of the City Treasurer/Finance Director position while existing Deputy Treasurer Rhonda Masquat will fill the Treasurer position of this blended job.

Becky Cragin was a wonderful boss to work for having both the resolve and patience to work through many issues in her tenure. I always felt listened too even if the final decision was not exactly as I had proposed. I have plenty of experience in some areas of the Finance Director position having worked through Municipal budgets in the 90's and close with previous Finance Directors at my current position building most of the numbers through online code I've developed. There will be many new things to learn however, and more accounting than I might care for but so it will be. I hopefully will be a learning experience that will be used in some future endeavor I will encounter.

Go work!... lol

Sucky sucks more...

2007-03-20T21:05:00.000-05:00

Well it has been a sucky couple weeks for sure and it just got "suckier"... at work at least. After losing a close friend at work due to a horrible car accident, I find out today that my excellent boss is calling it quits against the 'funny farm' people on our City Commission. She started in late 2004 just after my Father passed away and has been an ardant supporter of me and my department from the beginning.

I do not blame her as all since there are a couple commission members that have been out to get her since the beginning, one that doesn't know what is going on, and one that appears to be in the same Anti-City-Staff crowd. It might be different if there were actually staff that didn't know what they were doing but it is the other way around. A building maintenance/janitor trying to tell a City Manager and Finance Director how to run the City... get real.

It is going to be much harder to do things the right way without the support I had in the past. Time will tell where this all goes...

Another Day another BDay

2007-03-14T18:41:00.000-05:00

Just another birthday.. not exactly the nicest one of late nor one I want to remember.

Having to attend a friend/co-workers funeral (see previous post) is not the best way I can think of spending one's birthday but such is life sometimes I guess. My wife Karen attended with me and she had to attend a 7 year old student of her's funeral in the morning. Not a nice day. It WAS nice getting cards, hugs, and help from Karen and our son Austin today though.

I'm ready for the day to be over.

Good, Bad and Why?

2007-03-11T14:23:00.000-05:00

Wow.. good and bad happenings here and questions as to why.

The good rolls from the point that an individual at work that, although admired by higher ups and the public as a great resource, continued to be a thorn in the sides of most, if not all, of the other departments. Although intelligent the woman was extremely vengeful and over bearing attempting to dictate other departmental operations and constantly disrupting operations and efforts. She is gone, hopefully for good as she moves on to others to disrupt and 'get back at' as she has stated.

The bad comes from work as well as a good friend and coworker died in a chain-reaction car accident Friday night. Tommi Bierd, the acting Personnel Director and a wonderful lady was taken from use as she returned from a trip that evening. Tommi will sorely be missed as she was one of my greatest personal supporters in our work environment and always there to listen and help as she could. Her husband worked directly for the vengeful woman mentioned above and has been handed the job of cleaning up the aftermath. Things were going to be tough enough as it was and now he has to do this without his supporting wife. God bless him and his family.

The why, oh why? There never is an answer to that but the question remains. It always seems like the good are taken before the scornful in this world. Will we ever know the answer?

GTD on my Domain

2007-03-08T22:02:00.000-06:00

Still plugging away at getting GTD into my life. So far it feels pretty good and honestly has helped me sleep better at night knowing I think I have everything out of my head and in a tickler file, a list or filed away.

To help make it easier to track my personal list I developed my own tracking system that I can access from my home computers or from my PocketPC phone from anywhere. I hope to use this more instead of writing things down or using the Tasks side of Outlook to avoid re-duplicating the input. BUT I want to insure I do not decide I'll wait until I can input since I'll likely forget about it up front.

The list is simple but effective with Context, Next Action, Project, and a few other fields I will change as needed. Like all code I've written one can click on the heading to sort up/down and can click on the Context value to filter by that value. Clicking on the Action edits the project/action item.

I hope to use this while at home and away via the PocketPC phone to view, filter and act on my Next Action items in the context I am currently in where ever it might be.
-Stephen

GTD! - This is lots of work...

2007-03-05T22:01:00.000-06:00

Wow.. getting organized and getting everything out of your head is a lot of work! Especially when you've piled up years worth of 'stuff' that is not organized at all. I've been waging this GTD process war on both fronts... home and at work, and so far so good.

I quickly figured out why I wasn't putting things where they should be, i.e. filing paperwork, media, notes, etc. It was because I did't have a place to put it to begin with. After cleaning out my local hot file folder at work and moving all the old but needed items to an archive filing cabinet I now have a tickler file, general index file, and someday/maybe folders at the ready. I also have an indexed file set by the WO# in our IT work order system I developed to track out outstanding instances. This just makes it easier to find the paperwork associated with an incident instead of some alpha system.

I actually spent most of the weekend working through the home mess instead of working on My Car.. but the 'build list' is next for a revamp into Next Actions!

-Stephen

GTD Overwhelmed

2007-03-01T20:53:00.000-06:00

Still hammering away trying to review how to get life under control. Based on the book on GTD, you should take care of ALL your open loops in one major undertaking... I can't see how anyone can do that myself.

In any manner I'm chipping away at things little by little. I have a new general filing system setup at work to put things in based on the concept and have kept my email box at zero. I have changed our work order / incident web app at work to track NEXT ACTION and future actions that flow out as the next action is completed. I hope to tackle the paper monster tomorrow and get my desk and work area cleaned up. Unfortuately this has to occur between meetings and new equipment arriving so I may likely have to make a whole new sweep of things over a weekend or something. Better than the way it is to me though.

Next is getting a handle on my 69 Mustang Project and the GoMo machine... it'll get there.

Inbox to Zero

2007-02-27T21:10:00.000-06:00

One of the first steps to GTD is to get control of your 'InBoxes'. My most overlooked inbox was my email at work with literally thousands of messages left hanging around in the main inbox area. Today I took the inbox down to zero using these tips... and it WORKED!

No I didn't read every single message and reply to everything that needed action. But I did basically scan each subject line and/or from field and made a quick executive decision to either categorize each one (or groups of them actually) into some sub folders or use my new best friend the DELETE key. The structure I chose for filing included folders called !Archive, !CreateProjects, !Respond and a future reference called !NeedtoRead (not that I plan on really reading each one, I plan on sorting them by date and deleting anything older than 90 days or so) but that gets them all in one area to sort/delete.

It does feel MUCH better knowing there aren't critical emails lurking in the midst of the thousands of other junk messages. I did indeed find serveral "I should have already (done that, replied to that, fixed that, etc) messages that I can now get into my master project list and tag a next action for.

Now I only have my personal email, physical inbox, and home mail to catch up on.. yikes!

GTD?

2007-02-26T20:01:00.000-06:00

I'm sure most of you have heard of GTD.. or Getting Things Done.

Although I had heard of it, I hadn't really understood much about the concept until a couple weeks ago and oddly enough the timing of the knowledge is interesting. After having fought battle after battle managing 200 to 300 outstanding projects/tasks, an over flowing paper inbox and thousands of messages in my email inboxes I was feeling totally overwhelmed. Several critical items have fallen through the cracks and were turning into 'issues' for the Information Technology department that I run.

Not exactly sure where to turn I was ready to throw everything out and start over but after reading the first chapter or two of the book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity I believe there is hope afterall. Weird how the intro and first of the book pretty much explained my current feelings about work and life in general.

I'm still reading but am trying to at least apply the first area about

The book is good but the online additions and explaination and Hacks are even better... lots of good info and tips all around.

Will following the GTD concepts fix the world for me? Doubtful but I really think it will be a great help. Tune back in later and let's find out.
-Stephen