BusinessRx Community

Many of you have wondered what might have happened to me this year.  Well, I'm still blogging at brandonkelly.com, but for all practical purposes I closed estatic's doors in January.  I've made a decision that I feel good about, which is to put my family first and work a regular job.  You know, one of those jobs where you go home after 5 and don't work relentlessly 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.

As "regular jobs" go, the one I took isn't bad.  I've been working with my old crew at Tribridge, which was named the worldwide Dynamics partner of the year this year.  I'm happy, healthy and everyone (including my son Thomas) is doing really well.  Thank you all for your support, consideration and readership over the years.

As I mentioned above, I have continued my blogging efforts at brandonkelly.com.  Please update your RSS feeders accordingly!

There was a really great turnout at Orlando Code Camp last March, so when presented with an opportunity to speak again at Tampa Code Camp on July 14, I didn't hesitate.  It's really great to see so many enthusiastic software developers ready to get their hands on the latest and greatest knowledge.  Once they do, you can see the sparkle in their eyes like kids at Christmas, drumming up all sorts of fancy new ideas. 

This time I'm partnering up with Robert Sponaugle to do two 90 minute sessions.  First, we'll do AJAX in Action, the session I did at Orlando Code Camp.  We're also going to incorporate Microsoft's Enterprise Library 3.1 into the Help Desk application (from the AJAX in Action demo), and do a separate presentation of the library in action.  It should be another great turnout, and with Silverlight, .Net 3.0, and Orcas (coming around the corner) all hot in the mix, there should be some great sessions!

A few months back, I blogged about the decision-making process that I went through when changing our company's name to BusinessRx.  As we continue to settle into our new name, I've been questioning the conventional wisdom of just about everything.  We've developed a great logo, a great start on our new web presence and all of the new materials that a small business needs (letterheads, envelopes, cards) have been designed.  The last details for us to work out on having our business cards printed are:

• Should we have a 2-sided card? 
• Should we put the same conventional titles on these cards as we did our last cards?

The second detail is what I want to blog about today.  I've never been entirely comfortable with being "Owner", "President" or "CEO" of my company.  Our organization doesn't have a traditional top-down hierarchy like many others, so why should we use those terms to describe ourselves?  In addition, there's always the more esoteric argument that these titles don't really define who we are, but rather what we do (with little accuracy).  So, if not "President", what?

I started thinking -- about our attitude, and the way we want to position ourselves in the marketplace.  We want to be young without being foolish or cliche, hip without looking obvious, and most importantly -- we love to talk about software -- so we want people to ask us about that.  Since we view software as a unifying force that bonds everything together in the modern world, we get an opportunity to talk about software when someone asks us just about anything.  So, instead of trying to think up titles that describe what we do, we've decided to use titles that better define who we are.  I've asked each team member to think about this and come up with at least 5 workable titles that describe them -- preferably something little known that they are proud of.  Here are some ideas for mine:

1. Brandon Kelly / Married a triplet and finally got his big family.
2. Brandon Kelly / Wrote his first interpreted scripting language in Pascal at age 11.
3. Brandon Kelly / Once obsessed over a software project so much he didn't shower for a week.
4. Brandon Kelly / Likes to watch Star Trek re-runs while he codes.
5. Brandon Kelly / is pretty sure he suffers from a mild form of OCD

These probably could use some work, but the idea is to communicate some personal accomplishment that shows value in having a conversation with our team members.  I've been told some of the big-wig suits may not fall in love with this more than personal, not-so-sterile approach.  When I consulted Jules Allen (a self-described Pragmatist) about this concern, he had this to say:

I like the way you think -- as always. I picked that title as there's a great line from Dennis Miller that goes something like this:

"...and I'm a pragmatist. Which means that anybody who doesn't agree with me is an ***."

I've always liked that.

My advice is never to censor your personality or the way you interact with the world. Sure, you might not appeal to some brand of suits but, frankly, who wants to work with them anyway? If they won't or don't get that part of you what else are they going to miss? You might not see yourself as such but you're a creative dealing in ideas.

My strapline for Allen Labs, LLC, is "We suck a lot less than most consulting companies." People universally love it. Initially I thought it might not be received so well and I was completely wrong. In a business where consultants are afraid of being themselves they edit their personalities down to the blandest common denominator. Make it easy to stand out. Have a differentiator.

Don't forget that we're all human. We're drawn to confidence, enthusiasm, we all have lives outside of work, and put our trousers on one leg at a time.

I love the conversation starters and I'm stealing that idea.

We're still going through this process, so I'm eager to hear back from my readership about this idea.  Furthermore, if you have ideas about titles, or would like to share your perspective on your job title, I'd love to hear about that too.

I won't pretend that I should be a System Administrator for any network that really matters -- but I do have at least a basic understanding of protocols, ports, and the various means that hackers commonly use to compromise software, systems and networks.  Today I've been configuring a new application test server for a project we're working on.  This server will be hosted in a Data Center where I am leasing a 1U space in a rack.  Because I only get 1U, this machine will be connected directly to the Internet.  Usually, I keep all our servers behind or in the DMZ of restrictive firewalls that I feel comfortable configuring, but this will be an exception.

So I went hunting for a solution to secure access to this machine in just a handful of pre-defined ways.  Like any good software developer who has better things to do than determine which encryption protocol is better (3DES or AES) or learn the semantics behind PPTP, I hit the web looking for an off-the-shelf software solution I could setup easily.  I found many options, all of which looked like 3rd party software that would take the time to bring my dual processor dual-core Xeon server to it's knees while the software figures out the appropriate way to allow or deny web traffic to the box.  No, I wanted something integrated, easy to setup and hassle-free.

Enter IPSec support in Windows Server 2k3.  Ok, it's definitely not the easiest solution to configure, but armed with my basic knowledge of computer networks it wasn't rocket science (or even that much computer science), either.  In about 20 minutes I was able to setup a basic firewall policy right inside Windows Server that doesn't require some 3rd party mystery software, and uses industry accepted protocols to secure our new test server.  Not to mention, I learned a few new tricks.  Since I'm not an expert, I'll cite some resources where interested parties can find out the how and why of IPsec in Windows Server:

• http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netsecur/article.php/3489911
• http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/6ea5e4b9-13a3-48bc-bb2e-0f801501c5f51033.mspx?mfr=true
• http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10878_11-6547.html - Screen by Screen instructions

Enjoy!

The good folks over at Microsoft held a demonstration hosted by Tim Huckaby from InterKnowlogy about .Net 3.0 technologies last Thursday -- specifically developing applications with XAML and WPF.  Tim did a good job of covering the topic, here's a brief rundown of what we saw:

• Tim showed us some great XAML applications, including an application for the Life Sciences (that's the science of Healthcare -- as opposed to the business of Healthcare for the rest of us) industry that aids in the research and development of cures for cancer.  He showed us how easy it is to build complicated renderings using XAML and WPF. 
• We also saw an awesome application for CAD designers.  This thing had 3D rendering of Autodesk files with pan/tilt/zoom and the works.  According to Tim, the hardest part of writing that application was the file conversion fro Autodesk to WPF instructions.
• We got some lip service on WPF/E (mostly due to time constraints) -- technology that allows developers to host WPF content on various platforms.  Imagine WPF content on your cell phone, in your web browser and more.  Isn't there another vendor that has a "plug in" for this?  :)

In some unrelated, but still good news, I got an important leak from our local Microsoft partners this week (shhhh... tell everyone).  Word on the street is that MSDN Premium subscribers are going to get Expression Web and Expression Blend at no additional cost.  This -- of course -- will mean good things to come for WPF designers/developers, regular web developers and anyone who just doesn't care for tag markup.

I try hard not to make this blog about my rants and raves on consumer products or services -- but today's going to be an exception.  Recently, I've had 2 separate experiences with different airlines which I thought might be helpful to my readers.

About 3 weeks ago my Aunt came to visit from Boston.  She's blind and very independent -- so travel is something she probably finds difficult but seems to handle well anyway.  At the end of her visit, I took her to the airport for her flight back to Boston.  We were both surprised to learn that JetBlue had canceled her flight (and many others) due to a brutal snowstorm.  Logistically, they had more seats sold than they had planes available.  I'm sure this caused an inconvenience for everyone on the flight, but I believe my Aunt was likely more inconvenienced than most passengers.  The customer service representative proceeded to inform us the next flight she could get a seat on was over 24 hours away, and that there was no relationship with other airlines to provide her a seat on another airplane.  This situation would have caused my aunt some grief, as she has to make special arrangements for transportation, care of her guide dog while she was away, etc.  The JetBlue representative was friendly, courteous, attentive and spent nearly an hour researching alternatives.  In this time, she was continuously checking the status of a flight that had been booked full going out to Boston on the same day.  When a seat on that flight had opened, she was quick to grab that seat and lock my aunt in on that flight, providing a solution that didn't bring my aunt so much grief and gave us a few extra hours to enjoy lunch together. 

This was the second time I had seen a JetBlue customer service representative go above and beyond the call of duty to deliver excellent service.  In a previous incident, I had been flying from Boston to Tampa last September on a JetBlue flight that had to be grounded in Orlando because the smell of smoke had filled the cabin.  When I was on this flight, the woman sitting in the seat next to me grew hysterical quickly, but the JetBlue flight attendants showed excellent tact and care when dealing with her and all of the passengers on that flight.  Needless to say, we all landed safely in Orlando (instead of Tampa) and were provided shuttle service to Tampa at no cost.  Without further solicitation, JetBlue contacted me to tell me that they were providing each passenger on that flight a free one-way travel voucher as reimbursement for the trouble they had gone through.

I firmly believe that JetBlue's customer service team consists of engaged employees -- employees who feel that their job is worth doing well.  These are likely employees who have been provided with the right tools to deliver quality service to their customers.  Beyond that, what makes this company wonderful isn't just how they handle these situations when they come up, but how they actually modify their process to avoid future problems.  After apologizing to it's customers for the numerous delays weeks ago, JetBlue launched an initiative called the Customer Bill of Rights, a policy that provides a framework for handling delays and cancellations with customers.  This type of continuous integration of improvement into their processes is a great reason why JetBlue is one of the few profitable airlines left, and why they see the relationships they have with their customers in the long-term.  In a world where it's easy to rant about who's screwing you now, it's refreshing to see a growing company pay such careful attention to bringing humanity into their business model.

In stark contrast, I recently had an experience with another airline that was anything but favorable.  Last summer my wife and her friend had booked a trip to Virginia Beach through US Airways.  Her friend's uncle had passed away a day before they were supposed to go, and they had to cancel the trip.  When we canceled the reservation, we were told that because the cancellation was due to a funeral in the family, that the $100 re-scheduling fee would be waived when we wanted to book a new flight.  This weekend, we went to redeem that coupon and book a flight to Boston.  Here's a run-down of how that experience went:

1. I first went to US Airways website to book the flight using the cancellation number that was previously provided to me for our original ticket.  The website provides no facility to book a flight using a credit in this fashion, so I proceeded to call 1-800-428-4322 to book my reservation on the phone.
2. The phone system tells you first hand that it will cost an additional $10 to book a flight using the telephone.  This is insulting as US Airways provides no facility to book a flight in this fashion other than the telephone.
3. I waited on hold for 28 minutes (yes, I time these sorts of things) before a representative answered my call.  Once I was on the line with a representative, they made quick business of letting me know I had to be transferred to another department to book a flight using a voucher that had already been issued.  I waited on hold for another 34 minutes, where a recording answered my call and said "We're sorry, your call could not be answered at this time.  Please try again."  After hearing this message, I was quickly disconnected.  I didn't mind waiting on hold too much because it gave me a chance to work on my Spanish.
4. Frustrated, I called the 1-800 number again, and this time listened to every prompt, looking for an option to get the department that I needed without having to wait for an initial representative to transfer me.  There isn't an option to get this department directly, so I waited 48 minutes, where I was eventually disconnected.  This time -- with no recording.
5. At this point I called it a day, and waited until Monday morning to make another attempt.  I then called and was answered by a representative within 8 minutes.  That representative went to transfer my call, where I waited another 22 minutes.  Finally, I got a representative on the phone from the correct department, who claimed she could not hear me, and that my call was breaking up.  She proceeded to tell me to call back again, and I was disconnected.
6. Thinking this might be because of my telephone, I repeated this exercise 2 more times from different phones (my home phone, my cell phone, my wife's cell phone).  Finally, after about 2 hours, I spoke with a representative to book my flight.  At this point, I had invested a total of nearly 4 hours over 2 days in an effort to get someone on the phone.
7. When I asked to book the flight, the representative indicated that a $100 re-scheduling fee would be assessed for the ticket.  I had explained that we were previously promised this fee would be waived.  She said she would have to put me on hold (18 minutes) and came back and said that there would be no cancellation of the fee.  This was policy and the fee would have to be assessed.  I asked (politely) to speak with her supervisor.
8. After holding an additional 12 minutes, I spoke with the representative's supervisor, who confirmed that the fee would be waived.  I proceeded to share with her (in detail) the horrendous customer service experience that I had just endured.  I then provided the supervisor with 2 options.  Option 1 would be that I would pay the $100 assessment, book this flight, but would never be a customer of US Airways again.  In addition, I would make an effort to tell as many people as I could about the level of service I had received over the last 2 days -- reminding my friends and family that they had a choice of airlines when they fly.  Option 2 would be to deliver on a commitment that was already made by US Airways, where I would leave this situation satisfied and consider my service experience atypical. 

I couldn't help but stand aghast when the US Airways customer service representative actually told me that she "didn't need my business".  Yes, that's a direct quote from our conversation.  I responded to this with my own notable quote, "JetBlue would never treat me this way."  I'm sure there's somebody at US Airways who would also be appalled if they had the same experience I just had -- but that person is in an office somewhere, far, far away from the actual customers. 

Kudos to JetBlue and their excellent level of service.  Their competition just helped them make another customer for life.

I've been told that the Code Camp events are a fantastic place for developer geek types to geek out on all things software.  This year, I couldn't wait for Tampa Code Camp so I decided I'd go to the upcoming Orlando Code Camp on March 24.  It looks like they've got a great lineup of speakers and topics -- this should be worth your Saturday.  After talking with Joe Healy a few weeks back, he suggested that I present at one of these events.  Without giving this too much thought, I answered "yes", filled out a speaker application, and now I'm signed up.  I've never presented at one of these events before (a detail I should have considered more carefully when signing up) which is why this is such an exciting proposition!  I hope to see the turnout from the local development community for what should be a day filled with pure geek bliss.

I feel like I've just grown up -- and I'm the last one.  Heidi Bush sent me an invitation to join her on LinkedIn last September.  Not being one for bandwagons, I quickly dismissed this social networking nonsense and let her know I had no time for a MySpace page or anything even remotely close to it.  The truth is, MySpace has given social networking such a reputation as "kiddie stuff" that even the most well-informed Internet followers have trouble knowing what's useful and what's not when it comes to leveraging human networks.  This week I was propositioned by Dan D'Andrea to rethink my view of online social networks when he also sent me a LinkedIn invitation.

This fact that Dan and Heidi both sent me a link to the same resource itself is phenomenal.  Both Dan and Heidi know each other through an engagement we worked on together in 2004 and 2005.  Although they both knew each other, they both invited me into their networks separately.  They formed their own branches of a social network and both seeked me out to participate in that network.  I was left wondering: how many others will send me invitations to join their LinkedIn network before I check this thing out?  As it all turns out, Heidi was right and this really is a useful networking tool.  The service is based on the concept that networks are built within mutual contacts that are 3 degrees of separation from each other.  This means that as I join, I network and relate with people I know (first degree), people they know (second degree), and then one more level, to new contacts for both me and my network.  I was surprised to find out how many 3 degree connections I have to a number of C-level executives working for companies that we want to be future clients. 

Don't just take my word for it, here's the marketing buzz from the LinkedIn website.

LinkedIn is an online network of more than 9 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 130 industries.

When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you.

Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.

Through your network you can:

• Find potential clients, service providers, subject experts, and partners who come recommended
• Be found for business opportunities
• Search for great jobs
• Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals
• Post and distribute job listings
• Find high-quality passive candidates
• Get introduced to other professionals through the people you know

LinkedIn is free to join. We also offer paid accounts that give you more tools for finding and reaching the right people, whether or not they are in your network.

There are a number of other services that offer social networking for business professionals, but none seem to be as popular or as easy to use as LinkedIn.  I've now asked a select number of colleagues and partners who I feel will benefit as much as I will from this service to start developing branches in their own social networks.  I'm not trying to find out how I'm connected to everyone, just our next future clients.  I suppose others knew about the effect the Internet would have on social networking years ago, which is why these services exist in the first place.  Finally -- Brandon Kelly (the last horse) -- rides in.