SouthWest 4

First set of pictures from SW4 on Saturday. There are some pictures from my analogue camera (yes, I still have one) still to be developed and scanned.

A good time was had by all. Shapeshifters and Carl cox were particularly good but could've done without the rain.

technorati tags:sw4, southwest4, claphamcommon, clubing, dance, london, carl cox

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Bring it on (again)!!!

From 08:00:We Love Space (a.m. + p.m.) Closing PartyDanny TenagliaTiefschwarzJames ZabielaLayo and Bushwacka!Paul WoolfordTom NovyJason ByeScott MartinBig MicBuckleyCliff LayDave BeerDavid PhillipsDJ OliverJoe UptonJuan RibasOliver FaulknerSusso

Ibiza Spotlight

Going to Ibza in Sept; Manumission on Friday, Space on Sunday and (hopefully) Circo Loco (DC-10) on Monday.

technorati tags:IBZ, ibiza, eivissa, space, manumission, clubbing, DC-10, dancemusic

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Bring it on !!

DJs confirmed for this year include:Carl Cox & Friends | Paul Oakenfold | Pete Tong | John Digweed | Judge Jules | Sander Kleinenberg (live) | Steve Lawler | Seb Fontaine | Danny Howells | Fergie | The Shapeshifters (live) | Mauro Picotto | Stanton Warriors | Nic Fanciulli | Sander Van Doorn | Desyn Masiello | Ian Betts | Matt Hardwick

South West Four - August 26, 2006Where: Clapham Common, London SW4

Things to take: Glow sticks, carnival whistle, best euphoric dance moves, sunglasses & stupid hat

What not to take: Acoustic guitar, excessive clothing.

People you’re likely to see there: Drunk, almost naked Londoners who have had a little too much sun.

South West Four | music festival | By Tom Knight

Not sure I ever saw the nakedness on previous trips to SW4 though!!!  Lets hope Coxy (sic) is on last as the headline rather than first like he was last year - which I reckon is trick to get people there early.

technorati tags:sw4, clapham, clapham common, dance, house music

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Talking sense

Another thought experiment: Imagine for a moment that the British government arrested the 23 suspects without fanfare. Imagine that the TSA and its European counterparts didn't engage in pointless airline-security measures like banning liquids. And imagine that the press didn't write about it endlessly, and that the politicians didn't use the event to remind us all how scared we should be. If we'd reacted that way, then the terrorists would have truly failed.

Schneier on Security: What the Terrorists Want

Over the past few weeks I've watched the news on TV and read the reports in newspapers and on the web and I've been wondering why exactly have the British airports been banning cabin baggage. I mean - it seems - that what they're supposedly looking for wasn't even viable. I had my suspicions and now I've seen it debunked in a number of places (here and here). 

As Schneier says it means the terrorists are winning when we do this.  Especially when stuck on a longhaul flight with nothing to read and no music to listen to.

technorati tags:security, airport, uk

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Meetings

How to run a meeting. Hopefully, you’ll be running meetings soon. Then you need to understand that the primary purpose of a business meeting is to make a decision. It is not to share experiences or feel warm and fuzzy. With that in mind, here are five key points to learn about running a meeting: (1) Start on time even if everyone isn’t there because they will be next time; (2) Invite the fewest people possible to the meeting; (3) Set an agenda for exactly what’s going to happen at the meeting; (4) End on time so that everyone focuses on the pertinent issues; (5) Send an email to all participants that confirms decisions reviews action items. There are more power tips for running good meetings, but if you do these five, you’re ahead of 90% of the world.

Signum sine tinnitu--by Guy Kawasaki

Will remember this the next time I get the chance to run a meeting. This sort of thing rarely happens. To many times have I exited a meeting wondering "what happened there?"

technorati tags:work, meetings

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Agile

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

Principles behind the Agile Manifesto

I'm working on a supposedly Agile project. Yet the team is virtual. This means relatively few people work or sit together in the same same city even; I'm in London and I work with people in Ipswich, Watford, Cardiff, Birmingham and Glasgow. How's that ever going to work? Naturally it sucks!

To think on my last project I had a bit of a fit when half the team was moved to a floor below us.

technorati tags:agile, software development, projects

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Red Swing Bridge - Rotherhithia

Red Swing Bridge
Originally uploaded by brixtonboy.

There are a few things of interest in Rotherhithe (Canada Water).

The Art of the Layoff

Signum sine tinnitu--by Guy Kawasaki: The Art of the Layoff - found this interesting link whilst reading the mini-microsoft blog.  The guy makes a lot of very sensible point, however I (as well as one of the commenters) disagree with this point;

" Show people the door. With few exceptions, all you should do is let people finish the day—maybe the week. (My theory is that Friday is the best day to do a layoff because it lets people have a weekend to decompress.).."

Monday is the best day to do the deed. It allows the axed employee to start getting on with the rest of their life, sort out unemployment benefits (if neccessary), sending out that CV (you have been keeping it up-to-date! Right!) and other such matters that really can only happen on a weekday. 

Getting axed on a Friday means you have the whole weekend to stew on the decision and you cannot really start going about picking up the pieces again and moving on.  You've also added 2 days in the time to the next job.

One might also add not to do it in July or August as generally (in Europe anyway) the decision makers for the next job will all be on holiday.

I totally agree with;

"Cut deep and cut once. Management usually believes that things will get better soon, so it cuts the smallest number of people in anticipation of a miracle. Most of the time the miracle doesn’t materialize, and the company ends up making multiple cuts.

Given the choice, you should cut too deeply and risk the high-quality problem of having to rehire. If nothing else, it enables you to declare victory: “We’ve turned things around and we’re hiring again.” By contrast, multiple cuts are terrible for the morale of the employees who have not been laid off."

As I previously worked in a company that had layoffs in 4 rounds spread over 7 months.  the first cull happened around Easter time almost in secret; the relevent HR manager went from office to office setting up shop and "inviting" employees into his (hastily setup) room to give them their invitation to leave. In one instance the account manager had just returned from an afternoon at the client persuading them they needed a WAP site only to discover that the WAP developer had been given his marching orders.

As this progressed so too did the morale damaging rumors.  I'm not sure management ever really acknowledged this either.

The third one was blamed on the 11/09 (or is that 9/11) effect and slightly better organised in that we were all called to meetings in the various offices and told that when we got back to our desks the ones that were to leave would find "invites" from HR.

The fourth one was late in the year.  This one got me.  It gave me the kick up the bum to actually go and find something better. Which I did. However I'd chosen to stay (yeah we got a choice too).  So I chanced it and asked if the offer wsas still available. It was. So I left with a bunch of cash, the rest of December off and a new job with better pay, more holiday and better hours.

technorati tags:redundancies, layoffs, dotcom, netdecisions

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Now this is cool

Profile Widget - A little toy related to flickr

Here's what it generates for me;

technorati tags:flickr, widget, photos

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