On the futility of IT middle-management

Sometimes managing your chain of command is like leading a conga line of blindfolded, homicidal psychopaths through a knife shop.

Technology is a lot of things, including complicated and unforgiving. Technology does not care about your political views or career. Sometimes, it can seem as though it’s out to ruin your career.

In large information-technology shops, there is a hierarchy. At the top are executives. Underneath them are layers of management. Underneath the management are the technical experts who touch the actual pieces of technology.

This begs a few questions, about why the technologists need managers, for example. Or, why executives don’t touch technology. It might seem obvious that the most technical person in the room is the best person to lead the technical organization.

Interestingly, that is not usually the case. I have been in large and small private and public enterprises, and it is my direct experience that leadership in information technology is unquestionably technical, but not the same thing as being a (or the) technical expert in any particular discipline.

This probably reflects the inherent complexity of systems, which is a mathematical discussion for another time. It might be akin to the hospital, which often operates much like an IT shop does.

In the hospital analogy, experts from various disciplines who don’t always work together come together for the care of a particular individual. That individual is analogous to a line of business or technology in a large IT enterprise.

Just as in the hospital, experts must work together on a patient where internal biological relationships are not always obvious, and effects are not always easily tracked to their root causes.

In both cases, the prescription of one expert can easily cause upset in unanticipated areas of the system (patient), and a cascading chain of effects can quickly become deleterious.

The interconnectedness of the components which comprise the modern data center is startling. The relationships are not linear, they are exponential and tracking them is something of a burden for any IT operation.

Back to my opening statement. As a middle manager, leading executives safely through the pitfalls of the technology which their decisions affect is not unlike the experience of leading blindfolded maniacs through a knife shop.

Good night, Detroit,

ACC

Electricity-Free Aquariums!

I have hit upon my new form-factor.

Specifics:

Electricity-free aquarium
Indoor Outdoor
Range 55-80°F

Nymphaea waterlily
3-4 Fancy Guppies
2 Apple Snails
Redwood

86.6 in.² Surface Area
2.75 Gallons

The containerization of the lily allows for easy substitution with any number of others, including ferns and a wide variety of aquatic plants.

The living redwood provides constant food, especially to the snails. The biology level is at 50% of what the surface area will support and by species, enjoys a bit of crowding.

It would be very easy to substitute betta (Siamese) fighting fish, which would be very happy in this environment. Zebra danios would also be happy in this terrarium-like structure. Temperature control is excellent. Safety level is high. The container is low distortion, high visibility.

All of the hiding places are transparent. So you get good biological activity and visibility of behaviors which are not always viewable in a aquarium.

The plant container also has quite a bit of perfectly-sized empty space which would be ideal for a hatchery or shrimp or any number of small creatures which would enjoy having their own, “dome within a dome.”

More later. I just wanted to share.

ACC

Connecting Cypress, Japan, currency devaluation and more on a Friday morning

It could be time to check back in on that whole China versus Japan thing, particularly with respect to how it affects the United States. I am dictating this to my iPhone stuck in traffic, so please excuse the inevitable typos and so forth. They are better than a car accident.

To recap: a couple of weeks ago I offered some predictions around market drivers and, in separate posts, commented on the brewing kerfuffle between China and Japan over some disputed islands.

(A lot of the time, my follow-up thoughts to a particular blog are in my Twitter feed, so )…without forcing you to go through all of it I will summarize that Russia has also been buzzing United States military installations and clearly signaling an interest in maintaining peace along its very long border with China.

The reason I know this is because I read the news. It’s not because I am an investigative journalist with deep connections. If you’re interested in what I’m reading, that is nearby. I am hoping what I am pointing out here is well known. At the same time, it occurs to me that it might not be, and perhaps an American citizen better speak up and point out some connections.

This is a really long and complicated story, and I don’t want to go into all the details. The short version goes that recently Japan has been devaluing its currency and in so doing, raising its domestic stock market on a trajectory that has not been experienced in that economy for years. They learned how to do this by watching the United States.

The prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, is also on a political trajectory which seems probable to result in a collision with the Chinese over islands which are, strategically and resource speaking, quite valuable.

Pres. Obama and his cabinet have made clear that the United States will stand with Japan on the matter of the islands’ defense, if called upon to do so. (Let’s leave aside for another time whether that was a good strategic call, particularly so early in the dance).

What this means is that the United States is now committed to an outcome over which it has very little control. Neither China nor Japan is particularly beholden to the United States when it comes to foreign-policy, particularly in what both of them consider to be their backyard.

Pres. Vladimir Putin, of Russia, has for some time been particularly outspoken in his criticisms of the United States. The Russian military has also been increasing the number of close flybys on American installations throughout the Pacific region. In the background, Cyprus disproportionately affected Russian oligarchs, presumably including Pres. Putin and his associates.

It’s probably not necessary to remind readers of this blog that relations between the United States and Russia have been frosty, and that proxy wars are underway in the Middle East and elsewhere, echoing the geopolitical circumstances of several decades ago.

From a strictly geographical perspective, Russia has a lot more invested in keeping the Chinese happy then in keeping the Americans happy. Russia and China have enough disputes in the past to understand the formidable challenges of a fight, or even tension, along their shared border.

So, the Russians and Chinese have made peace and find common antagonists in the United States and in Japan.

I’m really not smart enough to list all of the complaints that the Chinese and Russians might collectively have against the United States and Japan, but I’m sure that a little bit of thoughtfulness on the part of the reader will reveal plenty of reasons. Pick any three, and belligerence might seem reasonable.

So put the geographical situation together. China and Russia make nice. China’s increasing its belligerence toward Japan with respect to some islands. Russians are doing the same thing to the Japanese, over different islands, and to the Americans well, just because.

Meanwhile and seemingly half a world away, this thing in Cyprus cooks off, and let me tell you it is not anywhere near as clean as Brussels would like us to believe. That meltdown is far from over.

One looks beyond the obvious. Russia is pissed off. Sure. Everybody else gets a pass and they have to take a haircut? Okay, so what?

Well, the euro zone is still being held together by Mario Draghi’s commitment to, “do whatever it takes.” That commitment was and is ultimately backstopped by the United States, through a series of arcane mechanisms.

One way to look at this is that the Cypriots and Russians took a haircut because the Americans ultimately told the Europeans how it was going to go down. Ouch.

Everything was broken but fine in the euro zone until the Russians got it in the pocketbook. Russian oligarchs take a 40% write-down on assets and the Americans and Japanese get away with devaluing their currency so that they can have a rocket ship of a stock ride? How does this make sense to anyone but us?

There’s more, but I’m trying to make a point and I don’t want to burden the reader with too much detail. Read what’s nearby, or Google this for yourself. Major publications are talking about the tensions escalating between Japan and China, and North Korea stomping around like an angry kid on a playground could be just the excuse to kick this puppy off. Wait for it.

My ultimate fear remains the same. That, at some point, patriotic Americans will say we should consider writing off our unpayable debt to the Chinese, because they are on the other side of some international standoff. That could call the whole faith and credit of the United States Ponzi scheme into stark relief, and that will be good news for no one.

ACC

PS I wrote a little while about market drivers and would like to say that I feel pretty cocky right now. So in the spirit of having nothing on this and only eight readers anyway, I am predicting the American bull market continues, and now would be a good time to start buying into commodities. In the market, gold is probably going to start going back up soon. If you’re into physical assets, silver is every man’s gold.

Little Fry Swam for It!

It’s Sunday morning. The weather is fine. All five of the children are perfectly dreamy. Mom is in a great mood.

The coffee she makes is so much better than mine. As I was sipping it, I found myself daydreaming about the glass I bought at the Salvation Army yesterday, and how beautiful it’s going to be soon.

These creatures are peaceful. They don’t even fight amongst themselves for food. Two of the six fancy guppy males just added passed away over the last 48 hours, undisturbed by their tankmates.

Yesterday, I put two new red cherry shrimp, and one tiny little fry, whom Lisa from the local fish store included gratis, in with a whole lot of curious take mates.

The children and I had spent 30 or 40 minutes watching Little Fry swim in the bag with the two older shrimp, who won’t eat their own.

Guppies will eat shrimp fry. Shrimp are delicious. We all know that. So, we all hooted and hollered in front of the glass for the Little Fry to swim, swim, swim!

And Little Fry got to the bottom and found the perfect hiding place, in some Brentwood rock I’ve got piled up in one corner for just that purpose.

But you know what? Little Fry went crazy!

He kept perching himself on top of the Rockpile of Safety, and then launching into the stream to try to get to the plant that would’ve been perfect, except for the eight mail fancy guppies in between him and it.

And we hooted, and we hollered.

I’ll tell you what. The only surviving neon tetra had a thing for Little Fry. Those guppies would mouth him and then mysteriously decide he was okay, but Tetra wanted a leg.

Each time Little Fry snapped (like shrimp do), he got away from Tetra, right into a pack of curious fancies.

Incredibly, he escaped again and again. But then we would perch and go for it like a shrimp possessed.

He’s nimble, I’ll give him that.

When we went to bed last night, Little Fry was still alive. He had begun bravely making his way around the edge of the tank, en route to the plant the long, and smart, way.

Good morning. Thanks for reading.

ACC

PS I am writing this at the end of the third week in March and I am sorry to say that I do not think little fry made it. For all of his fans out there, so sorry. You may rest assured that he was valiant to the end

Drone Bases in North Africa Do Not Support Long-Term American Interests

It’s time to discuss American drone warfare again.

This article from the Wall Street Journal (paid access) brings forward some questions that we need to talk about as citizens.

U.S. Boosts War Role in Africa

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324539404578338590169579504.html?mod=rss_mobile_uber_feed_europe

Here is a free Google feed on the topic:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=nws&q=drone+base+Africa&oq=drone+base+Africa&gs_l=mobile-gws-serp.3…5286.17289.0.18106.43.33.4.0.0.9.2008.9760.9j10j2j5j2j4j9-1.33.0…0.0…1ac.1.5.mobile-gws-serp.AMb6aqKop4E

I’ve posted elsewhere in this blog, “Responding to Charles Krauthammer…,” regarding my current general feeling toward endless warfare in America’s name.

Let me summarize by saying that adopting the variegated moniker ‘Al Qaeda’ does not to my mind inherently warrant immediate lethal American action. Simultaneously, when murder and mayhem to me and mine are in fact the goal of an individual or group, I do appreciate direct intervention by my government.

I think Westerners are beginning to understand that the theater of operations for the Islamist cultural movement, which is shaping up to be the transnational tribalism of the 21st-century, is looking for a home in the northern half of Africa. Well, that makes sense. Why wouldn’t resurgence occur near the wellspring?

Africa is a continent rich in resources and underdeveloped from the human welfare perspective. The individuals comprising Africa are neither stupid nor backward. The diaspora from that continent has enriched the entire world for millennia.

The people of Africa were also among the earliest widespread adopters of cell phone technologies. Growing awareness led to discontent with the status quo. Economic tension was exacerbated by American policies (ethanol, subsidies) leading to food shortages in places like Tunisia, launching events like the Arab Spring.

What is actually cyclical and circular only seems linear; the conditions for the Arab spring had a lot to do with American support for the earlier dictators in that region. On and on it goes..

Are Americans seriously expected to believe the individuals comprising N Africa are incapable of determining what sort of rules they want to live under without an American drone base nearby?

While democracy may be a long journey, can anyone pick a society’s leaders better than those who have to follow? Why pick and arm winners from an ocean or more away, perpetuating generations of violence?

Yes, there is room for improvement in governance and efficiency throughout N African civil structures. Rule of law, effective courts and human rights are bases for functioning society.

This awareness and expectation of basic civil society is only growing among the population of the world’s poorest countries. They are rapidly gaining access to the information and world cultural heritage that is the World Wide Web. I fail to see how Mirage jets and Reaper drones improve Malian, Nigerian or Algerian lives.

The West must also learn to look long and pause before criticizing others’ self-rule. Italy made the cover of the Economist this week in an unflattering light, the eurozone crisis is its own topic and Uncle Sam has recently been lampooned a time or two.

The Malian situation is a great example of Western floundering while economic power drifts away. The French (and Western allies, including the US) are literally killing humans on behalf of Army officers who led a coup a year ago. Where’s the cheese, America?

In N Mali, the Tuareg people have been fighting on and off for autonomy, without Islamist help, for many years. It’s just been a stalemate, that’s all.

The reason the Tuareg people suddenly became more successful in their attempts to achieve autonomy is because the weapons of Libya flooded into their territory.

Read that again, the weapons of Libya reinvigorated the Touareg drive for autonomy in Mali. And, don’t you know, the weapons came attached to an ideology (yes, there is always ideology attached to weapons).

That particular ideology is one that people regularly reject, once its fruits are on display for an Internet-enabled populace to see – and compare! Hence, the Tuareg people are now hunting Islamists right along with the Malian government and the French. Weird, but true.

This story echoes endlessly. How many times have weapons acquired for some state’s legitimate use (hold the legitimate-question for another time) ended up firing up the insurgency next-door?

In what way does facilitating French airstrikes significantly differ from conducting American ones? In some ways, the ethics of this question are amplified by the fact that the French clearly don’t have the capability to carry them out without us.

In other words, killing scores of people in the deserts of Mali is really hard to do without American intelligence and support. Why are we supporting it?

Where is the cheese in Mali? The Tuaregs turned against the Islamists after they realized what they were buying, just as the Sunnis did during the Anbar awakening in Iraq.

Who is to say that the years-long fight for Tuareg autonomy is inappropriate? That’s an old battle and it predates Al Qaeda. I’ll bet a nickel we hear it come up again before the base (that we know about) in Niger is dismantled.

The people in the countries we are discussing routinely carry automatic weapons and are steeped in decades of conflict. As I said, they are not stupid. It seems to me they are capable of working out for themselves, without us, what appropriate self-rule might look like.

It also seems to me that the lesson of the Taliban-in-exile-from-Afghanistan is object enough, to those who might consider hosting the types who do publicly declare war on America. Especially if they are effective in their mayhem. Check. Everyone got that message.

With respect to object lessons and echoes, wasn’t it Moammar Qaddafi, of that very same Libya, who turned over his nuclear weapons to America, without a shove, after he saw what happened to those guys in Afghanistan? Or, am I misremembering how that went? Was his choice a precursor to being toppled from his rickety throne? Seems ironic, if so.

There are enough Things that go boom in that part of the world. They don’t need American help to fight one another. I think we’ve done enough. Let the people of N Africa sort themselves without American drones guiding allies’ missiles and bombs.

There is a time and place for a muscular American foreign-policy. This is not it. Supplying information, intelligence and support to French triggermen in no way of absolves us of responsibility.

There are better American gifts we can to bring to any country. The United States is about to experience the largest energy boom ever. How about we concentrate on bringing resources home to really leverage that (and invite the world to peacefully share in the benefits of what we already have)?

If another crop of hardened fighters must be born in the deserts of N Africa, let other nations do the midwifing alone and Reap the consequences. The people of N Africa do not have to loathe Americans and their drones, yet.

I’ll say it again, America, we can be smarter.

It’s not too late.

ACC

3 Odd Partners Form a Front

The South Koreans just let the Japanese know there are some islands they’d like to discuss.

That makes three nations, at least, actively engaging the Japanese over island real estate. The South Koreans and Chinese are especially affected by yen devaluation. (My logic for Russian aggression is in an earlier post).

Within the last 30 days, all three have had Japan on their minds. I’m working from bed before Sleepytime, so I’ll put more links in tomorrow. If you really care, you can find them in the Twitter feed nearby.

In any case, my earlier probabilities stand.

One aside, Cyprus may never get a chance to come to full flavor. Italy may steal the show.

Fish Therapy

Guppies are beautiful. They are children’s starter fish and perfect for my kids. Or, they are perfect for me and the kids make a wonderful excuse.

Recently, I was sick and during my convalescence became interested in fish. I didn’t realize how therapeutic they are. Frankly, fascinating.

Slower moving, big-finned, showy freshwater models seem to be my thing right now. The betta fish has been moved to a columnar vase; when his tank is dressed I’ll show you.

Something about watching these delicate creatures ceaselessly coalesce and then dissipate eases the mind. One is permitted space to contemplate; inductive reasoning may even result.

An agreement with my therapist to stop analyzing people whom I’m not paid to, taken together with the introduction of a very affordable hobby, has really increased writing output. The eight followers of this blog will know that productivity has increased markedly over the past couple of months.

Hopefully, you will enjoy the picture posted here. If you are a fish hobbyist, let me know, especially if we travel in common circles. This new interest is absorbing.

ACC