Coach Boz’s Blog

As promised in my first note on this topic, here is part 2 of Guy’s article on cloud databases, which include simple introductions into C-Store and H-Store technology. It’s a quick read and a great primer if you’re looking for a place to start.

It may seem like it, but I’m really not picking on saas. Rather, I’m just trying to wrap my head around it from all angles, and in particular, in how one would “transition” to it from more traditional business models. Here I talked about the challenge of how customers think about their budgets. Another challenge comes up in terms of traditional sales model, as talked about here by Rod Drury, the New Zealand dynamo. It’s short, and worth a quick read if you are curious about what a company faces moving to saas offerings.

About a year ago, my cousin who is a junior in college, wasn’t returning my emails. I got frustrated and sent her a text message. Within a minute, I had a response. After further dialog (we did actually “talk”) I found that email was “so 90’s” and that to keep up with her, I would need to social network. This led to a discussion at work where I predicted that this generation will not tolerate what we currently call “collaboration” in today’s workforce.

Fast forward to today. Had a conversation with a customer who had a really sharp intern they wanted to hire. Kid politely says, “no thanks.” They ask him why and he said, “Everything’s great, but I can’t facebook.” This led the guy to poll his audience at a major college where he talks to Freshman classes about choosing a major. (he’s trying to spawn interest in IT). It was a class of about 450.

Question: How many of you have email accounts? Everyone.

Question: How many use their email accounts for social communication. Nobody.

Question: How many of you would turn down a job offer if you didn’t have free access to the Internet? Half.

The times, they are a changin’.

Final thought on my recent simplicity posts.

I came upon the following quote in a book I’m reading called An Intellectual History of Liberalism.  (BTW, it’s a very interesting read on the history and evolution of geopolitical movements and frameworks such as empires, city-states, oligarchies, monarchies, democracies, etc.) The (relatively small) book is itself a great example of simplicity, given the extremely tedious and voluminous subject. But one quote in particular really hit me as the author was talking about Machiavelli:

I shall confine myself to the idea that everyone, even those who have not read him, has of Machiavelli — that is, to the surface of his work, because it is this surface that influenced men’s minds. With an author of Machiavelli’s rank, the surface contains, so to speak, the depth. (p.13) [emphasis mine]

Take some time to absorb that.  “it is this surface that influenced men’s minds.” I think that is every bit as true today, but it’s not limited to Machiavelli!  It happens to you and to me.  And, likely, we do the same “surface” reading of others.  The real genius is to achieve what he credits to Machiavelli, which is that “the surface contains, so to speak, the depth.”  THAT should be our goal.  That our simple surface — presented through simple, clear, concise communication — is the same as the depth of what we’re trying to communicate.

That is no small challenge.

Several have asked me for more information on the general concept of cloud databases and their impact on the database market. I would highly recommend this article written by a colleague of mine, Guy Harrison, who is one of the brightest minds in the database and development industry from a practical perspective. Meaning, Guy has the rare ability to distinguish theoretical hopefuls from probable actuals. As such, this article gives a nice, grounded view of all this talk about cloud databases. It’s part 1 of 2, so when the 2nd part comes out, I’ll let you know.

Picking up from an earlier post on simplicity, I found this idea interesting. Sounded great at first, but after watching the video, I think I hate it. Initially it sounded great, but then you could tell the guy was just becoming a slave to the clock. I get the idea of keeping the slides tight and simple, and I’m all for it. But you can also stress out your audience in a big way if you’re not careful.

Most people listening to your presentation will vicariously feel your emotional state. If you’re excited, it will catch on. If you’re nervous, it will make them feel uneasy at your nervousness (like watching a train wreck in slow motion). If you’re rushed, they’ll feel uneasy. So I’m really not sure I like this style, but it did get me thinking about what styles do work. It’s a good question to ask ourselves: What styles work best, and do I use them?

Over the past several days, I have been continually hammered with a resounding awareness of the power of simplicity. It has come in many forms, some of which may merit their own post, but the essential point is the same: simply communicate. Or maybe better said: communicate simply.

If you’ve never tried to do it, you may find it’s way harder than it sounds.  Here is where coaches will make or break it.  Playbooks are generally pretty thick.  Options for every play seemingly unlimited.  Yet you have these kids that have to absorb it, and implement it, along with every other distraction they have going on in their life.

Making the complex simple in coaching is rewarded and appreciated.  But not always so in business.  Sometimes the one who dazzles with technical talk or obscure ideas is seen as the smartest guy in the room.  Well, he may be the smartest, but not the wisest.  In fact, he may be neither.  Until he can “simplify” it, one may never know. More on simplicity in coming posts.

Tony Bain has written a nice succinct post from someplace we don’t hear from often: the real world. It is a quick and interesting read on a few obstacles to saas adoption. This one is VERY true, yet often overlooked. (note: CAPEX = Capital Expense; OPEX = Operational Expense)

CAPEX vs OPEX. The primary issue we encounter when positioning SAAS is an organisations budgeting process hadn’t planned for a SAAS offering. Many customers get a CAPEX budget approved in advance, then evaluate tools and on making their selection they need to spend the budgeted CAPEX. An OPEX based SAAS offering may be a good fit for them, but the requirement to go back and redo budgeting is so undesirable that almost always in this situation the customer will elect the CAPEX option.

It’s not like it’s tough to overcome technically, but it will require a shift in budgeting philosophy.

I’ve talked a bit about MySQL and a commenter on that thread agreed that they are really well positioned to be a cloud player. Before Sun acquired them, it was public knowledge that Oracle had made a bid for MySQL. Marten Mickos, MySQL’s CEO, got pretty aggressive in the media against the bid saying they didn’t want to be acquired, but rather wanted to grow to be a strong, independent company. Then they were bought by Sun. I think Marten would make the argument that they ARE still a strong, independent *database* company, even though they are inside of Sun. And that does have some merit.

But that said, MySQL was accountable to their investors and if Oracle had bid high enough, the deal would have happened. I was asked on a call the other day if Oracle screwed up by not making that deal happen. In the short-term, I don’t think so. But in the long term… I think they have a real threat on their hands.

Cloud computing represents the biggest disruptive technology the industry has seen in a long time. Today, the cloud databases are not anywhere nearly as capable as their traditional counterparts. How much do they need to be? You can pretty much do everything you need in the app layer. It’s harder, but does have it’s benefits. But of all the “traditional” databases, MySQL is best positioned (I think) to move to the cloud effectively.

We shall see, but I think it would have been wise for Oracle to pony up now and have them under their umbrella. Then again, Larry [Ellison, Oracle CEO) seems to have done OK thus far without any advice from me.

Hot dogs, barbecue, and resume updating.  Every six months I like to stop and do a career check. Obviously, the New Year is a great time to take an introspective look at your career, but I find a mid-year check to be helpful as well.

These are some things I look for in comparison to where I was six months ago:

1) Am I making any progress on career goals?

2) Reflect on some of the valuable experiences I had (good and bad).

3) What new stuff did I learn?

4) Am I more, less, or the same value in today’s job market?

5) Do others view me as more, less, or equally favorable?

Then I update my resume accordingly.  If I don’t have any updates to the actual resume, but am making good progress toward something, then I’m OK with that and will drive to getting it added in the January revision.  But if I haven’t made progress, I’m not more valuable, and I haven’t learned anything… well, might be time to do some serious introspection between burgers during the holiday cookout.