So another DevTeach, this time in Mississauga, has come and gone.

Previous ones I have been an attendee; this time I was a speaker. I was honoured to be selected and proud to be chosen to discuss a few topics that I have been learning and playing with for me. Overall, I think it was a great event. It was a new venue (was held at the MS offices in Mississauga), so was slightly different than the hotel experience. My first presentation went pretty well; thanks to James Kovacs for selecting me for it as well as providing some assistance during the talk. My second one… not so much.

Some hardware failures immediately before (read: 5 minutes) meant that I started a bit late and some of the features I wanted to show were not working as well as I wanted. So, this leads to 2 things that I have identified for me: First, Windows Updates can kill your machine right before a presentation as you never know what it will do. Second, buy a new laptop. I now have justification.

For those who attended and saw my talks, I thank you. Although I have spoken locally in Winnipeg before, this was my first speaking event to such an audience. I took a lot of the feedback (good and bad – especially the bad) and am working it into an action plan of how to move forward with doing better the next time. More demos, less jumping to the meat but putting the plate out first, that kind of thing. For those that were not as thrilled with my SketchFlow talk because of the issues with the machine (and I am one of them), I plan on creating a few webcasts of what I did. These webcasts I will post on my site (or elsewhere with links from here) to the videos so as to make up for the not-as-great-as-I-wanted talk.

Well, time to board the flight home. A lot of lessons learned, and some new things to consider as I move forward.

Cheers!

Although I write this before the event is complete, my part in presenting is. For those who are learning to present more in public (like me), I write this with some lessons learned for me and for anyone else interested. (For a summary of all sessions at the event, check out http://www.winnipegcodecamp.com )

First, do not trust your computer. It’s a tool and tools break down. Create a fallback plan. This is the 3rd time I have presented on ASP.NET MVC and it’s also the 3rd time that my laptop has died shortly beforehand. At least this time I had several days to recreate everything. I think I did OK, but not as well as I could have. Instead of practicing my presentation I had to begin over again. So as a fallback – always save your work on a second drive or USB key. (I had done 2 other presentations for DevTeach and had completed those mostly so have those backed up but this one I had not moved to my backup drive.)

Second, get some sleep. Because of my tool failure and recovery plan, I got only 3 hours sleep. I also presented at 9 AM. Put those both together and we have a problem. Coffee helps but only in the short term; you still need sleep.

Third, don’t drink the night before. I only had one drink so I was fine. A colleague’s statement holds true, however: “I should NOT have played that much beer pong the night before I was to present.” I have heard various statements in regards to various types of drinks the night before presenting but also quantity which can lead to some serious hangover sessions (“Someone said my presentation this morning was pretty dry… not as dry as my mouth!”). Although I had one drink to calm some nerves, I only had the one and that helped. (OK, there was a shot as well but China White’s don’t count.)

Those are some base learnings I am taking away from here. The last 2 times I have done some public speaking have been amazing learning experiences and I take that information with me to make DevTeach an amazing event.

So my last post had a few things I wanted to achieve over the foreseeable future. It's just over one month since that post, not even a full month into the new year, and I have already achieved much more than I had thought!

• A better balance between personal and work life - Last year, while finishing up one project, I was doing regular 12-15 hour days because the work needed to get done and I wanted to make sure it got done so I did it myself instead of delegating some tasks to others. So far this year, while working on a new project, I have already begun to get into the normal 8 hour day. The thing will be holding to this once I get that momentum going.
• Be a better motivator and coach rather than a boss - Already this year I am working with a number of individuals to bring some best practices to my department. This last week we rolled out some new formats of documentation for the company to follow, and after my current project ends I am hoping to begin working with the team on individual improvements, provide them resources to take their careers to the next level, and bring out some better habits around the organization. (Can you tell I am a manager?)
• Speak more - Like I said before, I was accepted to speak at DevTeach. I am presenting at the Winnipeg Code Camp. I have submitted several abstracts to the first Prairie Developers Conference. All in all, looking up in this regard... but lots of preparation work! However this is definitely making me more knowledgeable in the areas I have chosen to speak on so it only helps me grow in this regard.  
• Become more proficient in new technologies - I am working on this piece by piece. There is a lot out there to choose from and that makes it difficult. I have always been interested in UI and UX so a lot of my focus is going there. Not necessarily the backend technologies, but the experience the user needs. This is where a lot of my focus is.
• Read more “inspirational” books - Since that last post, I have read a few on both leadership and company profiles. I love reading the books on individuals who build up a successful company and/or brand. My reviews of a few will probably be up in the next little bit, so definitely keep your eyes tuned.

I haven’t made a New Year’s Resolution in many years. My last one was to never again make a New Year’s Resolution. I am holding to that by creating an Early Resolution (TM) – well, several. This is more to give me goals to strive for within 2010 but also to keep myself acknowledged on my achievements so I can reflect, see what I did, and set the following year’s goals. I have already posted a few on Twitter, but wanted to put this out there as my personal checklist.

Last year, I gave myself the goal of wanting to speak on technical topics more publicly. I was happy to present at Microsoft TechDays here in Winnipeg with an Introduction to ASP.NET MVC on December 16.

Little did I know I would be speaking to around 100 people on this topic. For a novice speaker, a little intimidating, but gratifying. (It seems no one knew my laptop crapped out the night before and my demo was thrown together 9 hours before the presentation.)

But this gave me a step forward to help with my 2010 Early Resolutions.

• A better balance between personal and work life. I have a tendency to work too hard, to be a perfectionist, and let the personal life slide. Sometimes working so hard I make myself ill – like today as I write this. This will be corrected in the new year.
• Be a better motivator and coach rather than a boss. Instead of dictating everything, work more in collaboratively. Listen. Not get upset. Build up the team environment rather then the “US vs. THEM” mentality. I’ve read a few great books on leadership recently (reviews pending) and it inspires me more as to the kind of leader I want to be.
• Speak more. I have already committed (and been accepted) to 2 presentations at DevTeach in Mississauga in March (one on SketchFlow and another on jQuery). I am planning on doing a presentation at the Winnipeg Code Camp in February (topic TBD). I am considering putting together a few abstracts to submit to MIX (one of the largest web conferences). Speaking means you know your stuff, and this forces me to become knowledgeable in these areas.
• Become more proficient in new technologies. My day-to-day is no longer coding, but I need to know what’s out there. We are becoming, more and more, of a full service provider to our clients so we need to know what’s out there and what is available. As an analyst, I need to know to provide options and direction. I need a stronger pulse on what’s going on in industry.
• Read more “inspirational” books. To me, these are more business biographies and stories, either about the company or the person. Some of the most interesting I have read have nothing to do with technology, but the practices within are invaluable. I want to read at least one per month (on average). Recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Well, that’s my starting point. They are all somewhat tech oriented, and I am sure that more will come up. But this is a nice starting point. It gives me something to move forward to.

As it is now the 22nd and I still have to finish my gift shopping, I leave now, wishing everyone a great holiday (regardless of what you celebrate) and hope to post much more frequently in the future.

About a year and a half ago, I needed a new cell provider. I was not happy with MTS as my provider, as I was travelling out of Manitoba for work and conferences, and MTS is not a national provider and therefore charged me extra in roaming charges. For those of us who want a national plan, our choices (of a major provider) are Rogers and Telus. Having used Rogers at work, and heard some horror stories there, I chose Telus. It had its bonuses (cheaper plans) and negatives (no SIM card to just move to a new device), but I chose it anyway.

When I signed up, I picked up the HTC Diamond Touch. I originally wanted a BlackBerry Curve, but they had none, and without something I would have had no phone. So I went for the Diamond, for a few reasons:

1) It looked kinda cool. To go along with that, it had a lot of the applications and features I wanted built in.

2) It was a Windows Mobile technology. I use BB at work all the time, so having a Windows-based platform to play around on and program with was kinda cool.

3) The touchscreen capability. I actually do prefer a touchscreen to actual keyboard, but that’s just preference not a make-or-break.

In that year and a half, I have replaced the battery twice (the battery life sucks), had major problems with the touchscreen becoming unresponsive, and basically the Windows Mobile equivalent to BSOD on virtually every application (including the phone, which I really don’t see how that is even possible).

So today, I ventured back to my Telus store and bought a new phone: the BB Curve 8330 which is what I wanted to get a year and a bit ago. I am still setting up and configuring (doing the OS updates now) and will get the BB App Store installed soon (Step 10 of 11 in the update process is up to 30 mins long), and will then be back on my way to smartphone goodness.

One thing i was not expecting was to have to create the link to my email account on my PC; I couldn’t do it on the BB. The manual said I could (Internet Email or Exchange) but the BB only gave me the option for Exchange or skip. I chose skip, but that’s ok; I still got it working. Kinda frsutrating though. At any rate… here goes the BB venture.

I’m writing this post because of something that happened at work. Nothing bad, but a funny little event. But the results of that event give me pause: the response to said event was a “politically” correct one but not necessarily one that answered the support question, nor did it even broach the subject that perhaps someone was playing a prank on him. No, it glossed over keywords and provided what appears to be a form email in response.

The Issue

When working at a company with computer people, one thing you should learn: Never leave your computer unlocked. Your coworkers will inevitably prank you – either by emailing another coworker from your account, sending them love messages over messenger, or having your background changed. (All 3 of the above have happened to me.)

Recently, and individual got “Hoffed”, which is having your desktop background changed to one of many pictures of David Hasselhoff – see attached. This is the image in question.

The recipient of the “Hoffing” decided to contact Windows Support and request assistance to remove the Hoff from his machine. (This individual was able to remove it, but a strange occurrence happened as per his email which prompted the support email.

The Email

What follows is this person’s email with all names and contact information removed, but the exact contents being enclosed:

Dear Microsoft,

Recently, my wallpaper was changed to a tiled picture of a shirtless David Hasselhoff. After changing my desktop picture, I have noticed that my lockscreen still displays the Hoff, and he’s still shirtless.  How did it get stuck there?

Did windows recognize the Hoff and decide that it liked it so much that it should remain my lockscreen background forever? Is this some undocumented feature of Windows Server 2003?

Any information on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

As you can tell, some obvious sarcasm there. One could acknowledge that the email was sent because the individual was bored, or just wanted to pass along some hilarity.

Now, I don’t know if Microsoft’s policy is to reply to every support email or if they get personalized attention versus form letter responses, but this email did receive a response.

The Response

Here is the response, again with all names and contact information removed:

Hello XXXXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Customer Service.

I understand from your e-mail that you are unable to change the wallpaper on your Windows Server 2003 computer.

There are several ways to obtain support:

You may search for self-help articles to resolve your issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/ph/3198

You may also post your issue in the Microsoft newsgroups:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb430837.aspx

If the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 came from your computer manufacturer, they are your primary option for support:

http://www.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=oemphone

XXXXXXXX, you may also work with a Microsoft Support Professional via e-mail, telephone, and for some products, chat to resolve your issue. Please select the appropriate edition of Windows Server 2003 from the below link to contact the Support Professional. Depending on how you obtained your software, there may be fees to use the Assisted Support option: https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&x=14&y=13&c1=508&gprid=3198&&st=1

I hope the issue is resolved soon and appreciate your patience.

Thank you,

I see 2 issues here: One, this is most obviously a form letter, and 2, it did not address the issue requested. If it was, indeed, an auto-scan, it picked up on the keywords “wallpaper” and “Windows Server 2003” and focused on that. The individual mentioned that he removed it as a wallpaper already, but it was still there on the lock screen. None of the above links addressed that issue.

General Comments

Come on, Microsoft. If you are going to provide support, provide support; this is either an auto-scan with an automatic response from support individuals, or it is being responses by someone whose English language skills are not up to par. The question is not addressed herein; the initial “problem” that the individual quoted is being solved even after it was already done.

Lately, Microsoft has been great with how it approaches the developer sphere: open forum discussions, best practice sessions, opening up future developer products to beta far in advance to garner real feedback, stronger support for OSS. That’s a great leap in the right direction! But if the support team for your operating system environment cannot handle such a ridiculous comment as this one, and even maintain to resolve the wrong issue than was requested, then MS you got a ways to go… but at least one section of your company is on the right path.