Christmas List for Geeks and Engineers

Today is Black Friday in the US. It's the day after Thanksgiving Day and traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping rush. It's the busiest shopping day in the US every year. If you're like me, that will fill you with paralysing fear. The queues, the commotion, the clothes falling off the hangers. It's terrifying out there. But hurrah, technology has saved us once again! Jump online and have it delivered to you whilst you get on with your life. 

So, whether it's for a friend, colleague or loved one, here's our list of Christmas present ideas for those software nuts and computer geeks. Don't worry, we're not turning into a shopping channel or GQ magazine showcasing the "hottest and slickest" gadgets no-one can really afford, this is a fun Friday lunchtime post to embrace our inner nerd.

 

1.  CPG6 GRID-IT TM Organizer $9.99

Keep cables, wires and gadgets tidy with this nifty organiser.

   2. Wipe T Shirt $89.00

This smart T shirt  has a convenient, built-in microfiber cloth to wipe your glasses or mobile phone. 

3. Personalised QR Code Christmas Card on Etsy Approx £2.49

Embrace Christmas 2.0 and send a personalised message on a QRistmas card. 

 

 4. Binary Code Heart with I Love You Print on Etsy Approx £9.97

Say I love you to your partner in a way that they understand. 

5. "Backspace" T-shirt from Threadless  $10.00 (Mens and Womens sizes available)

Everytime you hit the backspace key, imagine that the cursor doing the moonwalk. How can you not be smiling?

Now, remember your Paypal password and get clicking. This activity contains no queues, no unhelpful sales assisstants and no need to fight for survival. Enjoy.

Steve Jobs and Dennis Ritchie's Guide to Success

Within four days the world lost two of the greatest technology pioneers. Apple’s CEO and founder, Steve  Jobs and Dennis Ritchie, an American computer scientist  and co-creator of the programming language C and operating systems such as Multics and Unix. Jobs’ and Ritchie’s characters couldn’t be more different. Jobs was known to be fiery and ruthless whereas Ritchie was humble and gentle. Catherine finds that despite being like chalk and cheese, they were both innovators who found a code to success...

Steve Jobs and Dennis Ritchie’s Code to Success 

1.   Reverse a trend. Ritchie and Jobs went against the grain and created something unexpected and new. They say that Jobs knew what customers wanted before they wanted it. Ritchie and his partner Kenneth Thompson felt that operating systems were too complex and they “attempted to reverse the trend” with the UNIX operating system.

2.   Make technology simple. The UNIX operating system was created to make computing as simple as possible and the vision for C was to create a programming language at a higher level of abstraction that people would understand and use. In the same breath, Apple’s intuitive, fuss-free iPods are cited as being one of the greatest gadgets of all time.

3.  Create a community. Ritchie explains that UNIX was created not just to be a good programming environment in which to do programming but a system around which a community or a fellowship could form. He said “close communication” was of key importance. Apple on the other hand created devices and a brand so iconic that they created a cult following so loyal they would rather go without than not have the little munched apple stamp on their phone or computer. The world boils down to a defined matrix of two hemispheres, two genders, and whether you’re a part of the Apple movement or not.

4.    Make it easy on the eye. UNIX was created to have “graceful facilities for decomposing complex computer tasks into simple subtasks”. Now, who’s to argue that Apple’s operating system isn’t graceful and their apps decompose life’s complex tasks into a small series of manageable subtasks.  

5.    Let the technology take centre stage. Their success wasn’t about them; it was about what they created. Jobs and Ritchie were both private men. One of Ritchie’s colleagues says of him, "I worked across the hall from him for more than 20 years, and yet I feel like don’t knew him all that well.” Steve Jobs on the other hand was the same but his insistence on leading a private life only fuelled the cult of personality that surrounded him.

Happy 100th Birthday IBM!

100 years old is an impressive age to reach for a company. As IBM point out in their essay on the occasion “Of the top 25 industrial corporations in the United States in 1900, only two remained on that list at the start of the 1960s. And of the top 25 companies on the Fortune 500 in 1961, only six remain there today.” 

They have launched a website to celebrate their 100^th birthday and their journey up until now. It is inspiring to know what a company can achieve in a century and how much technology has advanced since their conception in 1911.

 For our own company and growth, this quotation from Samuel J. Palmisano is especially poignant... 

“ If your business is based on

moving to the future, you

can’t be emotionally tied

to your past.”

— Samuel J. Palmisano,

Chairman, President and CEO, IBM

We have been working with IBM technologies and personnel since our incorporation and our consultants have worked with the tools in various industries for even longer. We are now Authorised Training Partners and not only work with IBM as a reseller but we also use our expertise to deliver a wide selection Rational courses. 

So all that remains to say is that we hope that we will be working with IBM for many more years to come and that we hope that our British IBM colleagues receive a telegram from the Queen (or does she send texts now?).          

And if you have a little more time, watch the IBM video they have created for the occasion...

Day 2 Exhibiting at The Ada Connection

Day 2 for us at Ada Connection and there was a few more new faces, and after the ice-breaker whisky reception the night before, a more relaxed atmosphere. The talks focused on code generation in the morning and the people we spoke to in the coffee break were keen for the presentations to start.

As people started to filter back into the conference rooms, we had a rare sighting. The sun. Exactly what those in the marquee wanted. In the tropical exhibition area, we made use of the quiet periods by tapping away on our laptops until the sandwiches were laid out on the central table in the marquee and we were all immediately distracted. We ate our share before the masses arrived and were able to talk to people about training and software migration. We were on a roll and gave several presentations on the Legacy Bridge Suite. It’s not all about sales though; for us it’s also about using these opportunities to find out views and opinions of various technologies and markets. I had a great conversation with a University lecturer from the US about student attitudes to programming mission & saftey critical software and Ada. (This will form an entirely separate blog post!)

Lunch finished and we were on the final straight. The man of many hats, Ahlan Marriot, treasurer of Ada Europe and next year’s conference organiser, came to our stand to talk about next year’s conference in Stockholm, Sweden. “Would we be interested in being at the conference next year?” I think so I replied. It’s been a well organised and well attended conference and we’ve met some interesting people whom we hope to work with in the future. Ada is a specialism of Objektum Solutions and so we will continue to support mission and safety critical software development. 

The second and last coffee break came and went with more discussions happening around the room. As the last delegate left, all the exhibitors dragged their boxes out from the behind the stands, pulled the plugs out and started to pack up their camps. 

Our official duties as exhibitors had ended and after short power naps in front of the Wimbledon coverage, we grabbed our jackets and bags and made our way to the spectacular Signet Library in the centre of town. We turned in to Parliament Square and right on cue, we followed the piper’s bellowing tune to the entrance of this grand building.   

Enclosed within the columns and walls of law books of the Lower Library, the Ada community delicately sipped on a glass of bubbly (thanks to AdaCore) and craned their necks to take in the splendour of the surroundings. A man with a big wooden hammer (I’m sure he has an official title) did his thing – namely hitting the hammer on another wooden object - to gather people's attention and he grandly called us into the Upper Library where dinner would be served. So, we made our way up the majestic staircase to the breath-taking setting of our banquet. Professor Les Hatton gave us an entertaining pre-dinner speech; one track of which was “Why programmers are monkeys?”. I am not a programmer myself but I work with many of them so I wish I had made notes to prove this theory when I return to the office on Friday.

I’ll quickly mention the starter, pea and mint soup, but the plate that stole the show was the haggis. Man carrying hammer (aka MC Hammer) did his bit and welcomed the haggis. We clapped the haggis in as it was accompanied by the piper and made its way to the front of the hall (on a tray, not on legs). Tom Anderson loudly broke into Scottish verse and we thought he’d gone mad. It unfolded that this was in fact Scottish tradition and Tony Elliston of Ellidiss Software pointed out that there were some “wee drams” of whisky at the front which would go to those who played a part in the Haggis performance that evening; the Piper, The Artist Formally Known as Tom, MC Hammer and the Haggis. The haggis had rave reviews that evening and one critic said of it, “It’s the best I’ve ever tasted”.  

Main course of sea bass and desserts were laid down by the silver service staff and the speeches started. There was a tiny bit of chocolate torte left on my plate but the speeches were all entertaining enough to distract me from it for a short while. The colourful John Barnes stood on his seat and addressed the dinner guests with tales of Ada Europe from 20 years ago which celebrated a solicitor’s help to receive some money which was rightfully theirs. That solicitor, now a sheriff,  was tracked down and invited to the dinner and gracefully received a round of applause and some flowers for her efforts all those years ago.   

The clock struck 11.00pm and it was time for us to call it a night.

I conclude these posts from bonny Edinburgh, with a big thank you to all those involved with Ada Connection, both organisers and attendees, for making it an enjoyable and successful few days. It’s been great and as I am starting to feel a little weary, I wish I had asked the DHL chap who just picked up our stand to deliver me back to leafy Surrey too.

Day 1 Exhibiting at The Ada Connection

A speedy boarding (and disembarking) Ajay Patel and I stepped down off our easyJet flight in Edinburgh on Monday night ready for The Ada Connection the next day. The conference was already in full swing and the marquee (or tent for our American readers) was ready for the eager exhibitors to fill on the Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Tuesday morning was an early rise and we headed to the John McIntyre Conference Centre on the city’s university campus. Thanks to the taxi driver’s directions, we had a brisk morning walk around the campus and made sure that the delivery entrances were in full working order before finding the correct entrance and a warm welcome from Joan Atkinson and Tom Anderson, from the University of Newcastle, the conference organisers.

Our stand was erected and the table adorned with data sheets, flyers and the like. Whilst we waited for the delegates to wander in for their morning coffee and pastries, we had a chance to chat to fellow exhibitors - LDRA, Resource Engineering Projects, IPL, Ellidiss Software, AdaCore, Rapita Systems, Verocel and Wind River to name a few. 

The delegates filtered in and avoided us until they had their first hit of caffeine. Once they were all well-oiled, we were good to go and within 30 minutes had two companies interested in the Legacy Bridge Suite migration technology and asking for webinars. Legacy migration and obsolescence is a serious challenge facing most organisations and so there were plenty more cards swapped and details taken down throughout the rest of the day.

Lunch was in the student cafeteria but it could have well been a decent restaurant. As one observant exhibitor pointed out, the only give-away was the copious amount of baked beans available.

 And then came the rain. Lots and lots of it. Being positioned in the marquee, a short dash from the main conference building and through the waterfall above the door, a couple of us were asking whether the delegates would venture outside or whether they would remain in the dryer foyer area leaving us out in the cold and all alone. A few, including myself, were asking if there were any more heaters were available… The organisers, Tom, Joan and Steve Riddle explored all the options with Edinburgh First, the venue’s conference team. A few options had to be discounted because of health and safety regulations (there were stairs we might throw ourselves down) but they persisted and kept us all informed. Meanwhile, at the four o’clock coffee break, the Ada community braved the elements for a couple of seconds and made it into the marquee, much to our appreciation and satisfaction. As the coffee break ended, it was decided that Ada developers were in fact made of strong stuff and we would stay put. I’m sure it would be a different story if we we’re exhibiting at the Miss World competition. Those who were cold found a spot inside and everyone was happy. I’m sure all the exhibitors would join me in thanking Joan and Tom for keeping everyone that way.   

The thought of the whisky tasting session in the evening kept everyone warm as we waited for 6.15pm to approach when we were allowed to take the lids off the bottles and let the aromas drift amongst the crowd. Each of the exhibitors had a bottle of the finest Scotch whisky on their table and stacks of tasting cups. I was most relieved to have Highland Park as our resident whisky. Not because it is a perfectly balanced 18 year old single malt with a toffee sweetness and a mouth-wateringly smokey finish. I was happy because after a whole day and evening exhibiting, I didn’t fancy trying to pronounce Aberlour a’bunadh or Ardbeg Uigeadailthe. The whisky inevitably got everyone chatting and moving around the exhibition tasting what was on offer. I snuck off to have a quick look at the foyer area to see how that was going and when I came back a crowd had formed around our table. I thought Ajay must have pulled out the Legacy Bridge presentation and people had swarmed round to see this so called wizardy. As I approached the crowd, I realised that it wasn’t the Bridge that was dazzling the audience. It was Tucker Taft, one of the chief designers of the Ada language. It was 8.30pm and we knew we weren’t going to compete with Mr. Taft for attention so Ajay and I gathered our belongings and called it a day. And a successful day at that.      

Software

Copyright 2010 gapingvoid gallery

This is an image drawn by Hugh MacLeod of Gaping Void depicting his experience of software, what's yours?

How to Make the Most of Memberships

We have just signed up for membership of the Object Management Group for the second time in our company lifetime. (OMG is the not-for-profit consortium who defines standards for SysML, UML, CORBA etc.) The first time (nearly 10 years ago) admittedly, the membership was nothing more than a badge on our website and so this time around we were determined that we would all make the most of the opportunities open to us as a member. With everybody’s diaries full and to-do lists running down to the floor, it’s not natural to put being an active member of a group at top priority. So what simple steps can you take to benefit from a membership and make the most of your investment? Here’s our checklist... 

 

1. Know  who your key contacts are - Who do you go to for technical advice? Is there someone in the working for the organisation that has a particular interest in what you do and can offer you advice? What if you want to promote something to members, is there a Marketing manager?

This is the first this I would suggest that you do. Understand who those key contacts are and then get to know them.

Don't just use the badge on your signature!

When we joined the OMG, we were speaking with the contacts in the US and then found out that their Technical Director was based in the UK near us so we invited him to spend the day with us, which proved to be invaluable. He spoke to the whole team about OMG and what was happening within the group so everyone at Objektum Solutions, both technical and otherwise, could see where they could get involved and be proactive about being a member. We also briefly went into the work we were doing on the Legacy Bridge Suite and automatic software migration, which the Technical Director was impressed with and is going to come back so he can understand more and continue building the relationship, which leads on to my next point…

2. Make sure the organisation understands what you do! – Chances are, if you’re interested in what they do, they’ll be interested in what you do. Make sure that your contacts who work for the organisation are in a position to make valuable introductions and point you towards suitable opportunities.

3. Flag their emails to read - Don’t let the emails from your membership organisation join spam/marketing emails that end up in your mailbox. They’re a good source of information so although with a full inbox it’s tempting, don’t ignore them.

4. Get to know other members – Although at number 4, this is one of the most important points. Whether it is by attending events, joining in on online discussions, making specific introductions, meet people. If there’s a members list, have a good look through it. Is there someone who you want to know?

I think the trick with this is to be able to switch between having a purpose and being open, and you need to do both. (Essentially this point is about networking, but you’ve probably all seen your fair share of blog posts about how to be a top networker and make millions.)

5. Directories - Have they got any directories you can put yourselves on? Simple point but don’t forget to do it.

6. If they have one, join their LinkedIn group – For international organisations this is invaluable for continuing discussions in-between events. At the very least, make sure you know what people are talking about. It will be a good indicator as to what is happening in your industry. (Sales people should be taking note of these conversations, not sending out millions of messages about how they can solve every problem that is being discussed. If appropriate, send a private message to the person with the problem and then let them decide whether they will tell the group about this amazing solution they’ve found. Believe me , this will have a lot more impact)

7. Attend events – And not just those run by organisation, will they and fellow members be at the tradeshow you are going to? Do it the traditional way. Smile, shake some hands and have interesting conversation. Keep it fairly light at these kinds of events. If you want to get into more details arrange a time to have some 1-2-1 time over a coffee or find a time to meet at a later date.

8. Help – What is the organisation trying to achieve? Can you help in anyway? Whether this is joining a committee or sharing resources, join forces with the organisation and your fellow members to strive for a common goal. This will help form bonds, open doors and raise your profile.

9. Cross-marketing – Is there any way you can promote your product or service  to your fellow members (if this is also your market) by offering a special offer for members only? Membership organisations often get asked for comment on certain issues in the industry. Do they know that you’re available to help them by providing comment from someone “in the industry”?

10. Focus -  Don’t spread yourself too thinly, limit your memberships to two to three groups and if you’re in an organisation perhaps get different people involved in each group.

There is a great deal to gain from being a member but remember that the members will make it and so put your effort in giving to the group, that’s where the gains are.

Cat 

Social Network for Model Driven Software Development

Cat is pretty clued up about what is happening on the World Wide Web and often points us in the direction of interesting blogs and online networks so we thought we would share what she tells us with you...

The Model Driven Software Network

Created on Ning (a site which lets you create your own social networks), The Model Driven Software Network is a vibrant community of those interested in, yes you’ve guessed it, Model Driven Software Development and we were amazed by the number people who were using it. Social networks can sink or swim as it is dependent on the users’ contributions. This one seems to be flying. 

As creator Mark Dalgarno puts on the site:

The Model Driven Software Network is for anyone who's interested in Model Driven Software Development (MDSD).

You could be a practitioner, a researcher or just plain curious about what MDSD is about and how to get started.

The topics you'll find discussed here relate to the process, practice, technology or people issues involved in developing with models. This could include:

• Domain-Specific Languages
• Domain-Specific Modelling
• Model-Driven Architecture
• Executable UML
• Eclipse Modelling Tools
• Code Generation and Model Interpretation

Sign up and explore it for yourself if it sounds like something you’d be interested in and don’t forget, you get out what you put in. Our readership is growing everyday (way above what we ever expected!) so comment on this post and let us know what you have found online that might be of interest to other software and systems engineers…

Happy New Year from all at Objektum Solutions

What a year 2010 was. 

We carried training out across the world, grew our team of experts and consultants and by popular demand extended our portfolio of training courses. We further developed the Legacy Bridge Suite technology which generated enthusiastic responses such as “It’s like all my dreams have come true” and “It must be wizardry”. I should point out at this point, that it isn’t wizardry, it’s because we have bright people working extremely hard to create and develop this high technology. And after a well-deserved break over Christmas, everyone in the team is back and raring to go. That includes those of us who write for the blog, so do subscribe so you can keep up to date with all the latest posts. 

So, all that remains for me to say is, here’s to a successful 2011!

Cat

Progress with Strategic Alliances

Cat writes about how we can achieve more through Strategic Alliances...

The world is making such technological advancements it is sometimes hard to comprehend, never mind keep up. How do technology companies do it? Are employees akin to elves and work all hours of the day and night to create this high-technology magic? Quite possibly. But more commonly, technology companies are forming strategic alliances to not just stay ahead but lead the way.

Strategic alliances are all about the collaboration of companies, or even individual people, with complimentary resources and capabilities to achieve, together, more than they could separately. It is important that the relationships formed are in line with an organisation’s own strategy and direction and the potential benefits are huge. Market entry, risk sharing and expenses are among such benefits. In terms of innovation, the shared expertise, with each organisation bringing different skills and ideas to the table, is where the most extraordinary shifts can be made by strategic alliances.

We have focused on creating strategic alliances this year and the results have been greater than any of us could have imagined. The key is to find the mutual opportunities and create win-win situations. The parties are then dedicated to the relationship and working together to push the boundaries. It is important to keep pushing forward too.

Meetings are not meant to get longer nor the decisions slower. Strategic alliances are about being fast thinking and rapid moving to be innovative and gain competitive advantage. It is about setting the standard, the creation of new ideas and leading the way. The approach particularly suits fast growing companies but long established companies, such as Toshiba, often have a company culture of collaboration that has proved sustainable.  

Toshiba‘s main business is infrastructure, consumer products, electronic devices and components. They firmly believe that a company cannot achieve everything by itself. Their approach is to develop relationships with partners who have different technologies. For example, they formed a relationship with Apple to develop multimedia computer products. Whilst Apple’s strength lay in software technology, Toshiba had a great deal of manufacturing expertise. Interestingly, even on a local level in Japan, Toshiba is a part of group of companies whom all have interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. This set up became incredibly common in Japan post World War II and is known as a keiretsu.

Whilst the true keiretsu model hasn’t appeared outside Japan, many non-Japanese businesses are described as keiretsu such as the Virgin Group, Tata Group and Cisco Systems. These companies are always associated with innovation, breaking boundaries, and prosperity. And I’m sure Mr Branson doesn’t employ little elves to achieve all that success. 

Cat

How to Market A Technical Company (and Be Taken Seriously)

Cat, who works on the strategy and communications of Objektum Solutions, gives us a refreshing look on how to market within the technical world...

Over the last few years I have been working with technical experts and something I have noticed is that there is often a misconception of ‘Marketing’. In a world of models and code, I understand that marketing can sometimes look a little “fluffy”. Whilst ‘Social Media’ has opened up avenues for millions of people across the globe, the jovial nature of a lot of the tools hasn’t helped marketing folk to be taken seriously. Let’s face it, Twitter ain’t mission-critical.  

Whilst working on the marketing of the company, I’ve been talking to colleagues about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. Everyone who works here is intelligent but sometimes it is not easy for them to see why we’re doing something that doesn’t produce a tangible (or even measurable) output.

So, over the years I’ve explained elements of marketing to the team and vice versa, they have helped me by explaining the technology behind it all. Understanding marketing as a function is important even if you’re not directly involved. The team here have found it interesting (they say that anyway, but that might also be to shut me up!) and so I’ll be occasionally blogging marketing ‘bites’ for you, such as this....

How to Market a Technical Company (and be taken seriously)

Marketing is about telling a targeted market what you have to offer and why they should come to you to solve their problem. It’s finding the customers and then, when you’re front of them, what is it that you say. Here are some pointers:

1. Plan and measure – marketing isn’t just about writing fancy words and pretty pictures. As with any strategy or project, there must be objectives and although it’s hard, one needs to measure return on investment. Planning is of prime importance so that you can be consistent with your message.

2. Be consistent – all the best brands in the world are kept visible and consistent. This is the message, the tone, the way you interact with customers etc. Customers will only get to really know and trust you when you have a consistent image. They will also remember you.

3. Relevance – keep your message relevant. Know your audience and whilst your key points should remain the same, your message needs to address the concerns and areas of interest of those who you are communicating to.

4. Be concise – one of the paradoxes of our age is that there is more clutter and less time to sift through it. People will be eternally grateful if you can keep to the point.

5. #don’tjustfollowtrendsforthesakeofit – for those of you not on Twitter, this may look like my keyboard has malfunctioned but, as with my last point on consistency, think about how your message is being carried across and what the perception of your company is. If Twitter, Facebook, Ning (the list goes on) doesn’t fit in with your company, leave it. Don’t do it because everyone else is doing it; do it because it works for you and your customers. LinkedIn works well for us because of the forums and the business focus, so that’s what we use.

 

6. Product Demos – now this is something we’re working on at the moment. We frequently do webinars but we have all this brilliant technology, but can anyone see what it does by looking at our website? No. Do they have to read paragraphs and paragraphs of text to work out what it does? Yes. Make sure your work is showcased so people can see how you can solve their problems.

7. Show off a little - respect your client’s privacy but show off your successes with case studies. Case studies have a beginning, The Problem; a middle, The Solution and an end, The Result. It is such a simple formula but it is one of the most effective ways to show what you can do.

8. Remember, it’s not all online - get out there and meet people. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of the ‘elevator pitch’. I’ve attended so many networking sessions where I have heard too many pitches that I just switch off. Have a clear understanding of what you do but most importantly listen and have interesting conversations.

9. Collaborate – work with partners, suppliers and customers to achieve more than you can could if you were all working in isolation. 

10. Practice what you preach – you can come up with the best marketing strategy, the greatest website and the slickest tag line but if you don’t deliver what you promise, that’s the message that will spread and the marketing really does all turn into fluff. 

 Cat

Permission to Launch

Cat, who looks after all our marketing, kicks off the blog with our first post...

 Firstly, I have a confession to make. I am the least technical person in Objektum Solutions. To give you a gauge on this, I got overly excited the other day when I was able to map a network drive to my computer without having to call out pathetically for one of the team to help.  So yes, it is a little strange that I should be writing the first post in The Technical Diaries, but whilst the rest of the team are coming up with ground-breaking, never-done-before, problem-solving technology and solutions that make clients say (and I quote, verbatim) “It’s like all my dreams have come true”, I look after the communications for Objektum. 

Now, over the last month our internal communications have gone pretty much like this:

Cat, “Derek, you need to get involved with this discussion on LinkedIn, its right up your street”

Derek, “Yes, alright, I’ll do it later.”

Cat, “You said that last time I asked. Do it now.”

Please don’t feel sorry for Derek. I’ve been picking on everyone.  Slowly but surely, everyone has started to see the value of LinkedIn. As much as I was excited about mapping that network drive, whenever somebody now uses the word “connecting” in the office they look over at me and smile as if to say “Get me talking this marketing lingo!” 

It wasn’t easy to explain to a group of very practical people that we needed to be “spreading the message” and you can imagine the blank expressions when I mentioned “thought leadership”. But there was a turning point that shocked me to my very core. After a training session we had on Search Engine Optimisation and Marketing, Alex and Derek turned round to me and both said in perfect harmony “I think we should start blogging”.  I asked them whether they would actually write the posts. They said yes. I asked them whether they would be committed to writing interesting content even if they were really, really busy. They said yes. I asked them if they would resent me nagging them about it. They smiled. This is obviously yet to be discovered but I’ll let you know... 

As indicated in the name of the blog, The Technical Diaries, this will be a collection of posts and stories for those in the technical world. I’ll try to make sure that it is not too dry and it will cover a wide variety of topics including more human factors.  If you subscribe to our RSS Feed you’ll be able to see when there’s something new to read and comments and suggestions are most welcome. 

Thank you for reading the blog thus far. 

Cat