Bullying for love...

Once upon a time I worked for a company who released an HR policy on bullying. Part of that policy claimed that bullying was in the "eye of the beholder" - i.e. if you felt it was bullying, it was. 

My reaction at the was one of slight incredulity - how on Earth could such a thing either be provable or enforceable. Policies without teeth are surely pointless?

Many years on I actually see the point and I actually disagree with my former self. Perhaps I'm older and wiser and understand human nature a bit better.

Perhaps I thought that bullying was always something physical. Perhaps I thought it had to involve coercion. Perhaps I thought that the bully always got their own way. I don't believe any of that now. 

For starters, bullying is most definitely in the eye of the beholder: different people respond differently to being subjected to the same behaviours. 

The confident employee who is pal-y with the boss may take jibes, swearing, back-slapping, throwing of objects (lightheartedly or otherwise) and unreasonable demands with a pinch of salt. A less-confident employee may, on the other hand, take such things very much more personally. It might affect their work and their ability to feel open. It might further harm their confidence. It might make them start to fear engaging with their boss. If it gets to that point, then actually whether you label it "bullying" or not, it's a problem - it's "inappropriate behaviour".

Which begs the question - what is bullying? 

Is it physical? is it coercive? Is it about someone else getting their own way?

It can be all of things, but it doesn't have to be. 

For example, inaction can be as damaging as action. Blanking or ignoring someone can be damaging and controlling. Busting a gut to produce a great piece of work, only to be met with silence and blankness can obviously be hurtful. If this is directed discriminately at specific individuals or is part of an ongoing pattern, even more devasting. This type of behaviour is sending psychological signals to an individual - controlling them in a subtle way - in my book, bullying.

The same is true of an explosive temper. (Interesting word "temper", also meaning "make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate; "she tempered her criticism")  Of course all humans have in in-built anger mechanism and have times when this needs to be released. What we try to do is ensure that in the workplace, at least, this is - if you pardon the pun - tempered. If it is not, then it can create a culture of fear. If employees' actions or mistakes are met with colleagues' explosive rage then, again, this is essentially a psycholigical tactic to control another employee's actions - whether or not that tactic is done consciously or unconsciously, spontaneously or in a considered way.

Probably most people agree that rage and anger and temper and other 'destructive' emotions certainly have the potential to cross that line in the sand that separates "enthusastic personality" and "someone who gets things done" from "bully" and "tyrant"; and different people will draw different lines. But the conundrum for me is that I also think bullying can be done in a spirit of generousity and love. Yes, really.

I argue that any kind of controlling behaviour is a form of bullying. It doesn't matter what the motivation for that behaviour is - when one person tries to systematically control the actions or desires of another, it's bullying.

You see this sometimes happen in families. Take, for example, the person who always insists on paying for meals out. Always. On the surface it's an act of kindness and generousity. But what this behaviour does is deny anyone else the same privilege. It denies anyone else the same expression of kindness or generousity towards their family. IT DENIES ANYONE ELSE THE SAME. 

It turns out then, that this behaviour, when performed relentlessly, is selfish - even though it is driven by generous motives. Now that's wierd. 

That's why bullying IS in the eye of the beholder - because it's about the EFFECT of behaviours. It has less to do with an absolute value judgement of the behaviour of the bully, and whether their actions are well-intended and apparently harmless.  

Well - food for thought (am I'm not paying). 

There are two ways to save money...

There are two ways to save money without undermining what you do: reduce cost and cut wastage.

When I recently invested in my bread machine I thought I was probably doing the former - reducing cost - because I anticipated the price of raw ingredients to be much less than the price of the finished product (a loaf of bread). 

It turns out this assumption is not as starkly true as I had hoped. Sure - there is a lower price point for raw ingredients, but it's more marginal than I had imagined. Silly me for not doing my ROI (return on investment) calculations based on more detailed research/discovery.

Notwithstanding, my bread machine is still saving me loads. How?

Because, for one, it's cutting down wastage. The ability to make my bread "on demand", to make the appropriate quantities I need, AND the ability to store the ingredients until they are needed (rather than keep unused bread until it is mouldy) means my purchasing and consumption patterns are much more closely aligned. I'm putting less into the system, but still getting what I need out. And it's fresher - i.e. better quality. In a sense, my process is more lean.

But there's a third factor two - possibly even the most significant - that is contributing to my results: transformation.

That's right - I have transformed my behaviour. And this is the third way to cut costs - by changing what you do.

In the case of the bread maker, my behaviour has changed so that I eat more bread, more often. This change in behaviour translates into less eating of other, more costly, foodstuffs (such as snacks and ready meals). And that is where the significant savings come. If I can feed myself on bread and soup for a day, it'll cost me, say £2 - when I might otherwise have spent £5 or £10 on alternatives (TV dinners, take aways, or even home-cooked meat & two-veg). The effect of transformation is stark. 

And this is how it applies in business too - technology is an enabler. It may slice a bit of cost off here, enable a slightly more efficient process there - but ultimately, it's by transformation - change in behaviour - that the big bucks can be saved. 

So there you go - the essence of business process transformation in a nutshell - or indeed, a bread machine.

Finally tempted my brother to the dark side...

After what must be the best part of 20 years driving exclusively volvo, I never thought my brother would defect. But he has! He's bought a Skoda!

I think the pressure has been gnawing away from within the family network - not only did I defect from Volvo/Saab (I like my fast, swedish, quirky cars) to Skoda a few years ago, but so did my sister (at the same time and completely independently) and finally my mother recently, prompted by the UK scrappage scheme. 

The leap on paper was big for me - not only from a 300bhp SAAB to a "lesser" badge, but a diesel car at that. But, I was too tempted by the alarming regularity of rave reviews, much lower all round purchase & running costs, capacious load carrying, and a fun pokey engine in the vRS - which is essentially a Golf GTI by another name and body shell. 

I've never looked back. Thrilled by fun, low cost, high economy motoring, not a day goes past without the car putting a smile on my face. A spirited drive does not cost the earth, unlike that of my brother's volvo T5 - for which you have to take steps to arrange a bank loan before you give it a long blast through the mountains. And, should you care to chip your diesel vRS you can have 430Nm of torque propelling you past pretty much any line of traffic. Even my 300bhp saab only managed 400Nm. 

So, spurred by Skoda's current "tax free" deal (i.e you pay list price before VAT is added, saving about £3500 on a top spec car) my brother has jumped ship - also to a diesel Octy vRS estate. He won't regret it. Not to be outdone, I'm changing mine too - for the same thing. This is the first time I've replaced a car with one the same - that's how much I love my Skoda. 

It'll be interesting to compare cars - his is the manual, mine will be the DSG auto (with flappy paddles). Both will benefit from the new common rail diesel engine which allows a higher rev limit, and if my test drive is anything to go by, a smoother power delivery across the range. I was mightily impressed by the DSG - responsiveness, comfort and ease of use. I doubt I will go back especially once it's come into its own in all those M25 queues. 

Roll on March - we've ordered them only 2 days apart and from the same dealer - so they may arrive together. That'll make a nice photo :)

Upgrading to Windows 7 from XP without the pain

I've just completed my second of 3 (ultimately) upgrades from windows XP to windows 7.

For the first machine i just followed the standard Microsoft line and did a custom install "over the top" of XP. This takes your existing setup and stores it in a windows.old folder on the new machine running windows 7. You are then free to do with that folder what you will (such as delete it). This was ok on my first laptop as I'm just using it as a windows 7 media centre - didn't need my old stuff.

However, for my next (main) machine, that wasn't the case. It's the main machine that I use for all my personal work, which includes a lot of image creation and production (more on that in a later blog). I absolutely could not afford any downtime nor a whole weekend or more of solid copying and re-installing. (A process which from experience drags on and on for weeks in my experience.)

Thus the promise of a smooth migration, keeping all the existing XP setup alongside windows 7 was sufficiently tempting for me to take up. The system is called zinstall XP7 and you install it after you have done your windows 7 custom upgrade (keeping your old files in windows.old). When you install zinstall it wraps up all those old files and creates a fully functioning virtual machine of your old installation. Absolutely everything remains intact, all programs work correctly and all data is preserved. 

In use the system places an icon in both the windows 7 system tray and the XP system tray (is it just me that finds it quite clever it can install itself into an operating system that has been replaced?). Double clicking this icon allows you to switch between windows 7 and XP. XP is displayed full screen, even though it's running in a virtual machine and could theoretically run in a windowed container (I intend to try this). Presumably this is to make it less confusing for novice users - zinstall describes its mode of operation as "TV Channels" - which makes it easy to understand.

You can copy and paste between each system with ease, and see the file system on each system for moving files between the two. 

So what's the point of all this? Well - it means you can get windows 7 up and running, but keep your old system running in parallel - allowing you the time (as long as you want) to re-install and move applications and data to Win7. And if you have applications that will only ever run on XP, then you can keep them running indefinitely. 

It should be noted this is not the same as Microsoft's own "XP Compatibility mode" which consists of their own VM container ("Virtual PC") and a specially licensed copy of XP to run in it. The hardware requirements for their solution are stricter and you get an empty XP which you have to get your programs and data back into. This compares starkly with zinstall which is a one-click process and retains everything as is.

After 3 days, I'm giving zinstall a big thumbs up. 

A new 'intelligent' speed camera will soon be making its way onto the UK's roads.

The new cameras – nicknamed 'supertraps' – don't flash, can cover multiple lanes, and have the ability to differentiate between lorries and cars. Designed to blend into environment.
 
Unlike the UK's familiar yellow cameras, the new devices will be styled to blend with other street furniture. The first that many drivers would know about the camera's presence could be when they receive a fine through the post. 

Cameras will catch speeding truckers Speeding lorry drivers will also be targeted by the new 'supertrap' cameras, due to the device's ability to distinguish between trucks and cars. 

On many roads, lorries must adhere to lower speed limits, but convictions are difficult because current Gatso-type cameras do not differentiate between vehicles. Motoring groups question motives behind the new device.

The new speed camera has been met with criticism from motoring groups, which say that the stealth-like design of the device does more to catch speeding drivers than to slow them down. 

A spokesman from the RAC said: 'Camera positioning should be based on evidence that they will save lives, not to help balance the books for politicians.' 

The news comes after the Highways Agency revealed it is to spend £58 million on new digital cameras to monitor drivers using the hard shoulder on motorways.
 
[source RoadAngel]

I'm a musician: when will the music industry wake up and smell the coffee?

Illegal downloaders 'spend the most on music', says poll Interesting article in the Independent:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/illegal-downloaders-spend-the-most-on-music-says-poll-1812776.html

I'm a musician; I sell music; I have an album on itunes (it's here if you want to sample it FOR FREE). So I have a vested interest in making money from my music.

But I'm also a consumer - and I understand what today's consumer wants.

The music industry needs to wake up and shake up. It's been pushing back against an inevitable tide for the last 10 years and it won't succeed in continuing to do so. I remember conversations over a decade ago with musicians worried about digital distribution and at the time DRM (in several forms) was emerging, but not mainstream. This, I said to those musicians, was how they would protect their Intellectual Property.

How embarassing. Of course, in my defence, the market was developing and the iPod was yet to emerge and no-one really knew what the appetite for digital music would be. A mere decade on and I simply can't believe how we lived without it, in the world of physical media. How quaint. Today: Portability, Mobility, Ubiquity - almost a byword for the modern age. An age that is shaped by the teenagers of today, not us old fuddy-duddies clinging on to the good-old-days.

So, Let the future roll on. 20 years ago, as I recorded my compositions to audio cassette, bouncing down from one machine to another, I longed to be able to have had my music heard, and from my dark teenager's bedroom had no way to do so. Digital production and distribution, now affordable to the common man, changed all that and enabled me to release 10 or 15 years of back catalogue on an unsuspecting world.

10 years ago I longed for the day that the world of music was digital: portable, mobile, ubiquitous - and now it's here. It's amazing. We can't go back. Who WANTS to go back? On my coach trip from Durham University to the snowy Highlands I would fill my bag with 10 or so cassettes and a walkman. My entire luggage allowance on a choice of 10 albums for an 8 hour journey?! Almost pointless. Not to mention a battery life of only half the journey. It was almost more trouble than it was worth.

And that's the point. That the sharp consumer end of things. That's what drives our behaviour and desire as consumers - and having tasten the forbidden fruit, we will not give it up. The music industry needs to recognise this, then embrace it. They need to learn to make their money from a radically new music economy. They can no longer shape it, dictate it: WE will shape it, for we are the information democracy. If you hadn't noticed, information is power, and increasingly that power is in the hands of self-organising consumers. Content (in perception at least) is a commodity - Loyalty is not; we can love you today and wave bye-bye tomorrow.

So, in my opinion, the only way to thrive in this era is to be a part of it - live it and breathe it; to be compelling, original, ingenious, accessible and relevant - not just as an artist, but as a business operation. Dinosaurs don't cut it.

I love the world of digital distribution - take my music, download it, use it, abuse and once in a while bung me a few quid..

This Halloween will be scary chez mr. nik

I was always captivated by theme parks as a child and always dreamed of building my own house with and a theme park out back. Of course as a child I didn't quite correlate how many millions of years of pocket money it would take to save up for quite such a project. Every once in a while I'd turn my bedroom into a "Haunted House" and scare the beejeesus out of my parents at how much string and sellotape an overactive child could destroy in an afternoon.

That dreamy inspiration has never left me though and every year I keep saying to myself I'm going to recreate that effect in minature at my current humble abode for Halloween night.

As some who loves sound and light and theatre, and knows a little bit about computers and electronics, I keep hatching a plan to put on a spooky outdoor experience for any would-be trick-or-treaters (in Scotland we called them 'Guisers') that dare to cross my boundary.

This year I really am going to try and get it done..

As I have my own recording studio, sound has not been too tricky to put together and I already have speakers in the garden concealed as rocks. From these will emanate wailing and gnashing and general moaning (sounds like a trip to Tesco), chains clanking and wind howling; so I just hope it's not too inclement on the night to drown it out.

Basic computer controlled lighting comes courtesy of my existing X10 home automation system - which allows remote control of 4 lighting circuits in the garden via a range of macros (e.g. to turn lights on and off in sequence). Lights can not only be switched on and off but dimmed, so I should be able to come up with some spooky lighting sequences. Some theatrical lighting gels allow me to colour some of the lights.

And of course a number of motion sensors can detect anyone creeping round the garden. I could, for example, detect the presence of a visitor as they enter the gate and trigger a spotlight on the dark secret buried under the decking. (Of course, I'm jesting. I don't actually have decking). Perhaps a skeleton scraping to get out of the garage door would do the trick.

Entrance to my gardenOfSensoryDelights would be through the underpass/carport at the side of the house. This is the perfect spot for a themed entrance. I can imagine an ominous sign here, warning visitors "Do not enter on fear of death" - assuming I can get it unstuck from my front door. The natural archway of the underpass is an obvious area to decorate with a few cans of 'spider web' - such that I can recreate that I'm-a-celebrity-get-me-out-of-this-pitch-black-tunnel effect. Once visitors make it past the cobwebs they'll be directed to turn and enter the GardenOfDoom at their peril.

The Ghost Train is still eluding me somewhat though - as it turned out Waitrose weren't too happy about me 'borrowing' a couple of shopping trolleys from their car park. Spoilsports! So, ideas on that front are welcome.

Boo!

Gentle response to @stephenfry 's "blackberry picking"

http://www.stephenfry.com/2009/10/05/digital-devicement-part-three-blackberry-picking-time/

Hi Stephen, you've beautifully captured the nuances of the blackberry as a device and the love-hate relationship of owning one (or should i say, having one thrust upon oneself by one's employer). The smackberry certainly wins in terms of battery life and with its auto on/off feature for overnight use can easily last a week while still delivering email into your hands near instantaneously.

However, I think one aspect you haven't covered, perhaps because it doesn't irritate you, is the user interface - and by this I mean not just the keyboard, but the whole application design and GUI.

The hackberry, I feel, suffers from the problem that the main community responsible for its rise to stardom - i.e. all those corporate purchasers - are not the main user community. There is a disconnect here and consequently the splatberry suffers from a tedious and outdated interface that frankly would be laughable and disastrous if it were launched from new today.

Simple matters such as menus that are too long to fit on one screen, the inability to see when someone called without sub-selecting "view history" of each call (on my model at least) result in a propensity for scrolling and twizzling that sees one's finger tips breaking the olympic record for distance travelled on a daily basis. These are basic basic UI errors that the slick swishness of other device UIs put to shame.

And as for the keyboard - surely no-one with fingers fatter than a five pence piece could describe it as anything other than tortuous?! Picking the blasted thing up to dial a number - a core feature surely - let's say in a travelling car, singlehanded (not as a driver of course, merely as a passenger) and getting the right digits required to dial in the right order is only modestly more successful than getting one's precious lottery numbers. And of course, if it's dark, forget it, some of the models are not even backlit. Maybe the tedious business of phone calls is not meant to be performed in the dark?

This is, of course, if the device isn't still "hourglassing" while you've just fired it up for the first time in a while; a feature that becomes rapidly frustrating in the business context when time is of the essence (usually 30 seconds before a conference call).

I suppose I could find a use for my spangly spackberry with all those jangly facebook and twitter and life enhancing 2.0 apps - if it were not for the fact my corporate IT department has decided to lock the device down to the point where it's only moderately more useful than a paperweight...! sigh...

I enjoyed your article, I delight in your opinions, but sadly, I hate *my* blackberry..

I love the fact "pint" and "shot" are the same predictive key sequence...

...of course, if you have too much of either, then you could also generate a "riot".

Such elegance in language :)

How I baffled a cold-caller with one easy statement...

Cold Caller: Do you think people should be paying less for solar energy

Mr. Nik: I don't know - I mean I don't know what they're paying at the moment

Cold Caller: But people should be paying less, right?

Mr. Nik: Like I said, I don't really know, what are they paying now?

(repeat for several minutes)

Cold Caller: Well, but they should pay less?

Mr. Nik: Honestly, I don't know if they should...I have no idea about the costs.. maybe what they're paying now is ok?

Cold Caller: <silence>

Cold Caller: <more silence>

Cold Caller: <about 12 seconds silence; sound of tumbleweed>

Cold Caller: Ok, thank you for your time.. <click>

In Mr. Nik's head: No, thank YOU. My day wouldn't have been the same without this insane conversation