Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right
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And so the highly predictable, depressingly familiar pattern of a “right of centre” conservative regime continues, with Barnett’s mob now intent on privatisation of public services as a “solution”. As reported in The West Online, Colin Barnett and the blue-rinse set have plans to privatise public sector services, in an attempt to rein in spiralling costs.
What a complete and utter load of tosh. On the face of it, privatisation is a very tempting prospect and indeed, it is impossible to argue against the value of adopting private sector principles when contrasted with certain public sector methods. The danger, however, is that services get auctioned off to the lowest bidder, wrapped up in fluffy nonsense about achieving the best balance of service and cost.
Anybody who thinks that decisions will be made on any factor other than cost, quite frankly has rocks in their head.
As I said, the idea of adopting private sector practices is a good one, I myself have argued for more of a private sector style approach in certain situations, but you can bet your life on the fact that this is just another instance of problem avoidance by a conservative administration. You see, when faced with issues of balancing community service delivery and costs of such service provision, your average right-of-centre mob will reach for the “cure all” of privatisation. They spout ideological bullshit about how it will make things more efficient, yet the only thing that REALLY matters to them is that it becomes “someone else’s problem”.
What will follow, if this madness is allowed to go through, is a rapid deterioration in quality of service, and an exodus of staff who are ALREADY pretty pissed off with their lot. This then forms a negative feedback loop until a “white knight” arrives in the shape of a Labour government, they put it all back into public hands, except the bits they really don’t want, followed by 4 years of neglect and underspending from them as well.
Listen up you idiot politicians, keep the public sector in the hands of the state, dump the “nanny state” attitudes, the “let’s go back to the 1950s” attitudes, and instead of simply passing problems around, stand up and actually do something about it.
I predict, however, that all concerned will remain clueless, gutless wonders…
Leave Our Net Alone!
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Vivendi can go stick this up their arse as far as I am concerned…
Like it or lump it, the Internet is a playground where people are still relatively free. Piracy of content has always gone on – tape recorders were never banned, so why should file sharing?
I can tell you right now IF you put out content that is worth paying for, then people WILL pay for it. Personally I’m much happier being able to download a book, movie or audio for free, and if it’s a sack of crap I delete it and move on. If it’s something that’s of value to me, I go buy a copy.
Not everyone will do this, but that’s always been the case – deal with it, get over it, and allow the deliciously anarchic nature of the Net to continue to exist. If you control the net too tightly, someone will simply build a new one.
OK, Admit It, Who Voted For The Idiot?
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In an environment where Western Australia’s prisons are overcrowded, the police are overstretched, and with no sign of any easing of the pressure, what would be the most obvious thing to do?
Apparently, according to our “esteemed” State Premier Colin Barnett, what you should do in this situation is insist on 3% “efficiency savings” across government, and then proceed to tighten every piece of “easy target” legislation that you can ensuring even more pressure on the justice system.
Cannabis for example. Colin, mate, get real! People have been using the stuff for as long as humans have been around, and it will take more than an alarmist dickhead or two to change that. What is it about right-wing numpties (I’m not biased incidentally, I also believe there are plenty of left-wing numpties as well) that they home in on soft targets like this instead of trying to effect REAL change?
I’m not going to get into all the details of why this is a bad move, and why cannabis is not the evil monster it is portrayed to be, you can find all that easily enough with a Google search or two. What annoys me more than anything is the way idiots make these decisions, pat themselves on the back for being “tough on crime”, and all that really happens is they criminalise something that doesn’t matter, while doing sweet f**k all about the not-so-easy targets.
The latest thing apparently is some new legislation that will, allegedly, bring in tough new restrictions on supplying controlled weapons to minors. I imagine that selling a machete to a kid is pretty illegal already? So how the hell does making it even more illegal do anything? I’m not advocating that people should be allowed to sell machetes to kids, far from it, but think about it – what IS this tough new legislation apart from a bunch of populist headlines that will make stuff all difference, except perhaps to make people a bit more sneaky in how they conduct this business?
Still, in an age where you can win a Nobel Peace Prize for /talking/ about peace, maybe Mr “I reversed my plans to retire so I could have a go at playing premier” should indeed be lauded for such positive changes to the WA justice system.
Back to Basics
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Having spent the best part of 20 years developing business software, it occurs to me that the business software industry, and the business users/consumers of the software, have (perhaps unwittingly) led us down the garden path.
The idea of a computerised system that captures and models the very essence of a business, automating the decision-making process, and cutting out paperwork is an attractive one, but it has become clear that this is something of a holy grail that remains agonisingly within sight, but out of reach.
In pursuit of this ideal, we create more and more complex computer systems, using increasingly sophisticated design methodologies. We have drawn parallels with the construction industry, and have held up hopes that principles used to build bridges (for example) could be applied to the creation of software solutions.
Now let me say right now, if you are designing a weapons control system, an application that controls and monitors a nuclear reactor, or any other high risk, specialised modelling or control system then yes, absolutely, I want you to test every aspect to the highest degree possible, I want you to capture every rule possible, and I want you to build multiple levels of safety measures into the system.
But… business sofware is a completely different beast. Whether in a private sector or a public sector organisation, day to day business involves people, interactions with people, and regular changes to business rules. In many cases, business rules themselves are flexible and need to be applied in different ways according to circumstances. Capturing and encoding this into fragments of computer logic is not only resource-intensive, but such rules are likely to become stale before final testing has been completed.
It is this fixation with business modelling that has led to a number of different systems development strategies, all of which have brought great techniques and tools to the table, but none of them have provided the silver bullet, or the holy grail. The simple fact is that they can’t – organisations, whether large or small, are infinitely complex beasts and trying to pin down the intricacies of daily operations is like trying to carry water in your hands. If you freeze it, you can carry it easily in the form of ice cubes, but you lose all the dynamic and fluid properties of the original substance!
The problems associated with “freezing” a business into a software model has produced a multi-billion dollar industry, where projects fail, business analysts come into an organisation on a regular basis to re-analyse requirements, and software teams are constantly adding code to cope with caveats, anomalies and changes to business rules. After a while, a system becomes so bogged down with these additions and changes that a system rewrite is recommended, and the whole lucrative circus starts again.
There IS a solution, but I suspect I am somewhat ahead of my time when I suggest this, and so we will have to wait quite a while before it happens (sadly). We need to strip our business systems down to the core requirements of record keeping, report creation and data analysis. Allied to this, we need to return to the situation where skilled, experienced business experts are employed to work with these systems, use them as decision support tools, but ultimately business rule enforcement comes from the application of brain power, and not a reliance on a software system that’s probably using a stale rule-base and is a very efficient way of compounding errors very quickly.
Systemising a business, allowing low-skilled, low-paid staff to operate that business works fine for a fast food franchise, but in most other cases businesses should regard the “meat ware” within their organisation as more vitally important than any software or hardware. It is a fact that people are the greatest resource any business has and, until such time that a bio-computer can make real decisions, we really need to stop looking to computers to do the thinking for us.
In a nutshell, business software is a powerful, flexible way of managing important records that are relevant to your business. By stripping things back to basics, business software can become simpler, more reliable, easier and cheaper to develop/maintain, and businesses can avoid risks associated with vendor lock-in, and the need for massive system rewrites every few years.
Remember this: Software is a business tool that can aid and support decision-making, and inform businesses at operational and strategic levels. It is NOT supposed to run your business for you, nor can it ever accurately capture the up-to-the-minute nuances of your business.
I look forward to a time when we see a return to simpler software, and leave fuzzy rule-enforcement and decision-making to the devices that are capable of that; our brains.
Why Do We Wait For The Ducks To Line Up?
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It’s true, humans in general (or should I say, inhabitants of 21st century westernised societies) have a tendency to over-plan, over-analyse and put off doing something until everything is in place. I often wonder if this is a throwback to the days of the Roman Empire, with it’s meticulously drilled legions, straight roads and urban planning.
The thing is, we see time and time again instances of people just “going for it” and being successful. It is all too easy to dismiss this as luck, but surely it happens so often that it’s more than that? Maybe these “lucky” instances point to a redundancy in most of the stuff we do in the name of “preparation”. Sure, if you’re going mountain climbing then there’s some preparation you will want to do, but what of the act of putting yourself at the base of the mountain in the first place?
I reckon everyone has a “bucket list” of some sort, and most people will wind up doing very little on that list. Why? Because most of us will plan to do all those things until time runs out. But forget about such grandiose ideas, like climbing Everest; there are countless things, big and small, that we constantly put off in our personal lives, business lives and social lives. We put things off in the name of “planning”, planning that we think we need to do because of booking time off work, having enough money in the bank, or lining some other ducks up to create a “zero risk” situation that allows something to be done.
Well, it seems that the world doesn’t work that way, and it’s no mistake that the achievers of the world are the risk takers; people who have a goal, a dream, a burning desire to do something, and just do it. Sometimes this “leap of faith” is taken accidentally, or is forced on someone by circumstances. You rarely (ever?) hear of someone achieving or doing something because they planned every last minute detail for 25 years, and then did it.
“Going for it” is a good way to live, now I just need to persuade myself to do that 
http://garywilmot.net/2009/09/why-do-we-wait-for-the-ducks-to-line-up/
A Bit About Avallach
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For those not aware, Avallach is the name I chose for my business (Avallach Technology) and, in line with the way I view the world, it most definitely sets out to be a little different.
The number 1 focus of the business is to cater for “the little guy”, now and into the future. To help illustrate this point, perhaps I should explain that I have spent most of my working life in businesses that start out providing excellent value for other small businesses, but wind up being lured by the “Enterprise Dollar”.
While it may be tempting to go for that “million dollar deal”, a lot of companies then find that the large corporate clients take up all their available time and resources, leading to a rapid deterioration in the service levels provided to the small business clients. Sound crazy to you? Well, I can assure you it DOES happen, and it seems to happen far more often that not.
The difference with Avallach is recognition of the vital importance of small businesses, the need for high quality, affordable services for those businesses, and the significance of making a long-term commitment to those same businesses.
The fact is that in the wake of the global financial whatsit, small businesses are an increasingly important part of building strong local communities and will continue to be so. Besides which, working with small business owners is infinitely more fun than dealing with soul-less corporate types (in my experience anyway).
Beyond this founding principle, Avallach also sets out to be a fun business to be involved with, and to do business with. The personality of the business pretty much reflects my own, so there should be no real surprise that Avallach is so “different”!
I get asked a lot about the name, the pronunciation of the name and the logo, so I’ll try and explain those briefly…
Despite being relatively young, Avallach actually has a heritage going back to about 2001 when I was involved in a joint venture under the name “id64.com”. When I was thinking of a name for the business, I reflected on the fact that while the name “id64″ had a catchy feel to it, it held no value or meaning to me personally. I really wanted a name that reflected the Celtic (Cornish) aspects of my heritage and my personal beliefs.
Avallach is strongly associated with Avalon, is sometimes referred to as “King of the Britons”, and according to Celtic legend had a daughter called Modron (not dissimilar to Madron, a village where many of my Cornish relatives can be found). I actually stumbled on the name, but as I explored the various references in Celtic literature the name quite simply started to feel more and more “right”, so that was that – done deal.
A Google Search will reveal plenty of references and additional information. As for pronunciation, the first part “Avall” is pronounced exactly as the “Aval” of Avalon, the final syllable is pronounced “ack” and not, as some do, “atch”.
The more astute members of the audience will have noticed that the logo is very much a stylised version of the famous Anarchy symbol. A splash of green and the addition of a flare effect and you pretty much have it. I am tempted to say that it represents “Anarchy with flare”, but that’s just a cheesey line that occurred to me quite some time after I created the thing. It also sounds awfully pretentious, which is something neither I nor Avallach sets out to be!
No, the reasons for the logo are quite simple; the first letter of Avallach is ‘A’, the chosen colour for the business is a shade of green (reflecting my nature-based leanings) and I have a lot of sympathy for the notion of anarchy (from the Greek word meaning “without ruler”).
Does all this really add anything to the business? For many people, probably not, but for ME it lays down the core essence of the business I am building, and what it is setting out to achieve. Others may find it all to be of casual/passing interest.
A Bit About Me
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This is taken from the revised About page, and reflects the change in direction being taken with this blog/site…
Most people would probably describe me as a geek, and that’s a badge I am happy to wear, if not a little misleading. Yes, my background is in software development, and yes I DO have a preference for typing commands instead of “point and click” and yes I have had Linux installed on my personal machines for quite some time. However…
Just like everyone else on this planet, exactly who or what I am cannot be packaged into one or more neat labels. My musical tastes are somewhat varied, my world view consists of an almost irreconcilable fusion of socialist, capitalist and anarchist ideas, and in matters of a spiritual nature I am very much drawn to pagan, earth-centred pathways.
But the world likes a neat label, so please feel free to use “geek” LOL
I’ve been programming computers since about 1981 when at the age of 12 I became a proud owner of a Sinclair ZX81. By the time I got to college, 4 years later, my thinking was very “left of centre”, I had declared myself a “pagan” (not really knowing /exactly/ what that meant at the time, but it felt right) and I was in no doubt that I really should have been born about 20 years earlier as the late ’60s would have been exactly the right era for me! As it was, I was a child of the ’80s, and my favourite music from that era tends to be bands like The Mission, The Cult, New Order and The Smiths. Yes, I was a bit of a “goth” – none of the “emo” crap you see these days mind you!
But once you leave academia, you enter the “real world”; the world of work and crazy shit like getting married and producing sprogs. With these things come a sense of responsibility and, for someone like me at least, a chronic sense of things not being quite the way they ought to be, but “hey let’s get on with it anyway”. You see, I’m not completely sold on the concept of modern society, not completely convinced that we’ve /really/ advanced in any substantial way. If I was a lot braver (and able to convince my wife), I’m sure I’d sell everything tomorrow and adopt a more nomadic lifestyle. But I’m not, so I don’t, but I still have that inner desire to be free of the scourge of working 9-to-5, never quite being able to do exactly what I want to do, and getting a feeling of despair every time I see a crowd of people heading to (or from) a train and realising that not only are they drones in a rat race, but I am one of them.
It’s those feelings that push me, paradoxically, towards the world of business. It is the urge to be free that gives me a real desire to build my own mini business empire. Not for the thrill of the “cut and thrust”, not to become one of the elite that (wrongly) controls far too much (i.e. all) of the wealth, but to give myself, my extended family and my friends a chance to experience life without unneccessary crap. Also the time and resources to do some real good, rather than chucking a gold coin in a charity box every week.
I remain, at heart, a socialist, but socialism has become tainted by men, much in the same way that organised religion (and religious leaders) has given “spirituality” a bad name.
One of the things, I think, about being a software developer is that it tends to encourage a pragmatic approach rather than a dogmatic one. One of the more bizarre outcomes of this, for me personally, has been a growing acceptance of some of the principles of capitalism. Not the dirty stinking capitalist dogma of the Thatcher era, nor the “greed is good” approach that has resulted in the so-called “global financial crisis”. No, for me, it’s the type of “social capitalism” that you see from the likes of Richard Branson (a guy I have admired for a long time).
The net result of all this is what you see today; a guy who hates red tape, detests much of modern society’s pointlessness, believes in equality and freedom for all, and is out to make a pile of cash. No real conflict of interests there then?
So, what will I do with all this wealth once obtained? The answer to that would cover several more pages, but suffice to say that priority number 1 is my family, and beyond that would come a number of varied initiatives to effect positive change in many ways.
Just as I have accepted that money, wealth and capitalism do not have to be bad, so do many right-wing thinkers also need to accept that socialist principles are not inherently evil either. In fact it’s probably ironic when you think about it; many of those people who berate “socialism” are devout church-goers, yet the last time I bothered to read the bible I think it had a lot to say about respect, equality and the lack of value in material wealth for its own sake.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy some of the stuff that has, and will continue to appear here and my other blogs and sites. If you feel inclined to get in touch, the best way is probably email (gary@avallach.com) or Skype (avallach9)
All the best
Gaz
p.s. for those who are curious, “Gaz” and “Gazza” are nickname versions of “Gary”, popular in UK and Australia (my country of birth and adopted home respectively). It has nothing to do with the Gaza Strip in the Middle East!
Too Much Of A Good Thing?
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Mixing business with pleasure is a good thing; being friends with business colleagues, and being able to provide something of value for friends is a good situation to be in. However, as is usually the case, “everything in moderation” is a good motto to guide you.
The problem for me has been one of confusion, and message dilution. On the one hand it’s good to put out the latest news about your business, on the other you have friends who simply don’t want to hear about it. The end result is that you either water down business-related content, or you annoy social-only friends with stuff they have no interest in. It’s a classic lose-lose situation, and not a good one to get yourself into.
It’s an issue that has bothered me for some time now. The main source of the “problem” has been my Facebook profile, but it’s also reared its head (to a lesser degree) with Twitter and blogs. So now I am embarking on a process of focusing content in specific blogs and specific Facebook profiles/pages. I have also set up a couple of extra Twitter accounts, so I can deliver focused content for social, business and home business purposes.
The reality is, it’s actually very simple to segregate these facets of your online profile, and easy to have links between the two. The hard part comes from not doing it from day one. I invite you all to learn from my mistakes!
All Change
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For the benefit of long-term readers – please note that all my home-business-related rants and rambles will now be found on http://97percent.org, other business-related blogs will appear on http://avallach.com/blog and http://avallachrecruitment.com/blog/
Links to these blogs are shown in the right-hand menu of this site, which will revert to a more general outlet for anything I feel like ranting about
Enjoy!
Wow, What a Surprise…
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The past couple of days, my Inbox has seen the arrival of a number of emails telling me how one of the online marketing “big guns” has made a mistake, and that I could profit from that.
So it turns out that some deadline or other was mis-calculated, and has now been extended for a period of time. So that means I won’t miss out on this opportunity after all…
So does anyone else recognise this fairly standard tactic that is applied to “time limited” offers? If I had 1 cent for every time I have been told that a deadline was being extended, I’d be a very rich man.
In all seriousness, it’s tactics like these that make me despair at the way the online network marketing industry operates. Do the tactics work? Probably but, in the long term, for who exactly?
