So I have a 9-5 that pays the bills. While I've been trying to get a little extra something out of Otto Von, I think I've pretty much resigned myself to be a "hobby game developer". Which is fine and, while not what I would "love" to do, it's definitely something that I can hold onto as my own. I'm still not any closer to actually getting another app in the App Store. But that's not really the point of this post. The point is to highlight something that our corporate culture continues to cling to in spite of our "progress".
One of the things about people who work in technology or other "thought" industries (rather than "do" industries) is that they tend to work when they're not in the office. I often use the "background processing" in my brain to work on hard problems while I'm not actively thinking about them. My brain tends to sort out those problems with large variable sets well when I look at the problem, realize it's too big and/or complex to solve in one sitting, and then let my brain do this (several studies have shown that our subconscious is really good at doing). What this means is that even though you're not actively working on a problem at work, sometimes you're still working on a problem. But that's also not really the point of this post. The point is that company culture still sometimes dictates that if people aren't present at their desks they're not actively working.
I've seen this kind of perception several times in several different settings. What it amounts to is that if you can't be seen at your desk (whether you're actually working or not), you're not working. I know a lot of colleagues who have expressed that they are far more productive outside the office - they start earlier, they end later, and they have far fewer interruptions. Even in organizations trying to "be agile", this kind of perception tends to persist. I believe it's more firmly entrenched at large companies than small ones. Regardless of why, these kinds of perceptions can seriously damage someone's reputation while having absolutely no basis in reality. This point was driven home during a conversation with my manager. He made mention that "no one knows where you are", which was pretty disingenuous. What he meant was that I wasn't at my desk with my team and some of my team didn't know where I was. In point of fact, I was sitting just a dozen yards from my desk - closer to one of the teams I support because they needed it. And despite the fact that I was still available through phone, email, IM, or text, "no one knew where I was". *facepalm*
What's the issue? The issue is that perception is NOT reality and it's up to leaders to cut through that and not perpetuate it. A true leader will help his/her team be as successful as they can be. If that means that someone works from home once a week or sits somewhere else for a while, they should be supportive, not critical of that. While we pay lip service to the "perception is reality" line, we should actually be outraged that we allow rumor and supposition rule the workplace. Nothing kills collaboration, trust, and communication like gossip. Leaders/managers should be the first to tackle the problem. But because we're used to "managers" who have no leadership skills, we do what we can on OUR side to "manage perceptions". Is it fair? No. It is right? No. Then why we do allow it to continue?Anyone who wants to be described as a leader should be willing to tackle these things head-on. It's just sad that we have so few leaders.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Happy New Year!
As this year (2013) comes to an end and 2014 is beginning for so many, I reflect a little on the year that's passed. The things I wanted to do and didn't (mostly). The things I accomplished. The unsettled nature of my year, both personally and professionally. But I also find myself thinking about all of the resolutions that people are planning for tomorrow. All the bad habits they're going to stop or the good habits they're going to start. And all of the angst and guilt that comes of likely failing to achieve their goals.
Why is it that New Year's is tied up with resolutions? Why not, rather, take every day as a chance to "start strong"? I'm no guru on this and certainly a poor adherent, but rather than waiting for New Year's, we should be encouraging people to take every day as a chance to make the changes in their lives.
When people try to start quitting smoking, they are often surprised to hear that unless they are actively smoking a cigarette, they've already quit - they just need to not start up again. It's incredibly hard - nicotine is addictive, et al - but the fact remains that you've already quit. Why not try to not smoke that next cigarette today? Why wait until tomorrow? Or the end of the pack?
I believe the psychology lies within these transition moments. There's something about completion that triggers a transition in our brains. The end of the cigarette. The end of the pack. The end of the year. I'm not a psychologist butI am fascinated with how our brains work - and don't work. And I'm sure there's a term (or terms) for all of this. But I think if we can begin to break the cycle of complete/restart and look at every day as a chance to start remaking ourselves anew, we may be more apt to live in the present and not the past or the future. And the present is where it's at.
Happy New Year, everyone. May it be filled with less of what caused you pain and more of what caused you joy. And may you treat every day as the "present" that it is.
Why is it that New Year's is tied up with resolutions? Why not, rather, take every day as a chance to "start strong"? I'm no guru on this and certainly a poor adherent, but rather than waiting for New Year's, we should be encouraging people to take every day as a chance to make the changes in their lives.
When people try to start quitting smoking, they are often surprised to hear that unless they are actively smoking a cigarette, they've already quit - they just need to not start up again. It's incredibly hard - nicotine is addictive, et al - but the fact remains that you've already quit. Why not try to not smoke that next cigarette today? Why wait until tomorrow? Or the end of the pack?
I believe the psychology lies within these transition moments. There's something about completion that triggers a transition in our brains. The end of the cigarette. The end of the pack. The end of the year. I'm not a psychologist butI am fascinated with how our brains work - and don't work. And I'm sure there's a term (or terms) for all of this. But I think if we can begin to break the cycle of complete/restart and look at every day as a chance to start remaking ourselves anew, we may be more apt to live in the present and not the past or the future. And the present is where it's at.
Happy New Year, everyone. May it be filled with less of what caused you pain and more of what caused you joy. And may you treat every day as the "present" that it is.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Five years on
Five years ago this week Lehman Brothers collapsed when the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department failed to come to their aid as they had with Bear Stearns earlier that year and began the crisis that would lead to the great recession. And yet, after five years, nothing has really changed. No one has been indicted. There have been modest attempts to create (relatively toothless) reform which is being fought at every turn by people who get million dollar bonuses. When will things change?
The Genesis
The basic reason things started going south was the lax mortgage standards that were being applied. Everyone from individual mortgage brokers to the companies that packaged and resold those mortgages to the ratings agencies that gave them AAA ratings, everyone felt absolved of responsibility. Everyone knew that not requiring people to document their income was a bad idea but everyone felt there was a "somebody else's problem field" around the whole thing and on it went.
As a brief background, when banks used to lend money it was actually their money you were borrowing (well, their depositors' money). And they were generally pretty careful about it because they didn't want to go out of business. Then someone (who should burn in Hell) thought of packaging up these mortgages together into a "financial instrument" (called a "Collateralized Debt Obligation" or CDO) that they could then sell to someone else. The bank got its money back and the risk was now spread out among a lot of different mortgages and a lot of different investors. The banks didn't feel obligated to check the documentation of their borrowers that much because they were going to get paid back anyway and besides - if one or two of those mortgages went south, the whole CDO was still pretty sound.
The problem, of course, was that as more and more banks did this kind of thing, more and more CDOs were created with more risk. The mortgage brokers got paid (and got bonuses), the banks got their money (plus extra), and the market got flooded with financial securities that were worth less than the bits in the computer that represented them. And the ratings agencies - paid by the banks to rate these instruments - continually claimed that they were AAA rated (the highest rating possible).
When I was looking at getting a mortgage back in 2002, I was encouraged (by my investment advisor, no less) to look at ARMs. Why? Because wouldn't I be better off in a 5 or 7 years than I am today? And then I could refinance down to a lower rate if I wanted to. The president himself (GWB) was telling you that you deserved as good a house as anyone else. What they peddled was "hope" - and Americans ate it up.
The Problem
The problem was, of course, that none of these really were AAA-rated securities - they were junk at best and the ratings agencies totally dropped the ball (or chose to look the other way) on these. But because they were AAA rated, large, stable groups (pensions and mutual funds) saw them as viable options. They were "safe" because they were AAA rated. Later, under oath, the heads of all three major ratings agencies said that ratings are just "their opinions", all the while convincing everyone that those "opinions" are extremely well-informed.
As Wall Street created more and more CDOs, a company called AIG (which you helped bail out) allowed people to insure against losses on those CDOs (called "Credit Default Swaps"). This in itself wasn't much of a problem as it was pretty much just an insurance policy. But AIG did something no other insurance company would do - it allowed people who had absolutely no relationship to the CDO to insure against it. This would be the same as having you and everyone else in your family separately insure your house. When your house burns down, you all get paid. Um, say what? Yes, that's what AIG did. Why? Dollar signs and lots of them. They thought the CDOs were stable (they ARE rated AAA, right?) and why not take all these suckers', I mean, investors' dollars if they want to bet against sure things?
The Collapse
When Lehman Brothers collapsed just over five years ago, suddenly everyone was on the hook for a lot of money. Lehman was one of the five main companies in the investment banking arena - the others being Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and Bear Stearns which had collapsed and been bought up earlier in 2008. Lehman was forced to file bankruptcy immediately, which had a cascading effect. Other countries' bankruptcy laws effectively shuttered Lehman overnight - there was no opportunity to slowly unwind the debt. First, all of the transactions that Lehman was processing were stopped immediately. Then AIG owed $13 billion to CDS holders on Lehman's debt - and they didn't have it. The scariest thing that happened was that the commercial paper market dried up. Large companies use the commercial paper market (a short-term loan system) to get money for their expenses (payroll, purchasing, etc). Without those loans, the company can't pay its bills. Part of the reason for the TARP funding was to calm the commercial paper market. After that, things continued to go south.
The Consequences
The consequences to the American people has been devastating. To date, over 15.7 MILLION home have been foreclosed upon. Our unemployment rate climbed over 10%, the highest since 1982 and second highest since the Great Depression.
Yet the top 1% of the country (including many of those who run and work at the same companies that caused this mess in the first place) have continued to distance themselves from the less fortunate 99% below them. Also, many of the people in government (both the current Obama administration and the previous ones) have very close ties to Wall Street (being CEOs, on the boards of those companies, consulting with those companies, etc.).
Sadly, despite the potentially criminal behavior on the part of these people, nothing has been done about it. No indictments filed, no convictions, no fines... Nothing. Why? Because the people making the rules are so deeply in the pockets of the financial services companies.
The Next Steps
Today, Larry Summers (one of the architects of the deregulation of the financial system) withdrew his name from consideration to head up the Federal Reserve. I cannot be happier that we won't potentially have him taking over for Bernanke who took over for Greenspan - both of whom were primarily responsible for continuing the deregulation started in the Reagan administration.
I think that we need to consider industries, regardless of what they are, as we do children. There are times when raising children that, based on their maturity, you give them more responsibility and less oversight. If they abuse that responsibility, you need to institute more oversight (regulation in the government's case). If they continue to abuse it, you "ground them" (impose fines, more onerous regulation, etc.). What the financial industry has shown - without a doubt - is that it's behaving as a 5 year old amped up on caffeine and sugar (in actuality, cocaine and hookers).
What Can I Do?
The most important things that I think should be done are:
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| Inside Job - Documentary about the Great Recession |
The Genesis
The basic reason things started going south was the lax mortgage standards that were being applied. Everyone from individual mortgage brokers to the companies that packaged and resold those mortgages to the ratings agencies that gave them AAA ratings, everyone felt absolved of responsibility. Everyone knew that not requiring people to document their income was a bad idea but everyone felt there was a "somebody else's problem field" around the whole thing and on it went.
As a brief background, when banks used to lend money it was actually their money you were borrowing (well, their depositors' money). And they were generally pretty careful about it because they didn't want to go out of business. Then someone (who should burn in Hell) thought of packaging up these mortgages together into a "financial instrument" (called a "Collateralized Debt Obligation" or CDO) that they could then sell to someone else. The bank got its money back and the risk was now spread out among a lot of different mortgages and a lot of different investors. The banks didn't feel obligated to check the documentation of their borrowers that much because they were going to get paid back anyway and besides - if one or two of those mortgages went south, the whole CDO was still pretty sound.
The problem, of course, was that as more and more banks did this kind of thing, more and more CDOs were created with more risk. The mortgage brokers got paid (and got bonuses), the banks got their money (plus extra), and the market got flooded with financial securities that were worth less than the bits in the computer that represented them. And the ratings agencies - paid by the banks to rate these instruments - continually claimed that they were AAA rated (the highest rating possible).
When I was looking at getting a mortgage back in 2002, I was encouraged (by my investment advisor, no less) to look at ARMs. Why? Because wouldn't I be better off in a 5 or 7 years than I am today? And then I could refinance down to a lower rate if I wanted to. The president himself (GWB) was telling you that you deserved as good a house as anyone else. What they peddled was "hope" - and Americans ate it up.
The Problem
The problem was, of course, that none of these really were AAA-rated securities - they were junk at best and the ratings agencies totally dropped the ball (or chose to look the other way) on these. But because they were AAA rated, large, stable groups (pensions and mutual funds) saw them as viable options. They were "safe" because they were AAA rated. Later, under oath, the heads of all three major ratings agencies said that ratings are just "their opinions", all the while convincing everyone that those "opinions" are extremely well-informed.
As Wall Street created more and more CDOs, a company called AIG (which you helped bail out) allowed people to insure against losses on those CDOs (called "Credit Default Swaps"). This in itself wasn't much of a problem as it was pretty much just an insurance policy. But AIG did something no other insurance company would do - it allowed people who had absolutely no relationship to the CDO to insure against it. This would be the same as having you and everyone else in your family separately insure your house. When your house burns down, you all get paid. Um, say what? Yes, that's what AIG did. Why? Dollar signs and lots of them. They thought the CDOs were stable (they ARE rated AAA, right?) and why not take all these suckers', I mean, investors' dollars if they want to bet against sure things?
The Collapse
When Lehman Brothers collapsed just over five years ago, suddenly everyone was on the hook for a lot of money. Lehman was one of the five main companies in the investment banking arena - the others being Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and Bear Stearns which had collapsed and been bought up earlier in 2008. Lehman was forced to file bankruptcy immediately, which had a cascading effect. Other countries' bankruptcy laws effectively shuttered Lehman overnight - there was no opportunity to slowly unwind the debt. First, all of the transactions that Lehman was processing were stopped immediately. Then AIG owed $13 billion to CDS holders on Lehman's debt - and they didn't have it. The scariest thing that happened was that the commercial paper market dried up. Large companies use the commercial paper market (a short-term loan system) to get money for their expenses (payroll, purchasing, etc). Without those loans, the company can't pay its bills. Part of the reason for the TARP funding was to calm the commercial paper market. After that, things continued to go south.
The Consequences
The consequences to the American people has been devastating. To date, over 15.7 MILLION home have been foreclosed upon. Our unemployment rate climbed over 10%, the highest since 1982 and second highest since the Great Depression.
Yet the top 1% of the country (including many of those who run and work at the same companies that caused this mess in the first place) have continued to distance themselves from the less fortunate 99% below them. Also, many of the people in government (both the current Obama administration and the previous ones) have very close ties to Wall Street (being CEOs, on the boards of those companies, consulting with those companies, etc.).
Sadly, despite the potentially criminal behavior on the part of these people, nothing has been done about it. No indictments filed, no convictions, no fines... Nothing. Why? Because the people making the rules are so deeply in the pockets of the financial services companies.
The Next Steps
Today, Larry Summers (one of the architects of the deregulation of the financial system) withdrew his name from consideration to head up the Federal Reserve. I cannot be happier that we won't potentially have him taking over for Bernanke who took over for Greenspan - both of whom were primarily responsible for continuing the deregulation started in the Reagan administration.
I think that we need to consider industries, regardless of what they are, as we do children. There are times when raising children that, based on their maturity, you give them more responsibility and less oversight. If they abuse that responsibility, you need to institute more oversight (regulation in the government's case). If they continue to abuse it, you "ground them" (impose fines, more onerous regulation, etc.). What the financial industry has shown - without a doubt - is that it's behaving as a 5 year old amped up on caffeine and sugar (in actuality, cocaine and hookers).
What Can I Do?
The most important things that I think should be done are:
- Reinstate the Glass-Steagall separation of depositor funds from investments funds. When you can gamble with someone else's money, what do you have to lose? The answer is "nothing" and, in actuality, you have a lot to gain (as has been proven over the past 20 years). Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is pushing a bill right now to do this. Support Senator Warren's efforts to pass this bill!
- Regulate the industry, especially the ratings agencies, but also the investment banks. With evidence that Goldman Sachs was pushing investments on their customers while internally betting against those investments (going so far as to call them "shitty deals"), regulators need to go far above and beyond what they've done in the past.
- Prosecute, prosecute, prosecute. The Federal government seems completely unwilling to take any steps to actually pursue any cases against people involved. Everyone from those banks who bilked investors of billions of dollars has been allowed to keep that money. If that doesn't enrage you, you need to check your pulse. If the Feds won't do it, the states' Attorneys General should pursue cases. Eliot Spitzer did it while AG for New York and got $1.6 BILLION in fines levied against those companies. Now why would a company, with gazillions of lawyers on retainer, NOT go to court and pay millions in fines? Because they know they did something wrong and don't want to get persecuted in the court of public opinion. Maybe we should anyway.
These are just a couple of things, but they would be more than the symbolic efforts that have been attempted to date. Write to the president. Write to Jack Lew, Treasury Secretary, to take some action. Write to the SEC. Get your friends aware of what's happened - and especially what hasn't happened. Get mad. Start making some other people mad too (that's part of the purpose of this post). It's been five years. Are you better off today than you were five years ago? I'm guessing not. But guess who is? The people who created this mess. And I think it's time they were made accountable for it. Five years is five years too long.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Hello fellow travelers! Just a couple of quick updates before bedtime.
We had a bit of a trial this week. I came home to meet Andrew's new speech therapist (who was very nice) but heard running water. I tracked it down to a broken water heater. And we're already extremely tight on money right now - like a-couple-hundred-bucks-from-bouncing-checks tight. To say that we live paycheck to paycheck would perhaps be an understatement. Regardless, we couldn't do without a hot water heater (if only because there was no shut-off valve and I had to turn off all the water to the house in order to stop it from leaking), so we called a very professional plumbing service. They came out and for $1000 replaced the water heater. Coupled with two cars that need several hundred dollars worth of work (brakes and a radiator) and Susie's teeth (which are fine but need a little maintenance), this was perhaps one of the worst things that could have happened. Thankfully I get paid today, so we now have a little cash, but yeah - my butt's a little sore from all this.
I'm still waiting on comps for my detective game, so I've been working on getting back into OttoJotts. I love the game and really want to just finish the damn thing. I was really concerned that I would have too much work to do because of both Apple's decision to ban using UDIDs (which I used for quick logins) and because I moved hosting from Jumpline (who were great 10 years ago but not so good at matching my needs now) to PowWeb (where Cathy's website is hosted). The migration was incredibly easy. I'm working on modifying the code now to change out the UDIDs. Once that's done I should be back to where I was before Apple's change and before the migration. Then it's off to finish the code.
Unfortunately for me, we have a really big weekend planned. Tonight is a Junior Denver Broncos Cheerleader (JDBC) performance at the Rockies game and there's a clinic on Sunday. Cathy has something in the afternoon on Sunday, so I will be at both clinics - AM and PM. #facepalm I do love being a squad parent, but it's a little frustrating when Cathy gets scheduled for things that conflict with JDBC clinics.
That's it from Chez DeVoe for the moment. More updates later.
We had a bit of a trial this week. I came home to meet Andrew's new speech therapist (who was very nice) but heard running water. I tracked it down to a broken water heater. And we're already extremely tight on money right now - like a-couple-hundred-bucks-from-bouncing-checks tight. To say that we live paycheck to paycheck would perhaps be an understatement. Regardless, we couldn't do without a hot water heater (if only because there was no shut-off valve and I had to turn off all the water to the house in order to stop it from leaking), so we called a very professional plumbing service. They came out and for $1000 replaced the water heater. Coupled with two cars that need several hundred dollars worth of work (brakes and a radiator) and Susie's teeth (which are fine but need a little maintenance), this was perhaps one of the worst things that could have happened. Thankfully I get paid today, so we now have a little cash, but yeah - my butt's a little sore from all this.
I'm still waiting on comps for my detective game, so I've been working on getting back into OttoJotts. I love the game and really want to just finish the damn thing. I was really concerned that I would have too much work to do because of both Apple's decision to ban using UDIDs (which I used for quick logins) and because I moved hosting from Jumpline (who were great 10 years ago but not so good at matching my needs now) to PowWeb (where Cathy's website is hosted). The migration was incredibly easy. I'm working on modifying the code now to change out the UDIDs. Once that's done I should be back to where I was before Apple's change and before the migration. Then it's off to finish the code.
Unfortunately for me, we have a really big weekend planned. Tonight is a Junior Denver Broncos Cheerleader (JDBC) performance at the Rockies game and there's a clinic on Sunday. Cathy has something in the afternoon on Sunday, so I will be at both clinics - AM and PM. #facepalm I do love being a squad parent, but it's a little frustrating when Cathy gets scheduled for things that conflict with JDBC clinics.
That's it from Chez DeVoe for the moment. More updates later.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
A new first post for a new blog
I have three other blogs that I work on "periodically" (meaning "when something catches my eye" or "I have something cool to share"). But they are more specific and less general purpose. One, Ex Mediis Aevis, coverages my fascination and knowledge of the middle ages and the second is my development blog for Otto Von Productions. The third was/is an attempt at short fiction around surviving the zombie apocalypse, but I'm kind of burned out on zombies. Not that I'm not planning on watching the premiere of "Walking Dead", though. Those blogs are great (and you should check them out), but I don't really have anywhere that I can just sort of talk about whatever it is that I feel like talking about.
I've been reading a lot of Wil Wheaton's books over the past few weeks (got a Kindle Paperwhite for my birthday - thanks family!) and there's a freedom in his blog about being able to write about, well, whatever the hell he wants to write about. I sort of pigeonholed myself with the previous blogs and had started this one over 5 years ago to talk about software management (another round hole). I'm going to repurpose this one, though, to be just a generic blog. A place where I can talk about the triumphs and challenges of raising a brilliant, talented 10-year old girl and a VERY energetic 2-year old boy. About the day-to-day crap that sometimes gets me down. About the things that get me motivated. About life, I guess.
So, here's to a blog unlike the others. A blog about just being me. Hope you enjoy the ride.
I've been reading a lot of Wil Wheaton's books over the past few weeks (got a Kindle Paperwhite for my birthday - thanks family!) and there's a freedom in his blog about being able to write about, well, whatever the hell he wants to write about. I sort of pigeonholed myself with the previous blogs and had started this one over 5 years ago to talk about software management (another round hole). I'm going to repurpose this one, though, to be just a generic blog. A place where I can talk about the triumphs and challenges of raising a brilliant, talented 10-year old girl and a VERY energetic 2-year old boy. About the day-to-day crap that sometimes gets me down. About the things that get me motivated. About life, I guess.
So, here's to a blog unlike the others. A blog about just being me. Hope you enjoy the ride.
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