The Best Advice I Ever Gave

I have been working in technology for more than twenty-five years. I have repaired computers, NSA crypto machines, and sophisticated, peripheral communications equipment. At first I was like my peers, well trained and possessed of high intelligence. I had been a data communications professional for nearly three years when I got the best advice I ever received.

I was working late one night, when the shift supervisor appeared. I had been unsuccessful for more than two watch sections in trying to fix a crypto unit. Crypto units are just highly specialized computers. The watch supervisor was my friend Dwaine. He asked me “Haven’t you fixed that machine yet?” I admitted I was having some problems, but I hoped to be finished soon. Unfortunately, I had no clue as to the solution to my problem.

Dwaine suggested he could help, and I replied with some disdain that he was not qualified on this specific crypto machine. He scoffed at me and said supportively, “Just bear with me one time, will you?” First, he asked me if the symptoms had changed since I began the troubleshooting process. I responded, “No.” I realized Dwaine was checking to see if another problem had occurred which was masking my search for the initial problem. Repairmen only learn this trick occurring through experience.

We opened up the system schematics and Dwaine asked me which circuits would be most likely to cause the symptoms I was currently seeing. Step by step, we worked our way through the schematics, with Dwaine making me use my expertise to follow a strict but logical procedure. In fewer than twenty minutes the crypto was fixed! I never forgot the unspoken lesson.

We all have tunnel vision which may prevent us from performing at our best. Perhaps we are just too tired. I prefer to believe, in this case, that I was too flexible in my troubleshooting and was satisfied I was doing my best – when, in fact, I really was not. Or perhaps I was mentally lazy and too sure of myself, too overconfident. At any rate I learned a valuable lesson – the best advice I ever received.

Several years passed, and I was a doctoral graduate student in Psychology. In the Math building next door to mine, my friend Dan’s office light was on at 3AM one morning. Dan has been my friend for more than twenty years, and he is the most brilliant IT professional I have ever met. I went over to see what was happening. Dan had been struggling for the previous eight hours on a computer assembly language program. Ordinarily, Dan was a brilliant programmer. I offered to help, and he responded in much the same way I had responded to Dwaine years earlier. “You don’t know anything at all about this CPU chip,” he said. I said, “I know it uses RPN logic (Reverse Polish Notation), but I’m not tired, and you are.” Dan sighed in compliance and walked me through the steps of his program, and I asked intelligent questions about what might go wrong at different points in the process. It was only ten minutes after we started that he realized his mistake. He was very surprised and grateful, and I had a new troubleshooting tool – and the best technical advice I ever gave.

This past semester I had another opportunity to expand upon my advice paradigm. A student in my Unix class asked me for help with a problem at work which had begun two months before (February). He is a Unix system administrator for a sales company.

Each night the company computer literally came to a halt at 11PM and became sluggish until the day shift came in to reboot. He was clueless as to the cause. I asked him what diagnostic programs he was using. He replied, “Top.” I showed surprise because the ‘top’ command has never offered me anything useful. I suggested he needed to use the ‘ps -ef’ command to determine what processes were occupying the computer’s time at 11PM. In fewer than five minuteswith a remote connection from the classroom he found the problem and understood it. He had to fix it later, however. It seems that each time a sale was made an e-mail was sent to the buyer with an order number and a copy of the invoice. For some reason (unknown at the time) the problem began when the computer inexplicably began to send out hundreds of thousands of e-mails each night – a kind of internal Denial of Service problem.

So, this last problem completed my problem solving paradigm. Try to get a fresh look at the problem, and if you are still clueless, seek the advice of a more experienced subject matter expert. Is this over simplification? Perhaps, but I see the same hurdles in a faulty problem solving process over and over, and it really helps if you have many professional contacts who are quite knowledgeable about areas in IT in which you are not.

I hope this helps you.

Best Practices-LinkedIn

In reading each item you can get an idea of how you will interact with the LinkedIn system.

How to Effectively Use LinkedIn:

The LinkedIn System

1. After signing up, fill out your personal profile as completely as possible. Your profile will reflect your personal goals and career aspirations.

2. It might help to learn from any personal friends you may have who already use LinkedIn.

3. Strengthen your profile by getting involved with those “Questions and Answers” you can answer. Look at the “Answers Application” on your home page and outline your areas of subject matter expertise .

4. To keep up with the “Questions and Answers” pick answer categories and get the RSS email feeds. Now you will not have to go to LinkedIn to become involved

5. To give you an indication of your profile’s completeness, look at the bar graph on the right side of your screen – this will tell you the percentage of profile completeness.

6. There is also a linkage for your Twitter and blog accounts from within LinkedIn to bring some closure to your use of the Internet in your social networking.

7. If you are looking for a job, you can indicate that – but realize that anyone can read that, even your current employer.

8. Your professional presentations can be shared in your account using a widget called ‘slideshare.’

9. Ensure your own company has a LinkedIn profile. That your company is ‘searchable’ means job seekers and contact seekers can see what industry you serve in.

10. You can use your contacts to provide survey or market information to help you or your company plan or make decisions.

11. Just as you have set aside part(s) of your day to respond to emails, you should link LinkedIn announcements to your email – and you should set aside some time on a regular basis to perform your LinkedIn tasks.

12. It is great that you directed implementation of a talent management program in your company which saved $XX million dollars. A simple statement of this along with some valuable experience you gained is preferable to ‘blowing your own horn!’

13. Your personal SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can be enhanced by listing your LinkedIn address in your email, listing your blog and its link in your LinkedIn profile, and

Social Networking with LinkedIn

1. When you read an article you liked or enjoyed, you can search for the author and establish a social network connection. A personal communication would not hurt.

2. Join professional LinkedIn groups which relate to what you do now and those to which you aspire. If a group does not exist to capture your interest, start your own group, and you will enjoy meeting and greeting new group members.

3. One way to let people know what you are doing is to click “What you are working on.”

4. You should not make contacts blindly, so you should access your trusted contacts and ask them to provide some names of their trusted contacts for you. Do not make contacts with the “Get introduced through a connection” selection.

5. When your contacts announce achievements, let them know you are celebrating them, too.

6. Ask those who know you best to write you recommendations to post in your profile – because social networking is not all ‘getting,’ be sure to offer recommendations to others. You might also offer to “trade” recommendations with your trusted contacts. Your profile will never be complete unless you have three recommendations.

7. You have not always been a social networker – use LinkedIn to find former colleagues and co-workers with whom you wish to re-establish contact.

8. LinkedIn is not a social networking site for non professionals. Its strength is that it permits you to advertise your qualifications to other professionals, thereby enhancing your professional reputation.

9. If you are trying to connect with a person you do not know, use your personal contacts (particularly easy if your contact works in the same company as your ‘proposed’ new contact.

10. Distinguish between LinkedIn contacts you have physically met or with whom you have communicated. You will use them first if you need advice.

11. When you answer someone’s question from “Questions and Answers,” learn what you can from that person’s profile and send a message from you which may offer more information. Who knows – maybe you will establish a two-way relationship with that person.

12. When you look into an RFP at a company, search that company for LinkedIn members whom you might know or members you might contact for inside information about the RFP.

13. You cannot know everything, so posing the right question can introduce you to SMEs who are willing to share their expertise. Be sure to expand your network with contacts who are SMEs in areas you have an interest in acquiring expertise.

14. Use LinkedIn to identify vendors who offer expertise in areas you do not. This knowledge will mean you will not have to admit personal ignorance on any topic.

15. To manage my contacts I use Time and Chaos (Isbister.com), There is an interface between T&C and my Gmail to keep my client/contact email addresses up to date. T&C allows me to keep track of dates of contact and other information can be kept in fields I control.

16. Politicians review their contacts so names and faces will remain fresh. If a contact is important to be added to your list, that person should be contacted on a regular basis to keep the connection fresh. Perhaps you could send an update on your professional successes – or even that you are getting married!

17. You can review the statistics of your account by seeing how many visitors you had in a given period of time. This is just one minor indication of a possible ROI for your LinkedIn activity.

Recruiting – for the job seeker

1. If you are recruiting, you can search LinkedIn for appropriate applicants.

2. The better the profile, the better the job opportunities.

3. If you are using LinkedIn to find a job, put in your resume.

4. Try to link to all professional groups in which you are interested.

5. If the profile is not complete or does not answer the recruiter’s needs, it will be rejected.

6. Give the profile scrutiny the time devoted to an elevator speech. If perusing a resume takes about 30 seconds, why would a recruiter spend more on your profile?

Finding Personal Knowledge Management Contacts (Social Networking) part 2

10. A former employer or instructor, especially if you left either of them thinking well of you, would be an excellent PKM contact

11. In every job you have held you make contacts which may have lasting power. Such contact belong in your contact matrix containing facts about their particular knowledge value or expertise level.

12. Referrals from your trusted PKM contacts may also be added to your contact list.

13. Previous clients, if apropos to your particular job skill set, are always strong PKM contacts. In particular the importance is greater if the contacts believed that you provided them with excellent contract deliverables.

14. Current or existing clients who are also satisfied with your contract work are excellent contacts. I have often been offered jobs with clients satisfied with my contract work.

15. If you are a qualified college instructor, you can make many student contacts who might make very valuable employees in your area of expertise or interest.

16. If you are a college student, all the bright students are possible contacts of potentially valuable future use. If you are working on a graduate degree, seek out those students already employed in your areas of interest. Not all jobs are posted, and these possible “inside sales people” can keep you apprised of activities within their own companies. A recommendation from someone inside the company could be quite valuable to you.

17. Your PKM is not only “people” contacts – it might also include web URLs and other sources of valuable information which will help you do a better, more professional job.

18. If you are a consultant or salesman, current and previous clients belong on your PKM matrix. Additionally, current and future client prospects should be there. Some contact stratification ought to be made. Current qualified buyers should be separated from future prospects, who might not yet be identified as qualified buyers.

19. I know a recruiter who works for a large, billion dollar company. He is always alert for PKM opportunities. Once, while getting a haircut, he noticed one of those waiting for his haircut was reading an Oracle certification book. Because the recruiter’s company had a continuing need for Oracle expertise in IT new hires, he stuck up a conversation with the man. The result was a new employee from the local area. Costs were reduced because neither recruitment nor air travel was required, and more possible PKM contacts in the immediate area with Oracle experience were added to the recruiter’s PKM list. Again, PKM contacts abound. You just have to be aware of them. I often hear discussions on IT topics when I go to a restaurant for a meal. I am always looking for more.

If a meeting is important enough for you to attend (banking, Rotarian, professional, etc), then you ought to make an effort to learn who all the attendees are, what they do and think, and begin to make a decision regarding what notes to add about them to your database of contacts.

Finding Personal Knowledge Management Contacts (Social Networking) Part 1

Finding Personal Knowledge Management Contacts (Social Networking) Part 1

1. MBWA – managing by walking around gives you the opportunity to develop contacts informally. These lower level workers can always become communication “linking pins in the future.
2. By becoming a member in professional groups, you can make contacts who are useful for providing ideas, and possibly other job opportunities.
3. If you take a college class, your contacts can range from the instructor to the other students, and each person in the class has his own PKM. By establishing trusting personal and professional relationships, PKM contacts may be sharable by mutual consent.
4. If you attend church, at least one member in each family has a job – and even retirees possess informal PKM capability.
5. If you are employed in a large company, formal meetings or training may introduce to possible contacts. As you move up the corporate ladder, these contacts will also mature over time to hold similar positions in their own departments or divisions. Contacts, like fine wine, only improve with age, and the trust you established long ago with these contacts continue.
6. Even jury duty provides you with possible contacts, although quite varied in value and nature. Opportunity is where you can find it.
7. Even belonging to IT vendor user groups can help make you better contacts, both within the IT profession and outside it. Because IT is so important to the entire organization’s productivity, proper contacts in this specialized area will become more important to you as your job opportunities progress.
8. Make further and more frequent contacts with people who are smarter or are more capable than you are. You will be forced to improve your own capabilities just keeping up with them. You may even learn from these contacts how to think outside the box.
9. E-mail contacts offers another kind of PKM matrix which did not exist twenty years ago. The importance of e-mail PKM matrices can be seen by the grants given by the government for the data mining e-mail contacts for national security purposes. Even if the e-mail is encrypted, the address of the sender and receiver are not.