An exposed oil pipeline near East Don river in Toronto

There were several storms this summer in Toronto with torrential rain.

As a result Toronto rivers were running high and river banks were eroded in quite a few places.

On September 21^st I was walking along East Don river in Toronto and stumbled upon eroded bank with an exposed oil pipeline.

I am not sure how significant is a risk of contamination of East Don river by oil from this pipeline.

I wonder whether Trans-Northern Pipelines, the apparent owner of this pipeline check problematic spots after each heavy rain.

N 43.775640, W 79.370329 are coordinates of this spot.

P.S. I called them and described a situation.

Harnessing the Power of Peer Pressure

Back when I was a high school student in Russia I spent a few weeks at a summer camp with my schoolmates. One day I walked into a room where a few guys were hanging out. There was a pool table in the room, some balls on the table, but I didn't see a cue.

I wasn't sure where to find a cue and wanted to ask (in Russian) "Do you have a cue?". However, I misspoke and asked "Do you have a "khui" ("хуй" in Russian)?" In Russian the word "хуй" (penis) is pronounced similarly to the word "кий" (cue stick). A psychoanalyst should probably be able to explain the underlying reasons for such an error. J

The guys laughed for about half an hour and each of them tried to assure me that he had a "хуй".

I was embarrassed. To decidedly resolve this situation I foolishly proclaimed "That's it. I am not using "F" words anymore!".

It's interesting what happened next. This was a strong and rather optimistic promise by a sixteen year old boy to completely stop swearing and using profanities ("ругаться матом"). I was not that strong-willed back then and continued using profane words in my speech. However, each time I used a profane word my schoolmates reminded me that I have promised to stop swearing. Each time they ridiculed me and told me that I needed to stop using profane words because of the promise. I probably do not need to tell you that they used all the taboo words themselves. Almost all my schoolmates conspired against me and the peer pressure from my "friends" was unbearable. You can probably imagine how cruel teenagers were back then.

It was regular non-stop negative reinforcement and gradually (like a Pavlov's dog) I started using fewer and fewer profane words in my speech. In a few months I had completely stopped using them.

This case shows how to harness the power of peer pressure. What essentially happened there is that I recruited schoolmates to be members of a peer support group in my accidental endeavor to stop using profane words. It was very similar to the approaches used by such organizations as Anonymous Alcoholics and Weight Watchers. In my case I successfully (although accidentally) harnessed the power of peer pressure (a.k.a. bullying) to accomplish a personal growth objective.

You too can use this trick to fight extra weight, an alcohol addiction or the use of profane words in your speech. In addition to the above objectives you can also use peer pressure to accomplish any goal you want.

You just need to publicly announce your goal and ask (explicitly or implicitly, as in my case) your peers to remind you and keep track of your progress and missteps.

Nobody can do it better than your "friends". They would selflessly volunteer their time to point to your errors and would not allow event a single misstep to get unnoticed. In this case, the more "friends" you have in your peer support group, the better. Every cloud has a silver lining and you can use even bullies to accomplish something positive. You can use their help for a wide range of challenging tasks ranging from setting up a new regimen of physical exercises to meticulous completion of your school assignments or another challenging task you have in mind. You just need to announce it and ask your friends and "friends" to help build your motivation and resolve.

By the way, there is a smartphone app for this. Task List and To-do List application YouDo @Google Play Store can facilitate this process. You can use YouDo to share your Task List with your friends on Facebook or over an e-mail. YouDo would also send a Twitter update on the progress of completion of your tasks and changes in their priorities.

Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mat_(Russian_profanity)
http://psychology.about.com/od/classicalconditioning/a/pavlovs-dogs.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
http://www.aa.org
http://www.weightwatchers.com

Healthcare.gov fiasco, last flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger and an ancient programmer’s joke

On January 28, 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up in the skies above Florida 73 seconds after its ill-fated launch.
How was this possible? Why was it so poorly designed and built? What were the skills and qualifications of its builders?
Do not worry about them. They knew what they were doing. They built an almost perfect space vehicle to be launched from tropical Cape Canaveral. According to its specifications, the shuttle should have been operated at temperatures above ~15 Celsius / ~60 Fahrenheit degrees.
However, January 28^th was an unusually cold day with temperature around freezing at night. A few icicles even hung from the rocket booster.
When asked, engineers who designed the Space Shuttle said “Do not launch. It’s too risky. Most likely it will fail”.
After this message was transmitted through multiple layers of management and reached the top bosses of NASA it was significantly softened.
NASA management only saw a small risk and decided “So what? Launch it!”.
The Challenger was launched and flew more or less OK until the 73^rd second of its last flight.

I recalled this story while reading James Marcus Bach's eloquent commentary on the root causes of the HealthCare.gov fiasco (http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/940).

I am certain that when the software engineers who designed the HealthCare Exchange were asked to launch or not to launch they answered “Do not launch. It’s too risky. Most likely it will fail”.
After this message was transmitted through multiple layers of management and reached the top bosses of Health and Human Services it was significantly softened.
HHS management only saw a small risk and decided “So what? Launch it!”.
For the first 73 seconds the healthcare exchange flew more or less OK, and you can find what happened next in the newspapers, on TV and on Ben Simo's site (http://blog.isthereaproblemhere.com/).

It’s not the first time this has happened on a software project. An ancient programmer’s joke describes a similar situation.

“In the beginning was the plan, and then the specification; And the plan was without form, and the specification was void.

And darkness was on the faces of the implementors thereof; And they spake unto their leader, saying:
"It is a crock of ****, and smells as of a sewer."

And the leader took pity on them, and spoke to the project leader: "It is a crock of excrement, and none may abide the odor thereof."

And the project leader spake unto his section head, saying:
"It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide it."

The section head then hurried to his department manager, and informed him thus: "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."

The department manager carried these words to his general manager, and spoke unto him saying: "It containeth that which aideth the growth of plants, and it is very strong."

And so it was that the general manager rejoiced and delivered the good news unto the Vice President. "It promote the growth, and it is very powerful."

The Vice President rushed to the President's side, and joyously exclaimed: "This powerful new software product will promote the growth of the company!"

And the President looked upon the product, and saw that it was very good.”

I do not know who created this joke, but today I reread it one more time and especially liked the ending: “And the President looked upon the product, and saw that it was very good.”

PowerPoint business

Several years ago my manager Jamie Campbell half-jokingly told me “Yury, I am going to quit and start my own business preparing PowerPoint presentations for other people”.

He was a great salesperson and, for example, was able to sell more than one hundred TCoEs (Testing Centers of Excellence) while working for a consulting company. PowerPoint was one of his main tools and he was good at it.

Since then Jamie has started his own Test consulting company. Even though it's not a PowerPoint business, I believe that Jamie still uses his PowerPoint masterpieces as part of the new business.

The conversation with Jamie came to mind when I noticed on LinkedIn that one of Janice Mason's main services is actually the preparation of PowerPoint sales presentations.

Thus we have proof that PowerPoint presentations should not be handled by amateurs but rather should be outsourced to PowerPoint professionals.

What are you waiting for? Go and call Janice to make your business more successful!

A simple Task List with reminders can better help procrastinators than a complex GTD system

“Getting Things Done” a.k.a. GTD is a system designed and promoted by David Allen.

According to Wikipedia, “The GTD method rests on the idea of moving planned tasks and projects out of the mind by recording them externally and then breaking them into actionable work items. This allows one to focus attention on taking action on tasks, instead of on recalling them.”
You may find more details in the Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity book. The main premise of GTD is that it can make you more productive and successful in your life.

Many people believe that it’s a rather useful system. The system can be implemented using many different tools. For example, see 17 Tools, 50+ Websites or even 100+ Resources for Getting Things Done. Different systems supporting GTD exist, including the paper index card based Hipster PDA, web based applications like Toodledo and applications for smartphones like DGT Task Manager.

These tools and the GTD system can help determined and motivated people become more effective.

David Allen's main idea is that people are not effective due to poor task and time management skills and that the GTD system helps with this. At the same time, quite a few people have a different issue limiting their productivity and success: procrastination or lack of focus. The GTD system is of limited value to such people because they are easily distracted, regardless of available tools.

These people mainly need help with motivation and concentration. Such help can be provided by therapists, coaches, counselors, priests, peer groups like AA or even friends.

The YouDo Android application is designed to help people who procrastinate by minimizing their distraction and bringing focus back to important tasks. YouDo is not a substitute for a life coach or therapist. However, it can help you with your focus by unobtrusively reminding about the most important tasks.

YouDo will help you maintain a list of tasks. Reminders for the most important tasks are displayed in a small window when you are likely not busy with other Tasks. If you take no action, the reminder window will close in a few seconds without any input. YouDo thus distracts you from whatever distraction you were dealing with and helps you switch back to a more important task.

YouDo can help eliminate the “Oops I forgot” moments.

YouDo can help a procrastinator become more productive and successful.

Why free Wi-Fi is bad for Tim Hortons business

Tim Hortons is a Canadian coffee shop chain that's bigger than McDonald’s in Canada.

Following Starbucks' example they recently introduced free WiFi.

Was it a good idea? I do not think so.

A typical Starbucks shop has just a few customers sitting around and sipping coffee. A few extra people with laptops and tablets just make this place more inviting. Apparently having free WiFi is good for Starbucks' business.

On the other hand, a typical Tim Hortons is overcrowded during peak hours. Almost all tables are often occupied by customers.

When free WiFi brought additional people who just occupy tables and do not buy coffee, many Tim Hortons shops completely ran out of free tables during peak hours (from about 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM). This led to a significant decrease in customer satisfaction (according to an unscientific survey of my friends). Quite a few regular patrons stopped coming to Tim Hortons and switched to competing chains because they were no longer able to find tables. I have not completely given up on Tim Hortons myself but I am thinking about it.

Do you still believe that free WiFi was good for Tim Hortons' business?

$30 billion in damages caused by Microsoft bug

A few weeks ago I suddenly noticed that using Microsoft Office 2010 didn't bother me anymore. It was no longer stressful and I knew how to locate most functions. From time to time I still need to check Help or use Google to locate functions I have not yet memorized, but I am now reasonably fast and efficient (almost as efficient as with the “pre-ribbon” version).

Microsoft introduced the so called ribbon interface in MS Office 2007 and moved almost all features to new GUI locations. I still remember my frustration when in November 2010 I was forced to migrate from Office 2003 to Office 2007. After 15 years of experience with Microsoft Office I suddenly became a novice with only minimal knowledge of where to find typical features. Creation and modification of MS Word documents suddenly slowed down to a crawl. I was almost constantly looking into Help or Googling to find new locations of familiar features. I was not spending this time learning new features – I was spending this time on finding new locations of features I have already mastered during 15 years of use.

Two and a half years after transitioning to the “ribbon based” version of MS Office, I am finally content with this product. I am not yet as productive as before, but the productivity gap has become negligible.

My estimate is that I lost about 100 hours in two and a half years due to diminished productivity caused by transitioning from MS Office 2003 to MS Office 2007.

And what about other people? Let’s estimate their losses caused by the ribbon interface.

Right now MS Office is purportedly “used by over a billion people worldwide”, according to Wikipedia.

I believe that most of them are novice users who started on MS office with the ribbon interface and were not affected by the transition.

I assume that only 3 million people in western countries were power users of MS Office and experienced about the same challenges as me.

Assuming a $100 per hour loaded cost of their time we can estimate total business losses as:

3,000,000 people x 100 hours x $100 per hr = $30,000,000,000.

According to my calculations businesses lost 30 billion dollars due to introduction of the ribbon interface by Microsoft.

Was it worth it? I am not sure.

I do not recall seeing a comparison of economic benefits and losses due to the introduction of the ribbon interface.

$30 billion in losses may be OK if benefits exceeded this amount.

Have they?