The Merchant Stand a blog by Bob Williams

Level loading straight talk

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Bob Williams

Posted in Business and IT Alignment, Business Process Management, Career Leave a comment

Listen to the clues. This week was not unlike many others. I had multiple conversations with colleagues about the amount of work expected of them. Common phrases include: “We don’t have enough resources.” “I’m overworked.” “We are working hard, but are we working smart?” “I’m drowning.” “Are we working on the right things?” “I plan my day with important activities, but then urgent activities take my time.” Thoughtful answers to this classic dilemma usually involve some form of level loading to try to even-out and prioritize the work expected from employees. Last year I wrote about one technique my group uses to try to control the volume of input on our development team leads. One the biggest challenges in controlling work inputs is a concept I call organizational entropy. I define organizational entropy as a measure of disorder or randomness by which work is created within a company. This ultimately

Built-in automobile technology is distracting our driving

Posted on October 14, 2017 by Bob Williams

Posted in Technology Leave a comment

We’ve all seen the consequences of texting and driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has education content for public awareness campaigns. But, do you think we have a myopic focus on cell phones as the device providing the distraction? Touch screens and electronic functions built-in the latest automobiles can provide as much temptation and distraction as cell phones. Cars today come with a variety of electronic options including GPS navigation, bluetooth audio, streaming music services, and yes even texting. My car has a text function that is part of the bluetooth handsfreelink feature. The feature only shows messages when the car is stopped. However, it will read messages out loud using a text-to-speech module when the car is in motion. I use the physical controls to manipulate the function. But wait, there’s more. This feature also allows me to select pre-written replies using the physical knobs in front of

Easier password rules

Posted on September 24, 2017 by Bob Williams

Posted in Business and IT Alignment, Business Process Management Leave a comment

Somebody give these guys a high-five. Finally. There is a glimmer of hope for resolution to the insanity that has become password complexity rules. The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently revised guidelines for password complexity. The prescribed password complexity recommendations are detailed in Appendix A – Strength of Memorized Secrets. The NIST findings not only acknowledge the impact to usability of the existing recommendations for complex password rules, but they reveal the impact to improved security is not significant. This will make you smile and is sure to get a round of applause from everyone. Here’s an excerpt: “Humans, however, have only a limited ability to memorize complex, arbitrary secrets, so they often choose passwords that can be easily guessed. To address the resultant security concerns, online services have introduced rules in an effort to increase the complexity of these memorized secrets. The most notable form of these

The Yin and Yang of Security Patching

Posted on September 17, 2017 by Bob Williams

Posted in Business Process Management, Customer Focus Leave a comment

My computer is working, don’t change anything. As an IT manager I observe this behavior regularly with end-users and product managers of eCommerce applications. It’s understandable. When a computer system is working and doing its job then “updates” are sources for creating failure. Updates change code. Updates rock the boat. If a computer security update hasn’t bitten you yet, then it’s probably just a matter of time. My experience is the number of system issues related to operating system updates is growing. It’s hard to test all the dependencies of code updates against every combination of hardware and software that exists on computing equipment. A couple of examples I can point to in 2017 are Microsoft Edge no longer working after installing the Windows 10 Creators Update. Then there was the issue of Microsoft Outlook unable to open attachments which was later resolved with another hot fix. But

Hope @work

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Bob Williams

Posted in Career Leave a comment

“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” – Woodrow Wilson Hope is the great motivator in our world. It gives us anticipation and an expectation for some desirable result. President Woodrow Wilson spoke of the spirit of hope in 1913 while addressing a group of college students. His hope was to inspire the next generation to leave the world a better place than they found it. A few weeks ago, I watched the movie Dunkirk from director Christopher Nolan and I found the presentation of the historical events in the movie deeply moving. The film’s characters reacted to their situation in a variety of ways. Some exhibited a