Daniel

My Wild and Crazy Week

Once a year, Ellen goes to New York for a book festival for almost a week, like this last week typically leaving Sunday morning and returning Thursday evening.

I will note in passing that when Ellen goes to New York, she takes the bus; when I go, I take the train. One wonders what conclusions can be drawn from this (Gender differences? Political differences? Attitude toward spending money differences?)

Anyway, during that week I am ON MY OWN. Able to do WHATEVER I WANT. Free to do it WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT. Of course, except when I have to go to work, or work on my classes I teach, or this last Sunday except when I am with my younger daughter, Tamar, watching the last two episodes of Game of Thrones for the season. Continue reading “My Wild and Crazy Week”

Reflections on the DOT Headquarters Move

While working on lesson plans for some of the classes I teach, I came across the summary and lessons learned I wrote up after we finished the move of the US Department’s of Transportation headquarters from L’Enfant Plaza to the Navy Yard. It original appeared in Federal Times, I thought some of it might be applicable to other large IT projects and have reprinted it here:

The Department of Transportation Moves to a New Headquarters

Daniel G. Mintz, Chief Information Officer

Department of Transportation

“We’ve done the impossible and that makes us mighty.”

– Mal, Serenity Captain, Firefly TV Series

The weekend of June 22, the last employee was moved out of the old Department of Transportation headquarters building at L’Enfant Plaza and moved into the new building on the Southeast Federal Center. That weekend the entire Office of the Secretary, including all of the communications associated with relocating a Cabinet Level Secretary were also moved.

Continue reading “Reflections on the DOT Headquarters Move”

Broadcast of My Interview w/Mark Amtower – Amtower Off Center

With the Washington Capitals having made the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Phrase “Off Center” means something a bit different than it might have a week ago.

Regardless I had a great time recording Mark Amtower’s show last Friday, for broadcast today, Monday, April 9th, at noon, and rebroadcast Thursday, April 12th at 11am.

The other guest was Ed Swallow, VP of Business Development, for Northrup Grumman’s Civil Systems Division.

We kicked around the differences between working for a large or small company, in my case Powertek Corporation, www.powertekcorporation.com; as well as how the two can work together.

Technology topics include Cybersecurity and mobility. No technology discussion would be complete without some mention of ‘the cloud’, so we covered that also.

We talked about how small companies can differentiate themselves, Mark’s summary of the program discusses Ed’s approach:

http://blog.federaldirect.net/2012/04/some-great-small-biz-tips-on-amtower.html

I discussed how Powertek has taken the concept of the Voice of the Customer which we use to ensure we get usable feedback on projects and added additional structure to it in order to make it a Powertek value-add.

Thanks to Mark for inviting me and for Ed Swallow for being such a great fellow participant.

This Year’s Passover Sedar

I have previously posted about the Passover Sedar we hold at our house each year:

https://www.ourownlittlecorner.com/2011/04/10/our-annual-passover-seder/

and

https://www.ourownlittlecorner.com/2011/04/11/our-passover-seder-quotes/

In 2008, one thing we focused on was “We think about from what, to what, and what we have to accomplish to initiate and complete the transition.” This year we want to expand a bit on that: thinking about what risks have to be taken in order to successfully achieve freedom and have to happen to enable people (or communities of people) to take those risks. Perhaps we can consider what implications this has for the current day.

Continue reading “This Year’s Passover Sedar”

Thoughts On Teleworking

I teach a class at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) about the future of Information Technology.

One of the great things about doing this is how much I learn each semester, I find I always gain much, much more than I bring to the class (pointed out to me by the observant students …).

In a recent discussion thread one of the students had some interesting things to say about telecommuting which I thought deserved a wider audience. So with a tip of the hat to Neelima Jampani … Continue reading “Thoughts On Teleworking”

Today I Rode the Bus All By Myself

So yesterday among other things I proved (once again) that I know literally nothing about cars.

As I was driving back from a customer meeting the alternator/battery light came on in my car. After a few moments I realized that steering had become more difficult, though possible. I called the place I take my car to be fixed which is over off New Hampshire Avenue. They said it was ‘the belt’, it probably snapped. I should bring it in. I said I would that evening.

SO last night I took the now convenient Intercounty Connector (ICC), Route 200, over to New Hampshire. While driving over there I learned, through experiential data, that when ‘the belt’ snaps, the batter is now being recharged so well. And when you have been driving for a while and your headlights are on (and your radio is on) your batter eventually goes dead. In this case about 1/10 of a mile from the New Hampshire Avenue exit. Luckily I was able to coast to the right shoulder and the emergency blinker worked (which meant I figured out what to push to turn the emergency blinker on). Continue reading “Today I Rode the Bus All By Myself”

Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk or How I Literally Married the Internet

I find myself these days on a regular basis having discussions, for one reason or another, about the impact of Information Technology and inevitably the Internet on organizations, life, society, culture, and in general, the individuals having the conversation.

About a decade ago, the first time I remember having this discussion with a friend of mine, he remarked that he felt his parents had experienced greater dislocation due to technological change than he had. His parents had lived through the growth of radio, the invention of television, the ubiquitous growth of telephones, and the creation and expansion of commercial air travel.

All he and I could come up with, at the time, were faxes, cell phones, and perhaps email; which while significant seemed less amazing than the list he had for his parents. That was a sobering conversation since the common wisdom was that everything was changing so radically. Having said that, I suspect that if I repeated that conversation today we would both come to a different conclusion. Continue reading “Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk or How I Literally Married the Internet”

Why FedRAMP Is Worth Caring About

Reposted from AOL Government, http://gov.aol.com/2011/12/12/why-fedramp-is-worth-caring-about/.

If you have been at a recent Washington Capitals hockey game when the opponent scores a goal, you know the crowd routinely shouts out “Who cares!”

Last week, Steven VanRoekel, Federal CIO, released the long awaited OMB plan for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP; which reminds me to be thankful for pronounceable acronyms. The purpose of FedRAMP per the implementing OMB memorandum, is to “provide a cost-effective, risk-based approach for the adoption and use of cloud services”.

This blog entry is my attempt to answer the question “Who cares!”

Continue reading “Why FedRAMP Is Worth Caring About”

I Once Was Young And Now …

On weekends I generally try and get things done that I do not get to during the week, both at work and in my on-line classes I teach. However, almost always I am able to avoid accomplishing too much by wandering over to youtube and getting side-tracked in watching video’s.

While I am wasting time with youtube, I often will update my various social media connections with a link to a video with a song that I am particularly struck by. A recent interaction that resulted from that caused me to think about the mid-west.

When I was growing up I was always a little bit unclear as to exactly where the mid-west started and stopped. Continue reading “I Once Was Young And Now …”