tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19959749655848507192024-02-07T20:59:18.808-08:00Sum Of My DecisionsI am the sum of my decisions and the intended and unintended consequences of the decisionsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-49269463806619193932019-01-01T02:08:00.000-08:002019-01-01T02:08:13.142-08:00Tracking my New Year’s resolutions <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Many ways has been suggested to help keep one new year resolutions. Here I’m going to practice many at the same time. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Have clear and specific and measurable goals </li>
<li>Share the goals publicly and with friends</li>
<li>Keep daily diary of the progress </li>
<li>Start with why, beyond the number to what are the purpose of the goals</li>
<li>Focus on the prize, think about how your life would be better when the goals are accomplished </li>
</ol>
<div>
For anyone interested <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O1eD6PtxIzguBPpRsT_ZuKNVcsLuK6pCtwiAL5FeTmA" target="_blank">here</a> is my daily tracker. I wrote about why in the previous blog entry. I want more vitality, less stress, happy relationship with my family. I can visualize the possibility when I accomplish my goals. </div>
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Wish me luck and happy new year to all! </div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-74509955904017201902019-01-01T01:48:00.000-08:002019-01-01T01:48:12.218-08:00Avoid long lectures..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Not a few minutes into the new year and I already have an opportunity to start my new year resolution. My first challenge to my son to improve our relationship in 2019. His number one complaint is that I lecture too much and I repeat myself. Instead of getting mad, I acknowledged that this is probably true. I have diarrhea of the mouth when it comes to my son’s areas of improvement. Then I raised the stakes. I offered that if he wrote down the various main points of my lectures he can point at them and I would stop if I agree with the assertion.<br />
<br />
Let’s see if he takes the offer. :)<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-2791016069585165202018-12-28T14:09:00.000-08:002018-12-28T14:09:23.313-08:002019 Personal OKRs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />
As I enter 2019, I'm grateful for all the good and wonderful things that happening in my life. I have a amazing wife, gracious kids, good work environment, and my health. In each of these areas, I have recognization, validation and each care about my contributions in their lives. I also see that my personal cognitive abilities, health, and energy seems to have long since peaked and going downward. My plan for 2019 is counteract that downward trend and improve my impact by really focusing on what's important and say No to lots of distractions.<br />
<br />
Things that accelerate the downward trend are various stressor in my life that rob of my vitality and energy. Worrying about my health is a source of stress. While, my health is good, I nevertheless worry about it. To counteract the negative thinking, I need to focus and make self-care a priority. After 3.5 years of steady and solid work performance, I can definitely ease the gas pedal at work. Instead of trying to do everything and quickly, I can pace myself and focus on the really important tasks that I add the most value. Saying No at work and set better boundaries of reasonable tasks. Last but not least, as my son enters high school, that's going to be huge area of stress on the whole family. I need to rethink our relationship and focus on the positive impact that I can have on his life.<br />
<br />
After much practice at work with all the quarterly and annual planning, here are my personal OKRs.<br />
<br />
<b>Objective:</b><br />
Improve sustainability and quality of life by rethinking or removing sources of stress.<br />
<br />
<b>KRs</b>:<br />
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Exercises consistently. Nothing difficult but do something consistently 3 times a week. </li>
<li>Read more. Aim for 20 non fiction books on categories of business, self improvement, personal finance, and teen parenting. </li>
<li>Cut back on coffee and refined sugar by 25% and drink more water. </li>
<li>Lose 15 pounds. </li>
<li>Work less (keep normal hours and turn-off work device during off hours unless highly urgent tasks)</li>
<li>Practice digital well-being (less screen time and social media). Less than 30 min per day on random news, social media, youtube, etc. </li>
<li>Recognize and appreciate my family, reduce my negative energy and not be a source of stress on my family. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-35512440718341934812018-12-28T03:05:00.000-08:002018-12-28T03:05:49.973-08:00Non fiction reading list of 2018<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Looking back on 2018, I'm did okay on my objectives. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Sleep more</li>
<li>Work less</li>
<li>Read more</li>
<li>Practice mindfulness</li>
<li>Exercises more</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I didn't do a good job with these objectives, should have clear target metrics with timeline. But I did sleep more and worked less. My biggest win is definitely reading more. I have read more non fiction books than probably last 5 years combined. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Here is my reading list ranked from most interesting to boring. I highly recommend the first 8 books, the rest is interesting but a reader digest version is just as good. Looking forward to reading even more books next year. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>The Power of Moments. Heath, Chip</li>
<li>Outliers. Gladwell, Malcolm</li>
<li>David and Goliath. Gladwell, Malcolm</li>
<li>Grit. Duckworth, Angela</li>
<li>Mindset. Dweck, Carol</li>
<li>Homo deus : a brief history of tomorrow. Harari, Yuval</li>
<li>Great at Work. Hansen, Morten</li>
<li>If You are So Smart Why are You Not Happy. Raghunathan, Raj</li>
<li>Drive. Pink, Daniel</li>
<li>12 Rules for Life. Peterson, Jordan</li>
<li>Smarter, Faster, Better. Duhigg, Charles</li>
<li>Originals. Grant, Adam</li>
<li>When. Pink, Daniel</li>
<li>The Achievement Habit. Roth, Benard</li>
<li>The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family. Lencioni, Patrick</li>
<li>Win Bigly, Adam. Scott</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-40148419333064893342018-10-07T11:36:00.002-07:002018-10-07T11:36:49.801-07:00Applying product management skills to parenting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It has been a little over 3 years since I transitioned from head of engineering for startups to a product manager at Google. Can't say it has been an easy transition, probably one of the hardest things that I have ever done. But that's the blog entry for another time. Last time, I wrote a blog entry was the same time, during the middle of the 7th-grade quarterly check. Well, 8th grade is here and I'm a bit more prepared this time and got ahead of many surprises in advance. This time, instead of teaching time management and planning, I wanted to take a big step back and think about applying my product management skills to the problem of parenting.<br />
<br />
In true PM style, I wrote a deck (<a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1V42Q2VnDOEvz4mOBX98E0XXWrFAbmGCcJ5WHtDCJfnQ/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>) :)<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
Ricky<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-16542399528384164432017-11-09T13:23:00.000-08:002017-11-09T13:24:37.195-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1 class="graf graf--h3 graf--leading graf--title" id="132d" name="132d" style="--margin-top-multiplier: 0; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Geneva, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 42px; letter-spacing: -0.015em; line-height: 1.04; margin: 0px 0px 0px -2.63px;">
My journey with a disorganized 7th grader</h1>
<div>
<br /></div>
Original Post on Medium (<a href="https://medium.com/@changricky/my-journey-with-a-disorganized-7th-grader-c96b8531213e">here</a>)<br />
<br />
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--h3" id="8497" name="8497" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 10px;">
Imagine my surprise. A few weeks ago, I did a mid-quarter grade check with my son. My son who has never been super organized but managed to get it together enough to get straight A’s in 6th grade and received the Presidential Educational award upon graduation. I was in for a shocker. ‘A’ for PE and a no homework elective class, all the core academic subjects ranging from F to B. I joking said to him.. looks like you got a whole rainbow of grades. I would be lying if I said, I took it calmly and with strides.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="2ac6" name="2ac6" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
After *much* yelling, screaming, and lecturing, I put on my Program Management hat and work on troubleshooting this issue. The good news is that we don’t have deeper social problems with bullies, drugs, break up with friends, etc. This is really just a matter of scaling from few teachers to 6 teachers, all with different styles and higher expectations.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="51cf" name="51cf" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
Following his work for a week and I identified many issues, roughly prioritized severity.</div>
<ol class="postList" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); counter-reset: post 0; font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 20px; list-style: none none; margin: 29px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li class="graf graf--li graf-after--p" id="d2e0" name="d2e0" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 30px;">Lost homework is the number one issue. It’s lost among all the mess with other papers. His backpack is a dump. I found homework from the first week of school that was never turned in, crumpled and partially complete, stuffed in some random section of the backpack. He doesn’t do the homework because the assignment is lost. Sometimes, he completes the homework, then didn’t turn it in or turn in late. Dispute with the teacher, turned in or not, on time or not.</li>
<li class="graf graf--li graf-after--li" id="d4e8" name="d4e8" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 30px;">No clear understanding of the objective of the homework and how it would be scored. Not following up with the teacher on results of homework or quiz to look for opportunities for feedback and improvements.</li>
<li class="graf graf--li graf-after--li" id="22f1" name="22f1" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 30px;">Multiple teachers, assignments, and different styles of homework. We had it easy in the good old days, teachers gave us homework on a tangible piece of paper and we turn in that paper. Easy! Nowadays, we have digital homework, semi-digital homework, and physical homework, and endless variation of things in between. All the teacher uses the digital resources slightly differently and multiple signup and login to different digital tools. It’s a mess. I can’t blame my son for this one. It’s really complicated.</li>
<li class="graf graf--li graf-after--li" id="5e46" name="5e46" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 30px;">Time management is another serious problem. Unable to properly estimate the time needed to complete homework and taking numerous “breaks”. Large time spend on the computer with low productivity (unnecessary browsing online youtube, changing music, snacking, and sneaking in online games here and there.) Homework that should take 30 minutes to 1 hr stretches to upwards of 3 hours and with low quality.</li>
<li class="graf graf--li graf-after--li" id="7dc6" name="7dc6" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 30px;">Lack of planning for longer range projects and assignments, unable to break down the phases of the homework and plan out the steps. If the assignment is due the next day, there is a higher chance of the work getting completed, anything that’s one week out, forgot about it. It will be a late nighter the night before and with terrible quality if he even remembers, which is unlikely.</li>
<li class="graf graf--li graf-after--li" id="ed8e" name="ed8e" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px;">Cherry picking interesting homework to do first, instead of work in priority based on due time or estimated time to completion.</li>
</ol>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--li" id="1c84" name="1c84" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
We all can relate to this challenges. It’s not just middle school, in my professional work when I have too many projects with different customers and teams, it’s hard to get them right. I broke down the root problems as follows.</div>
<ol class="postList" style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); counter-reset: post 0; font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 20px; list-style: none none; margin: 29px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li class="graf graf--li graf-after--p" id="c4fc" name="c4fc" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 30px;">Need a system to track all work items for all the sources in one place</li>
<li class="graf graf--li graf-after--li" id="a48c" name="a48c" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 30px;">Need to understand the full “lifecycle” of quiz and homework</li>
<li class="graf graf--li graf-after--li" id="ad24" name="ad24" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: 14px; margin-left: 30px;">Need organized homework time and space</li>
<li class="graf graf--li graf-after--li" id="a882" name="a882" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 30px;">Need communication with teachers and friends to understand the expectation of high-quality work (scoring rubric)</li>
</ol>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--li graf--trailing" id="a054" name="a054" style="--baseline-multiplier: 0.17; background-color: white; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.84); font-family: medium-content-serif-font, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.58; margin-top: 29px;">
My goal is to focus on the process of managing and planning for the homework. I *TRY* not to manage the “content” of the homework. He is responsible for the quality and outcome of his effort. I can teach him the executive planning function and skill that he lacks at this time. I want to give him a starter system, so he’s not learning this skill through trial and error. Unfortunately, I’m still checking of the basic stuff (name on paper, fill in all the blanks, the questions answered completely). It has been about 5 weeks of struggle to help my son to get better organized. His grades stabilized and slowly improving, but this is not my objective. He is beginning to see the benefit of this system and very reluctantly practicing it. I need to work with him until he fully understands and sees the benefit of the system, customize it and own the system for himself. Ultimately establish long-lasting habits that will enable him to be independent.</div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-73150728263281865322014-10-10T05:12:00.001-07:002014-10-10T05:12:27.078-07:00My answer for Quora. What are some smart moves a 22-year-old can make as soon as he/she starts earning?<a href="http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-smart-moves-a-22-year-old-can-make-as-soon-as-he-she-starts-earning" target="_blank"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 30px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">What are some smart moves a 22-year-old can make as soon as he/she starts earning?</span></a><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 30px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
I'm sure there are many different cultural and economic specific situation to account for. My assumptions are U.S. middle class, and resident. I think many of the answers above are all great tactical advice. I think you want to step back and look at the big picture of your life.<br />
<br />
My first and only financial advice is to set some goals. Decade by Decade..<br />
My plan was to start my own business by 30.<br />
Have net worth of $1M by 40.<br />
Have the option to retire from work by 50. <br />
<br />
You goals will be different but until you have some goals you can't judge any of these advice are worthwhile or not. You need a yardstick to measure your progress in life.<br />
<br />
The second part of my financial advice is to track your money carefully. Doesn't matter if you use paper and pencil, spreadsheet, or personal finance software, but learn to track your income and expense down to the smallest detail. This skill is like a muscle. If you're successful, your financial records and taxes will get more and more complicated. You need to build up the financial muscles for tracking and thinking about all your expenses and income sources. The rest is all up to you. Keep your expenses down. Make a budget. Diversify your income. All these goals requires you to track your money and make money work for you. This skill will be invaluable if you start your own business. Tracking your income and expense regularly will help save you considerable time and frustration when doing taxes.<br />
<br />
The third part of my financial advice is to diversify your income sources. Make higher salary is great but you can get laid off any time. Start a consulting business and some clients doesn't pay or sues you. Buy rental properties, and some tenants will not pay rent. Buy 401k and invest in stock market with all the tremendous ups and downs. Buy CD with fixed income and inflation increase higher then the CD rates. I don't believe there are any risk free financial instruments. The only way to go is to diversify your income sources, and make enough margin so you can hire other people to manage the income source for you. You focus on growing and diversify multiple streams of income and scale up your financial power over time. Hire other people to manage any single income sources. <br />
<br />
My second advice is to find the love of your life..<br />
With luck your life will be will long, find the right person to spend your life with will be the happiest thing you ever do for yourself. No matter how much money you have or how successful you become at work, I don't think you can be truly happy unless you have someone to share it with.<br />
<br />
My third advice is to practice life work balance.<br />
You will never find that balance for long. Life and work change too quickly but as a skill you can learn to re-balance more quickly over time. Learn what it takes to recharge your personal battery and your family's batteries. Traveling, vacation, reading, sports, volunteer, whatever. Don't wait until you're burned out to recharge. Recharge often! <br />
<br />
My forth advice is start a diary or a blog..<br />
And write in it regularly and often, about the things that you are grateful for in life. You will look back over time and be amazed. Human memory is a strange thing. People tend to remember the painful things and forget about the good things. You need to write it down to compensate. You'll live longer and be happier for it.<br />
<br />
My 1ast advice is to do something personal, beautiful and creative. If you are like me, my life up to the point of college graduation was planned or filled with external expectations. Which school I go, what classes to take, what activity to do, what books to read, etc. There is something freeing about turning 22, graduating from college and making my own money. You will have the time, and the financial means to pursue something personally beautiful, creative, and emotional rewarding. Drawing, dancing, playing an instrument, singing, hiking, golfing, photography, etc. You don't have to be good. This is not an competition. This is fulfilling your personal need for beauty and freedom in your own life. I started photography once I had enough money to buy decent gears and taking photography classes. Now, I'm learning to play the piano with my kids.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-91778204857758874902013-08-21T00:11:00.004-07:002013-08-21T00:17:27.395-07:00The Art of Managing Up. How to write better emails to your boss. (duplicate of the post on Medium)<div class="" name="a2ee" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
Original post on Medium.com : <a href="https://medium.com/what-i-learned-building/e8dafaffde21" target="_blank">The Art of Managing Up</a><br />
<br />
I've managed software engineering and product teams for a long time, and I have seen all sorts of email styles from my peers and team members. If you have a manager, it’s a safe bet that you've never asked her what the best way to communicate via email is. I've never been asked, but wished that I had.</div>
<div class="" name="d130" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
Now is the perfect time to write this article, since I'm not currently managing anyone (I started my own consulting company and no employees yet). I can always point any future employee here. Please read this article, because this is the honest truth about how I, and probably most managers, prefer to get emails from team members. This article will help you avoid some awkward conversations. There’s no easy way to tell someone that he doesn't know how to properly write an email, and that he doesn't need to cc me for every task completed throughout the day.</div>
<div class="" name="5084" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
Here is my advice</div>
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<li class="" name="fed6" style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 30px;">Do ask your manager how she would like to get email communication from you. It shows consideration and respect. You get a opt-in effect and early buy-in. Of course, your manager expects to get email from you but it’s better if you ask how often and in what situation email is appropriate or unnecessary. It will get you points. It would be a delightful conversation because your manager probably has never been asked, and you two will have a good time talking about it.</li>
<li class="" name="ab7f" style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 30px;">Do not cc your manager on everything that you do in the attempt to keep her informed. Your manager is just as busy as you are and she hired and trusts you to do your job. You already have specific meetings, status reports, or wikis to keep your manager informed. You don't need to cc again as FYI. You do not need to cc your manager when communicating inside the team or the project. You are expected to work efficiently and communicate effectively.</li>
<li class="" name="69db" style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 30px;">Do cc your manager when communicating outside your team or your manager’s peers. Your manager needs to stay on top of external communications because there are no status reports from outside groups, and real-time email discussions help keep the pulse on the situation, bcc might be appropriate in this situation.</li>
<li class="" name="b6de" style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 30px;">Do not forward email with just FYI. If you are going to take the time to forward something, then take the time to explain your perspective on the need to forward the email, even it’s totally obvious to you. Believe me, your manager lives by email and gets 10x the email volume compared to you, so take the time take to explain why she should read just one more FYI email from you.</li>
<li class="notes-source-hasnotes" name="d108" style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 30px;">Do not forward a long email with a long conversation thread and expect your manager to digest it all and make the appropriate decision or action because you forward it. It’s your job to provide the context and content to help your manager make the best informed decision possible. Do keep the original email thread at the bottom as reference but always provide a summary of the situation as you see it in a balanced and professional way, and most importantly, make it clear in the last sentence the expected action or decision.</li>
<li class="" name="d3e8" style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 30px;">Do avoid long emails or emails with multiple important to-dos. If your email is more than one page long, then pick up the phone or walk into the room and talk. Break up email with multiple requests or multiple subjects into separate emails. It’s easier for your manager to manage emails and tasks this way. One task per email allows her to delete an email as soon as the task is completed. This way multiple requests can be handle independently, based on priority, and will not get lost.</li>
<li class="" name="f5ec" style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 30px;">Do use and change the subject line as appropriate. The subject line and the closing lines are absolutely the most important part of the email, use them wisely. Email without subject line or bad subject line is an indicator of a disorganized mind.</li>
<li class="" name="a7ef" style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 30px;">Do read and follow email etiquette. There are many blogs about email etiquette. Avoid ALL-CAPS, use punctuation, avoid texting shorthand , use smiley faces sparingly, etc.</li>
<li class="" name="b69f" style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 30px;">Context before Content. This is branding 101. Don't assume that your manager is up-to-date on everything that you do or knows the correct decision. Your manager hired you because you are the expert, her go to person for the challenge. Every email that you send to her is an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge. Show her how you can analyze a complicated issue, and synthesize it to a few critical decision points, and have the strength and knowledge to take a position and make a recommendation. Take the time to craft a high quality email that provides the context of the situation and the content of the decision. Even if the manager disagrees with you, you have shown your experience and judgment. Be proactive with your opinion and recommendation, but be respectful and let the manager have the final say.</li>
<li class="" name="53a4" style="margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 30px;">Finally, this is the most advanced technique, write the email from your boss’s perspective, and write the email such that she can copy and paste then send it off to her peers, her manager, or the rest of the team. If you want that promotion then you need to show how you can think and talk like your manager. Your manager has to juggle more projects, situations, and people than you know. She spends ungodly amounts of time reviewing reports, spreadsheets, and writing emails to drive a project to conclusion. Anything you can do to help would be highly recognized and appreciated. So write emails like your manager and you are on your way to earning that promotion.</li>
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In summary, as a manager, I want to see fewer, higher quality and more thoughtful emails that respects my time and demonstrate your value. The advice is not just for email to your manager, it’s good advice for all email communicating with everyone in and outside team. Practice them and you'll go far.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-15046298616703723792013-08-21T00:07:00.000-07:002013-08-21T00:16:19.835-07:00Why I Work! (duplicate of the post on Medium)<div class="" name="f61e" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
The original post is on medium.com : <a href="https://medium.com/p/dcd3daf0c1ed" target="_blank">Why I Work</a></div>
<div class="" name="f61e" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
One of my favorite books on leadership is by Simon Sinek, titled “Start with Why”. This is my attempt to apply what I read into a meaningful and personal example. I always choose jobs and projects by gut feel and now I want to explore that gut feeling and put into words, the higher purpose that I want to achieve from work.</div>
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<strong>What I do:</strong></h3>
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IT Return On Investment<br />
Agile Software Development Management<br />
Technical Team Management (onshore and offshore/distributed team)<br />
Data Analytic Decision<br />
Coaching and Mentoring for Engineers<br />
Technology Road Map<br />
Product Management<br />
Application and Data Security<br />
Cloud Computing<br />
Software as a Service<br />
Database Architecture<br />
Software Architecture<br />
System Architecture<br />
User Interface<br />
Software Programming (C/C++, C#, Java, PHP)</div>
<div class="" name="ff0a" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
What I do was very easy to write; I listed some of typical things on a resume.</div>
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<strong>How I work:</strong></h3>
<div class="" name="75ea" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
Lead a team to analyze many possible solutions based on Return on Investment (ROI) of Information Technology (IT). Create prototypes and Minimal Viable Product (MVP) to jump-start a business concept. Plan and execute long term product road map to enable the business to scale and grow.</div>
<div class="" name="0fd1" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
How I work was harder to write. I love to build technology and I love to build teams. When the team members and the technology come together, everyone feels the energy and the positive momentum. Everything seems to be in the Zone. We might be arguing about some minor point about UX or algorithm efficiency, but everyone depends on each other for the success of the upcoming release. Words can't describe that optimism and productivity that’s literally in the air. We all drank the Kool-Aid and there is a sense of mission and purpose. As a leader, I try to create that sense of common purpose. Create a team ego, where everyone knows the team and individual responsibilities and values each other’s role, skill, and contribution.</div>
<h3 class="" name="f88d" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: freight-sans-pro, 'Myriad Pro', 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Sans', Geneva, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 31px; margin: 0px;">
<strong>Why I work:</strong></h3>
<div class="" name="9eaf" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
Create innovative products that solve a human problem through the business of technology.</div>
<div class="" name="aa51" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
Why I work turns out to be very hard to define, and I’m not sure if I have the right reason, yet. I know it’s not about money, title, technology, or learning cool stuff. I have walked away for all those things because I felt a company’s reasons and values were not in line with mine. I don't want to be busy with work; I want to work with a purpose. Yes, I want to change the world, and it must be a better world.</div>
<div class="" name="abf2" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
I’m not interested in making rich people and corporations even more money (although I don't object to that, clearly in a capitalistic society, profit is a critical measurement of one’s success.) Profit should NOT be the primary measure of success and purpose. I see profit as a natural outcome of a successful venture. When a product has the correct value, customer traction, and scalability, then profit is the natural outcome. I accept the Darwinian necessity of profit as a corporate survival fitness measure.</div>
<div class="" name="fa5b" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
I’m technology agnostic. I worked for Microsoft and I have many good things to say about their products. Open source technology is great too. I don't have a dogma of Java vs. C# vs. Objective-C vs PHP, etc. I don't need to argue the benefits of VMs, Just-In-Time compilation, compiled, or interpreted languages. There is no perfect fit for any specific set of technologies. There are many cultural and technical reasons to advocate one set of technology vs. another. I'm more interested in making a right decision based on corporate culture, hiring availability, and business risk.</div>
<div class="" name="896b" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
The reason why I work is certainly a mouthful of words. What does it really mean? I’m pulling a Matrix, Morpheus quote.</div>
<blockquote class="notes-source-hasnotes tr_bq" name="60aa" style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(87, 173, 104); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 6px; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; font-style: italic; line-height: 31px; margin: -1px 0px 31px -26px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 20px;">
You're here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.</blockquote>
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This is how I feel when I work; there is something wrong, something that should be better and easier. I want to drill down to understand this feeling, why is it wrong, how did become this way, was it always this way, why does this wrong continue? And I'm driven to correct the wrong using technology. I know the problem and the solution is larger than me. I need to build a team, gather people with the same feelings and desire to correct the wrong. Gather people who are smarter and more skilled than I and together we can try to make a difference.</div>
<div class="" name="1e4c" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
I want to solve problems for people.</div>
<div class="notes-source-hasnotes" name="9c23" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
<strong>NextCard</strong> — For me it is a more fair and faster way to get a better credit card. People deserve smarter score and better service online. Paper statements and paper checks are lame. It’s standard nowadays, but during the late 90's, it was all new.</div>
<div class="" name="d7f4" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
<strong>Entropia </strong>— Distributed computing. Why buy more computing power when you are not using the power you already have.</div>
<div class="notes-source-hasnotes" name="a39c" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
<strong>Karma Innovation</strong> — Kids’ toys are boring. I wanted to create better toys that really taught music, were fun, and most importantly, felt magical.</div>
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<strong>EPS </strong>— Energy management is broken, it’s an invisible cost and full of lost opportunities. People want to do the right thing, but don’t know what to do. Data and algorithms will be the light that shine and make the invisible, visible.</div>
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As Jack Dorsey said “You have an idea and the company becomes oxygen for that idea… In these times, a company is the best way to spread that idea.” Building technology to solve problems takes money, skills, people, and planning. Business is most effective way to raise money, gather, organize, plan, and manage all those resources to deliver a meaningful solution. Helping customers and business planners understand what’s possible with technology and delivering the result is the ideal way to work.</div>
<div class="" name="a030" style="background-color: white; color: #333332; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Cambria, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 31px; margin-bottom: 31px;">
I’m still an optimist and I still want to change the world for the better (for me, for people around the world, and for my kids.). That’s the big picture of why I work.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-32492101289217714242013-07-24T03:35:00.000-07:002013-07-24T01:55:47.090-07:007 suggestions to avoid discipling via spanking. <div>
Growing up I was often spanked by my parents, and my teachers with a thin flexible bamboo sticks over the knuckles of my fingers (not the palm where where there are plenty of meat to soften the blow, but the bone part of knuckles on the back of the hand). In case you're curious, yes, it's quite <b>painful</b>.</div>
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I don't have a problem with spanking. In political speak, i'll "consider all options". However, I do think that escalation to the point of disciplining by spanking is failure on my part where I have lost control of the situation.</div>
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The most important thing I learned so far is that with some planning and care, I can avoid situation where I need to discipline by spanking. </div>
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1) give enough attention. I definitely notice when I spend more time with my children. They doesn't act out nearly as much. </div>
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2) give enough time. Don't expect immediate response, be patient and firm. Plan extra time in advance before activities that involves the children. </div>
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3) Keep rules to the minimal. The rules gotta be really important, something that I care to maintain even at the end of the day when I'm super tired. In fact, in our family, we try to only focus on 2 or 3 behavior improvement per year. </div>
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4) Apply the rules consistently - make sure everyone from spouse, grandparents, nanny, play dates all know about the rules. </div>
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5) Avoid situation where disciplining is necessary. I don't want kids to eat candy, so I don't have any candy in the house. Don't want to get the argument of why, who, when, how much, etc over candy. It's a lose-lose situation any way you slice it. </div>
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6) Make allowance for special situations in advance. There always has to be occasional special exception, otherwise, life is just too boring. If we going out to eat, I make it clear that candy is allowed but only if dinner is finished and they are on they best behavior the whole time. Reach a common understanding before going out. <br />
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7) Discipline the action not the attitude. Kids can have bad days just like adults and they don't have the emotional maturity to keep their emotions in check. It's hard but I let the kids know that the attitude is not helpful and it puts everyone in a bad mood. Or on my good days, I try to use humor to distract the kid. Either ways, i don't believe that spanking for show of attitude is appropriate. </div>
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That is it. 7 ways to keep things simple so as parent we can reduce the need to discipline young children. At least discipline in a more fair and consistent way.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-43449266521062905502013-06-18T14:11:00.003-07:002013-06-18T14:11:49.220-07:00Owner vs renter mentality and why you should align your long term benefit and the transaction model. Owners just have a different mentality compared to renters. The mentality shows up in so many little ways. The pride of ownership really can't be mistaken. Fundamentally the difference can be simplified as this: owner gives and renters takes. Owners invest time, money, and other resources into the asset to maximize the value of asset or the extend useful life of the asset based on some reasonable expected return on effort. Renter minimizes the effort and avoids investing time, money, and other resources in preparation for the exit based on the expected rental time span.<br />
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The most obvious example is car owner vs leaser. Most owners would not miss the recommended oil change or other scheduled maintenance. On the other hand, some car brands has to give away oil change for free during the lease period to incentive leaser to bring in the car. Leaser would do it in the beginning because the expected rental exit time far exceed the effort time. But as the exit period approaches, the value or the benefit of the scheduled maintenance decreases dramatically because long term benefit will go to someone else after the rental period.<br />
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I'm not suggesting that everyone should only buy a home, a car and completely avoid leasing or rental. These are financial transaction model decision that can be decided by considering multiple factors and can be quite advantageous. However there is a strong correlation between the transaction model and the user's mentality, and that is the source of the danger.<br />
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I believe in order for a person to be successful in anything, one must *own* the problem and the solution. Ownership is a mental attitude completely within ones control. You can mentality own any problem and solution that you put your mind to. When you own the problem, you will invest time, and money into the problem and solution. If you have a renter attitude of the problem, then you hope it will go away on its own or you want call someone else to fix the problem as cheaply as possible. </div>
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The initial purchase transaction model will likely to set the mental attitude and behavior for the useful lifespan of the asset. It's quite difficult to apply a different attitude after the transaction model as been set. Here are my personal finance spending short hand.</div>
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1) Avoid buying or leasing if possible. Less is More.<br />
2) Buy to own appreciating asset and build up equity over time.<br />
House, stock, businesses, etc.<br />
3) Buy big ticket items to keep so you will be motivated to maintain the value and extend the useful life<br />
Car, TVs, major appliances.<br />
4) Rent lifestyle or rapidly depreciating items. <br />
Gym membership, gym equipment, boats, RVs, skis<br />
5) Pay per use<br />
Carpet cleaners, DVDs, books, vacation house, time-shares,<br />
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Back to the car example, I wouldn't lease a car because the I believe I could maintain the car better and could do a better job selling my car for a good price then the dealership. I can keep the margins on the transaction for myself in case I decide to sell. I wouldn't buy a used car even though the saving is considerable because I don't trust the maintenance level of the average car owner. I still own my first car and it's almost 19 years old. The car is still in good condition (relatively for a 19 years old car) because I had an owner's mentality and invested the proper time and energy for the maintenance. I budgeted 10 years as the useful lifespan for the car (<a href="http://www.rickychang.com/2008/01/when-am-i-going-to-buy-new-car.html">http://www.rickychang.com/2008/01/when-am-i-going-to-buy-new-car.html</a>) and I'm nearly 100% over my target. It's a great feeling. Instead of car payments, I invest that money into other opportunities such as sport camps and college funds for the kids.<br />
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The decision to rent or own is not a simple decision that can be made by the online calculators. Those calculators are useful starting points. The real decision is your personal mental attitude and setting proper goals and expectations that are in alignment with the attitude. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sun_Tzu" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15.828125px;">If you </span><span style="color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15.828125px;">know</span></span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15.828125px;"> your </span><span style="color: #0b0080; font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15.828125px;">enemies</span></span><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15.828125px;"> and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles... if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.</span></a></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQepwuml4w9k-B3ez7LIwpXzGUW5O0RfLOrjr8k6ZF4fWnxoT_MPqlTRoqMKtoJ6J5-jV4lqSjKyxZb2Cq1uQ1W4q1VpRSIC30sDMd86W2KZ-KBhg-RDbgwJTbHJqAwCtWqSxg7buBkw/s1600/220px-Enchoen27n3200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQepwuml4w9k-B3ez7LIwpXzGUW5O0RfLOrjr8k6ZF4fWnxoT_MPqlTRoqMKtoJ6J5-jV4lqSjKyxZb2Cq1uQ1W4q1VpRSIC30sDMd86W2KZ-KBhg-RDbgwJTbHJqAwCtWqSxg7buBkw/s320/220px-Enchoen27n3200.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Sun Tzu The Art of War</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-49511809950945242152013-06-11T23:19:00.000-07:002013-06-11T23:19:15.619-07:00I received the diamond class action lawsuit settlement today. I applied for this way back in 2008 see this here: <a href="http://www.rickychang.com/2008/01/get-refund-for-your-diamond-purchases.html" target="_blank">Get a refund for your diamond purchases</a>. I have completely forgotten about this class action lawsuit claim, until today. To my surprise, I actually received a check today. I almost ripped up the envelope because it looked just like junk mail.<br />
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Amazing. I think this is how people feel when they won a bit of lottery money (I don't play so I have 0 chance of winning.) It's a great feeling. Free money!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-81101723533825814182013-06-04T09:10:00.000-07:002013-06-04T09:25:14.746-07:00I blog for my kids. Blogging and writing is very hard for me. I don't enjoy the process of writing and editing. It's hard work to think of topics. Mostly of all, I don't have any confidence in my writing. It always feels awkward. So why did I start a blog? Like everything truly meaningful and persistent in life. It's intended as a gift and it's out of love that I started this blog.<br />
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I remember very clear why I wanted to start a blog. I started blogging back in 12/27/2007. My wife and I were talking about how to teach our son, who was just a toddler, about money and responsibility (never too early too start.). Especially after the mega rush of all the presents he received, we felt this is a very important topic and one of our core family values is to be responsible about finances. I felt a rush of excitement and energy. I had so many ideas that I wanted to share, so many decisions that I have made over the years, some I liked, some I regretted, but all I learned from. Obviously, it was impossible for a toddler could fully understand all the idea and decision process that I hoped to teach. My wife suggested that I start a blog, and I felt that eureka moment when the light bulb just turned on in my head. I even had the vision of the perfect title. </div>
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Over the years, whenever there was a learning moment with my kids, but I was unable to provide a well thought answer on the spot or the answer deserved greater depth of discussion beyond the understanding by young children, I used this blog as a mean to better organize and articulate my thoughts. I remember one of the most important whiteboard conversation of my life. I received my job offer from Microsoft, and I couldn't believe how much I would be making in one year. If you know Microsoft back in the day, their salary for new college grads were bad. It just goes to show how naive I was. It was my friend that set me straight about cost of living, retirement planning, savings rate, etc. It was a quick 15 minutes conversation, but it set the ground rules for my personal financial planning. My main regret was the talk came from my friend instead of my father. Now, I want to a different kind of father to my kids. </div>
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While working on our family will, I very consciously realized that I wouldn't be around forever, and certainly not with the same mental acuity as I do now. It would be best if I continue to wrote blog entries so my kids can understand the context and the rational of our decisions and the results we hoped to achieve. It's my hope that when they grow up and have kids of their own, they would read these entries and realize that we were human. We made decisions with much thought and love, but plenty of mistakes were made too. And, just in case, if 18 years of asian tiger parenting drove them crazy and they stop talking to me, at least, they would still read the blog and read about the values that shaped me and I tried to pass to them.<br />
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Looking back at my very first blog entry about the <a href="http://www.rickychang.com/2007/12/what-does-title-means-to-me.html" target="_blank">meaning of the title</a>. This blog is a dialog of my decisions between my present self to future self AND TO MY KIDS. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr0RvAa-k-4ECo2YuhL_xRW3R-OZFtQ-ejtwofMJvfrEO4VeSFnQKGCLNzelTltVoEegbPvCwRjzg-pLc87cfaWceHRtCKBTrcVNlrnZMjCkO4301Bnb-nNG10oAJxF3Bcavssh5N12Q/s1600/2013-05-26+13.28.53.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr0RvAa-k-4ECo2YuhL_xRW3R-OZFtQ-ejtwofMJvfrEO4VeSFnQKGCLNzelTltVoEegbPvCwRjzg-pLc87cfaWceHRtCKBTrcVNlrnZMjCkO4301Bnb-nNG10oAJxF3Bcavssh5N12Q/s640/2013-05-26+13.28.53.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-86851605694076845272013-05-22T10:28:00.002-07:002013-05-22T10:28:36.383-07:00DIY Project - Dishwasher detergent tray replacement. <div>
I like DIY projects. You show the wifey that you can be handy, save money, and help out around the house. You have good reasons to watch youtube videos, go shopping at Amazon and Home Depot and even do a little blogging. The downside risk is that if you mess up then you'll have to call the appliance repair guy anyways. You might be out a few extra buck if you got the wrong part and can't return it. However, chance are, most appliance are designed for easy part replacement and repair so do a bit of internet research and try it. It might be fun. </div>
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This one is super easy. </div>
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- 30 minutes of research and ordering the replacement part. </div>
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- 5 days waiting for the part to arrive.</div>
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- 30 minutes to replace the part</div>
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Watch these two youtube videos. </div>
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1) <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=APdhKLyr7s4" target="_blank">How dishwashers work. </a></div>
2) <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-nJ6C1ShfI" target="_blank">Generic guide for detergent tray replacement</a> <div>
3) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whirlpool-W10224431-Dispenser-for-Dishwasher/dp/B005B462YI/ref=reg_hu-rd_add_1_dp" target="_blank">Order the replacement part</a><br /><br />Everything worked as shown by the video guide. I added some detailed photos to show steps not covered by the video and specifically for the KitchenAide dishwasher.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRokXwcWE2QDEKOz1WaxFXuTULBGDOsDeah0wLsRMgpnqy0XFjro8iOSn_AkuS3hJAXyPFO1xZnxMUbBejS5lEGtE2VzfrcXAm2D4oyWokm8zxCND0yEcEcWAMAzbJj6AsqAivunPXvA/s1600/2013-05-15+16.46.13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRokXwcWE2QDEKOz1WaxFXuTULBGDOsDeah0wLsRMgpnqy0XFjro8iOSn_AkuS3hJAXyPFO1xZnxMUbBejS5lEGtE2VzfrcXAm2D4oyWokm8zxCND0yEcEcWAMAzbJj6AsqAivunPXvA/s320/2013-05-15+16.46.13.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The replacement is not exactly the same. It's slightly bigger and bulkier.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3h9_9K9gFaCS23SsJoNkDuP-XMXUek9K5aO2FyhIMMjoq3AG1S_dB-qUvIHTMRUb-kyLY_aP54V0IE5oHvdcOGkGweyx2LMMk2jDk_QMZUUHzVdarnbZHEZ8AW7yg8Pd9JeMJV40utA/s1600/2013-05-15+17.08.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3h9_9K9gFaCS23SsJoNkDuP-XMXUek9K5aO2FyhIMMjoq3AG1S_dB-qUvIHTMRUb-kyLY_aP54V0IE5oHvdcOGkGweyx2LMMk2jDk_QMZUUHzVdarnbZHEZ8AW7yg8Pd9JeMJV40utA/s320/2013-05-15+17.08.15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You only need 2 tools for the project. You'll need to remove 12 security screws to open the front panel. You can buy a good security bit set in any hardware store. One simple advice. put the screws down in the relative position where it was removed from the panel. It helps to remember how to put the screws back on correctly. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRCo2rNErzA3XlFsjoz0Ek82LHQXEKXHAoaKBS6IUjY7gwQfdGk-xJGIXeLNQ1klgcY5Fqhcm109k00J0storFkzZMULXMlvn_EVz_zgZ_G3wJKBSjvH4tvKFL-8DwacNIzAqp1DejJA/s1600/2013-05-15+17.09.05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRCo2rNErzA3XlFsjoz0Ek82LHQXEKXHAoaKBS6IUjY7gwQfdGk-xJGIXeLNQ1klgcY5Fqhcm109k00J0storFkzZMULXMlvn_EVz_zgZ_G3wJKBSjvH4tvKFL-8DwacNIzAqp1DejJA/s320/2013-05-15+17.09.05.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lift and open the front face of the dishwasher slowly. Disconnect any additional connectors before removing the panel completely. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1Z7gRDf1KPQzFjD4Tu160Lc_4ThzXMiScxSQxC590hhZwq4s6unZ6Zpz-pZ8cOl7ho_Z_z9-KwHbXICJA3eY8IG7SDKGCXy-W96dAtQu-N2nCL3h_sJHjJY1ZhURonqg2dFjxrpUhQ/s1600/2013-05-15+17.04.43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1Z7gRDf1KPQzFjD4Tu160Lc_4ThzXMiScxSQxC590hhZwq4s6unZ6Zpz-pZ8cOl7ho_Z_z9-KwHbXICJA3eY8IG7SDKGCXy-W96dAtQu-N2nCL3h_sJHjJY1ZhURonqg2dFjxrpUhQ/s320/2013-05-15+17.04.43.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Disconnect the power connector from the tray. No tools or large force necessary. There is a flap and a notch in the back of the connector that holds the connector in place. Simply lift the flap and connector pulls out easily. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittxZSfp5PehNtYwOON-SExhsh-FXM-zKC3UVCjwdCK6W-S_DCezlzalVcU-M_SPL1zv9-u_Bo5iv6kz-LJ24pNmyGS7CxkhUf1hCmh4yNReMmLnUIQ1JMFBlMJynXIrmbIIa1-cZcQA/s1600/2013-05-15+17.04.27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittxZSfp5PehNtYwOON-SExhsh-FXM-zKC3UVCjwdCK6W-S_DCezlzalVcU-M_SPL1zv9-u_Bo5iv6kz-LJ24pNmyGS7CxkhUf1hCmh4yNReMmLnUIQ1JMFBlMJynXIrmbIIa1-cZcQA/s320/2013-05-15+17.04.27.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Remove the 6 screws on the mounting plate that secures the detergent tray to the front door. Note how the water protection flap is secured to the mounting plate and the tray. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJTQAJQLxu__qZMYFocfLGcLbtqS3dX60fjH3j4leVZpZXtV-TTJqPZZek31zHT7A4yF3Oc51HBsDgk4aijbRWwhJ9wGXZxgUOlVkqQoyIij2trSRL6DatC3obyrinA4k3bcBADwiNwQ/s1600/2013-05-15+17.17.57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJTQAJQLxu__qZMYFocfLGcLbtqS3dX60fjH3j4leVZpZXtV-TTJqPZZek31zHT7A4yF3Oc51HBsDgk4aijbRWwhJ9wGXZxgUOlVkqQoyIij2trSRL6DatC3obyrinA4k3bcBADwiNwQ/s320/2013-05-15+17.17.57.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally, replace the tray, secure the mounting plate with the water protection flap, and put everything back together again. Here is the final result, there is a tiny gap between the door because I didn't use original part. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Time will spend. Dishwasher is working well again, and wifey is happy.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-27019797059086637472013-04-29T15:18:00.000-07:002013-04-29T15:18:28.342-07:00What's your personal value statement? Here are my five values. I attend a talk by <a href="http://www.prsastlouis.org/AlanHilburgBio.aspx" target="_blank">Alan Hilburg</a> ("Where is the beef?" campaign from Wendy's). His home work assignment that is that everyone should create their own value statement with no more than 5 values. It's surprisingly difficult and here is my attempt.<br />
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1) Integrity : Be honest with myself foremost and always then be honest with everyone else. Doesn't matter if this is the first time or the last time I might meeting the other person.<br />
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2) Humility : Be respectful of all opinions and actions, I don't have to agree but I'll always try to listen and to understand a different perspective. Be considerate of my abilities and limitation, understand my strength and weakness so I know when and where to be helpful or asks for help.<br />
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3) Simplicity : Truth is simple. Look for that deeper truth in any situation so don't be overwhelmed by the initial complexity. Keep my life as simple as possible. Don't be burdened other people's complexity or expectations.<br />
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4) Learning : Always be learning and trying to connect the dots between different ideas and concepts. </div>
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5) Figure-It-Out-And-Get-It-Done : Finally, the most important value. Put all my abilities, network, resources, learning to work so what is important gets done.<br />
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<a href="http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/000000/00000/1000/000/1013/1013.strip.sunday.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/000000/00000/1000/000/1013/1013.strip.sunday.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here are other values that I considered but seems less of a core value or too similar to other values. </div>
Excellence<br />
Resilience<br />
Thoughtful<br />
Listening<br />
Responsible<br />
Resourcefulness<br />
Planning<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-54279116569591406122013-04-28T15:48:00.002-07:002013-04-28T15:48:40.708-07:003 key ideas from Alan Hilburg presentation at Tech Coast Venture Network<br />
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My first event at TCVN. It was an interesting meeting. I walked away energized and excited about future possibilities. I would be interested to attend again. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Here are my notes from the speaker Alan Hilburg. He was an excellent speaker. It helps that every once in awhile he pulls out a $20 and incentivize people to answer a question. It's a good public speaking tip. He practices what he preaches. So 3 keys ideas from his talk. I share them here on my blog. </span></div>
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<b>What is a brand? </b></div>
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It's not your website, product, brochure, slogan, etc. </div>
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Brand is the experience the marketplace and trust people has in the company.</div>
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Branding is emotional and NOT rational.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Think about your brand </span><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">protagonist</span></div>
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<b>3 principles of a brand</b></div>
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1) <span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">OIVSIO - outside in vs inside out.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">2) Context Before Content</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">3) Pull vs Push</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">push - inside out. constantly sell</span></span></div>
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pull - create condition that people want to be part of experience greater than themselves. </div>
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<b>3 Basis of good relationships. </b></div>
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1) know their fear. </div>
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2) know what define their success</div>
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3) know what makes them happy</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-50871625839325409872013-04-26T22:41:00.000-07:002013-04-30T14:33:10.857-07:00Product Manager - The Silent ConductorProduct Manager as conductor is not a unique metaphor. Two good examples of the metaphor from <a href="http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/how_to_prosper_as_a_product_manager/" target="_blank">Kellogg</a> and <a href="http://www.ukaop.org.uk/news/bbcheadofproductdevelopment-chrisrussell-videointerview2871.html" target="_blank">BBC</a>. I want to take this concept one step further. A good product manager is not only a conductor between different business functions. The great product manager should be a silent conductor as explained by <a href="http://benjaminzander.com/" target="_blank">Benjamin Zander</a>, conductor of Boston Philharmonic. Recently, I read his wonderful book called <a href="http://benjaminzander.com/book/" target="_blank">The Art of Possibility</a>. This is an inspiring book about becoming a better and more engaged person. Back to the idea of the silent conductor, I quote from Zander's book.<br />
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I have been a conductor for nearly twenty years when it suddenly dawned on me that the conductor of an orchestra does not make a sound. ... his true power derives from his ability to make other people powerful. I began to ask myself questions like "What makes a group lively and engaged?" instead of "How good am I?"</blockquote>
This approach precisely describes the role of the Product Manager. PMs usually doesn't have direct control over any of the business functions but are still expected to bring about a product to life and make it successful. Seems like a paradox to some people, but I don't think so. The lack of control means functional independence. <i>This independence enables a PM to become a credible advocate</i> for the customer, product, or <a href="https://www.kennethnorton.com/essays/productmanager.html" target="_blank">whoever isn't </a><a href="https://www.kennethnorton.com/essays/productmanager.html" target="_blank">currently </a><a href="https://www.kennethnorton.com/essays/productmanager.html" target="_blank">in the room</a> (link to Ken Norton's (Google Group PM) article on Product Management). The PM brings the vision of the ideal customer experience as delivered by a product. PM creates the "team ego" by making sure everyone feels powerful and successful. We are not suppose to talk about "feeling" in the workplace. We are all suppose to be professionals and keep our feelings in check. We are all human and we all have emotions. No matter what the work, in the end, work are done by people. So feelings matters and everyone works better when their feel respected.<br />
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It's harder than it sounds, engineers wants to do engineering things and they want to talk engineering talk. It's never easy to bridge that expectation and language gap. The best PMs are able to draw out the engineers using their language, to get the best ideas, and get them really engaged on how to create a better customer experience. PM makes engineers lives easier so they can keep doing the engineering things, only with better focus and more precise deliverable. Now, imagine doing the same work for all the different business functions: accounting, support, operation, sales, marketing, and legal. Each group have their own personalities, languages, and expectations. PM inspires everyone so everyone brings their 'A' game together to deliver on the same product vision.<br />
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There is another reason that I like the silent conductor metaphor. Notice that the conductor is the only person that the audience can't see the face during the performance. The conductor is front and center, but the face is hidden. The conductor is given this great responsibility and power to inspire and lead this group of talented musicians. As a part of the responsibility, the conductor submits his ego to the team and remains hidden during the performance. I understand that in practice, conductor's face can't be seen while his doing the job. To me, this is one ideal of humility. I have said to my team, <i>I'm not the ceiling that limits you, I'm the floor that you stand on so you can reach high. </i>My job is to be calm, on an even keel, so everyone can do their best.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA_AyBJIEEu2QF6v2iD9muBS9QtewndD_VnqipQ1wYoltF5iteplLitDzuHaVcvxgbE2ht37U2c8ULclGcOPAPQYlBsuyqCuXUUSdKzNdi0nOxPf_vCnEe7OfiNv1wq5C9kjS4LdeiMg/s1600/87500_1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA_AyBJIEEu2QF6v2iD9muBS9QtewndD_VnqipQ1wYoltF5iteplLitDzuHaVcvxgbE2ht37U2c8ULclGcOPAPQYlBsuyqCuXUUSdKzNdi0nOxPf_vCnEe7OfiNv1wq5C9kjS4LdeiMg/s400/87500_1024.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">image from: <a href="http://photos.instantencore.com/87500/87500_1024.jpg">http://photos.instantencore.com/87500/87500_1024.jpg</a></td></tr>
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In short, your mission, as a product manager, should you choose to accept it. Deliver an experience that customers LOVE through a product where you inspired everyone on the team to feel POWERFUL..like a silent conductor.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-73302775924369291022013-04-22T13:40:00.000-07:002013-04-22T13:48:56.100-07:00How to boost performance and convert an old laptop into a media center and file server.Recently my old media center desktop died. I guess computer age counts in dog years. The machine was only 7 years old, but died on the operating table from a simple hard drive upgrade procedure that I have done many times (aka. it's not my fault. :) )<br />
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<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BHeMK02CAAAxJYP.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BHeMK02CAAAxJYP.jpg:large" width="640" /></a></div>
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I debated for a while if I wanted to take this PC in for repair, but the estimated 1 to 2 hr to diagnose and fix the problem simply makes no sense for this old PC. Electronic recycle is the only way to go. I striped the hard drives, and dvd-burner. I should try to sell the working parts on the craiglist but it's not worth my time to bother.<br />
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The old PC was the file server, central backup, video transcoder, and media server for the home network. I needed to find a replacement fast. The cheapest new desktop I could find was a few hundred dollars and terribly under-sized in storage. I would need to upgrade the internal component to get the system working as before. It was not worth the hassle.<br />
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<b>Geek out time! </b><br />
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I have a 3 years old laptop (HP touchsmart tx2 with AMD Turion dual-core CPU) that was gathering dust. Instead of a new low-end desktop, I figured for the same price I can seriously beef up this laptop and turn it into a decent media center. I did a good amount of research to make sure I got maximum bang for the minimal bucks. I budget $300 and brought the following items:<br />
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Click on the links to get exact store and product that I purchased: <br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-128GB-2-5-Inch-9-5mm-CT128M4SSD2/dp/B004W2JKZI/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_t_2_MMDV" target="_blank">Solid State Drive 128GB : $130</a><br />
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81s1okLbEOL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81s1okLbEOL._SL1500_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/GMYLE%C2%AE-ExpressCard-34mm-Adapter-Dual/dp/B0045BLP1S/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_t_2_N5T9" target="_blank">USB 3.0 ExpressCard: $13</a><br />
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41P2EU7IG9L._SY300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41P2EU7IG9L._SY300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182269" target="_blank">USB 3.0 hard drive docking station: $50</a><br />
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<a href="http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/17-182-269-Z01?$S300W$" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/17-182-269-Z01?$S300W$" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840" target="_blank">3.5" 1 TB 7200 RPM internal HD: $75</a><br />
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<a href="http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/22-148-840-TS?$S300W$" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/22-148-840-TS?$S300W$" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100048" target="_blank">USB TV tuner: $50</a><br />
<a href="http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/15-100-048-TS?$S300W$" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/15-100-048-TS?$S300W$" width="200" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0084YWMXM/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1" target="_blank">USB enclosure : $6</a><br />
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31yJKhiai0L._SY300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31yJKhiai0L._SY300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://mcebuddy2x.codeplex.com/" target="_blank">MCBuddy: donationware</a><br />
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<a href="http://download-codeplex.sec.s-msft.com/Download?ProjectName=mcebuddy2x&DownloadId=483178&Build=20425" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://download-codeplex.sec.s-msft.com/Download?ProjectName=mcebuddy2x&DownloadId=483178&Build=20425" /></a></div>
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The experience was tedious but not too painful. I took some extra steps to ensure optimal system function. Here are the major steps.<br />
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1) Removed the original internal 5400 rpm HD from the laptop<br />
2) Replace the internal HD with new SSD HD<br />
3) Rebuild Windows 7 Home Premium from the installation disks<br />
3a) I thought about upgrading to Windows 8, but the media center is NOT included with the home edition, I would have to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro then pay even more to get the media center pack.<br />
4) Installed the USB 3.0 ExpressCard and drivers.<br />
5) Plugged in the USB 3.0 HD docking station into the ExpressCard<br />
6) Inserted the new and old HDs from old desktop into the docking station<br />
7) Insert the old laptop HD into the 2.5 drive enclosure<br />
8) Plugged the 2.5 drive enclosure to the ExpressCard<br />
9) Reorganized all the files for optimize usage and backup.<br />
9a) SSD is only used for OS and temporary files<br />
9b) New HD is for all the user files and recorded videos<br />
9c) Old 3.5 and 2.5 HDs holds the image backup for all the computers on the network.<br />
10) Installed the USB TV tuner<br />
11) Verified the important channels recorded in High Def and Standard Def.<br />
12) Install MCBuddy to automatically transcode the recorded wmv videos to mp4 that can be displayed by iPad, iPhone, Android, and DLNA on various LCD TVs, xBox, media center players, etc in the house.<br />
13) Setup DLNA on laptop and checked all the TVs throughout the house has access.<br />
14) Put the laptop in power saving mode so the CPU doesn't get so hot . (I probably need to invest in a very quiet laptop cooling system. The fan noise is occasionally bothersome. )<br />
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<b>Overall experience:</b><br />
The easy parts:<br />
1) The hardware upgrades were super easy.<br />
2) Windows 7 on SSD was a nice change. Install was fast, Boot up was fast, too.<br />
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The painful parts:<br />
1) Windows network setup with homegroup and DLNA configuration was confusing. A lot of trial and error until something worked. Not exactly sure what configuration I ended up with, probably all security disabled.<br />
2) Painful research until I found the blog entry to change the Windows 7 registry setting to allow UNC connection from Windows XP. <a href="http://alan.lamielle.net/2009/09/03/windows-7-nonpaged-pool-srv-error-2017">http://alan.lamielle.net/2009/09/03/windows-7-nonpaged-pool-srv-error-2017</a><br />
3) Reorganizing and consolidating all the files spread out across multiple hard drives on the old desktop system took majority of the time.<br />
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Finally, we can kick back and enjoy the my home brewed DVR, and watch *mostly* commercial free shows on every TV, iPad, iTouch, iPhone, and Android in this house.<br />
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Could I have spend a few dollars and gotten a TiVo, Roku, etc? Sure, but where would be the fun in that? Also, I really dislike monthly subscription fees. All this setup doesn't cost me one dime in additional monthly service fees. I already pay enough monthly fee for cable, internet, and VOIP.<br />
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The end result with everything showing </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga2fNL5nsNTar3fBj_y8DUwsBP88qJPU-GaZjWuA8ORPkd7MLgyNNgLQWpLChmFx5k3PuIpoi7PAQth61e1LWW0DHyMbCVHfZeoDTZAuAV0Getw3-rA13w1bK74tWVyjtWoWCpRPmLtg/s1600/2013-04-22+12.04.19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga2fNL5nsNTar3fBj_y8DUwsBP88qJPU-GaZjWuA8ORPkd7MLgyNNgLQWpLChmFx5k3PuIpoi7PAQth61e1LWW0DHyMbCVHfZeoDTZAuAV0Getw3-rA13w1bK74tWVyjtWoWCpRPmLtg/s640/2013-04-22+12.04.19.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The final result. </div>
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HD docking station is facing the wall. The LEDs are very bright and bothersome at night. </div>
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**Need to get an <i>attractive</i> wire management system **</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dAakQHdG_Vt5hmnfN2YjoSDt7bbQ8Vp9HCABuMcxIPh_DU5mM8JWcjj1ZHZ4dMjpqqZVwZ4wKtUfh1LgAj0PPtfYLXA7IG5cHAWqVE8AvjTvy7SbAyYUOQekJv7rkcuLkDHeASgb8w/s1600/2013-04-22+12.06.30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dAakQHdG_Vt5hmnfN2YjoSDt7bbQ8Vp9HCABuMcxIPh_DU5mM8JWcjj1ZHZ4dMjpqqZVwZ4wKtUfh1LgAj0PPtfYLXA7IG5cHAWqVE8AvjTvy7SbAyYUOQekJv7rkcuLkDHeASgb8w/s640/2013-04-22+12.06.30.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-64730721410145400242013-03-24T19:39:00.001-07:002013-03-24T19:52:16.635-07:00What do you think of this idea? Volunteer Power Map : Web site and mobile app to request, plan, and promote your volunteer activities<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">A map based website and mobile map application that allows
customers to request, plan, and promote their volunteer activities. <u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The vision and
purpose of this website is to promote and track the power of volunteers around
the community! It would be extremely heartwarming to visualize the power
community service in near real-time and historically (as measured in volunteer
person-hours). There are too much sad, bad news and negativism, but I know
there are so many people that are giving their time and energy but that
information is not captured effectively to drive and encourage other people to
do more.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">4 potential types
of customers and their pain points<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">1) People see
problems in their community and want to make suggestions<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- A street block
that needs some trash clean up<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- An abandoned
park that needs some gardening<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Graffiti filled
wall that needs to be repainted<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Local library
needs volunteers to sort and organize books<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- A senior citizen
needs help to walk the dog.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- School teacher that needs volunteer for class activities</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">2) People looking
for ways to help their community<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Cub scout / boy
scouts that trying to earn merit badges<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Local companies
/ employees that want to be give back to the community<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- High school clubs<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Internet Meet
ups.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">3) People that
already have specific volunteer plan and asking people to join them and promote
the activity. <u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Street clean up
starting on Monday 11 am, to start 1st and Ast. Please RSVP so we can plan the
number of trash bags, and gloves.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Beach walk and
clean up meeting on Sunday afternoon start from the pier.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- Curb side car
wash to raise money for church on Sunday 1pm to 4pm <u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">4) People that want to track their volunteerism activities or give
credit to other peoples volunteerism activities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- A soccer team wants to recognize the coach for her effort<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- PTA leadership wants to recognize a special event coordinator<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">- A high school student wants to track and share pictures and
video from his volunteer fun events<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Use Cases:<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">1) Dashboard to
visualize the power of the community service activities by location, a group,
or an individual contribution. Imagine a color coded map overlay that shows the
density of volunteer person-hours over a period of time. Also app where acts of
kindness can be visualized and promoted in near real-time. The map would show
glittering stars as people contribute and sign up for community services.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">2) Mobile app that
customers can use to quickly take pictures of issues around the community.
Using a mobile map application, people can quickly add suggestions and browse
existing suggestion in the same area. <u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">3) Customers could
use the app for monitoring and filtering for volunteer requests, or events
around specific locations (home, school, or work), or favorite activities such
as gardening, or painting, or available free time set aside for volunteerism. <u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">4) Customers could
use the app propose, gather volunteers, vote, and coordinate location, time,
and supplies to the community service activities.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">5) Customer to
track and promote their volunteer activities achievements, through check-ins to
specific location and events.<u1:p></u1:p> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">6) Customer to track and promote other people’s volunteer
activities achievements, through check-ins to specific location and events.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Some people get
there ideas in the shower, for me, it's the middle of the night when I can't
sleep. A phone call woke me up 4am and I couldn't go back to sleep and this
idea came to me. This is probably not a unique idea, but I think if we
can start an open source project, we can build a pretty usable and successful
website and mobile application.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Let me know if you
like the idea, and features suggestions on twitter, facebook, and Google+.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If you run a
community service program, let me know how you would use this platform to drive
greater number of volunteers and show the power of your volunteers.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If you know of a
similar platform or application, let me know. Maybe this should be an add-on to
Google+ or four squares, instead of stand-alone app. I welcome all suggestions
to understand what technology platform is the most effective way to capture and
visualize the power of community activism.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If you have a
similar open source project, let me know if you need a volunteer.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If I can gather
some serious number of “likes”, retweets, and +1s, I will start developing a
new open source project and gather other volunteers to start building this web
and mobile application.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-56881114691002299962013-03-09T02:54:00.002-08:002013-03-14T23:48:43.454-07:00Parenting as Lean Startup<br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">I'm currently reading
"The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries, but this blog entry is not exactly
about the book, rather it's a cross pollination of two ideas and
goals that I have been working to improve. How can I enable the company to be a
more successful startup and, on a personal level, how can I enable my children
to become successful adults. While reading the "The Lean Startup", it
just dawned on me that Parenting is Management and a Startup.</span></div>
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<br />
Eric's definition of startup is resonated with me "A startup is a human
institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of
extreme uncertainty." I would modify Eric's definition as follow for
parenting: Family is a human institution designed to deliver the next
generation of adults under condition of extreme uncertainty. The part
about extremely uncertainly clearly nails the problem I think parents face.
There are 4 major reasons why parenthood is all about facing uncertainty.<br />
<br />
1) No one has any experience as a parent for the first time. There are no user guides
that will ever explain what it means to be a parent.<br />
<br />
2) Every child is different. Some child might look like one or both parents,
but personality is all their own. I hear parents talking about how one child
are so much themselves as a child. It's possible, but I feel it is just
wishful thinking or emulation. Parent should just accept that kids are different and any similarities
are temporary and coincidental. Instead, focusing on their uniqueness
and celebrate their differences and inner strength would be more successful in
the long run.<br />
<br />
3) No one can predict the attributes, conditions, and knowledge necessary that
determines definition a successful adult of the future. For all we know, we
might have a nuclear winter and the most vicious human characteristic is
necessary condition for survival. Even without going to such extreme, I often
hear parents planning their children's future career or field of study. I
always wonder, how one knows if those jobs will even be around. My job title
didn't even exist 50 years ago. </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Globalization and software and robotic automation are changing job title and positions at an incredible rate. </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 13.5pt;">How does anyone know what job might be good or
bad in 10 or 20 years from now.</span></div>
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<br />
4) The present day problems are vastly different from problems of the
past. Talking with our parents, I get a sense that the problem of old is
constraint. Our parents tried to optimize based on limited options due to
money, job, immigration, etc. But I don't think that will be the problem for our
children. Our children will have the problem of choice. Given almost
infinite number of choices, how do parents optimize based on environment / innate
talent fit and have the discipline to stay focus long enough to get
meaningful results? (another phrase I ripped off... Market/Product fit changed to Environment/Talent fit) Just consider the simple example of after school
activities. There are the traditional activities: biking, swimming, scouting,
soccer, baseball, piano, etc. But as I recently found out, here in
southern California, we have Olympic level instructors for
figure skating, archery, fencing, taekwondo, acting, modeling, and much
more teaching lessons for children as young as 3 years old. Many of these
classes have long waiting list because too many parents trying to push their
kids into the programs.<br />
<br />
I think Eric's definition of startup is actually a very canny fit for parenting
and lean startup 5 principles are also right on target.<br />
<br />
1) Entrepreneurs are everywhere. Yes. This is obvious, families are everywhere.<br />
<br />
2) Entrepreneurship is management. Parenting is management. This is
might be an unusual concept but every people that are both managers and parents
say they often draws from both side to help them become better in the other
role. Parenting is self-management, child management, and environmental
risk mitigation.<br />
<br />
3) Validated learning. This is the key principle for lean startup and
parenting. My job as a parent is not to shape my child in a certain way or
path. It is my job to learn what works for my children based on
careful observation of the child's specific environment / talent fit
and maximum his or her abilities to become an independent, capable, and happy
adult. We can debate the order of the 3 attributes but I think these 3 are my
key success factors.<br />
<br />
4) Build-Measure-Learn. Parents are not building children, it's much more complicated.
Children are natural learning "machines", but they are not always
selective about what they learn. So they learn mostly whatever the parents and
the environment exposes to them. Part of my job as parent is to carefully
select concept and knowledge based on the child's readiness. However, not every
concept and knowledge would have the same rate of learning, and every child has
his and her own interests, talents, and environmental influences. I believe
that parents must be a curator, selectively determine what would be necessary
and interesting for children to learn. We must determine the rate of learning
relative to other children in similar environment and situation, and then learn
whether to pivot or preserver. For children, learning is not fix concept
restricted to class room or lesson plans. It's everything. Everything they
watch on TV. And they especially learn how the parents act in different
situation. Always assume your children are watching your every action
and memorizing your every word choice.<br />
<br />
5) Innovation accounting (vs. vanity metrics). This is another incredible key
concept for me to become a better parent. Eric careful separates vanity metrics
vs. innovation accounting. We all have seen the tiger parents pushing their
kids with overwhelm amount of after school tutoring and demanding to have the
highest test scores in the classroom, or skip to a higher grade level. I feel
these are examples of vanity metric for parents. It's not say test scores are
not important, they are very important, but how and why the kids work to get
the test scores are just as important. The purpose of innovation accounting is
to measure the impact of your change to the desired outcome. In the case of
test scores, my focus as a parent is not on the test scores result, but the
steps leading up to the test scores. Does the child have good environment for
learning, does the child have the right tools for learning, can the child
motivate himself to learn (without constant nagging or pressure from parents),
does the child respect the learning by doing neat work and double check his own
work, and does the child have the confidence to learn and positive attitude to
deal with setback with bad results. All these steps are much more important to
me than a number on the test score. I need to find ways to score myself as a
parent to really make sure I'm doing the best job possible.<br />
<br />
Let's compare the root problem of startup that the lean startup method is
trying to solve. The basic premise of the lean startup method is that too much
money, time, and talent are wasted building unnecessary things that don’t
actually help the company create a sustainable business. The lean
startup method is a framework to identify these problems as soon as possible
while there is still time and money to make the necessary changes. This is also
the root problem that parents must address. How do I know if I'm doing the
right thing for my children that will actually help him become a successful adult?
We only have so much time, energy and money, so how do I make sure I'm scoring
myself and making changes all along the way. One of my worst nightmares is to
pressure a child to finish college or focus on a particular sport then realizes
too late that the child hates the degree or sport, ended up burning out and
turns into a beach bum.<br />
<br />
If parenting is management, then there must a set of Objective Measurement that
decides if I'm doing a good job. My quarter performance objectives would look
something like this for my son.<br />
<br />
Objective: Child can independently start and finish homework on a timely
manner.<br />
1) Spend 15 minutes on school days to review the homework and make a positive
comment about his learning and encourage him to learn from his prior mistakes
without negative or condescending comments.<br />
2) Talk with the teachers at least once a month outside of report card review
time to discuss child behavior and challenges in the classroom.<br />
<br />
Objective: Expand child's interest in new areas and subjects.<br />
3) Take child to try 2 new things (or places) and we'll have a meaningful
and uninterrupted by email or cellphone time with child.<br />
4) Cut back the child's use of electrical / TV time by 20% on a weekly basis
and replace them with sports or reading.<br />
<br />
I still need to think more about how to measure and learn if these objectives
actually and positively contribute child's personal growth. I'm really inspired
by Eric's book for startup and even more as a framework for parenting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-16479281354342172262013-01-10T23:37:00.000-08:002013-01-10T23:37:16.815-08:00How I cancelled my gym membership, did only 2 kinds of exercises, never worked up a sweat, and lost 10 lbs in 14 weeks. Disclaimer.. This is a personal story of how I accomplished my health goals. This is not a recommendation for anyone to attempt to follow these steps or assurance of similar results. Of course, if you have some success stories to share, I would love to hear about them. Comments are always welcomed.<br />
<br />
Few years ago, my doctor told me that my BMI was borderline. I tried a few things, but the weight always came back. I turned 40 and got a borderline cholesterol test result. I decided now was time to get serious about my health. I had a very simple plan. I planned to adjust my behavior and attitude a little bit at a time.<br />
<br />
I started with a very easy step. The gym membership that I paid for many years, but rarely used, I cancelled it. Because, it was time to get real. It was too hard to make the time to drive to the gym, to work out, and to drive back. The process took over an hour. Between work and kids, it was a luxury of time that I didn't have. Cancelled the gym membership was the first easy step to changing my behavior and the game.<br />
<br />
Second, I gave myself a break and adjusted my attitude to be more positive. I told myself, I didn't pick up the weight overnight, it took many years so I was not going to lose it overnight. I specifically didn't set a weight reduction target. I was going to change my behavior a little bit everyday and have faith that, eventually, things would work out.<br />
<br />
Third, I picked one and only one exercise. I told myself that I was going to do this one exercise everyday even if it was only for few minutes. I picked push-ups because I could do this exercise just about anywhere and anytime. No need to go into the details about how pathetic I was when I first started. It took over 2 month of ramp up before I could do a meaningful number of push-ups. I didn't try to do all the push-ups in one setting, I did them whenever I could, 1 set here, 1 set there. The range varied a lot. The main thing was that I did my one exercise, just about everyday. I did the exercise in short burst, so I had to catch my breath, but I never worked up a sweat.<br />
<br />
There was no weight loss so far, but I was definitely on a slow and positive trend. I felt that I had more energy and slowly, I did more sets and more push-ups per set. I measured the positive trend, but not on the scales.<br />
<br />
The exercise was pretty easy, I didn't feel tired and I didn't eat more. I just ate normally. I noticed that I don't need to eat as much. I had more energy from being more active and more positive. I actually started to eat less. That was when I decided portion control would be my forth tiny habit to develop. The method which I measured my progress with portion control was the key for this habit. I started with my normal portion. I decided how much I would cut back that day and moved that portion off into another plate. I didn't start with a smaller portion and tried to stick with a smaller portion. I started with a normal, and actively chose to not eat some portion. This was an important psychological commitment and visible tracking method. Some days, I ate my reduced portion and ate a bit more "removed" portion. Sometimes, I was full before I finished my reduced portion. I never ate more then my old normal portion. Again, over 2 month, I saw the "removed" portion got bigger and bigger, and I was not feeling more any more hungry than usual.<br />
<br />
I noticed a very small amount of weight loss about 1 month into the portion control habit. I was more encouraged by the trend of larger "removed" portion then the actual weigh loss itself. By this time, I was 2 month into the new habits and I was disappointed that I didn't get faster or better results. But, I stuck with the program, since I could see positive results for each of the habits.<br />
<br />
When I regularly reached my target number of daily push-ups, I introduced my second exercise: crunches. Same basic reasons, I could do crunches just about anywhere and anytime. I did 1 set whenever I had a few minutes to spare. I didn't know if the timing was just lucky or it made the real difference. When I started my second exercise, I started to lose weight. About 3 weeks into the second exercise, I noticed I was consistently losing 1 lb per week. Pleased with the results, but I figured this was a fluke just like my other attempts before. I stayed focused on my two exercises and portion control.<br />
<br />
The rest you know... I stuck with 5 tiny habits: cancel gym membership, positive thinking, daily push-ups, daily portion control, and daily crunches. I consistently lost 1 lb per week for 8 weeks. The holiday season paused the trend for a few weeks, then the weight loss resumed in Jan. Now I'm back to my early 30's weight, and feeling healthier and more positive. I didn't follow any of the common diet "rules". My breakfast was two cups of coffee with cream and sugar and maybe a fruit or bread. I ate lunch and had afternoon snacks. A regular dinner with rice or pasta, and ate a fruit or a bowl of cereal before going to bed. I ate all sorts of food, carbs, meats, sugar, candy, dessert, everything normally, just less. So no diet rules for me..just calorie in vs calories out.<br />
<br />
In summary, I set my objective as behavior change, and NOT weight loss. The weight loss was the desired side-effect of my behavior change. I kept the plan simple, without any time limit. With the bar set low, the only possible failure was to give up. I placed visible and measurable tracking method for each behavior change. Each behavior change was very small and gradual, and I only added one behavior change at time. The overall time was 6 month with 3 month of ramp up before I lost weight consistently. Telling my family about my objectives helped too. My kids reminded me regularly, "Daddy, did you do your exercises? Remember, you are trying to lose some weight." It really encouraged me to stick with the plan.<br />
<br />
I plan to add more daily exercises and keep trying to lose more weight. I have already exceeded beyond my original expectations.<br />
<br />
I credit <a href="http://tinyhabits.com/" target="_blank">Dr BJ Fogg, PhD</a> for the tiny habit idea. I didn't join his website but I followed his blog and tweets for a while, and the idea of break down a desired result into many tiny habits was the key to my progress.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-16870180278417387832012-12-12T01:51:00.000-08:002012-12-12T02:11:49.108-08:00a fun math card game and a computer program to solve it.My wife has been playing this fun card game ever since she was a kid, and I just learn about it recently. The game can be played with 2 or more people.<br />
<br />
1) Start with a normal deck of card and remove all the face cards, so only cards 1 to 10 remains<br />
2) Shuffle the cards<br />
3) Set 4 cards face-down and apart in a square fashion so all 4 cards can be see at once<br />
4) Everyone turn over the cards at the same time<br />
5) Use all 4 cards, and any combination of +, -, *, and /,<br />
6) When a player to find a solution that results as 24, the player must slaps the table and calls out the solution.<br />
7) First person slaps and provides the correct answer wins the round and keeps the 4 cards.<br />
6) Play until all the cards gone and the winner is the person with the most number of cards<br />
<br />
Here is another variation for younger kids.<br />
5) Allow only +, and - for math operations and you don't have to use all 4 cards<br />
6) find a solution that results as 5<br />
7) the 1st person that slaps, provides the correct answer, and uses the most cards, wins the round and keeps number of cards used in the solutions. The unused cards goes into a junk pile.<br />
<br />
Needless to say, I didn't win any games. So I decided to write this little C# program to find all possible solutions to sooth my ego a bit. :)<br />
<br />
This recursive program can handle any number of cards (not just 4) and solve for any value (not just 24).<br />
It can find all possible solutions or just the 1st one. This is brute force algorithm to checks for all combination, I imagine there must be a more elegant solution.<br />
<br />
If you need a refresher on recursion, here is a <a href="http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~sriram/21/fall05/notes/notes.9.7.pdf" target="_blank">link</a> with good description. I referenced this model when I wrote this code.<br />
<br />
Here is the code.<br />
----------------------------<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">using System;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">using System.Collections.Generic;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">using System.Linq;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">using System.Text;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">namespace ConsoleApplication1</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">{</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> class PlayCards</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> enum Operator</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Plus,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Minus,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Multiple,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Divide</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> };</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> static void Main(string[] args)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> int[] cards = new int[] {1, 2, 3, 4};</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> //Operator[] permOperators = new Operator[] { Operator.Plus, Operator.Minus, Operator.Multiple};</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> PlayCards game = new PlayCards();</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> string line;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> System.Console.WriteLine("Enter a cards shown separated by space. Example: 1 2 3 4"); </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> line = System.Console.ReadLine();</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> string[] words = line.Split(' ');</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> cards = new int[words.Count()];</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> int i = 0; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> foreach (string word in words)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> int card = 0;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> if (word.Length > 0 && int.TryParse(word, out card) == true)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> cards[i] = card;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> i++; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> int[] newCards = new int[i];</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Array.Copy(cards, newCards, i); </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> game.recursiveCards(new int[0], newCards, new Operator[0], 24, true);</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> System.Console.WriteLine("1st solutions");</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> int found = game.recursiveCards(new int[0], newCards, new Operator[0], 24, false);</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> System.Console.WriteLine("found " + found + " solutions");</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> private int recursiveCards(int[] permCards, int[] remainCards, Operator[] permOperators, int target, bool firstOnly)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> int result = 0; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> if (remainCards.Count() == 0)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> // evaluate result</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> int evaluateRes = 0;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> evaluateRes = permCards[0]; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> for (int i = 1; i < permCards.Count(); i++)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> if (i <= permCards.Count() - 1)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> switch(permOperators[i - 1])</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> case Operator.Plus:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> evaluateRes = evaluateRes + permCards[i]; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> break; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> case Operator.Minus:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> evaluateRes = evaluateRes - permCards[i]; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> break;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> case Operator.Multiple:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> evaluateRes = evaluateRes * permCards[i]; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> break;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> case Operator.Divide:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> evaluateRes = evaluateRes % permCards[i]; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> break;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> if (evaluateRes == target)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> // print result</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> for (int i = 0; i < permCards.Count() - 1; i++)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> System.Console.Write(permCards[i] + " ");</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> System.Console.Write(permOperators[i].ToString() + " " );</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> System.Console.WriteLine(permCards[permCards.Count() - 1] + " = " + evaluateRes);</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> result = 1; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> else</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> // set the newPermCards</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> int[] newPermCards = new int[permCards.Count() + 1];</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> int[] newRemainCards = new int[remainCards.Count() - 1]; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> permCards.CopyTo(newPermCards, 0);</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> for (int i = 0; i < remainCards.Count(); i++)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> // generate the remaining cards permutations</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> newPermCards[permCards.Count()] = remainCards[i]; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> int r = 0; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> for (int j = 0; j < remainCards.Count(); j++)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> if (j != i)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> newRemainCards[r] = remainCards[j];</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> r++; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> // generate the new operators permutations</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Operator[] newPermOperators = new Operator[permOperators.Count() + 1]; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> permOperators.CopyTo(newPermOperators, 0);</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> foreach (Operator newOp in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Operator)))</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> newPermOperators[permOperators.Count()] = newOp;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> // recusively compute results</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> result += recursiveCards(newPermCards, newRemainCards, newPermOperators, target, firstOnly);</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> // check if we need to terminate on 1st or keep on looking</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> if (firstOnly && result > 0)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> {</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> return result; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> return result; </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> }</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">}</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-57130318720861807482012-12-10T11:36:00.000-08:002012-12-10T11:36:18.649-08:00My reflection after reading "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother"I just finished reading "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother". This is not a book review, there are enough reviews already. This is much more personal in nature. My reasons for reading book and what I got out of it.<br />
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I picked up the book because for last few years, I became more and more like my Chinese parents in my parenting style. I also remember that as a kid, I vowed that I would NEVER do what my parents did to me when I was a kid. However, patterns have a way of repeating itself. Along came, Amy Chua, an accomplished person set out to raise accomplished children. I wondered for the longest time, torn between, wanting to read this for parenting tips or disavowing it because I don't want to be a Tiger Dad. But the simple truth is that we naturally repeat the patterns that we have been given, unless a vast and conscious effort is applied to CHANGE. I thought, I must read this book to see how can "Chinese parenting" really succeed or if not, how can I become my own change agent to become a better parent.<br />
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In order to change, a goal must be clearly defined. Until I can clearly articulate the type of parent that I want to be, I can't succeed. I admired Amy Chua because she was unapologetically clear about what kind of parent she wanted to be. It's easy to criticize, but I haven't met any parent who is as clear about their style or purpose as Ms Chua. All the parents I have met say ambiguous things like "Just teach them right and wrong", "I just want them to be happy", or "I just want them to be a good (productive, honest, hard working, etc) person". For right or for wrong, Ms Chua was clear in her goals, purposes, objectives and she did everything in her power to move that way. When the battle was lost, she had the grace to retreat.<br />
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I don't feel that I got any useful parenting tips or deep insights about what kind of parent that I want to be. In the end, I realized that, selfishly, my happiness is as important is my children's. My happiness would be enjoying my time with them but also seeing them grow up and be more successful and happier than me. The "Chinese way" seems to dictate these are opposing roads, parents must pick one or the other, and that the end justifies the means. After reading the book, I confirms that I must search for my own middle road. Beyond the taskmaster of the Chinese parenting, beyond the positive hopefulness of the American parenting. Somehow, I will blend these two seemingly opposite paradigms. </div>
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Ms Chua admitted as much at the end of the book, for her, these are two opposing paradigm. I still holding out of the hope there is a path where I can be loving, affirming, disciplining, taskmaster, and drill sergeant that can inspire and prepare my children to have chances for the best possible future outcome.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-60466285675716586682012-11-02T10:30:00.000-07:002012-11-02T10:30:59.192-07:00Why piano lessons for my children... My son practiced piano for almost 3 years so far. For him and for me that's over 130 hours of weekly lessons and over 500 hours of daily practice. It's quite a commitment. I sit with him for every lesson and every practice session. I never had any piano lessons growing up, so I put in extra effort to follow the instruction. When we initially started, I put in my fair share of time to keep up with the music theory and the practice. Now, I can't keep up the practice, but I still follow the music theory closely.<br />
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The big question is why? What's so special about piano that this level of dedication and effort is warranted? Why not something else? What do I hope my son will gain with all these effort, and what do I gain? These are not easy questions, I struggle with these question every time my son complains about piano. I see him struggle with some difficult pieces and we both feel like giving up.<br />
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Here are some rational and irrational explanation why I think piano is important. Of course, since I am musically illiterate, these are just my opinion and hopes, with only limited experience and no research to back up any of these reasoning. As a parent, we often impose irrational or semi-rational beliefs on our children, I'm no different. But, I'm trying to write down my reasons publicly.<br />
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First, music is another language, and it's a core language of the human mind that crosses time, cultural, political, ethnic, social, and economic boundaries. Everyone listens to music. If possible, everyone should be able to talk, read, and write music. Piano is an easy way for kids to start learning to read, write, and talk the language of music.<br />
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Second, piano playing teaches coordination and concentration. Reading lines of music, playing with different timing on right and left hand is incredibly difficult. It really requires tremendous amount of focus and practice to do this well.<br />
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Third, piano playing, at children's level, is purely an individual effort. Parents and teachers can help guide but only one person plays the keys. There are no team member to hinder or help cover the mistakes. The results is completely dependent on ones focus and practice. No one else to blame or share the credit.<br />
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Forth, piano practice is time for honest self evaluation. Everyone has innate ability to appreciate good melody and rhythm, even little children. There is a simple and natural feedback loop during practice, children knows if they are play good music or not. I always asks my son, he what he thought of his playing. This process of self evaluation is critical for personal growth. Only through the process of self-evaluation can one stretch one's abilities.<br />
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Fifth, the piano playing result closely reflects the effort. Each music piece starts out really rough, one can barely pick out the melody. But as the practice progress, we can clearly make out the melody, then tempo of the music takes shape. Next, comes chords, adding their richness to the piece. Something really magical happens, when the child comprehends the mood of the piece. The playing becomes a song, not just a series of mechanical keys strokes, but a real wonderful and beautiful experience for the player and listener. Not every piece has this effect, but all the best song has this emotional connection with the player and it can only happen through practice.<br />
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Sixth, piano practice will teach perseverance. Piano practice is like a multi-level video game. Each song represents a level with its own unique fingers and technique. With a good teacher and good lesson plan, each piece builds on the prior techniques. Then the recitals are the mega-monster at the end of each series of levels. I wish piano is as addictive to kids as videos games, but I think some of the elements are the same. The perseverance is the ability to see the big picture, believing in oneself, through a series of small and baby steps, and make the big picture come true. There is NO way to learn perseverance through books or talking about it. Only by acting out the process of perseverance can a kid really learn it. So this is my job as a parent, to guide them through this process, let them see the end result of our combined effort. Hopefully, they will be able to apply this process to their passions in other areas.<br />
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Seventh, I wished I learned piano when I was a kid. My parents didn't believe that I had any musical talent that is worth investing. And it was never important enough compared to other subjects. I feel some regret and bitterness about that lack of opportunity even though I don't know if music lesson would have any much impact in my adult life. So i'm going to try to do something different for my children.<br />
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Eighth, music creates beauty and piano is easier to play compared to other instruments. I don't think I can handle violin in an inexperienced hand. The wrong pitch sounds would drive me crazy at home.<br />
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How is piano different from any other individual activities such as swimming, or golf? All these activities develops character and confidence through coordination, practice and perseverance. I think the key difference is self-evaluation. I believe music appreciation and expression is innate. Learning piano and music is a formal way to harness and advance this natural human ability. Swimming might be innate but golf is certainly a cultural activity. Because music appreciation is innate, there is a simple, natural, and positive feedback loop to enable growth of children's musical ability.<br />
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The big pictures is that I don't expect or even want my children to become concert pianist, become famous, and tour the world. I imagine that would be a very hard life. It's the process of learning music and piano that I hope will teach many valuable lessons: individual effort, honest self-evaluation, practice, and perseverance. I hope these lessons will build confidence and ability to apply this process to achieve self-confidence in other arena of their lives. I mean, honestly, I'm proud of myself that I survived 2 years of college math. I can't do integral, differential equation, or linear algebra to save my live now, but I know that I could do it again. I think college is like that. I can't remember most of the things that I supposedly learned in college, but I know it was a lot of reading, studying, and hard work. Mostly, what I learned is that I can do it again even better the second time if I wanted to. It's a kind of self-confidence.<br />
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So I need to consistently remind myself, whenever I feel disappointed that my son didn't do as well as I hoped in piano or anything else for that matter. Piano is only one of many medium that I use to teach these larger life lessons. I can't get distracted by the short term goals of the piano lessons to lose sight of the big picture of character and confidence building through individual effort, honest self-evaluation, practice, and perseverance. I must always be try to set high standards and still be positive and encouraging.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1995974965584850719.post-3124374259416348602012-09-14T13:24:00.000-07:002012-10-29T15:49:13.045-07:0012 levels of personal finance black belt. Which level are you? <br />
Many financial guides are a list of tasks or achievements: Make a budget, get out of debt, save for retirement, save for college, buy your first home, get life insurance, etc. Those guides are a prescriptive list of things that you should do and those list are great. But they rarely give you any guideline as to when you should apply and start those tasks and if there is any order to those tasks. Everything seems important and should be done right now. I think these guides are helpful but I often feel conflicted and confused because they are pulling me in so many directions at once.<br />
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This list, hopefully, is a different kind of list for personal finance. I'm attempting to offer a descriptive order of skills sets and knowledge that you must master to achieve financial control and wealth management. Each level requires complete mastery before you can move on to the next, I think going out of order would be inefficient and a waste of time and money. These skills set are not based on individual's net worth or income level. It's a measure of the level of control and understanding of one's personal financial health.<br />
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With that quick introduction, here is the list. Each topic can be expanded with much greater detail and I'll do that for future blog entries. <br />
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1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Read some new personal finance or personal improvement books every year.<br />
2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Carry credit cards or other revolving debts for only a short period of time (< 6 month)<br />
3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Live within your means<br />
4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Have 6 month or more of emergency funds<br />
5.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Saving at least 10% of pre-tax income<br />
6.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Clear (5 to 10 years) long term financial goals and allocation plan of your savings to the various long term goals. (saving for wedding, car, house, kids college, vacation, retirement, new business capital, pay off long term debt, etc)<br />
7.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Allocation plan of assets across real estate, equity (domestic, foreign, and emerging), bonds, and other asset classes.<br />
8.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Diversify your income streams through real estate, hobby, eBay, side consulting business, business ownership, bonds, CDs, etc.<br />
9.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Complete your own taxes until you understand the applicable tax laws.<br />
10.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Find or hire your financial control team: accountants, mortgage brokers, real estate brokers, personal advisers, mentors, attorney, etc.<br />
11.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Adequate protection for your long term financial interests through insurance, estate planning, and trusts.<br />
12.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Estate and tax planning to minimize tax liabilities.<br />
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Is there another level beyond 12? I don't know. I can't think that far. I'm still working on level 10 and 11 skill set and can't see beyond the next hill that I have to conquer. Since level 12 covers the end of one's life and beyond, it's hard to imagine there is another level of skill set for "personal" finance.<br />
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I'm working on level 10 and 11, but doesn't mean all the previous level are completed. Obviously each level still have many prescriptive list of tasks that needs to be accomplished. Saving for college and retirement are some of the tasks from level 6 and I'm still a long way off from completing them. But as a skill set, knowledge, and the degree of confidence that the situation is under control, I feel that I have mastered that level.<br />
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I think this is a different and unique way to learn and master personal finance. To any reader of the blog, i'm curious if you think this is a helpful model for you to gain better control and mastery of your personal finance.<br />
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<b>So let me know; Which level are you? </b><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02031401525757538028noreply@blogger.com0