Ronald's ScribblingsPosts
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Tooling & Empowerment
One of the things I’m trying very hard to improve is my expression through written and verbal methods. I find it troubling and difficult to express what and how I feel in accurate and concise terms. Unintentionally, it leaves people with an inaccurate impression of what I originally intend to mean. The implications aren’t so bad when the subject-matter is largely technical, but when it comes to things that matter to the heart and soul, unintentional problems and misunderstandings can arise.
Although I’m an INTJ according to some personality tests, I have great passion in trying to empower people I meet to be able to do “meta-learning”. Rather than knowing as much data as possible to be knowledgeable, why not know as many possible methods of seeking out information and solutions instead? That way, whatever problems that you come across, you’ll have the tools and skills to discover the solutions and answers yourself.
As I hand over my work in the current organisation, I’d spent almost all available time trying to impart thinking ability rather than rote-memorisation abilities. The nature of my work is largely ad-hoc problem solving and fire fighting; being able to know how to come up with solutions when you’re out of ideas is the key to surviving comfortably.
Little did I expect however, in the words of Henry Ford, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it”. I can only resign and sigh, wishing them all the best.
One of my good friends once asked how I seem to be able to have access to timely intelligence information pertaining to everyday life and happenings in the organisation. I’ve always maintained that it’s the result of a robust “Int[elligence] Network”. The concept is extremely simple—people volunteer interesting information of what they see and experience during casual conversations. As long as you do more listening than talking, you’ll be able to gain a wealth of information. It sounds awfully like gossip but it isn’t as long as you don’t volunteer nor listen to unreliable information about other people behind their back.
With a little bit of induction-deduction and a lot of listening, you’ll be able to obtain a lot more information than most people. A plus if you are observant as there’s as much information volunteered as restrained; double-plus if you ask the right questions; triple-plus if you know the right people for the right type information. With a good memory and pleasant working relationships, you’ll be powerfully connected.
So really, these are the little things in office that keep me mentally entertained in an alternative way; true to Apple, Inc’s philosophy—Think Different.
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The Android and iPhone Platforms
I’ve been doing a comparison between the iPhone and Android platform for quite sometime and have come to an interesting conclusion that not many people seem to have seen.
Before I begin, I shall list some of the key differences between the two platforms and then proceed to demonstrate some parallels to formerly failed or failing platforms.
iPhone is best known by its 100, 000 application strong App Store, closed and managed eco-system, but balanced by very powerful and easy to use SDK. Interface-wise, it’s the first to pioneer large-scale finger only screen manipulations, with a very polished and unified UI. Flicking the screen to scroll a list were rare when the iPhone was first introduced and it brought a revolutionary change in smartphone UIs, and so did pinching. It has a seamless sync capability powered by iTunes, only seen previously on iPods, and formally inspired by Palm’s very own HotSync.
Android on the other hand is like the dialectic twin to the smartphone solution. It also has an app store but it’s open for listing quite freely. Applications are not signed nor controlled — a user can choose to install anything he wants with no restrictions. That’s where the similarities end, if any. The platform offered by Google is rather generic, leaving much of the integration work to the hardware makers. There’s no out-of-the-box sync solution provided by Google’s Android, leaving each hardware maker to come up with their own, and possibly incompatible sync solutions. Also, they are forced to create UIs for their phones for better hardware integration. This leaves each hardware maker to come up with their own set of UI design and philosophy, diluting the visual identity of the Android platform.
Another side-effect for having hardware makers integrate the OS into the phone is that new Android versions from Google cannot be pushed down to consumers immediately, compared to the iPhone OS updates. Individual hardware makers have to reintegrate the OS with their hardware before they can, if they choose to, release to their customers.
With that, the iPhone eco-system reminds me of the formerly glorious PalmOS platform (v4), albeit with tighter application quality requirements, but better development SDK. Unified interface across all applications, large developer community, and that every piece of software written for the PalmOS works on all PalmOS devices. It’s like a Mac, in a handheld form-factor.
Android however, reminds me of the now fractured and declining Symbian platform. With S60 and UIQ3 interfaces as the main branches, applications are largely split between the two due to different display UI philosophies and input capabilities. Although the Android claims to have a JavaVM as a base component, the varying types of input methods and screen capabilities increases the coding complexity for any piece of software. Without direct vertical integration from the OS maker, Google, customers will have a hard time getting the OS in their phones upgraded should the hardware makers choose to give up on them. It reminds me of the Windows Mobile OS and the PalmOS with no upgradability, requiring the purchase of new hardware to stay current in software — it puts customers off.
From the way the two platforms are positioned, I can tell that Apple is marketing the iPhone as a full-fledged miniature computer, while Google is positioning the Android as a software development platform for hobbyists and hackers to tinker around with.
The future I believe thus would lie in the iPhone platform.
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Parking
Contrary to what many people say about learning how to park in Driving Schools with poles, I believe it is quite useful in grasping the principles and concepts of how to park a car. Having learnt the basics of using poles which act as imaginary lines from the ground where you can see through the passenger windows, you can then apply and imagine lines from various objects that demarcate the outline of the car parking lot.
For vertical parking, no explanation is required. The headlights / pillars can represent outer poles of the training lot. The techniques used in parking is still the same. It works for any type of car, big or small, and any type of lot, as long as it can fit the car reasonably.
Parallel parking, on the other hand, is even easier. Just take the headlights and taillights of the vehicles between the lot as poles and apply the same technique. It will definitely work, as long as you remember the principles to the techniques.
I was glad that my private instructor gave me time to learn parking via the first principles. He gave me the broad concept of where to look at what and left the finer details of correcting mistakes to myself to pick up. He didn’t tell me how to fix bad parking due to turning mistakes — he let me figure out myself.
It all turned out very useful when I was looking for a parking space around SingTel ComCentre to get my mother’s iPhone repaired. The building’s carpark was full and there fortunately was an empty parallel parking lot in front. The last time I parked in a parallel parking lot was in my instructor’s car, taking my practical test. The car was different then, the lot was more spacious, and the situation was less stressful. Naturally in a single-lane, bi-directional road, cars from both directions will pile up when anyone attempts to parallel park along one of the lots. When car piles, the stress naturally increases.
No way I’m going to let them agree with what the probationary plate meant — n00b driver.
I followed the first principles from what I’d learnt 5 months ago and it worked flawlessly.
My mother was impressed. So was I. It was my first try outside the driving circuit after all and I didn’t cause an embarrassing road-block.
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Time's Up
It’s been nearly two years since my enlistment and I’m glad that I’m on my last mile. Throughout these 2 years, some people would claim that it has been a thorough waste of time, others would say that it’s an experience of a lifetime.
I’ve experienced a fair share of both claims and can testify that 50% of the outcome lies in my hands. There are certainly some sights to behold, trials and tribulations to endure, friends to be made, time to be wasted, problems to be solved, along the way of ORD.
The trick to your time being wasted is to make good use of the time when people are wasting your time. Although I am working in an organisation that prides itself for being timely and decisive, people are routinely late for meetings. I fit books in my iPod Touch or paperbacks in my side pocket. If I were to forget or be bored by rumbling drones, I’ll take out my mobile phone and look up the latest from Reuters and Google Reader. Of course, having the secret to prevent people from wasting your time should mean that you’ll be mindful of taking up the time of others.
Another trick to a time waster in another context is that people would insist that you do certain things using primitive and time consuming methods. I’ve learnt to give equally lengthy forecast of completion, use modern methods, and use the time saved to do my other more important things. I’d learnt this cool trick from one of my school teachers.
That’s the gist on the time savers I’d learnt and employed.
As my work moved into the HQ, time wasters are no longer the biggest enemies. The new and powerful word in use is Politics. Putting it upfront, I thoroughly hate it. Navigating through the minefield of politics is a skill to be learnt and polished in any office environment.
I’ve learnt how to smile when you’re boiling furious, make friends and be friendly toward deadly enemies, capture and understand the nuances of intent and sentence structure in instructions, reading the truth of smiling lies, and most despicable of all, cleaning up after people’s defecation. Sometimes I wonder, am I working too much and hard for what I’m paid? Then again, it’s the price for the development of alternative mental faculties.
On the other hand, I’ve learnt a lot more about myself that I could ever have. I’ve noticed that my subconsciousness is like a sponge, soaking up everything around me — the good, the bad, and the ugly, slowly assimilating collated information into my behaviour.
I avoid certain people only because I don’t want to pick up their traits.
As with all politics, I have to deal with lies, half-truths, and white-lies. Knowing how to distinguish between them is important as it gleams significant information which can be of great use.
Lies are rather easy to detect from non-compulsive liars. What’s written in body language books aren’t very useful, as I believe, every person has ‘fingerprint actions’ when he’s about to lie. Taking reference from an obvious lie, one can capture the ‘fingerprint’ and hence match it to whenever it occurs again. To be especially effective in finding the truth and to identify lying, use binary questions while watching out for the ‘fingerprint’.
Nevertheless, I will sorely miss my fellow mates whom I’ve met in one way another, having tried my best to know (and make friends with) as many of them as possible.
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