Jeff Jonas

Delusions of Self

Sometimes you don’t know what you are not … until you meet a real one.

I thought I was a powerful athlete for a brief moment until the 14 year old passed me in the triathlon (ages are often written on the athlete’s calf during such races).

I also thought I was a real CEO until I met John Slitz. There I was running my little 18 person company called Systems Research & Development (SRD) in Las Vegas when I chanced into him over dinner. It took considerably less than five minutes before I realized that he was a real CEO and I was not.

Hmm, I thought, how can I hypnotize him into thinking he should trade in all of his big games for my little game? It was a slow and thoughtful process that took about 90 days.

Once John Slitz came aboard, I demoted myself to chief scientist, was given no employees to manage, no budget, and was told I didn’t have to sell anything. A dream job!

With this new and welcomed adult supervision everything changed … for the better. The company became more prosperous and I was able to spend more time chasing technology, strategy, privacy and policy. A year later we doubled and a year after that IBM bought my little company. Inasmuch as I still report to Slitz I would like to recommend that hiring your boss is a good strategy.  :)

Net net: focus on what you are best at … hire pros to handle everything else.

Have I mentioned the 70 year old dude that actually passed me on the run during the Arizona Ironman.

Some Times "Good Enough" Just Isn’t

When I present these days I often show this photo of an outdoor banner which simply shows a chimpanzee and the words "99.4% human" (I found this advertisement for the Natural History Museum while in London). My notion then being if .6% makes this much difference, no wonder existing information systems are not very intelligent. The more I think about this the more relevant this seems.

Now think Web 2.0 and mashups.

I often hear in this context the term "good enough" being used to describe systems or widgets that while far from perfect are at least useful. Something like the 80/20 test. And while this type of technology and mindset work fine in many contexts and at times is well received in the market place, there are other contexts where this notion of "good enough" just isn’t.

Here is one blatant example. From time-to-time at the airport I notice the flight schedule monitors have crashed – displaying an operating system core dump. My think then goes: I am glad that this "good enough" operating system for the flight schedules is not the platform used for the plane’s flight systems! No debate here … it is just not good enough.

In space travel a few degrees off and you burn up during re-entry or fall outside of the solar system. Oops! No such thing as good enough in this department either.

High performance, high reliability and high accountability systems like those running in the financial services and communications sectors are no place for this emerging fascination with good enough componetry.

Detecting and preempting bad things from happening (e.g., million dollar fraud events, big things that go "boom" in the night) are also not well served by the good enough mindset either.

With respect to intelligent systems that deliver enterprise awareness (e.g., Perpetual Analytics) again this notion of good enough just isn’t. The DNA difference between chimpanzees and humans seems like another example – whereby .6% off the mark is not nearly good enough.

As a consequence of this thinking, I find myself spending time addressing subtle little things like Sequence Neutrality because, in this case, systems without such properties accumulate unacceptable biases. So my aspirations keep me focused on how to squeak as many .6% improvements into these enterprise awareness systems as possible.

[And on a Related Although Out of Place Thought: Since good enough is determined in relation to mission and expectations, maybe something to worry about is a "good enough" component for one mission getting mashed up into some other mission with very different reliability expectations. For example, using a match/merge engine designed to detect duplicates in customer lists for direct marketing (e.g., the consequence being more or less duplicate mail in the mailbox) later being applied in a law enforcement setting where action involves dudes with guns – think "danger Will Robinson."]

9/11 … Five Years Ago Today

I was in New York on September 11^th, 2001. 

At 8:30am I left the Marriot Hotel at the World Financial Center heading for a meeting in upper Manhattan. As we drove past the World Trade Center I asked the cab driver if I had time to run up for a quick look from the observation deck and still make my 9am meeting.

The cab driver said "No."

Minutes later … the rest is history.

Oddly, Friday the week before, I was in a New York meeting with the head of security of a large financial services company. Behind his desk, no kidding, was a picture of Osama bin Laden. When asked about the picture he said, "This is who I fear most."

Be Anyone in Las Vegas, Get Help Creating a Cover Story Here

The saying goes “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas.”  And just to be safe, why not travel to Vegas with a cover story?  Heck the opportunists do and you can too.  In fact, the Las Vegas Convention Authority would like to help you.

Be Anyone in Las Vegas

Use this site to establish a name, a cover, get business cards and so on.

While the professionals surely have more sophisticated identity factories … at least you can get started here!

Damsels in Distress: Stalking Stalkers through London Alleys

My girlfriend, two youngest kids and I were walking from our London summer flat to dinner a couple nights ago.  While in route, I overheard a lady on her cell phone saying something to the effect of “this creep has been stalking me for over a month and NOW I am following him.”  As it turns out, she was talking to the police, but I was unaware of that.

After a few moments to ponder what I had heard, I told my family that I thought she was in distress and possibly needed some assistance.  They agreed.  So I inserted myself into the situation which resulted in a few confrontational words with the 6 foot something dude, then while the distressed damsel and I talked, we watched the stalker dude casually walked off and disappear into a side street.

In short, I decide to tail the stalker.  Almost lost him.  But tracked him unnoticed through a left turn, then right, left, right, left, right and right again.  Luckily, along the way I flagged down a policeman that was willing to involve himself ... despite being unaware of the concurrent phone conversation the distressed damsel was still having with the police department a few blocks away.

So … as the accused stalker stuck his key in the door of his flat and looked over his shoulder, he realized I was standing right there with a policeman.  A precious, unexpected, moment …

The damsel was able to now make a police report with an identified subject … and my family and I had something new to talk about over dinner!

I did listen into her call.  And I did not get permission.  And although she may have been offended for a moment that I had overheard (and acted upon) her conversation … she certainly was very thankful!

Could I have handled this better?  Was there a better way to avoid consumer surprise?  They had very different stories - what if he was an innocent Joe and I actually helped a whacked lady find a nice guys home?  He did tell the policeman that he would have done the same thing had he been in my shoes.

Risk Mitigation Note: Had I not stumbled into a policeman, who knows how the story would have ended.  And although I am ill prepared for any hand-to-hand combat … I did have a secret weapon with me.  But don’t ask as I’d like to protect my sources and methods!

Stress Relaxing, Eight Sharks and Evading Surveillance Cameras in London

Nothing stresses me out more than trying to relax. So … my two youngest kids (15 and 17 years old) and I found ourselves on Bora Bora two weekends ago trying to have some fun. For starters we discovered everyone else on the island appeared to be a honeymoon couple.

The big adventure was the day we took a boat out into the reef. The locals then anchored a rope in the water … a rope on which one can hold so as not to drift with the current while in snorkel gear. They then proceeded to pour a bucket of blood into the ocean and began throwing chunks of tuna into the water. Once eight sharks were enjoying the food festival … we were invited into the water to watch … up close … no cage … no net. What fun! Of course there were no disclaimers, liability waivers, nothing to sign … only one piece of advice was offered during this excursion … don’t try to pet them! Come to think of it, I’ll bet there were no attorneys within hundreds of miles.

Then yesterday while on the M4 highway between the Heathrow airport and downtown London, the taxi driver kept speeding up then suddenly slowing down for no apparent reason. After paying a bit more attention I realized he knew where every traffic camera was. So I guess the only people who get tickets via these devices must be those unfamiliar with the area (and then they get caught only once). As such, the distracted and forgetful probably get dinged the most.

What do these three tidbits have to do with each other? Nothing.

Super Consultants

Once upon a time I ran a company called Systems Research & Development (SRD) that specialized in building custom software.  We had an unusually successful track record for such a business.  Failure was not an option and in our mind every customer had to become a raving fan.  Question: What kind of a consulting team does it take to successfully design and build ground up, one-of-a-kind software systems – year over and year?  Answer: Super consultants.

Introducing “The Super Consultant”

Super Consultants are professionals who direct, guide, drag, push, or pull a project through to the end.  They take personal responsibility for the entire project, including external influences, despite any “obvious” proof that certain events were beyond their control.

Everyone has heard the phrase “the customer is always right.”  But the Super Consultant lives to a higher standard.  Every glitch in the project that threatens success is the responsibility of the Super Consultant.  There are no excuses.

When any consulting team sells a project they are saying, “We are experts in this area.  We have deep experience in project management and understand the complex dynamics that can affect such engagements.  We understand how to deliver systems on time and on budget despite obstacles.  We know how to work with organizations like yours towards achieving success.  Trust us.”

Then when the first “big surprise” turns up, these same consultants more often than not find themselves running around explaining why they are victims of the unexpected, positioning for more time and money.  I have 100 examples, but here are a two.  The customer’s project manager quits mid-project or some executive is actively sabotaging the project from within.  The Super Consultant on the other hand stands up and says “yes, we have seen this pattern before … no worries.”  Turnover?  Infighting?  Corporate restructuring mid-project?  Mergers and acquisitions?  Death?  Seen it, been there, done that.  The Super Consultant makes no excuses and when they are caught by surprise, they say “my fault for not being prepared for this.” They re-group and apply Herculean effort to get back on track, and then they build in that new pattern to future planning so it never bites them again.  This is the life of a Super Consultant.

I believe that the social capital (as measured by the customer’s confidence) generated by Super Consultants is much more valuable than cash.  And to no surprise, there happens to be no better way to generate more business and more cash. So, while there is no absolute in the consulting business, there is a scale – ranging from bad, to run-of-the-mill, to great, and then above that, the higher standard is … the “Super Consultant!”

Thinking about Jet Lag at 32,000 feet

When I first started traveling from Las Vegas to the East Coast several years ago, I remember the jet lag as being quite noticeable.  Eventually after bouncing back and forth across the country the jet lag became unnoticeable.  I later realized my internal clock had adjusted to somewhere in the middle of the country.  Well, my travels have become somewhat more extreme.  Take this last week for example:

• Sunday, April 23rd                   Las Vegas, Toronto
• Monday, April 24th                  Toronto, Ottawa
• Tuesday, April 25th                  Ottawa, Washington DC
• Wednesday, April 26th             Washington DC
• Thursday, April 27th                Washington DC, Las Vegas
• Friday, April 28th                    Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Las Vegas
• Saturday, April 29th                 Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Singapore
• Sunday, April 30th                   (lost in space due to flight to Singapore)
• Monday, May 1st                     Singapore

And now at this exact moment I find myself on a plane in route from Singapore to London (Singapore Airlines has wireless!) contemplating which time zone would be ideal for my internal clock to be synch’ed up to for this kind of week.  So I am thinking there is but one hope ... the time zone at Earth’s core would be perfect.  Home of the “magma” as Austin Powers would say.

Getting Big Things Started

The bigger or should I say the more strategic and widely significant an initiative, the less likely it will ever see the light of day, at least any time soon. So it has occurred to me that a better way to get really important projects off the ground is by starting with “A tightly held conspiracy to do good.”

Had the world recognized the significance of the Internet, it is possible the world would still be debating the standard … to this day.

Great things seem to start in the minds of a few, then come to life rather quickly and in a form that is highly usable. And if this creation also happens to be convenient and economical – you may have a “killer application” on your hands. If you have not heard this term … know that it is a good thing. It does not mean death … quite the opposite!

And while “tightly held conspiracies to do good” may not prove essential in such fields as the development of supersonic aircraft I think it is highly relevant to innovation in the information age.

Trust Has a Half-Life

Left unattended, things decay over time, and I would argue this includes trust.  While everyone may already know this, nonetheless this concept just hit me as an epiphany while I was noodling at a recent national security-related think tank.  It suddenly struck me as obvious – that personal information one entrusts to a friend in confidence has a risk of future unanticipated disclosure that increases in relation to the elapsed time over which one has grown apart from this person.

I’ll bet this is true of for everyone.  Have you ever told someone something very personal, someone who you have not spoken to in some great time?  Would you consider this “secret” equally safe as when you first decided to share this confidential tidbit?  Well if it is family, a counselor, someone governed by some legal mechanism, etc. fine – but what about everyone else?  What about long gone co-workers, old roommates or that x-girlfriend?

So, I started thinking about trust in terms of a half-life, in the same way Carbon-14 has a half life.

The government re-investigates certain employees with Top Secret clearances every five years, while other government employees are subjected to polygraph testing every single year.  Your creditors/lenders typically check your credit report every few months to determine if your trustworthiness (responsibility for debt) has changed.  And, many employers require that their employees change their password every 90 days to account for the risk that you may have compromised the security of this secret – all examples that trust decays and evidence that trust must have some half-life.

Different kinds of relationships will have different trust decay cycles.  Immediate family for example, would typically have a longer half-life than a former classmate who has since gone their own way.

Therefore, I contend that virtually all confidential information would be subject to this trust half-life … as over time and with near certainty it will be disclosed to a broader audience than originally intended, of which some contributing factors would include the number of holders of such information and the degree the holder(s) are left unattended.

What does this mean? And what do we do about it?  Well to be quite honest, I am not sure.  Maybe the government’s half-life for big secrets is so short that its five year background re-investigation (i.e., a large “unattended” window) does not provide sufficient trust – which may in turn contributes to the fact that organizations are often challenged to information share and collaborate even amongst themselves.  And if this was true, then perpetual employee vetting (e.g., Perpetual Analytics deployed for continuous backgrounds checks) might change the slope of the half-life curve, which in turn might lead to better teaming and real process improvements.

I welcome your comments, as I would be very curious to hear what, if anything at all, you might make of this.