Issue: 02 – May 2023
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
-Steve Jobs
In this edition:
Showcase – Wiregrass Technologies, The hidden gem of the Wiregrass
Focus Message – My good friend, procrastination
Tip of the month – Webcam, not only for zoom calls.
Lesson’s for leaders – Take care of your team members
A.I. Discussions – An introduction to OpenAI’s ChatGPT
Cyber Security Bulletin Board – When was the last time you poked your firewall?
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Showcase:
Wiregrass Technologies, The Hidden gem of the Wiregrass
Wiregrass Technologies, perhaps the hidden gem of the south, resides in Dothan, Alabama and provides uniquely based technology services to the region, both residential and commercial. Staffed with a small group of talented professionals, this unique team or rather family strives to meet customer needs, by placing family and God first.
Intrigued to learn more around this service provider and how it came to be, we scheduled time with Dan Robison, owner and operator of Wiregrass Technologies for some one-on-one time. Dan and his wife started servicing name brand copiers at various businesses across the tri-state area, placing him continuously on the road, and thus translating to hours away from home. Eventually Dan and his wife sought simply to settle down and start their own family, but as a technology road warrior, this places great strain and difficulties on those goals. Simultaneously, during this time Dan began developing a new skill, repairing broken iPhone’s and iPod’s.
After a short period Dan’s ability and talent to repair Apple tech had grown. The next steps were evident, Dan decided to take a leap of faith, developed a business plan, and began approaching investors for business funding, where he successfully would transition from road services to a locally based repair resource. In the fall of 2011, Wiregrass Technologies was born, service focusing on iPhone and iPad repair to the Wiregrass Area, with the simplistic objective of becoming an Apple retailer.
Unknown at the time, becoming an Apple retailer places strict limitations upon businesses and their support models, limiting what repairs can and cannot be performed. Understanding that customers deserved more from modern day technology, Dan began searching alternative solutions to repairing Apple technology so as not to be limited by the tech giant’s stringent requirements. But, his mission did not stop there.
Today, Wiregrass Technologies has developed into a business that not only focuses around Apple iPhones, but also MAC & PC repair, network management, disaster recovery, printer repair, while they support many businesses IT needs within the Wiregrass. In addition, Dan and his team, Jonathan and Joshua, also provide laser repair, laser/wood etching, CNC work, and wood work. They have partnered with many businesses developing specialized components, such as face mask adapters during the COVID pandemic and donated several of their products to medical facilities. Their works can be found at www.wiregrasstechnologies.net, as well as their Etsy store (@wiregrassmade) or can be contacted from the info below.
When we asked Dan what his future plans were for Wiregrass Technologies, he outlined a simple plan: “Continue to serve their customers, grow their skill sets and capabilities in the wake of change, and meet the needs of his customers.” For Dan and his team, “It’s about trust.” In addition to their current services, they have begun to grow into Wiregrass Made, the laser portion of tech, focusing on leather, knives, fishing lures, and wooden models, which have been specifically designed based on customer needs and we’re excited to see how that develops.
Wiregrass Technologies, with Dan, Jonathon, and Joshua, is not just your average everyday repair shop. They provide a diverse group of capabilities & services, while not afraid to venture into the unknown of customer needs. They set out to learn and grow their skills providing customers a better experience. When we asked Dan what advice he would share with new technology professionals, he responded with “Deal with the person next door before you go big. Service your community. Fix the problems that are presented to you. This has done more for my business than any other.” What drives him the most is finding solutions to interesting problems. Dan and his team at Wiregrass Technologies has earned a strong reputation within the Wiregrass, with little to no commercial advertisement, highlighting that this business has grown simply by word of mouth and social media. But most importantly, Dan finds strength from the support of his wife and six children.
2191 S Brannon Stand Rd, Dothan, AL 36305 – 334-699-5500
Fun Facts:
Google regularly rents goats…
Yep. You heard that right. The tech giant rents approximately 200 goats for the regular maintenance care and mowing of their lawn at the Mountain View headquarters. A border collie named Jen keeps them in line. Watch your step in the green!
Focus Message:
My good friend, procrastination
I’m certain we’re all aware of the term procrastination, but for those new to the game, procrastination is the act of putting something off to be done at a later time, otherwise known as placing it on the back-burner. For the technology professional, there is no difference. The technology resource has so much going on, that our plates are usually already overloaded, causing completely forgetfulness about that little something and while it may not be necessarily urgent at that moment, it will certainly develop into something urgent soon enough. Perhaps, we may consider a task to be considerably easy within the context of time, though we elect to put it to the side, and it comes back on us or perhaps that given task may take too much time and we simply say we’ll take of it at a later. In any case, long-term procrastination can become a bad thing and certainly develop negative effects upon your career. These negative impacts can result into, but are not limited to; developing bad credibility, lowered work ethics, anxiety, lowered self-esteem, overwhelming tasks, future career challenges, and much more. This is a seemingly interesting challenge to overcome, but I can assure you it is at the very least manageable on a personal level.
Have I ever procrastinated? On both a personal and professional level, absolutely! I literally can not think of one person that has not procrastinated within my own circle of associates or friends. It is an inevitability of life to procrastinate at one point or another. Think about it. How simple is it to be faced with a series of tasks and merely say eh, I can take care of that later? Absolutely simple. For me, it wasn’t just one thing though, the act of procrastination became a normal work ethic and the only driver I possessed was to focus on interesting tasks, tasks that challenged me. Simple responsibilities were put to the side. Until one day, I put off something very big. Something so big it warranted a visit from the director of the division. When asked about the miss, my response was merely that it slipped through the cracks. His response was short, simple, and to the point. “It won’t happen a second time” and with that I was energized and motivated to begin researching procrastination and solutions. My research led me to many solutions, but I gravitated towards time-management, specifically scheduling and identifying important due outs. In my mind, this was the logical step, find the focus points, assign yourself time to work them and complete them by the due date. This was a great first step and enabled success. I later learned to focus and incorporate vision and goals within my scheduling, meaning that if I were given multiple projects, understanding which project created the most value and obviously was assigned more time within my schedule. While my solution was time-management, others may find different solutions to their problems.
In fact, used in the right method procrastination itself can be an ally in daily work responsbilities. This is associated with prioritization and understanding the urgency of a given task. Assume that you assign all tasks on any given day a priority level number of 1 – 10, with 1 the most urgent and 10 the least urgent. Obviously, anything from 1-5 warrants more attention as compared to 6-10, meaning that 6-10 can afford to be procrastinated as long as it does not become an urgent need. This is in in fact how I currently manage my projects, on a scale of 1-3. With 1’s obtaining the most focus time throughout the week and 3, the least. In fact, I dedicate each week to review the project and determine if it’s priority level needs to change, based upon the status and tasks due.
How can we fix procrastination? You don’t necessarily have to, you merely need to understand that it exists and that you don’t want to let procrastination drive you. Start with time management. For those technology professionals interested, I recommend Thomas A. Limoncelli’s Time Management for System Administrators. It provides several techniques to manage your time. Next, focus on understanding objectives. I’m not referring to what’s necessarily written on paper, I mean take time to truly understand the outcome and what good looks like for the task. Another consideration is to focus on the now, as in, what can I do right now, what cannot be done right now, and what can wait. Next, prioritize your efforts as discussed earlier. If you’re overwhelmed with a project, break it up into smaller tasks and absolutely do not be afraid to ask for help. That being said, if someone asks you for help, don’t discourage and turn them away. We can grow more from teaching others. If your work space is cluttered, attempt to declutter by filing away or going paperless. A clean workspace reduces stress. Steer away from perfection and instead, aim for excellence by seeking the 80/20 rule. Again, understand both your and your organizations long-term goals. Find your focus time, this a certain time of the day where we are most productive and it very’s from person to person. Finally, reward yourself for accomplishments. If you reach a planned goal, treat yourself to something special. For example, everytime I finished a college course with an A, I would treat myself to a steak dinner, pint of beer, and a dessert.
Tip of the month:
Webcams – not just for zoom calls..
Your webcam can be used for more than just video conference calls. It can also be used a scanner when you capture an image of a document and would rather not go through the hassles of taking a photo an sending to yourself and then reformatting.
On a Mac, open Photo Booth and your webcam will automatically open. Place any document in front of the webcam, then align it on the screen. By pressing the photo icon it will take a photo. Now, from the lower right and corner, drag it onto your desktop and you have now scanned it to your Mac.
For Windows, open any Camera app, align the document in front of the camera, then take a snapshot by clicking the camera button. You photo will appear in the pre-image thumbnail. Select the image to open, then click the three dots in the upper right hand corner. Discover where it was automatically stored, by clicking Choose Open Folder, then move it to where ever you wish for safe keeping.
Lesson’s for leaders:
Take care of your team members
Let’s be honest, the most important resource available to a leader is the team. That’s why it is important to develop a good relationship with your team, providing them the tools necessary to create value. Without an effective and cohesive team the potential for gaps and missed opportunities will grow. Things to consider in building a good relationship with your team are: a clear understanding of the vision, encouragement to collaborate, delegate with care, and provide constructive feedback and recognition.
Outlining a clear vision is perhaps the most crucial concept for any team. Your vision should be directly associated with your organization’s vision and in a sense, should enable that vision to succeed. When team members are provided a single vision, this helps define goals, expectations, and paints a picture of what ‘good’ should look like. Without this vision, team members will simply spin their wheels, waiting for direction.
The next component is collaboration. Team members should be able to openly and freely discuss issues and opportunities without fear of retaliation or backlash from other participating members. When team members are encouraged to collaborate, worlds of opportunities are created by mer discussion. Participants are able to check and bounce ideas off of one another, potentially finding the best solution that creates the most value for your organization. Without collaboration, growth is slowed, opportunities are limited, and ideas wither away.
Effective delegation is necessary for a couple of reasons. First, a single person cannot accomplish every task. Similar to collaboration, if you keep every task for fear that it will not be done correctly, you slow progress. Effective delegation means, you understand your team members capabilities and what that team member brings to the group. The other side of delegation is that when your team members understand and are aligned with the vision, that delegation builds trust and enables a sense of ownership to the outcome between the team. In correct delegation or lack of will damage potential value for the team.
Acknowledge accomplishments and provide constructive feedback to team members when they seek to accomplish goals. At the end of the day, team members seek a sense of self-actualization, knowing that their work creates value for others and that may not be fulfilled simply by provided a pat on the back. Understanding how to acknowledge and accomplishment means understanding what motivates your team members and incentivising them to continue driving excellence. However, when feedback is necessary, be honest and respectful in the discussion. Its ok to make mistakes, but we should always strive for excellence, continue to grow, and create value in a mutually beneficial way.
A.I. Discussions:
An introduction to OpenAI’s ChatGPT
If you’re not aware, the arena of AI has grown considerably in the last few years, with some of the even basic platforms having become available to the everyday user. While these platforms are basic in comparison to their enterprise counterparts, they are still a tremendous capability for the everyday user. The most known platform is Open AI’s ChatGPT platform that can be accessed at the link below. To access, one only needs to create an account and begin typing away. But don’t think Terminators SkyNet is coming for you just yet. While the platform has not achieved sentience, it is a highly complex language construct that can provide vast services ranging from writing articles, establishing comprehensive plans, and even providing resume recommendations. But, it doesn’t stop there. In next month’s article, we will provide a more in-depth discussion around the ChatGPT’s platform, with examples of its benefits. Stay tuned.
Cyber Security Bulletin Board:
When was the last time you poked your firewall?
I’ve loved the simplicity of firewalls for decades. Understanding the source, destination, services, deny, permit, etc. Firewall’s make sense to me, but they don’t always make sense. Understand that each time you add an firewall rule, you poke a hole in a secure wall that is designed to keep junk out. Junk that could impact services for you and your customer. So, why poke holes? That’s simple. Because there are very few networks that simply work without traffic going in or out of the firewall. Poking holes are a necessity for technology professionals and customers, when they would like to share services from outside their network to inside. And for those of you that believe you do not have a firewall, if you have a cable modem, router, switch? Chances are you have, at some level a firewall in your network.
How can I keep from poking holes in my firewall? As a technology professional, you must challenge every request for access. You may disagree with this, but your job is not to give your employer exactly what they want. It is, instead to give them what they need. And as a technology professional, they need a working network, free from intrusions, hackers, malware and the likes. Because you are the technology professional, you have a responsibility to your employer and customers to make the best decision possible. That’s not to say to deny all requests, I am not saying that. instead, I am simply saying, understand the request, and more importantly, the need. Understand the risk that meeting the demand places on your network. Take your time, think through the process and you will have taken another step in not only ensuring services are delivered to your customer, but you have become a better version of the technology professional.
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