Projects work this week included:

- meeting with my clients in the Hong Kong and Shanghai offices, selling the Google Phase 2 story
- helping with supplier meetings for services for our new Shanghai office

Additionally:

- valuable time with Todd - my IT Manager for Asia
- explored a bit of Hong Kong
- decided that two weeks of travel for work is just a bit too long
- walked on a glass floor, 100 storeys up in the air

Next week in one word: home

Shanghai isn't as different a place as I was maybe expecting. There again, I've seen little other than the Airport and Pudong - a business district that has emerged from the fields in the past 10 years.

The buildings are tall, and somewhat "space age" in a Buck Rodgers kind of way. There's a definite look to Chinese high-rise architecture that is different from anywhere else in the world. But the buildings are also very spread out - as a colleague noted, Shanghai is to the space of LA that Hong Kong is to the crampedness of New York.

Internet browsing is also a bit of a hit-and-miss affair as well. The "Great firewall" appears to be a series of blocks on DNS services - Facebook no, Google (search) yes, Picasa no, Flckr yes. All of that can be avoided if you can find some way of tunnelling out - whilst Facebook might not be a big deal for building out our business in Shanghai, we are looking seriously at using Picasa for some of our content management, and not having access would be an issue.

BlackBerry also can provide a route out which bypasses the local filtering, but it also has been a bit hit and miss in terms of actually getting a service in the first place.

This morning is the last day of my trip - this afternoon we will fly back to Hong Kong, and then I get a flight (BA strike permitting) back to London just before midnight.

The trip has be ably assisted by:

the HP NetBook (hasn't let me down),
Google Apps (ditto),
TripIt (mostly useful),
the BlackBerry Curve with LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter and Google Maps (good once I was able to get data connections),
OpenOffice (hardly used at all),
my Android Hero (barely used - no way that I'm paying for roaming data)
and a half bag-full of various power adaptors (please, one day, let there be standardization...)

Until you actually get to spend some time working in a different environment, it's very difficult to get a handle on the subtle differences that exist between cultures - whether they be borne of nationality, industry or company.

There are striking differences between the ways in which people in our Sydney and Hong Kong offices operate, even though there are a reasonable number of expats in both locations, and that we work in a company with it's own very strong culture that comes, in large part, from the owner-managed nature of the business.

In Hong Kong, the office stays relatively quiet. In Sydney, people quite frequently converse from one side of the office to the other. In Hong Kong, the day starts relatively late, and goes on well into the evening. Sydney starts early and finishes closer to "on time". Hong Kong, lunch is an important event that people make time for. Sydney sees a sandwich grabbed at the desk.

When you are working remotely from your team, it's all too easy to not pick up on these subtleties, and that can form the basis of conflict without either side really realising what is going on. Whilst technology is undoubtedly making the world smaller, actually spending time with people and finding out how they tick is still so very important. Getting the time and budget to do so, though, becomes more and more of a challenge in so many organisations.

Shanghai tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how that, very new to the company, operation works.

That's quite a view from the office window. Especially for someone who usually is in a basement office with no windows!

I'm reading the Malcolm Gladwell essay compilation What the Dog Saw, and the piece Open Secrets I've been finding particularly interesting.

At it's core is an observation from Gregory Treverton that there is a distinction in the world between puzzles and mysteries, but misidentifying one as the other can lead to substantial challenges to resolution.

A puzzle is something where the answer lies in finding out and piecing together the necessary information, whereas a mystery is solved through the subjective judgement of expertise. The example with which Treverton illustrated this distinction was that the location of Osama bin Laden is a puzzle (find out more information about his location and you can find him), whereas what would happen after the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq was a mystery (and the voices who warned of chaos seemed to be drowned out in the political noise of the time). Treverton comes, it may come as no surprise, from the "security" world.

Gladwell's argument is that if you mistake a mystery for a puzzle, gathering more and more information to try to discover the solution becomes counter-productive. Analysis paralysis sets in.

Now compare these two states to the two worlds of IT projects - infrastructural projects, and those involving business change. Most infrastructural projects (networks, capacity provision, etc, etc) tend to fall into the category of nice, logical puzzles; ones, in which, the stereotypical computer scientist can excel. The Problem-Solution paradigm works well with a puzzle like being able to reduce network latency, or deliver a authentication system.

However, it seems to me that most business change projects fall into the mystery category, but too often they are approached as puzzles. When you think of it in this way, the traditional requirements analysis/solutions design approach to IT projects could appear to be doomed from the outset. But if it is mystery that we are dealing with, whose judgement should be looked to in terms of defining answers?

Well, how about the people who are subject to the mystery in the first place? IT's role becomes to facilitate business units defining business change for themselves, using technology to help where it can.

The East Hotel in Tai Koo where I'm currently staying is only five months old, and shows a cool sophistication that puts many of its European counterparts to shame. It's also, without doubt, the most gadgety place I have ever stayed.

Some of it is a bit gimmicky - at reception you sign your name on a screen-enabled Wacom tablet (which had lost it's calibration when I was checking in, causing a bit of mucking around to recalibrate).

Some of it verges on the gimmicky - there is no guest information book in the room - just an iPod Touch (tethered on a long security cable). The room service menu is clickable - and you can place your order direct from the iPod.

Some of it, though, shows a real attention to detail that is admirable. The LCD TV screen has a patch panel next to the desk, and you can plug in an HDMI, RCA or VGA source. And not only that, but in a drawer next to the desk are all the cables that you might need to do that. In a cinch, the NetBook that I've been using on this trip was plugged into the 30-something inch display, and I've just video conferenced home to catch up with my wife and son.

The only criticism is that the network connection is a bit flakey... but it's not charged at £12/hour like the hotel in Sydney, so you win some, you lose some.

You've got to admire the refreshing honesty of the connection process to the East Hotel's wifi networks (shown above). Arrived safely in Hong Kong to a wonderfully hospitable welcome, and a beautiful (and only five-month-old) hotel.

Projects work this week included:

- continuing to sell the Google story in the Sydney office
- coaching to help people to get the most out of the tools we already provide
- meeting with potential recruiters and support service providers

Additionally:

- got to know the guys in the Sydney office
- and met with a bunch of friends who I hadn't seen in an age

Next week in one word: Oriental

A number of people that I have spoken to in the past few days have observed that doing business in Australia is much more dependent on an individual's network than back in the UK.

It can be probably accounted for by a combination of it being a much smaller population, combined with a more outgoing national psyche. It would be interesting to know how (if at all) that might impact on the use of social networking services. Does it make them less relevant than for us more reserved Brits, more, or used differently in any way?
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An interesting conversation this afternoon - to what extent are our increasingly instant communications media shrinking the time that we think about what it is that we do? And to what extent does the use of a communications tool mean that we've done something, or just that we've indicated we've done something.

Some time spent this afternoon with our new Digital head in Sydney. It's interesting to hear that clients' interest in social media is now becoming top of the agenda in many briefing sessions.

Over a decade ago, American marketing guru Seth Godin wrote a book called Permission Marketing, in which he argued that "interruption marketing" (traditional forms of advertising in print and broadcast media) would be superseded by new forms of marketing that would be invited by the target audience. It seems that social media/social networking is now starting to make that prediction a reality.

There's no getting away from it - Sydney is a stunningly located city. It is, however, a very, very long way away from home.

Our ability to communicate in the modern age is quite simply miraculous. So far today, I've been able to catch up with my Asia IT Manager (who is in Tokyo this week) via video chat, kept up to date with home by text and instant message (the slightly asynchronous media easier to manage with a six month-old to look after), reworked the annual staff IT Survey that we are going to be launching next month (using SurveyGizmo, and popped in to say hello in person to people in the office here. All (bar the text messages and the meet and greet) from a £200 netbook and the hotel broadband connection. That we just take all of this stuff in many ways for granted these days is an illustration of how easy it is all becoming.

First impressions of the office here is of incredible activity and growth. The Australian economy had a mild flirtation with the global recession, but then got back to providing the raw materials that China in particular so desperately needs to keep it's manufacturing engine running. That underlying strength in the economy feeds into all of the other markets (and for us, the drive for marketing activity).

The Australian operation is growing at a tremendous rate, and as a result there is a real opportunity to see how some of the new services that we have made available can help to bolster that growth. It's much easier to adopt new ways of working when there are new challenges as a result of business success.

Feedback so far from people about the Google services has been positive, but I'm going to be spending time with the team over the next few days talking about the services that we will be rolling out in the next few months, and how they can help them with the business opportunities that they have.

One of the advantages of flying into a civil war zone is that the plane was eerily empty. I shared an entire row with just one other passenger (she at one window, me at the other).

For all that modern technology has shrunk the world, flying east from Europe to Asia to Australasia still reminds you of how big the planet actually is... Thousands of miles, and two short nights in one 24 hour period.

This is my second visit to Bangkok. I spent a week here a couple of years ago, visiting the software development group that the then Reuters have here. I saw little in terms of the sights last time around - most of the time was spent stuck in a conference room - but met some wonderful people. I hope that my former colleagues are safe given all that is currently going on in their city...
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Through the madness of airport security, and into the madness of airside. It seems that the duty free shop has been learning from the sensory deprivation approach so refined by Ikea.

Air travel is one of the few places where (for the time being) you can really escape the always on, always connected modern world. Phones off, no wi-fi, no social networking, no contact. For the time being, at least.

Even as air operators start to provide limited services, it's likely to be at such a punitive rate for the time being that only the very rich will partake. Michael o'Leary has to make his money somehow if you are going to buy a ticket to fly for 99p.

Next stop - civil unrest in Thailand. The Foreign and Commonwealth office insist it's safe to visit Bangkok Airport as long as you are just in transit...
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Projects work this week included:

Without doubt, the most challenging part of the move to Google Apps has been the reaction from some to the fundamental way in which Google Mail structures the information that is presented to the user. Individual emails are threaded together into logical conversations, and you don't put emails into folders, you can place labels onto conversations.

Reading a review of the new Microsoft Exchange product this morning, it is very notable that threading has been adopted as the default view on Outlook Web Access (the browser-based version of the MS collaboration product). This reflects what I am convinced of - threading makes more sense, and makes information easier to handle.

If you look at an email product from the early days of GUIs, you'll find that (accepting the improvement in graphic layout that 20 years of UI design has given us), remarkably little has changed. The picture above is of MS Mail, which from memory (along with Schedule Plus) was the predecessor of Outlook. It's a lot less fussy, but there are folders, and there are individual emails.

That was a layout that was designed in a very different (very email light) world. And not much had changed in traditional email clients...

The problem is, if the technology doesn't evolve, then we as users have to adapt and create working practices that help us over the limitations of the technology. And even if those adaptations are laborious and time consuming, we own them, and often find it very difficult to give them up. And then when we try to use a new tool in a way that tries to fit with our old practices, a world of pain emerges.

Imagine, for example, getting a sat nav, and then trying to use it in exactly the way in which you would use a paper map. That's the sort of challenge that many users are facing with the new tools that can save them time, but take even longer to use than the old tools if you don't let the software take on some of the drudgery...

Following an article in this month's WiredUK by Russell M. Davies, as of tomorrow I'm going to try to get into the habit of doing Weeknotes.

An interesting morning at the Ovum event. When talking with peers and people from the analyst community it becomes more apparent how radical to some much of what we are doing is at Imagination.

The slides from today's presentation are available below. Not sure that they will make much sense without me blathering along to them, but feel free to drop me a line with any questions.

On Saturday I'm heading off (volcanic dust clouds permitting) to visit three of our offices in the Asia Pacific region. It's the area of the world that we are seeing great growth, and it's exciting to be visiting some new places.

I'll be in Sydney next week, and then Hong Kong and Shanghai the week after. Sydney I visited for the first time last year, and I'm looking forward to a return visit. Hong Kong and Shanghai are both new to me, and I'm fascinated to see the contrast between the two cities, and also with London.

I'm also going to be testing out the geographic scale of some of the cloud solutions that we now have in place, as I'll be travelling with just a cheap NetBook, and my BlackBerry (oh, and a fortnight's worth of clean underwear...)

I'll try to post some observations here as I go. ..

One of my mentors died today.

I first got to know Brian back in 2001. It came from one of those rare occasions when an unsolicited piece of direct marketing fell onto my desk at a serendipitous time. It was advertising an Internal Consulting training course at Techniques for Change. I had been working for the BBC Worldwide for about four years, and my role was starting to become more and more about helping people in the business, rather than managing technology (a sign of things to come).

The course, which Brian ran, opened my eyes to a whole load of approaches to my work that I just hadn't considered before. But it was Brian that made the biggest impression. He was one of those rare people that, when you talked to him, made you feel better about yourself. It was that that I am certain had made him successful in his business at TFC.

After the course we kept in touch. We sent some colleagues onto that and other courses at TFC, and also used him to facilitate some sessions within the teams at Worldwide. In 2004, I got a call from Brian asking if I would like to come along to watch one of the England Euro Championship games (on TV) at Stamford Bridge at an event run by the IoD. Free lunch, and the opportunity to do a bit of networking.

After lunch, and the game (during which he a Scot, I with my Irish allegiances, kept sniping sarcastically throughout) we continued at a pub around the corner from the ground. We talked about what was happening in my career, and I told him how I felt I had reached a dead end with my time at the Beeb, but also felt in need of a break from the IT industry in which I had worked since graduating. His response? "Come and work for us."

We discussed it over the next few months, and, in August, I made the choice to the make the leap. A new path in my career, and one that I was extremely excited by.

I started work at TFC in January 2005, and it was a baptism of fire. Undoubtedly, it was the hardest work of my career to date - travelling the country, facilitating new groups every few days, and having to learn on the hoof most of the time. Sadly, soon after I joined, Brian was diagnosed with cancer. His illness meant he was around for little of the time that I was at TFC, and when he returned to work in 2006 it was in a part-time capacity.

For one reason or another, I only saw Brian a handful of times in the years since I left TFC. Early this week I got a call from my former colleague Sean to say that his illness had reoccurred, and Brian had only days to live. This afternoon he passed away.

I will always be grateful to Brian for the way in which he helped to develop me professionally, and the trust he showed in my abilities in giving me the job at TFC. He'll be missed by a great many.

I've a handful of speaking engagements coming up in the next few months, to talk about the opportunities that Cloud and Software as a Service give to CIOs to reinvent their departments (continuing on from the Porter's Five Forces article I wrote a few weeks ago), and our experiences in the past 12 months at Imagination.