Nathan Goff's Blog

An Orwellian Lesson on the Power of a Question

2008-04-03T22:59:00Z

In the book 1984, George Orwell illustrates for us the impact of a society that is no longer able to question the world they live in. It is groupthink at its worst. A world that is vacant of critical thinking and learning beyond the basic skills needed for survival. Any individual that attempts to question big brother is quickly corrected or disposed of.

Many companies, and the individuals in them, suffer from a self-imposed version of Orwell's world. The person that starts asking the tough questions is quickly branded "that guy", and is quelled by management or ultimately leaves the organization in defeat. Companies stop questioning the ways they have always done business, and ultimately create a fabricated and inflated view of themselves.

These companies are now in a state of atrophy and can't understand why they are not growing, not attracting top talent, and are generally directionless. The solution begins with the asking of simple questions. Here are a few that come to mind:

Who is our customer and when was the last time we talked to one face-to-face?
What is our current business strategy?
Do our employees know the strategy and where they fit into it?
Why are we in business and what is our company's vision?

Toyota terms this culture of questioning the ‘Toyota Way', or continuous improvement. American automakers have spent the last 20+ years trying to imitate the success of Toyota, but they have continually failed. They are still not ready to cultivate a corporate culture that encourages questioning at all levels of the business. Successful businesses, like Toyota, are able to pull this off.

They say you learn everything you ever need to know in kindergarten. Today I attended an orientation event at my daughter's elementary school. The principal gave us parents some sage advice on what we should be doing to prepare our kids for kindergarten:

Read to them
Read to them
Read to them
Keep an open dialogue with them, and ask lots of questions.

This advice applies beautifully and simply to those of us in the business world. The written word, in all its forms from Orwell to Deming, is a powerful tool for shaping your company and your own personal worldview. It will spark you to question and never stop, which builds stronger, focused, and more passionate businesses.

PHP Connection to an MS SQL Server Instance

2007-11-27T19:36:00Z

With no success I spent several hours a couple weeks ago attempting to get PHP 5.2.4 on a Windows Apache web server to talk to an MS SQL 2005 Server that was installed as an instance on a server running an older version of MS SQL. I was able to connect to the default instance of MS SQL server running on the machine, but nothing I did would allow it to connect to the named instance running 2005.

Returning to this project today with fresh eyes I found the two key bits of information that I had previously overlooked. I am now able to talk to the MS SQL instance from my PHP application. The most frustrating issue was a change in PHP that I picked up by using the newest version of PHP. PHP apparently changed how it handles the server name in the mssql_connect function, which was not made apparent in any documentation, blogs, or discussion groups that I could find. The source of the other problem is documented on the PHP website, but somehow I happened to overlook it while researching this problem.

Listed below are these two bits of information reproduced from the two sources. Hopefully this will be useful to anyone else that finds themselves pulling their hair out over this same issue.

From PHP.net (http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.mssql.php)

The extension requires the MS SQL Client Tools to be installed on the system where PHP is installed. The Client Tools can be installed from the MS SQL Server CD or by copying ntwdblib.dll from \winnt\system32 on the server to \winnt\system32 on the PHP box. Copying ntwdblib.dll will only provide access through named pipes. Configuration of the client will require installation of all the tools.

From hadrien(dot)debris {at} gmail(dot)com Posted on php.net

I have lost one day to understand why the MSSQL<->PHP connection was no longer functioning after a PHP update (5.2.2->5.2.4).

I eventually found how to solve things:
BEFORE
$link = mssql_connect("SERVER\INST", "LOGIN", "password");

Which does not work any longer.

AFTER
$link = mssql_connect("SERVER\\INST", "LOGIN", "password");

Works flawlessly.

Hope that'll prevent someone to lose precious hours of exasperation.

Extranet – Critical Interactive Marketing Opportunities

2007-09-26T21:18:00Z

I have been introduced to the extranet sites of several of our large customers in my first few weeks on the job at Pop Art. I have been living and breathing all things extranet. With this extranet work fresh in my mind I had an interesting experience this last weekend with a local mens grooming establishment. Basically you can get a haircut, beer, personal TV screen, and a head massage all in one, pretty tough to beat that combination. They have been encouraging customers to become online members and make all appointments via their booking system that is available online.

I made the leap and setup an appointment online for the following Friday. I had a free chair massage coupon, which I made an appointment for right after my haircut appointment. The system was a bit clumsy, but the appointment was made and confirmed, so I thought. A couple days after making the appointment I got an email confirming my appointment, which was odd and a little late I thought, but didn’t read it in detail. The day of the appointment something else came up so I needed to move the appointments to Saturday, but the online interface didn’t really allow for this. I broke down and called them. Apparently I was already hours late for my appointment. Someone had moved my appointment up 4 hours from what I had originally scheduled. The confirmation email in the middle of the week was a reference to this change, but it didn’t let on that I now had a haircut at 3:45 and a 15 minute massage at 7:45!

Extranets and customer relationship automation systems are powerful tools that can be empowering to stakeholders. They are excellent interactive marketing opportunities, and have direct impacts on the brand and customer experience. At the same time, a poorly developed and executed extranet or customer relationship automation system can create a negative brand image for the customer. I will always remember the experience with the online appointment system, and will likely be hesitant to use it in the future. These experiences can easily be avoided with careful planning and a strategic shift that frames these systems as key interactive marketing opportunities for the organization.