GrumpyStorage View RSS

Veo 2 - Sports Analysis interesting! (updated 2021-09-30) 8 Aug 2021 12:56 PM (3 years ago)

@VeoCamera Veo announced on Thursday 5th August their new "Veo 2" sports camera as per https://event.veo.co/ with a video https://youtu.be/Mtjr34nZ3v4?t=1643

As someone with a keen interest in sports still & video images, and as someone who is regularly "up the tower" enjoying the best view in the house behind a video camera for field hockey match analysis, I've been keeping an eye on the emerging world of club level intelligent & automated imagery. I'd looked at Veo previously, so the v2 was of interest.

The first thing to say is that this sector is immature, now please don't take that as a bad thing, in fact it is developing and growing rapidly - with companies and many different exciting features & functions emerging rapidly. We're also starting to see some hockey clubs and schools take steps with systems in these areas, vary systems and often pilot projects; but there's definitely something that can be learned & leveraged from other larger sports (eg football & cricket).

To my rough eye these companies might break down into 4 groups:

1) Pro - companies moving their professional grade solutions down to the club level

2) Analysis - companies widening their analysis solution portfolio to encompass more elements of the workflow solutions. 

3) Club - companies widening their club management portfolio to encompass more elements

4) Video - new to market companies focusing specifically on club video analysis, breaks into a couple of types

    4a) All in one solutions - providing full hardware and software solutions

    4b) Component solutions - providing specific elements of the new solutions (gimble platform, masts, IP cameras etc)

Some of the companies include the following:

https://event.veo.co/

https://www.spiideo.com/

https://provispo.com/

https://www.frogbox.live/ 

https://www.hudl.com/en_gb/products/focus

https://shop.movensee.com/en/content/31-pix4team-auto-follow-camera-for-team-sports

https://www.pixellot.tv/products/pixellot-air/

https://www.usportfor.com/

https://traceup.com/

https://www.joymo.tv/start-streaming

https://360sportsintelligence.com/en/

https://www.musco.com/muscovision/ 

Whilst I'd love to have a 20+ 8k camera, fully AI referee assist & match analysis solution like some of the category 1 companies, that 6+ digit budget money simply doesn't exist in the amateur club level. So the area that most excites & interests me right now is the category 4a companies like Veo...

To me, in an emerging market the key elements in an emerging market are solution & commercial flexibility (so you can change as things evolve), time to value, and openness on integration & data portability.

At the moment the industry standards for data, meta-data, imagery and tagging assets haven't yet matured in this level, so it's a matter of looking for eco-system relationships & cooperation rather than technology standards & interoperability. There's clearly some overlap and jostling going on between imaging companies, analysis companies, streaming companies and club / game management companies.

Features I'm most interested in:

• Autonomous filming of field hockey matches - mainly outdoor 11v11, but occasionally outdoor. (To remove the requirement for a volunteer camera operator)
• Ability to remotely control the camera recording & streaming (from anywhere around pitch & club)
• Portable platform, with option for permanent install & mounting
• Ability to work both 'end-on' and 'side-on' to the pitch
• Live streaming to audience, with option to feed to other platforms (YouTube, Twitch, Scorrd etc)
• Ability to live feed to other screens around the local club (eg dugout, clubhouse), including rewind & replay options
• Match overlay graphics (scorecards, teams, sponsors etc)
• Automated hockey event timeline tagging (goal, side-line, free hit, long corner, PC, shuffle, stroke, player substitutions etc)
• Automated generation of post match analytics (heatmaps, player trackers, formation trackers)
• Visual analysis tools (draw on screen, directed highlights, full pitch view and broadcast view)
• Feed to open match analysis solutions
• An affordable pricing model

After last week's 5th Aug announcement from Veo, as well as being super interested I was left with a sack of questions, including:

1. Can we control & mute the audio? both for live streaming, and for post match analysis & assets...
2. Can we concurrently forward / export the live stream real-time to other platforms? (eg https://scorrd.com/? YouTube? Facebook?)
3. Integration with Pitchero and SportLomo?
   1. I can see that Veo & Pitchero had had some relationship so far, https://www.veo.co/pitchero-veo-football/ but I'm looking for integration of teams & fixture info, allowing the Pitchero app to update the Veo score etc.
4. The LiveStream FAQ says "You can live-stream at 1080p with 10 Mbit/s and 720p with 4 Mbit/s." but elsewhere in the FAQ it also says "Streaming in 720p video quality requires a 4Mbps connection. To stream in Full HD, you need an 8Mbps connection." - so is HD 1080p 8Mbs or 10Mbs?
5. Integration with and/or export of events & video to CoachLogic & Hudl?
6. Given the 'local processing of images' can I later use Veo 2 as a camera without the full subscriptions?
7. Does the Veo 2 automatically upload / backup the locally processed videos to the Veo service? and can it securely send the files automatically to other locations?
8. What happens with Veo 2 when the 128GB storage fills up?
9. Is there a 'permanent mounting kit' that would allow us to securely mount the camera (in a secure enclosure?) to the pitch side fencing and keep it powered and network connected full time?
10. Details as to how the new software & hardware work with Field Hockey? football is nice but not relevant for my requirements...
11. Confirmation of all functionality working over Ethernet & Wifi without the need to use the in build 4G cellular network?
12. An ability to auto zoom in on a penalty corner or flick during live stream?
13. Is there a digital zoom function for analysis?
14. Is there a slow motion function for analysis?
15. What is the supported distance from camera for app control?
16. Can I get access to all of the content without needing any physical connection to the device?
17. How is the security access to the device & service managed?
18. What roles & control granularity are available for the camera & service management application? (can I give coaches & managers some control but not full config admin etc?)
19. Approval / affiliation with England Hockey as the NGB, to allow us to use promote the solution as part of the player pathway program
20. Does the match app allow for:
1. "stopping the clock" as per hockey rules? (ie no extra time, but clock stopped on incidents)
2. Quarters & Halves, both with varying durations
21. Can we expand the live streaming (and recorded) graphics overlays to include:
1. Team introduction player lists
2. Club & sponsor logos
3. Graphics info pages to be shown as overlay before & after matches
4. Graphics info pages to be shown at quarter & half-time breaks
5. Event animation overlays (eg driven from buttons on the match app re 'goal', 'green/yellow/red card', 'penalty', 'home win/loss)
6. Graphics overlay for player substitutions (eg from app type list of player #s on/off - show on screen and record in event timeline)
22. Can we export the automated & manual event timeline to 3rd party match analysis packages (eg CoachLogic)

Some concerns include:

• Strong support for field hockey, whilst the website mentions field hockey, there aren't any example videos on the site or Youtube channel - I certainly want to see how the upgraded cameras work with the small & fast hockey ball
• Strategy feature that most concerns me is that, at initial glance, it appears Veo may be going down the "walled private garden" route for content & streaming - we use multiple other systems already and whilst some might be replaceable not all are, so the ability to work & integrate with other platforms is of value
• Veo Analytics - is an extra cost, and current only supporting football https://support.veo.co/en/articles/5454606-analyze-your-recordings-with-veo-analytics - need to know when this will support field hockey? (surely 2D-radar & heatmaps should work easily?)
• There aren't any manuals online - small thing but always bothers me
• The page listing the current v1 Platform and videos is littered with "video not found" - yes I know the future is v2, but v1 is still current, and web quality issues like this are always somewhat unnerving.
• Some of the initial functionality will require cabled Ethernet not Wifi initially, with a software update planned before year end https://support.veo.co/en/articles/5453070-veo-cam-2-f-a-q

I'm also looking to see what Veo do for their existing v1 camera owners re hardware upgrades/trade-ins and contract options, as this is a good indicator of a companies' approach to their customers...

At this point I've not mentioned costs, you can see the Veo 2 pricing here https://uk.shop.veo.co/pages/pricing - assuming a 'club' subscription with analytics & live streaming it's circa £1000 per year subscription, and £1000 for the initial hardware - so not trivial but equally a viable cost for many clubs if you're using it well.

Do I want to get hold of a Veo 2 and do some field trials with hockey, very much so! Lets see what happens next...

RIP #FixturesLive 8 Aug 2021 5:58 AM (3 years ago)

So it's only been a week since it's closure and I'm already missing the https://w.fixtureslive.com/default.aspx website for hockey fixture management :(

Like any good friend it wasn't perfect, at times far from it, but it was always there and supported us in some many ways, quietly getting on with the things that needed to be done - the unglamorous linchpin of club sport for so many, utterly indispensable for hockey competitions. 

I've just spent a few hours adding the families' junior & senior fixtures for the season into our family calendars, and boy this is painful, especially finding the venue location information (why do so many clubs manage to hide their pitch locations on their websites???)

Well just what am I missing right now?

• Sync - The ability to simply synchronise a team's fixtures into my Google calendar seamlessly - the one click that instantly added (and kept updated with changes) dozens of fixtures into our schedules
• Fixtures - The ability to easily synchronise a team to a league and have all the fixtures automatically added into the club's Pitchero membership system - and then later seamlessly have the results appear
• Info - Easily and simple place to locate other club's venue locations and people contact information easily - yes I know the leagues have this but it's much easier for players / parents to get it without needing to engage with leagues
• History - The history archives, whilst reviewing the coming season it's always important to look at the league's historic and fixture results over the years. Not just a historic archive of fixtures, players and events (including many current GB Elite squad player records from their early careers), but also a real treasure trove of information for current game prep.

Like all solutions, their demise reminds us of a couple of key topics:

• Data - Who owns, curates and safeguards the data in the sport? Leagues & clubs were advised multiple times to download their historic fixture & player data (although looking at the extracts not all data was possible to be exported), It will be interesting to see what happens to these fragmented archive records. As times move forward it's going to be increasingly important for participants to take accountability for their own 'player passport of data', especially when the sport overall doesn't have a data strategy.
• Resilience - Is the provision of any key solution/service within the sport secure, protected and resilient? The things we rely on to run and participate in the sport need to be there when we need & use them, don't just assume it's somebody else's responsibility to ensure they are!

With the upcoming new England Hockey centralised Game Management System (GMS), based on SportLomo I believe, I'm looking forward to seeing how it addresses the different user journeys of the sport's participants - hopefully it's going to focus on the needs of the many not those of the few.

The key to the benefits of such systems is not the app or the web user interface, it's not how many niche complex features it can address, BUT rather it's that many people use it, that it addresses the basics well for all and makes life simple for the various participants. An advantage that the new GMS should at least have is that it is required for use with all England Hockey affiliated competitions, so should have even more people using it, making it's information ever more usable & useful.

Equally with a revised, hopefully harmonised, set of competition rules from the AGM Governance works over the last few year (over)due for release from England Hockey for the new season in a few weeks, I'm going to be very intrigued as to how eligibility, data ownership & rights and image rights are addressed within these new rules.

So it's time to say a big thank you to those that originally conceived, developed, supported and maintained #FixturesLive - an essential tool/service that will be missed but not forgotten.

And of course time to look forwards, in hope, that the new system is at least as useful as FixturesLive was! (and yes I'm hoping that the history archive resurfaces somewhere soon)

OT - Sports Video & Photography 1 Mar 2021 12:30 AM (4 years ago)

Some people have asked me about the setup I use for filming & streaming live hockey matches (although this would apply to most live sports).

So the first thing to say is that I'm very much an amateur & beginner myself, but I've picked up some good tips from those around and done a fair bit of research and trial & error.

Setup

The setup is a mix of software and hardware, some used pitch-side and some used from anywhere.

One thing to remember is that video files get big quickly, very much dependent up on the video source resolution & format, and the compression codecs used, I film at 1080p 50 frames/second MPEG4 35mbps which generates about 16GB of data files per hour. Not only does your camera need to have enough storage capacity, but remember the time take to transfer files from cameras to PC, the storage needed to keep both these 'raw' files and the subsequent processed files.

Many cameras, including mine, will seamlessly split a single recording into multiple files, so for a 1hr match I will typically have 5 files of circa 3.2GB each - later these will need to be joined/concatenated into a single file as part of processing before uploading to an analysis / sharing service.  

Notes

I have 3 distinct sets of kit:

1. The video match recording
2. The live streaming
3. Stills photography

Not all of the equipment below is needed although it's all found it's way into my bags.

Most of the points would work with many different makes of cameras.

Video Equipment

Video camera

Canon XA35 

https://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_finder/camcorders/professional/xa35/

A great video camera, with strong optical zoom, multiple control points, great audio controls & inputs, and dual HDSC cards for vast storage

Lenses

XA35 standard

Wide angle Canon WA-H58

https://store.canon.co.uk/canon-wa-h58-wide-attachment-lens/8640B001/

Microphone

Quickly I realised it was good to have a directional microphone to focus noise pickup towards the game and action (away from the side-lines), but also to minimise environmental noise (wind & rain). RØDE was an obvious choice re quality, cost & ubiquity (spares, interop etc). The VXLR+ minijack adapter was only needed to use with the pro audio interfaces on my XA35 camera.

RØDE VideoMic Pro+ Compact Directional On-camera Microphone

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0749GV5L3/ 

RØDE VXLR+ Minijack to XLR Adaptor with Power Convertor

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071LNDKBJ/

RØDE DeadCat VMP+ Artificial Fur Wind Shield for the VideoMic Pro+

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07D14L3LH/ 

Tripods

Manfrotto 546B Tripod

https://www.manfrotto.com/global/alu-twin-leg-with-middle-spreader-video-tripod-546b/

Manfrotto Befree GT Carbon

https://www.manfrotto.com/uk-en/befree-gt-carbon-fibre-tripod-twist-lock-ball-head-mkbfrtc4gt-bh/

Tripod video heads

Manfrotto 504HD Fluid Video Head (for the 546B)

https://www.manfrotto.com/global/504-fluid-video-head-with-75-mm-half-ball-504hd/

Manfrotto MH055M8-Q5 Photo-Movie Tripod Head (for the Befree GT)

https://www.manfrotto.com/uk-en/magnesium-photo-movie-tripod-head-with-quick-release-plate-mh055m8-q5/

Camera Quick Release Plate

Neewer Rapid Connect Quick Release Sliding Plate Camera Mount with 1/4" and 3/8" Mounting Screws for Manfrotto 501HDV 503HDV 701HDV MH055M0-Q5

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MNA7E7W/

Magic Grip

Manfrotto 035 Super Clamp

https://www.manfrotto.com/uk-en/super-photo-clamp-without-stud-aluminium-035/

Magic arm x 2  (1 for monitor & 1 for mobile phone)

UTEBIT Magic Arm 11 Inch Adjustable Articulated Arm Camera Arm with Super Clamp Max Load 3KG Magic Arm Camera Mount for DSLR Rig Camera, LCD Field Mon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07KS9VVVT/

LANC controller (for remote zoom/focus/record control)

Varizoom VZ-Rock Zoom Controller (for Canon - on 504HD head)

https://proav.co.uk/cameras-lenses/varizoom-vz-rock-zoom-controller

VariZoom VZ-RL100 LANC Zoom Control (for Canon - on MH055M8-Q5 head)

https://proav.co.uk/cameras-lenses/varizoom-vz-rl100-lanc-zoom-control 

Monitor

Feelworld LUT6 6 Inch 2600nits

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08F9ND8RQ/

Mobile phone holder

Neewer Cellphone Holder Clip Desktop Tripod Mount with Mini Ball Head Hot Shoe Adapter for 14-inch and 18-inch

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07D3K9C8R/ 

USB Capture

DIGITNOW! Video Capture Card HDMI to USB 2.0 Audio Video Capture Cards HD 1080p

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0895N9KM5/ 

OR 

ExtremeCap UVC - BU110 (works well as a more expensive equivalent capture card)

https://www.avermedia.com/gb/product-detail/BU110 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AVerMedia-ExtremeCap-Uncompressed-Supports-BU110-White/dp/B0745KP298/

You will also need an Android Mobile phone for capture input and live streaming (I use a Google Pixel 4XL but most android phones will work) - Apple phones will not work (I know blame 'Uncle Steve').

Cables

Duttek Mini HDMI to HDMI Coiled Cable 4K 2.5m

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B087T5N9NM/ 

HDMI <-> HDMI Coiled 2.5m

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B087TPD2R2/ 

USB 3.1 (female) <-> USB C (male) 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B077FY7831/

Software

Shotcut - open & free video editing & encoding, for post match video work

https://shotcut.org/ 

Coach-Logic - for post match coding, analysis and clipping to players

https://www.coach-logic.com/

CameraFi - for live streaming of matches

https://www.camerafi.com/camerafi/ 

YouTube - for live stream viewing and restricted on-demand playback

https://www.youtube.com/ 

USB Camera - Connect EasyCap or USB WebCam

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shenyaocn.android.usbcamera 

Other photography equipment

DSLR Camera x 3

Canon EOS 1DX Mark II

https://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_finder/cameras/digital_slr/eos_1dx_mark_ii/

2 X Canon EOS 6D

https://global.canon/en/c-museum/product/dslr813.html

 Lens x 4 (main use)

Canon EF 300 f/2.8 L IS USM

https://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/ef-300mm-f-2-8l-is-ii-usm-lens/

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM

https://global.canon/en/c-museum/product/ef345.html

Canon EF 500mm f/4.5 L USM

https://global.canon/en/c-museum/product/ef307.html

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM

https://store.canon.co.uk/canon-ef-24-70mm-f-2-8l-ii-usm-lens/5175B005/

Monopods

Manfrotto Element Monopod Aluminium Red MMELEA5RD

https://www.manfrotto.com/uk-en/element-monopod-aluminium-red-mmelea5rd/

Three Legged Thing "Alan 2"

https://www.3leggedthing.com/uk/alan-2-0-professional-carbon-fibre-monopod-system.html

Monopod heads

Manfrotto MH496-BH 496 Centre Ball head - Black

https://www.manfrotto.com/uk-en/496-centre-ball-head-mh496-bh/

Manfrotto XPRO Head with 200PL Plate (MHXPRO-BHQ2)

https://www.manfrotto.com/uk-en/xpro-ball-head-in-magnesium-with-200pl-plate-mhxpro-bhq2/

Stool

Mini Max Stool

https://www.minimaxstool.com/

Bags

LowePro 

LowePro ProTactic BP 450 AW II

https://www.lowepro.com/uk-en/protactic-bp-450-aw-ii-black-lp37177-pww/

Peli 1615 Air Case (for flight check-in and general safe travel)

https://www.peli.com/eu/en/product/cases/air/1615

Positioning

For filming, height is good here, both being as high up as possible, and in keeping the camera position as high on the tripod as possible.

For match analysis, most coaches will say end of pitch views are better than side-on views as there should be less camera movement.

If there is a filming tower, and you have permission and know how to use it safely then this is normally the best option - some have camera mounts, some have tripod spaces, some you need to be creative with. But always remember to take a drink with you as it's normally 90mins up a tower.

If the pitch is a fully caged one without a tower (as often found at education facility pitches) I tend to film from a couple of metres behind a baseline corner flag, but paying a lot of attention to the live game and moving balls!

For stills photography, couple of points here

1. Remember where the sun is in relation to the pitch, to avoid 'wash out' or glare
2. I tend to find close & very low to the pitch works best for capturing the 'being part of it' aspect
3. If you're looking for general images the centreline can be fine, but if you want action (or using a long lens) then pick an end of the pitch and shoot from there (I tend to find somewhere around the baseline to 23yr works well)
4. Always remember to keep clear of the sidelines to allow players, coaches & officials free passage
5. Always pay attention to where the ball is and where it is going, hockey balls hurt & can be very expensive when you don't avoid them!

Weatherproofing

A good pair of 'mechanics' gloves are useful during the cooler pitch days - thin enough to operate controls but good enough to prevent frostbite :)

But it is key to weatherproof your electronic equipment as much as possible, most good lenses have a good degree of weather proofing, but only the top end commercial cameras tend to have proper weatherproofing needed during a typical hockey season weather. I've already had to send my XA35 to Canon's pro service centre due to rain damage on a zoom control button - great 2 day turnaround CPS service but £180 I'd rather have kept in my account.

For my EOS cameras I use Canon ERC-E5M

https://store.canon.co.uk/canon-erc-e5m-camera-rain-cover-medium/1759C001/

For the XA35 camera I use CamRade WetSuit XA30/35

https://www.camrade.com/products/wetsuits-rain-covers/camrade-wetsuit-xa30-35

For everything else, and for when I don't have the above, I use these bags with a hole torn and elastic bands:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07TXRMVY6/

Filming & Sharing

Always ensure you have permission from all clubs & officials in order to film - this is best arranged via email in the prior week (we do it when the captains message each other re logistics etc)

Always ensure that you following SafeGuarding and GDPR guidelines with all footage - some events, venues or leagues will require that you complete additional paperwork here.

Whenever I film I also offer to share a copy with the opposition coach, and also with the umpires & officials, it's useful for all. Indeed there have been several times where the umpires have asked to review the footage during/immediately after a game, other times where I've had to prepare normal, slow-mo and zoomed versions of footage for people after a game.

Hints & Tips

• Be careful when filming behind fences - whilst you can easily control the focal length on the DSLR lenses, the auto-focus on the video camera loves to focus on the fence not the pitch. I found this out the hard way when we had a new extension catch fence in front of the camera tower!
• Remember you're filming the full field of play and not playing "follow the ball" - try and keep as many of the players in view as possible, it's these formations & player positioning that the coach needs to be able to see
• Manage the optical zoom of the video camera to keep both side-lines in the view where possible - I use the Varizoom VZ-Rock control (mounted on the video head pan/tilt arm and connected to the remote input on the XA35) to make it easier to control the zoom - but this does need practice!
• Keep the pitch in view, you don't need the skyline, surrounding areas or spectators etc
• Batteries run down a lot quicker in the cold, in my bags I normally have 10 fully charged DSLR batteries, a couple of fully charged batteries for my video screen monitor, and 6 of so extended capacity video batteries. I tend to find for a full match I might use 3 DSLR batteries between 2 cameras, 1 video monitor battery and 2 video camera batteries. For streaming you also need to remember a power backup for your phone as the streaming is fairly heavy on the battery.
• Remember you're filming the match not watching it - it's easy to be still thinking / looking at something and not to notice the game has moved on
• Remember the microphones pick up everything - including the noises you make behind / beside the camera, and also the noise of a DSLR shutter!

So I use my Canon XA35 camera connected via HDMI to the "DIGITNOW! Video Capture Card HDMI to USB" card which in turn is connected to the Android phone via USB. This then allows the video camera to appear as an input device on the phone. It needs to be Android as Apple devices don't support USB input in the same way at all :(

 Application to Platform

The application I use is CameraFi Live https://live.camerafi.com/ which allows me to take the video camera USB input as a live source, 'top & tail' it with intro effects etc, add overlays such as a scoreboard and then export the stream real-time over the network (using the phone's 3/4G or wifi connection) to a streaming platform (currently YouTube, but looking at https://restream.io/ for multi channel broadcast)

I'm still  very much learning with CameraFi Live, as it's got a lot of functionality.

https://blog.camerafi.com/

https://blog.camerafi.com/2020/02/faq-camerafi-live-faqs.html

A couple of overview links re how simple a setup you can do from Camera to Application:

https://blog.camerafi.com/2020/12/manual-how-to-live-stream-with-dslr.html

https://youtu.be/CSB4J53f6gs 

 Platform to Viewers

This is as simple as sharing the link to the user community and them watching it on the device & location of their choice. 

OT - Sports Parents 16 Oct 2017 6:26 AM (7 years ago)

So I'm back to blogging after a longer than intended absence, with a bit of a different post topic this time, inspired by @InkingFeeling , @DrSamThrower , @everyballtennis and Jack Rolfe

So I’m a parent, and very happy about being a parent. We’ve two wonderful children - well not always perfect, despite looking through a parent’s rose tinted glassses - one girl and one boy, rapidly approaching teenagers.

We’re lucky that they’re both fit and healthy and enjoy a wide variety of interests and passions. Our daughter, who was born with hip displacia, is sports fixated - tennis, hockey and running are her main sports; but she’s also a talented swimmer and footballer. Our son, a couple of years younger, is a talented tennis player and hockey player; he enjoys swimming, cricket and is a strong chess player. Essentially they’re like many teenage kids.

Between them they are in three county teams and compete in numerous local, regional and national events both through school, clubs and national associations.

We’re fortunate to be in a position to support our children in their sporting desires; to be able to provide them with the time, taxi services, club membership, fund coaching, masterclass sessions, attending adult national & international matches and supplying relevant kit & equipment - and yes that means over 14 pairs of sports shoes and 10 equipment bags in concurrent usage at anyone time! Coupled with a wish that actually I owned a sports shop instead of just feeling that we’ve purchased one.

Now as parents we’re both competitive, and we really do try and not be pushy parents - but I know I fail every now and then; where the line is crossed between being enabling & supportive and living my dreams vicariously through our children.

Over the last year I’ve been giving more thought and time to this; both in open discussion with our children with what they want from us, taking volunteer roles supporting some of their clubs and competitions (a personally wonderfully educational and rewarding opportunity, even if some other parents can take volunteers for granted), and in progressing my own education qualifications.

So what are my observations over the last few years:
* Many parents read & digest very little of the information provided to them, and certainly don’t go looking for the high quality information many of the associations provide freely online
* That said, GB associations and authorities could do a lot better job at harmonisation and sharing both information and accreditation - when simple things like DBS checks and SafeGuarding courses have to be taken specific to each sports association it just makes things overly complex. Different associations have differing great sets of information, if combined where appropriate this could really make things much easier and better.
* Scheduling and attending the various required / available courses varies greatly between sports association - tennis being well run and structured with clear booking system and availability, sadly hockey less so and with scarce coaching courses
* That there certainly aren’t magic “club pixies” that make sports clubs work - its about passionate people (professionals & volunteers) that work tirelessly hard for the benefit of other people. If you see one this week just say thanks, it’ll make their day.
* Parents that can be very vocal about their perceived issues with clubs, are sadly all too often very quiet when asked if they’re prepared to get involved to assist.
* That parents need to relax and let the professionally qualified coaches do their jobs - a good coach will have seen lots of different children, and be able to see each’s potential and identify their differing motivators. They see things objectively and maybe very differently to yourself, and without the emotional subjective overlay; and they are the ones having done all the qualifications often having gone through it themselves as well.
* That the connection between the child and the coach is absolutely key - we’ve been very lucky to have superb school sports directors, coupled with internationally recognised sports club coaches. The key is the coach adapting their technique & style to each child, to dynamically mixing between mentor, peer, banter partner, disciplinarian, inspiration, grounder, counsellor, sparring partner etc. But absolutely to have a trusted connection with the child.
* That conduct on & off the pitch is the child’s responsibility and parent’s accountability, it is not the job of the coach or club to teach them manners and good conduct - that’s the job of a parent. The parent, club & coach need to have a strong sportsmanship culture and ethos - the child need’s to have clear understanding of accepted and required conduct.
* That sports clubs aren’t crèche childcare, despite how many parents try and use them as such
* That out of any given group of children in a sports sessions the reason for them being there typically breaks into three groups - 33% parents made them, 33% social with friends, 33% passion for the sport. This isn’t bad but understanding it and where each child fits is key to their motivators and activators. Of course which group a child is in may vary over time as well.
* That associations need to take a more child & junior friendly approach to their adult sport, I recall vividly a tennis tournament recently where on a Saturday lunchtime there were two adult football matches being played alongside the four tennis courts. Now I’m no prude, but the language used & shouted by the football players and coaches was enough to catch my attention & concerns, let alone those of the 8-14 year old juniors playing on the tennis courts. If a sport’s culture is one of swearing then frankly I question why it should get any form of national funding or support - it’s down to the sport association & match officials to sort this - something that sadly the bloated/male/stale/pale Football Association really haven’t any form of track record on :(
* It’s really difficult to find the right line between supporting, enabling & encouraging versus pushing people (child and/or coaches) into places they don’t want to, or shouldn’t, be. In this area the LTA and DR Sam Thrower need to be congratulated here with their new “Optimal Competition Parenting” course, I was on the first course earlier this year and it really was useful, putting simple but often overlooked concepts into clear junior sports context and really driving home the “process outcome” focus. If you get chance please attend this course!
* It’s continually surprising and disappointing as to how many tournaments or matches get cancelled through lack of attendees. Judy Murray is pushing this topic heavily in Tennis, as it’s a real issue with junior players over-subscribing then cancelling coupled with a clear set of disincentives to players (minimal rewards for beating lower ranked players, material negatives to losing against players)
* That pushy parents really do consume more club / coaching resources, and this is normally to the detriment of the children. Clubs need to take strong positions here to avoid becoming distracted by the few (for good or bad) to the detriment of the many.
* Well intended, but ill informed, words or actions really can have quite a detrimental effect on the behaviour and mood of a child
* That parents really need to read, understand and follow the parent charters for the respective sports
         LTA Parent Pledge  https://www.lta.org.uk/globalassets/officiate--volunteer/documents/organiser--official-resources/fair-play/parents-pledge.pdf
         EH Parent & Spectator Charter  http://www.englandhockey.co.uk/core/core_picker/download.asp?id=13203

* People do indeed have different levels of natural talent and physical ability, but without commitment and hard work these talents result in little of any real meaning. The often quoted phrase “The harder you practice, the luckier you get“ really is true! Easy initial success is only sustained by intense hard work coupled with listening and learning with and from others.
* It may be obvious, but it’s often overlooked, that sport needs constant practice and an open mind to new things, skills, and techniques. When the world #1 is still training and learning on a daily basis then clearly the same applies to anybody!
* That the conversation and meaningful dialogue with the child is the single most important thing, it is vital that the child is fully engaged and that the goals and objectives are theirs not anybody elses. Simple things are asking them what support they want from you as a parent during any sports, whereabouts they might want the parent to be during the match (does them seeing you add or reduce pressure?), what their goals are for the event, post the event what went well/what needs more development etc?  Ask the child not tell them, use open probing questions, but choose the timing carefully - Dr Sam Thrower has some great advice on the conversation approach & timing in his LTA material.
* That process & commitment are the focus items; progress, improvement and results will come as  a natural consequence and are not to be obsessed over. Discuss approach and goals that are process orientated rather than the event result, discuss the application of things they've been practising.
* This is a tough one, but sadly cheating is still prevalent, and even worse, that gamesmanship is obviously coached in some areas - the best advise I can give is to engage & respect the officials (whatever the outcome) and then breath out, stand tall and move on from it. Cleanse the mind of the incident as soon as possible and move on - rest assured the real person they're cheating is themselves.
* That watching & meeting national and international players has a massive inspiration and motivation affect on children - I have to congratulate GB hockey on this, having the players available after matches to chat with the kids is superb, having the players attend local clubs through things like HockeyFest is brilliant, participating in the many school holiday masterclass academies really drives the children. That the best players in the world are so approachable and accessible really is fantastic.
* That having a ”Parent’s forum” as part of the association can really help  connect the elite side of the sport to the club side of the sport - LTA have made initial steps on this through Parent Advisory Group but they need to drive this harder, and I’ve not seen much else on this in other sport associations yet.
* That many clubs really struggle to join the junior section to the adult section, a couple of good things I’ve seen work are Hockey ‘Badgers’ leagues and matches and Tennis  ‘Parent & child’ doubles matches. But for clubs to build a sustaining model there needs to be active support from the adult section & players working with the junior sections. Personally I’m an advocate of the ‘sailing club’ style model of every member must do a day/session per year as condition of membership.
* That how a child reacts when they lose is more important than how they win, after all in their career they will lose far far far more often than they win; congratulate the opposition, take learning from the event, identify what went well, make of note of the things needing development; but don't use the false crutch of excuses...
* Despite how it may sound above, there are a fantastic majority of supportive parents that are very keen to help, assist and support their children and the associated clubs
* Having fun is key - being fearless to lose, to learn everyday and to enjoy the victories - but most of all to smile and enjoy the privilege and fun that is sport!

Some great words I’ve picked up over the time include

• Remember it’s not the FA cup, Wimbledon or The Open, and nobody will die over this match (also see https://www.lta.org.uk/globalassets/officiate--volunteer/documents/organiser--official-resources/fair-play/fair-play---please-remember.pdf)
• Remember how your child plays better when training than competing? Yes well it’s likely that the opposition does as well
• Don’t live your dreams & ambitions through your children
• Instead of being a clubhouse parent only watching, your could get involved or learn to play 
• It will be hard work, but if it’s not fun, something is wrong! 

There are some superb information and resources around and available, including:

LTA Parenting site  https://www.lta.org.uk/competitions/parents/
DR Sam Thrower twitter  https://twitter.com/drsamthrower?lang=en
Everyball Tennis  https://everyball.uk/
ThatInkingFeeling  https://thatinkingfeeling.wordpress.com/

Phone Notworks 19 Oct 2016 4:00 AM (8 years ago)

No it's not a spelling mistake or typo - sadly I really do mean "Phone NOTworks"...

Those of you that know me well or personally are aware that I've spent a large part of my career being a customer of global network providers, and as just a long period of time working for & within one of the largest communications providers.

But, this blog entry is not about plugging or bashing any single company, but rather a number of points I think all the companies have missed.

Well that in it's own right is an interesting question, not least of which, despite me spending over $2000 per year on mobile devices my supplier has never once in 25 years bothered to actually ask me what I want from them or what my priorities are!

Yes bizarre isn't it, for all the money being spent on 'big data' and 'analytics' to "get to know the customer better" nobody has ever addressed the elephant in the the corner of the room and actually asked me the simple question of "What are the top 3 things you're looking for?"

It seems many companies would be happier spending hundreds of millions on technology, rather than actually having a personal relationship with the customer.

So despite being a technologist, and an early adopter I believe my needs are fairly basic considering we're in the 21st century....

1. Coverage

I live in the south-east of the UK, I travel throughout the UK and Europe. Sadly, and despite the various maps people will point to and quote, phone coverage is generally poor unless I'm in a major city or within the centre of an urban town.

Get in a car or train, where there's time to use devices and make calls, and this is often & regularly a disappointing experience - dropped calls and not-spots being the norm for 30-40% of the journey time.

Entire commuting routes lack coverage, for parts of the south-east I've been able to drive 10+ miles for the last 20 years without being able to make or sustain a call - let alone high-speed data usage. So this isn't a new problem, or caused by a specific incident.

All I'm looking for right now is basic verbal phone call coverage, high speed data would be nice but get voice working first - please?


2. Updates

Phones nowadays are high powered portable computing devices, running complex software from many sources. We use these for our daily tasks, often sharing our closest details and most intimate data with the device and applications.

Like any modern device, and complex software solution it requires updates - for bug fixes, compatibility & interoperability management, to address the ever increasing cycle of security vulnerabilities. This particularly applies to the operating system and firmware running the device - as this underpins all applications and is shared by everything on the device.

So then why does it take communication companies 18 months plus to allow the software updates for phones to be rolled out and deployed onto devices on their networks?

It's bad enough that the phone networks still insist with polluting the device with their own software application spam and cruft 'customising' the software, but to leave millions of devices with publicly known and documented critical security flaws for months on end appears to be somewhat negligent does it not?

Whilst it will be unpleasant and painful, I'm genuinely looking forward to the first major widespread security issue caused by devices from a network supplier not being able to be updated against long known flaws; specifically the position of accountability taken by the network supplier in the subsequent (and justified IMHO) formal actions taken by customers.

Now, of course network companies will say that both of the above points cost money - and yes I know & agree with that but here's my response...

It's no point pushing lifestyle services, more bandwidth and entertainment services if half of the time the customer isn't even able to use the basics. New investments should be made on solid foundations, piling shiny baubles on-top of sand doesn't made for a sustainable long term business!

Security validation does cost money, but you're not doing that! You're simply verifying that the updated software from the OS/Device supplier still works on your network - that's basic hygiene functionality... The less junk 'customisation' you put on the device the less work to do each time! If it works for & with Apple then why not for the other devices? spending resources addressing the ongoing support of the devices and the safety of your customers is surely a priority, and is a tiny cost compared to the billions you spend on spectrum and core network equipment!

And surely it's better to invest to secure (in every sense) your customers and keep them close, rather than have them source devices direct from the manufacture (hello Google Nexus / Pixel etc) and source their comms from a bulk MNVO and fully distancing and commoditising the network company?

So I'll save the communication companies the cost of a call - fix the above and I've be both loyal and happy, ignore the above and I'll find solutions that work for me not you....

Tenders or Tenderisers? 16 Oct 2016 2:16 AM (8 years ago)

As you may have noticed by the infrequent nature of updates on here, yes I've been doing lots of new work.

However in my past I've had the pleasure of performing many number of global IT infrastructure tenders, and really the impact on my professional & personal life these have.

Unlike Duncan Fitzsimons not all of us like reinventing the wheel, but for some things in order to make something tender you have to hit it repeatedly...

And finally Philip Clark got it perfectly here where he replied with :-

"Do you find the Tender process to be misnamed? <= No, it's named for how your lower extremities feel afterwards!"

It really shouldn't be this hard or painful for all parties!!!

Now, despite having been involved in global tenders for 10+ years I still get surprised each time, sometimes for better sometimes for worse but always raising an eyebrow - so here's some previous examples - I've personally experienced every on listed - with smatterings of free (and that's rare from me being both Scottish and now a Consultant) advice for suppliers :-

No matter what the customer provides for response formats & template, it appears the vendors will always ignore this and use whatever random & complicated format they feel like. The supplier then complains or is surprised when the customer can't easily locate the information and they get scored low.

Embedding 100+ PDFs into an MS-Excel sheet just isn't fun to read - honest! Nor is providing your submission as 98 individual zip files with 2 files in each... Similarly please ensure that any PDF submission that has further embedded documents includes the full print of the sub-embedded documents not just a picture of an icon.

How many vendors simply somehow miss entire sections of a tender and don't respond to them at all? If this is the level of attention and detail during the romance phase, just what will it be like once we're committed together??

The irony of a vendor signing a full mutual NDA, and marking 'fully comply' to a requirement of providing a documented "18-36 month roadmap", but then refusing to discuss products to be launched in 2 weeks time or leave copies of the roadmap. But the irony isn't lost on the customer - only thing they're never sure of is, is the stupidity, ignorance, bravado or naivety by the suppliers...

Oh and the use of imperial units rather than metric & SI - that gets tends you to the very bottom of the 18th century Luddite pile, either as a customer or as a supplier... We're in the 21st century, please keep up...

How little appreciation from suppliers that providing opaque / oblique / random / monosyllabic answers to requirements really doesn't help them or the customer in any way at all

One word answers to questions are rarely valid - it often feels that a tender response has been written by a begrudging 17yr old teenager at 8am on a Sunday morning, rather than a Fortune500 global corporate. As a hint, if you answer a question 'partially' or 'no' some kind of details explanation as to what & why would be of use. Equally answering simply 'yes' or 'compliant' to every question without giving any further information to provide confidence doesn't help either. I certainly haven't got the time or inclination to get a crystal ball out to establish your thinking behind your cryptic clue of an answer!

If the customer provides a Q&A period of time for the supplier to raise clarification points or questions, then the supplier should - if not then there's no ability to say "oh we weren't sure" or "we didn't understand" later.... You'd be staggered how many suppliers appear to lose the ability to raise clarification questions until after the deadline...
Similarly, during the presentations it also helps if the supplier has a list of questions for the customer, so when the customer asks you "Mr Supplier, is there anything you want to know?" they're not left looking either like a clueless goldfish or overtly smug / distant...

Pay attention to your own staff & presentation - if the vendor looks bored and ignores the presentation then the customer is likely to as well...

Whilst stating to the customer "we're not giving your our best offer now, we're saving that for later rounds & negotiations" may be very candid & truthful, it also shows a certain gaming strategy technique that is less relevant in the world of eAuctions...

Oh and vendor staff arguing between yourselves during the customer presentation - whilst it makes for amusing customer bar stories, but that's not good either!

Nor is having 4 different presenters for different sections but no single 'neck on the block' accountable owner - it should always be clear to the customer who the lead is and that they are fully invested in the response and process.

Requesting an extension for the tender the day before it's submission date? Yup that's the equivalent of "my dog ate my homework" and will just be looked on as amateurs...

Lobbying & making proposals to try and subvert, change or prevent a tender? Have a guess?? You'll certainly not be at the top podium for customer happiness...

The supplier also needs to remember the customer will regard that this is you at your best, and it'll only go downhill from here - so if you're not at 150% of your game and totally switched on expect the customer to look depressed...

How poor some responses are, with many supplier mngt teams resembling a goldfish when asked questions about parts of their response. Frankly I'd swear half of the teams haven't written or read their own responses, in fact sometimes I'd swear they've never met the other members of their response team before.

And just what is the point of the customer providing strategy guidance, requirements documents & templates, specific materials or meeting & presentation agendas if nobody on the supplier's team appears to read them?

How poorly people prepare for presentations - arriving late, arriving without materials, appearing that the presentation team have never met before - all not great sales methods...

How poorly people manage their presentation time and/or content - clearly having not rehearsed their presentation timings, or presentation roles. Spending lots of time on non-valuable content. Having written it on a Mac but never tested it on a Windows PC - that's a disturbingly common one...

How tangential some people try and stretch the scope of their responses into areas utterly unrelated, remember you're there to address the customer's issues & opportunities, not you're monthly sales quota. Waste the customer's time and they won't give you a second chance...

That a supplier actually being honest about their strengths and capabilities and declining an invite to tender can build a stronger and more trusting relationship with the customer, that ultimately will lead to greater revenue for the supplier. Thankfully - that there are still some suppliers that are very candid & honest and decline to respond if they believe their technology & services would not be a productive and positive relationship for all. Every time I've seen this the supplier has within 12 months won more business that the original tender was worth.

When - despite being clearly told by the customer 1.5hrs into a 2.5hr time-slot that 'your presentation has no relevance to our requirements' - it astounds that suppliers plough on regardless, as if somehow a war of attrition through powerpoint will convince the customer that up is now down...

How some suppliers simply fail to follow basic process logistics and expect / demand the right to be 'special', the very purpose of a tender is to normalise the engagement and actions of both suppliers and customers. But still some suppliers prefer to play the management escalation & relationship game rather than deliver on value and quality.

That with the customer having created and given 100+ pages of specific guidance and response templates, just how varied the responses are and in just how complex fashion, I'll not even mention those suppliers that edit or customise the templates...

Each supplier whines & moans about their work for a tender, but they appear to forget how complex & difficult the task is on the customer side and that the customer invests many times more effort in the tender process. From managing many different supplier responses, to creating the structure & process, to evaluating the responses in a clear objective fashion.

The basic quality control & integrity checks on responses - suppliers leaving working notes within documents, leaving markup versions in documents (showing both the response and the document's history), leaving previous customer details / logos etc within materials...

Some very honest and candid responses - "this is too complicated" & "we don't know" being classic responses to specific but common customer questions.

That how few suppliers don't appear to know "why does this product / variant / solution / service exist?", "what is the 3 minute elevator pitch used to justify this product / variant / solution / service development?", "how does this relate & differentiate from your other products / services / solutions?". If the supplier doesn't proactively address these basic questions then customers get nervous. If they can't, or won't, answer them when directly raised then it raises serious material concerns with the customer.

It's also dismaying just how many Forture500 suppliers appear to have account staff that have been ex car / double glazing salesmen in their past, adopting the "I need to phone my boss about that" to simple questions. If the supplier's staff are not able to make accountable account decisions then the wrong staff are in the room and on the account...

I do find it assuming that suppliers seam to be able to count to 14 decimal places when margins are concerned, but can't count to 7 when the maximum number of meeting attendees is concerned - 11 being the record attempted in the few years (naturally the surplus 4 got told to 'go away')

How many 'polite' excuses / explanations suppliers use to avoid being honest in sessions - sometime just saying "we ballsed up" is worth much more than "the dog ate it" kind of excuses

That the podium space for the #1/2/3 spot in any technology domain must be incredibly crowded given just how many companies claim to be 'the best', 'the leading', 'unique' or 'the number 1' - I've certainly never seen any such rankings independently managed,,,

How few suppliers are fully honest, and don't seem to think or believe that the customer will both cross reference the various elements of their multi-part responses but also validate responses via independent means.

Naturally Pinocchio could never be involved in a vendor's tender proposal - as the avalanche of unjustified / unsubstantiated subjective claims would cause his nose growth to drain the blood from his entire body.

So if from the above, you've reached the impression that managing tenders with multiple suppliers is very much like being a school teacher setting homework, then welcome to my world...

But do the basics, do them well and honestly and spend some time thinking about sitting in the customer's seat and good things will happen.

Lifecycle management 4 Apr 2015 1:40 PM (10 years ago)

Hic :) 26 Aug 2013 2:23 AM (11 years ago)

So just a couple of additions to the bar this week, one day I'll get around to updating the full inventory - and one very happy week I'll get around to updating all my tasting notes :)

Oh and a quick update to the 'Grail Items' list on the blog - needless to say I've joined the crowd hunting the whisky unobtanium which is Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve 20yr so I'll be spending less time correcting IT vendor's crud, whilst I search the planet for (the only?) decent Bourbon around...

Laters...

Still Here :) 16 Aug 2013 12:34 AM (11 years ago)

Well contrary to popular belief (or is that wishes), I'm still around!

Just to prove it, I've done a brief update to the bar http://www.grumpystorage.com/p/bar.html to reflect this month's new whisky additions... When I get chance I'll do a full stock-take and update it properly.

Needless to say I'm still very much involved in large scale global enterprise IT infrastructure, services and cloud - but feel less inclined to shout about it nowadays (more of that in another blog post).

In off-topic areas, we just spent another superb night at Midsummer House in Cambridge, not leaving until 01:30 with excellent service... And the same weekend I seem to have acquired a rather special artwork by James Mylne (warning link includes 'artistic image' http://www.flickr.com/photos/27723218@N00/4080656190/in/set-72157622621453519) - needless to say my wife & bank manager are giving me funny stares at the moment...


Oh and I've taken up tennis (in order to try and catch-up to my daughter & son), so watch out for stray yellow orbs flying in random directions!

More soon :)
Ian

Hello strangers :) 27 Dec 2012 3:20 AM (12 years ago)

So firstly, hello and welcome back; please forgive the cobwebs and dust - it's been a while..

So where have I been? Mostly seat 11C on Lufthansa flights to/from Düsseldorf, or BA flights to Milan - but mainly in meetings and working daft hours...

But, and here's the good bit, occasionally I get let out of my day job (well given I now have 3 employers this actually isn't very often) and I get to experience something really very good. So here goes...

A long time ago a great group of friends got together and decide that at least once a year we'd all get our posh togs on (or I'd at least shave and wear a suit) and dine out at a high quality restaurant to sample their fine food, wines & service.

This year it was my turn to sort it out - don't laugh! Sometimes I can actually  organise things in advance, and of an OK fashion - so this year I thought we'd go north, to the lakes and stunning Cumbria... So, here's a tale in picture form...

Space is a premium in Cumbria :)

Trying not to get too distracted we wondered around the local area, but a clue to our specific location

Until we found 'our house' for the weekend

Wonderful building full of charm & style

Until off we strolled into the village...

The Kings Arms (not my picture) for a light lunch snack - great beer & food (Aspen chips & beef sandwich fully recommended!)

The Kings Arms Cartmel

We then managed all of 50yds onto their sister pub Royal Oak Inn (not my picture)

The Royal Oak Inn

With beer courtesy of Hawkshead Brewery I full recommend the Windermere Pale as a gentle supping pint whilst watching the day go by :)

Finally after a brief refresh and smarten up back at 'our house', we walked 250yrds and said hello to our real destination - 2 Michelin stars, 10/10 Good food guide, #2 in UK...

And on to the menu - yes there are no choices, just  a full 17 course tasting menu (excluding the cheese, port & whiskies courses) to work through!

Oyster pebbles - meringues filled with an oyster mouse. Taste of the sea that dissolved deliciously. Complete with  Oyster Leaves to nibble. Just don't try and eat the real pebbles in there as well!

Cockles and seaweed - a seaweed cracker (like a prawn cracker) filled with a delicious cream with juicy cockles...

Smoked Eel with ham Fat - possibly one of the nicest starters I've ever tasted.  Crispy skin simply dissolves to leave juicy ham with eel - perfect! If they did take-outs or on-line orders I could live on these...

Squid with Chicken - a squid ink cracker with dots of oil, crispy chicken skin and a pate, delicious...

One of the most original presentation styles I've seen in a long time - pottery 'sacks' full of  "Crispy potato with Coddled Eggs". Perfection...

Cod yoke, sage cream, radish, salt & vinegar. Pea shoots with baked salt & vinegar rice.

The taste effect is one of posh fish, chips & mushy peas :) Utterly brilliant...

Swede, turnip in a light but strong cheese sauce - delicious

Fresh warm three types of bread

The most superb Venison tartare with amazing candid balls tasting of pernod - a sublime mix of tastes and textures that I could eat again and again

Artichoke and truffles - purée and crispy fried, strong flavours done well

Scallops and chard - delicious and I don't know what they do to the ruby chard but it's sublime

A whole new meaning to beetroot and ox tongue - delicious

Plaice with mussels & leeks with celeriac

Suckling pig belly pork and veg :) Sublime...

Sea buckthorn, buttermilk and squash - sweet & bitter deliciousness...

Quince, lemon verbena & hazelnut all done to look like rocks - fantastic!

Blackberries, plum, malt & stout

My kind of cones for dessert - Pear, Calamint & Sweet Cheese

Biscuits for the cheeses

A small selection of local cheeses that we made a good dent into, accompanied by some fine ports

The finest chocolate pudding ever according to the good Mrs F...

We sat down to our table at 7pm and left at midnight, the restaurant atmosphere was relaxed and welcoming - not overly formal like some, and happily accepted a variety of casual smart to formal dress codes. The staff were friendly, witty, well informed, discreet and professional - just how it should be.

Our stay in the house also included full breakfast the next morning, so at 9:30 we found ourselves back in the same restaurant at the same table enjoying a 4 course breakfast including full-English. Needless to say we left Cartmel very happy, with full stomachs and well rested and refreshed.

So finally on to some contacts for those people that made it possible :-

@Simon_Rogan  Owner and uber-Chef
@Lenclume the restaurant team
@MarkDBirchall  Head Chef
@rjwbex Superb front of house

L'enclume restaurant itself can be found here
http://www.lenclume.co.uk/sr/

We stayed in L'enclume House http://www.lenclume.co.uk/sr/rooms.html and can recommend it fully appreciate the fine service from Franck and the team.

The local cheese shop that supplies L'enclume and is a great place to spend an hour on Sunday morning browsing superb cheeses and nibbles :-
http://www.CartmelCheeses.co.uk/

Will we be back? Oh yes definitely!

Storage Security 28 Jun 2012 12:06 AM (12 years ago)

Now some time ago I wrote here about a storage security area that I was interested in (self encrypting drives within arrays), now I see that there are again updated documents and specifications from TCG on this area at :-

http://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/developers/storage/specifications

I'm also hearing from vendors that there 'effectively little/no' disk drive availability in the market that supports this standard - and hence array manufactures are diverging into their own kludges...

Happy New Year 1 Apr 2012 7:41 AM (13 years ago)

So yes I'm still here, yes I'm still much the same, and doing much of the same as usual.

So why the 'Happy New Year'? Firstly to apologise for the oversight of missing to say so on Jan 1st (I blame too much work), but also to usher in a new finance year for the UK (and many global corporates) on April 1st.

So the new-FY always means chaos at the end of the previous finance year, from tidying up asset registers, receipting orders, ensuring old budgets are spent correctly, ensuring new budgets have been secured.  Oh and of course there's always the end-of-year deals to close, vendors selling their first born to hit revenue targets, negotiations to secure the renewal of license & support deals to ensure we don't have to switch off tens of thousands of servers today etc.

Naturally some weeble in Human Resources also decides that this is a great time to key many annual HR processes & events around. So just to add to the mix we normally have reorgs, holiday years, head-count & cost centre mngt, performance dialogues, performance grading calibration, rewards & recognition to sort out.

All in all, lots of 7 day weeks, a few over-nighters and frayed nerves during the corporate grind of the new year - much like quarterly stock market reporting, I do think that there has to be a better way.

My New-Years resolutions :-

• Less time on work; much more time with family & friends
• When I am at work, to raise the bar higher, firmer & quicker than ever before

So I hope you had a good new year, I'm having a few hours off in order to work out which way is up and recharge the weasel-word detector, before the next year on the treadmill commences.

Oh, and I've updated the bar at http://www.grumpystorage.com/p/bar.html :)

(oh and I promise to post some of the 120+ draft blog posts soon!)

Amazon - Can we gift it? 12 Nov 2011 1:07 AM (13 years ago)

So to the sounds of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD0vHZxAmso&feature=related 

I have to ask the question to @KindleUK , @AmazonKindle & @Amazon "Can we fix gift it?"

Of course, what I'm referring to is the ability for customers to purchase gift eBooks for other Kindle users...

Now as per previous blog entries I'm a big fan of the Amazon Kindle - and last week was my father's birthday, so my mother purchased him a "Kindle Keyboard 3G". Naturally my brother & I both then planned to gift him a number of good books to read - perfect as he had a couple of long haul flights in the week after.

So on I trundled to the mighty www.amazon.co.uk and went to the Kindle store section - only to find that the only to manage this process in the UK is to buy a gift credit voucher, send that to your intended recipient, have them go shopping for the ebook and use the voucher... Not exactly simple, rather painful and most certainly a DIY present :(

Now of course if I'm a gun-toting, burger eating, economy trashing, redneck American this function has existed on the Amazon.com site here for a long time - but for some reason the mighty largest e-commerce site hasn't be able to enable this trivial feature for their international customers...

Honestly, does it really need to be this hard?

Android - improvement needed? 1 Nov 2011 4:17 AM (13 years ago)

The G-Spots 22 Oct 2011 6:01 AM (13 years ago)

So time for some more positive commentary - a new page on this site here now highlights the 'Grumpy Spotlight' awards for great quality or service.

Naturally this is an entirely personal and subjective list, based on my experiences - but I hope it goes to highlight some places / things that really deserve all the recognition they can get.

I'd welcome any of your recommendations or comments on the items I list.

That time of year.... 4 Oct 2011 1:15 PM (13 years ago)

Well it's that time of year again.

When tens of thousands of fanboys (& fangirls) flock to the west coast of the USA to watch, listen to and worship a benevolent dictator, regarded by the fanboys as almost a messiah, impart the golden missives that will fuel their blinkered direction for the next twelve months...

Now of course, this is either the latest #EvilFruitSeller product release or #CrazyIvan's SnoracleWorld marketing branwashing fiction fest...

So which should you go to? well would it surprise you if I said - "neither, spend your time with your friends & family". Frankly speaking both are about as little value to the average enterprise customer...

Whilst of course both operate an artificially dominante position in certain segments, and certainly market above their stations, they do clearly set certain parts of the IT agenda - BUT frankly as far as I can see there's little point in attending as whatever happens will happen just the same regardless.

Some assorted personal thoughts about both companies :-

• neither is worth trying to engage with dialogue in as neither empowers their staff to have any meaningful dialogue
• neither entity listens & changes their ideas or directions easily
• both companies are most certainly driven strongly with clear internal direction
• both entities are driven by a singular personality - undoubtedly clever & focused, but one that makes decisions in a seemingly random & emotional fashion
• both companies will have to undergo major changes in the public view & internal structure of their senior management teams
• both companies will this week announce new instances of their proprietary lock-in technologies
• both companies trade on emotions & subjective reasoning in the customer base, with little challenge by the fanboys to their cost models or purported benefits 
• both companies are aggressive & arrogant in their manipulation of perceived position in terms of creating lock-in, eroding open standards and attempting to eliminate competition
• both companies specialise in competing with their partners
• both companies have made significant direction changes with their strategies and technology offerings
• both companies have the attention of senior management in their customer bases, and will most certainly drive a number of key areas in the near future

There's plenty more, but let's see how the announcements play out first :)

NDA Briefings - the content lap-dance? 1 Oct 2011 12:00 AM (13 years ago)

So those who follow my twitter profile, or know me in person, will understand that one of my major annoyances in life is the topic of NDAs.

Now I fully understand what an NDA entails (I've spent enough time with lawyers in my life to know this area very well), and understand why anything more than 2 way NDAs are a genuinely terrifying concept. I also personally know what it means for all involved to 'tear-down' and NDA in 'an aggressive fashion'.

Naturally in my line of work, probably 70% of the external discussions I have are of a confidential content nature, with a high % being purportedly related to NDAs.

So why do they annoy me?

http://twitter.com/ianhf/status/9569522994
Why the hell don't vendors trust customers when under NDA with a copy of the slides? either respect an NDA or don't bother at all..#Annoyed

A common use of the NDA is to cover future roadmap discussions - naturally enough as for any supplier this is a very sensitive are. But my position is that roadmaps should change, and that's fine. The key is to ensure that there is regular communication & dialogue about the changes. The customer of course needs to have some reference artefacts for a point in time to use for their own decisions, after-all we have to create our own 6/12/18/36mth internal strategies.

Clearly if we can't have a secure & trusted copy of information from a point in time, then we can't reference the information - as my memory is such that I could very easily get information very wrong. In short - if a copy of the information isn't provided that we have little choice but to 'strike it from the record' and ignore it - making the whole 'NDA' exercise worthless all round... As far as I'm concerned this just shows that many vendors simply don't trust or respect their staff or their customers - these are not the vendors I'm interested in working with.

How often are NDA pitches one-way presentations? Sadly all too often :( There are still some good people out there that do genuinely have the sessions as NDA discussions and will influence their roadmaps and/or decisions based on dialogue & requirements - but these are most certainly in the minority.

Whilst I accept some customers may leak NDA information, either consciously or unconsciously, my thoughts are that people should have the courage to penalise those that breach NDA clauses, make an example of them don't penalise those who understand & respect them. But, surely we also need to address the information moving between competitors in the increasingly incestuous IT sales & engineering industry job shuffle (or are lobotomies standard practice in changing jobs between IT suppliers? well now I mention it that would explain many things...,)


All of this sadly leaves me to the conclusion that 'NDA briefings' are often now little more than than marketing meetings wrapped in a 'special legal secret sauce' to puff, fluff & massage the ego of the invitees - the "I've been somewhere special" & "I know something you don't" playground taunt factor...

There are words for those who are paid to say & do nice things purely to boost a customers ego - and candidly, I think we'd all rather be with partners than whores!

The Bar 21 Jul 2011 5:50 AM (13 years ago)

So I thought I'd do a quick summary of the drinks in the home cellar / bar - wine list will be added when I find time :) http://www.grumpystorage.com/p/bar.html

vCrack(d) 14 Jul 2011 1:08 PM (13 years ago)

So VMwere have come out and publicly revealed vSpore v5, including disclosing their new extortion licensing racket model for vSpore v5 here.

Now the positive messages re new features, functions, performance and capability improvements of vSpore 5 have been outweighed in the press & user base by noise around the new license model, and specifically the now licensing of RAM usage.

I don't know about your environments, but I know when we look at our farms they are already RAM constrained and not CPU/core constrained - and this is at RAM/CPU ratios considerably higher than the new licences would enable without additional licence purchases. For us we're also seeing the RAM/CPU ratio increasing from our application providers - everything is increasingly demanding larger quantities of RAM.

This reminds me of a similar approach used by the "independent mobile high-street pharmaceutical suppliers" :-

1. Release an exciting product to establish lust & demand
2. Make chunks of it free (eg ESXi) to widen the customer base & hearts/minds
3. Encourage large deployment & consolidation based on over-subscription and utilisation
4. Then change the payment rules for the next version and drive the requirement for additional licences (hence revenue) for exactly the same solution & architecture between existing & future versions

To me it's clear that when a company measures itself on revenue & profit growth, and especially if they are in a rapidly commoditising market, that there has to be new ways of obtaining the growth (let alone standing still against increased competition). So it would appear the current model is to extract revenue from the core value the product offers. In itself making the overall virtualisation offering less beneficial from an ROI/TCO perspective - but I guess the assumption is that people are so addicted committed to the product & solution that they wont bother questioning the value of the solution again.

I also think VMwere are trying to deflect their changes by talking about 'Align the vSpore licensing model with IT as a service', somehow avoiding the point that most organisations already happily translate capex+opex investment -> to internal recharge. In fact many don't want their private hypervisor farms to have a cost profile more aligned to public IaaS (ie variable opex).

Page 11 of the vSpore licensing FAQ pdf also makes a claim re "today’s average consolidation ratios of 5:1" - this seems to be considerably different (ie lower) than the claims & statements VMwere make in all their sales & marketing materials of consolidation rations of 10-20:1 being common. Love to hear more about 'average VMwere is only 5:1'....

So what sort of impact will this have?

• for some people & use case it'll make no difference
• for others it will drive material impacts on capex for additional licences, and of course opex as it relates to support/maint of the licences
• generally I feel this will make life more complex for virtualisation designers & architects that now need to design & estate manage around RAM specifically

My feeling is that this will trigger a number of things :-

• Draw attention to the review of actual benefits/cost Vs forecast benefits/costs of ongoing virtualisation programmes
• Inhibit some new virtualisation projects due to cost increases
• Allow VMwere's competitors to be able to promote & market their technology based upon costs/value, in turn generating noise in the IT ecosystem and thus consuming the customer's time in FUD / hype fighting
• Cause many customers to expedite their reviews of the rapidly maturing viable alternate hypervisor / IaaS tooling market, with a view to move wholesale to an alternative or to dual source hypervisors
• I'm also wondering if this is a step towards VMwere licensing their technology by active virtual machines (and dimensions of machines) rather than the underpinning physical infrastructure

I fully understand, agree with and respect the need for companies to make revenue and profit, but I always find it strange when successful companies decide to shoot a foot off or commit slow suicide through strangling their customers...

Rounding the wagons? 15 Jun 2011 5:00 AM (13 years ago)

So the tin providers can see the differentiation end coming, they can see the need to drop their high margins are vast & costly sales structures and move into other areas.

A few of these talk a story, but very very few of them appear to be able to do something meaningful or lasting.

Consolidation in the infrastructure stack market - lots of blogs talking about this, lots of disruption and issues, lots of risk & downside for the customer.

Oracle made the first move with an application provider acquiring Sun in order to control their own destiny re infrastructure and have better control of their own margins, but despite this they have a dead h/ware business that they are desperate to force onto customers (although I think few Oracle people understand the word customer, most seem to  interpret it as fund payer for their Porsche & holiday homes). Increasingly we now see that Snoracle's applications are 'only provided' or 'only supported' if bolted to the tin albatrosses bodged together by themselves.

EMC and their pet VMWare are nibbling around the edges purchasing software development tool companies, acquirin some serious individual tallent and now into the DW/BI and eventually database area.

If I look at HP, they have lots - but several areas they are lacking in (excusing the clear lack of sales, marketing & product proposition talent) are :-

• Database
• Middleware
• x86 Server Operating Systems

If I look at IBM, they have everything except direction, sales, marketing, focus and conviction...

SAP buying Sybase was interesting for a number of reasons :-

• Removes the last major (meaning deployments in existing data-centres) RDBMS from the table for those infrastructure companies desperate to have a plat in the database world (eg EMC, HP etc)
• Will further muddy the water with SAP's database usage relationship with Oracle
• Might knock some sense into Sybase's management team
• Doesn't seem to add much obvious additional value, synergies or savings for SAP
• Will likely start a bidding war for other 'platform tool' players in the mobility market - although all of these will be competing with the networks & the device providers themselves...

But when do we see the first IT infrastructure company buy a business application software provider? Would you put money on EMC or HP acquiring Teradata, SAP, SAS, Amdocs, Comverse, Sage, Tibco

Is anybody interested in acquiring Citrix? BMC? Symantec? RedHat? Novell?

Of course all of the infrastructure companies are courting Microsoft for partnership scraps off the table in the SMB application areas.

So whilst the masters of FUD fight their whispering battles against each other, the account teams become increasingly desperate and high-maintenance and the manufacturers fight each other (eg Snoralce Vs Intel/HP) as far as I can see it's only the customer that loses - quality, clarity, options, stability all reducing...

Metric, SI &amp; ISO matters 12 Jun 2011 12:38 AM (13 years ago)

Alarm Bells 19 Apr 2011 9:38 PM (13 years ago)

Kindle - IT companies take note 30 Mar 2011 11:33 PM (14 years ago)

Still here 29 Mar 2011 4:01 AM (14 years ago)

Yes I'm still here, yes I'm daftly busy right now on all the wrong kinds of work - overall my mood could probably be best described by :-

@Twitter Vs @Twitdroyd 21 Feb 2011 9:22 PM (14 years ago)