en-us http://www.keithwatanabe.net/index.php Keith Watanabe's Website http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/7/15/5fd57180eb04ae0f312d4331e5429b39.html
So why continue? I see this as something that might progress a part of society but isn't overly useful. Some may argue that removing one day would hurt global productivity. I thought it might improve things. Let's see:

- Reduce mental and physical fatigue, ensuring that people's attendance will improve
- Improve morale as people would have that extra day to do other personal business
- Possibly allow for companies to increase their workforce by attempting to fill in the gaps that a person on leave takes
- Change the mentality of companies from simple 9-5 shops to 24/7 support spots (this applies to large organizations that can afford such a thing)
- Doubling the knowledge of an organization by providing duplicate representatives on key areas. That is, to fill in for the extra day (or three if we want to change things), we could use one day as a knowledge transfer day between the counterparts in order to proceed with certain tasks
- Improve the support models for companies in all areas
- Increase the job market and usher in a new era of competitiveness

One concern that might come up is pay. How can a company compensate for this situation for individuals? Also, would a person in this loop be deducted from pay, thus reducing their ability to afford things? My response to this is the following:

- Companies can reduce the overall wages of people on such a program, but should receive some for of tax reduction initially to compensate from the government (there are more jobs, thus more taxes that a company will payout, so the government ought to provide some help there).
- There needs to be a kind of deflation for affordability. Things like cars, rent, etc. ought to be reduced. I can see huge problems in places like California. But these are the places that also require this type of system since the commuting and type of work tend to be more intense.

At any rate, I think society has progressed to the point where we need a new system of employment to help in improving the quality of life for people.]]> Sun, 15 Jul 2007 00:50:25 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/7/15/5fd57180eb04ae0f312d4331e5429b39.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/8/3/828f1382eb98b384c63768fc893e9eb9.html
The way I would implement this is force companies that earn a certain percentage in a year to distribute a relevant amount to the employees in turn, committing to overtime wage. Companies can allot money in reinvesting into itself from this percentage and shareholders, naturally, but a good portion be split with the employees in accordance with the amount of overtime they put in. Sure, they can still allow for merit based bonuses, but it should be fair that (to a lesser degree) compensation is also linked to an employee's position and hours they put in. Executive and board members should be excluded from this as they're compensation is already over the top on average.

Either way, the main idea is to provide more equal footing for employees or at create a better work-life balance scenario.]]> Fri, 03 Aug 2007 21:24:20 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/8/3/828f1382eb98b384c63768fc893e9eb9.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/10/25/4516b6f211a3438c0956ad78dd96be66.html
There that should put off people.

But I will talk about the place.

Unlike my last place (which I'm attempting to erase from memory), my new spot has been quite good so far. I'm certain there's a high expectation for output from me, but I've got my own deck of cards that I like to draw from when it seems like people have an Ace-King against me. Right now, I'm being "encouraged" to speak more Japanese. For instance, today's lunch was almost completely Japanese. I figure staying in this environment for a few years will pump up my Japanese level to near fluency. Hopefully, I can get up to at least 2-kyu level in a year.

I've been incredibly motivated as of late. No life draining meetings. No sitting in endless discussions on what we INTEND to do, but rather taking action IMMEDIATELY to remedy a problem. No monstrous hiearchies of incapable people. No stupid vendors mind controlling weak willed, techno-illiterate management. Just solid, hard core work, coding and learning.

Just in terms of sample things I've been working on:

• Extending the Zend Framework and gluing all the loose pieces together.
• Utilizing Phing to automatically generate projects, including checking out and importing newly created projects from and into Subversion
• Setting up my own Subversion repository with Webdav access
• Setting up Samba for Windows access on my local machine
• Expanding my Javascript/AJAX knowledge through implementing JQuery (and perhaps MooTools as well in the near future)
• Learning a new Japanese XML filesystem query tool called Musashi
• Writing PHP wrappers around the Musashi command line, utilizing the Command object and Chain of Responsibility design patterns
• Localizing the front end with Smarty's config files.

I'm hoping to re-build or convert over the log files into a binary format that's faster and easier to read and replace the Musashi command line interface sometime. I'm thinking of implementing C/C++ for raw speed, perhaps figuring out how to employ either that or something like Berkeley DB to generate flat files and improve performance overall.

Lots of fun stuff. Also, I plan to build tons of in-house tools, stuff I've been dreaming of for years. I have a lot of freedom in terms of technology, so I pretty much get to do whatever I really want. I don't need a 20% type of rule for my work. I'm doing what I want at 100%. Nice, ain't it?

The other thing I'm doing is learning about a "real" Japanese environment. My previous company was becoming one, but in a negative sense. The current place has bits and pieces of the Japanese environment such as saying "Ohayogozaimasu" in the morning and "Otsukaresamadesu" as you're leaving. Also, many people work late. I plan to inject some California corporate culture into this place though. I bought a bunch of Krispy Kreme donuts tonight and will start making my rounds in my "political capital." I will be loved in the morning (and probably hated by late after since everyone will most likely be clutching their stomachs as I did in pain tonight!!!!!)

But this is truly one of the first almost "pure" Japanese environments I've ever worked. Everyone is Japanese here, except me. I'm practically a rock star in some ways. Since I know English and technology, I have a great deal of potential value to add to people, especially considering that most people want to learn more English. I've offered my services as an English teacher for free (and I enjoy doing this just to show that there are people in this world that don't need to make a pretty penny unlike those Nova greedy corporate pigs).

What I'm attempting to do most of all is really get into the minds of a Japanese business. Of course, we do have foreign influence since the company is mostly owned by the parent in America. However, most of that influence feels distant. What's nice though is that you don't have a bunch of foreign idiots in the local office screwing with people with their lack of understanding of the Japanese culture and business methodology. Okay, I am here but I don't attempt to disrupt and overburden people with my bumbling behavior. I try to inject productivity, encouragement and positive feelings as much as I can with my coworkers.

Compare that with my previous company where I saw these foreigners, mostly East coast people, who just couldn't run the damn show. And still can't. It's embarrassing. I couldn't tell if the problem was that of the industry (i.e. insurance) or the fact that these people were just plain dumb. But it was utterly pathetic watching these people get twisted left and right, but having enough power to screw things up because they couldn't properly assess the situation. I truly pity all the workers at the bottom attempting to scrape by in such a company. It didn't feel like a real company at all. More like a drama being staged for a reality show (or a Surreality Show).

Nonetheless, at my current place, I really feel like I'm part of something. Sure, our desks are small and there are notions of appropriate etiquette in the office. And I'm certain that some time down the line I'll be asked to perform in higher levels as a Japanese would. But in those cases, I suppose it's up to me to mature and evolve. That ought to truly increase my value, even though I think most companies in America won't ever whollistically understand my overall intrinsic value (I'm NOT JUST A PROGRAMMER DAMN IT!!!!!)

Overall though, I'm fearful of saying it but I feel like I've found my calling. I hope that this situation last and can improve even more.]]> Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:49:59 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/10/25/4516b6f211a3438c0956ad78dd96be66.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/6/d988334da00a849214cba3354380ca9c.html
So if you're interested in saving yourself about a minute worth of hassle, what you can do is wait for one of the workers to start cleaning and go to toss your stuff out. The worker will gladly do what should be their job for you. In fact, they're very polite about it.]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:10:30 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/6/d988334da00a849214cba3354380ca9c.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/15/0d0a804e23341f769d69c03c2341806c.html Yahoo Pipes.
What this shows to me is that prototypes and agile style programming are the best way to a compliment in development. Well, of course the prototype has to work and look nice, but the fact that someone wanted to show another person my work is the real compliment.

I have to think that my current environment allows me to do positively productive compared to my prior employer. With my prior employer, you had to receive all these silly sign offs before you could do anything. Or the crappy waterfall methodology for handling software development. Not to mention the limited technologies that I had to use rather than freely using Open Source libraries that I need to do the best job possible. When the so-called production director had told me that the company was infamously known as having the worst technology in town, there was a reason for that! I think they're still suffering from their VB 6.0 legacy code and probably won't make the so-called deadline coming up this April.]]> Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:55:06 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/15/0d0a804e23341f769d69c03c2341806c.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/29/4a3c100b898d97dc2f1b76f0993cafe8.html
To mitigate this, I've come up with a methodology for increasing productivity, killing the idea of job stagnation and improving technology in companies. This methodology is what I call the consuming-producing methodology. What it entails is this: 2-3 months of training and 2-3 months of utilizing that knowledge and producing a product or improving upon an exist one. These phases are cyclical. In technology, I suppose, my idea is focused more towards developers more than any other group. It seems that the heaviest amount of responsibility is placed upon developers since their targets change the most frequently. Certainly, system administration, database administration, and networks change, but not nearly at the rate as the number of APIs, frameworks, and techniques coming down the pipe for development. And even for project managers and QA, this is probably less true.

However, I think these idealisms can apply across borders. My feeling has been that while school can only teach about 4 years of limited views on the entire spectrum of technology, it is up to companies (good ones at least) to continue educating their employees to meet the demands of technology. So it is true that people are more specialists these days when it comes to technology. However, the best ones I've met can wear multiple hats. The only unfortunate thing is that gaps in knowledge that inevitably occur whenever one splits their focus on their profession.

To compensate for that gap, companies should allow for their technologists (and those closest to the technologists) to provide them with 2-3 months time of training. Now, training can involve paying for courses and certifications, but also for self-learning. Some of the avant garde technologies coming out don't even have books yet. Perhaps, this 2-3 month training period also implies allowing for people to thoroughly evaluate a technology rather than push it to the moon and thereby making a rationale decision whether or not the company can utilize it.

For individuals whose companies are unwilling to provide such an environment, I highly suggest that you take 2-3 months and focus on a new technology or two and learn it well. Then attempt to employ it within your company to gain practical experience with it.

For myself, I've noticed that I can keep my enthusiasm up for technology through these cycles. Prior to AJAX, web programming was really getting stagnate for me. Just CRUD, some validation, and organizing data in a certain manner. However, right now I'm seeing my best productivity come out as a result of these 2-3 month cycles. I feel that I reach a point where my brain gets overloaded on a certain technology then requires a kind of buffer flush. The nice thing about my approach is that my job never feels stagnate (unless I work in a pit like HLIKK) and that I can constantly push myself forward.

Part of the reason why people quit their jobs isn't just about the money, but the stagnation of what they do. Technologists in particular require challenges, new mountains to top in order to retain their interest in a company. Companies that provide these environments have better chances of retaining than companies that simply try to hike up a person's salary level. The salary hike is okay, but I still think people want to be stimulated. Only the most useless and lazy people want to remain stagnate. In implementing this type of program though, companies can quickly identify those people who simply don't care.]]> Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:07:29 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/29/4a3c100b898d97dc2f1b76f0993cafe8.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/8/10/2d525ba0985da99de699641127531ecd.html Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:19:15 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/8/10/2d525ba0985da99de699641127531ecd.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/8/16/77b842df629a60c02b524ae90eb6bf3b.html
At home, my little chair has been tortured by my increased physical laziness in that I tend to lay back on it as if it were a recliner. Rather than await the day when the back snaps off and stabbing my spine with remnants of a jagged plastic stump, I decided to move into a pro-active mode through achieving independence of my computer desk and utilizing my recently neglected laptop.

From that, I just configured my desktop and laptop with NFS, mounting my home directory. My LAN lines giving me about 100mbs, I can fluidly utilize my desktop's generous hard drive space while employing my laptop from the comfort of my couch as my legs are indolently propped up against my one seater.

To me this is the future of home computing. Hopefully, more offices start to realize this and implement more relaxing settings for their employees.]]> Sat, 16 Aug 2008 02:01:29 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/8/16/77b842df629a60c02b524ae90eb6bf3b.html