John Unwin

Keedy Diner

2010-02-13T14:09:00.001-08:00

Breakfast in a 50s style diner - two eggs over easy!

WCF Windows communication framework

2009-05-04T20:54:00.000-07:00

I am busy implimenting WCF into the KaiTrade Accelerator to allow a wide variety of applications to access the platform and support server based drivers and connectors. In particular, I'll be releasing a FIX server and hub based on WCF in Q3.

My expectation is that WCF will provide a good balance of performance ( say instead of doing it all in TCP/IP sockets) and access web services.

While doing this, I will start a lens with WCF topics I find useful - see http://www.squidoo.com/wcf

For those times....

2009-04-19T20:30:00.001-07:00

If you are feeling driven to drink by the way things are - here is my lens showing how to make malt whisky http://www.squidoo.com/malt-whisky

Given you'll need peat, and Scottish spring water for starters perhaps better just savor a dram, or better still take time out to visit Scotland.

Just messing with Animoto

2009-03-10T21:24:00.001-07:00

Three Value Disciplines

2009-02-07T18:15:00.000-08:00

While thinking about the way my start-up company (KaiTrade) works, I was driven to ask the question: what sort of organization are we? and decided to look at an approach where you analyse things in terms of three value disciplines:

1 Operational Excellence

This is characterized by supply chain optimization, stressing efficiency and reliability. For example, in the case of a fast food corporation or large retailers – the financial goal is increasing ROI. These organizations hold critical skills and control at the centre of the business with less emphasis on empowerment. The systems in use support command and control, standard operating procedures and quality management.

2 Customer Intimacy

In this case the organization concentrates on customer service. They focus on the needs of individual customers as with, for example, a boutique store. Their goal is to reduce their margins; operationally the firm will focus skills at its boundaries (the customer) and will significantly empower its people. Management systems will seek to measure customer equity and satisfaction, and will provide a single view of customers, seeking to find new market segments and offerings – they will employ a wide range of distribution channels, including social networking.

3 Product Leadership

In this case an organization will be driven by product development and time to market - for example BMW and Nokia. They will have an organic structure and will value technical excellence. Management will focus on risk and on rewarding innovation; key IT systems will support collaboration and simulations. The organization’s goals will concentrate on increasing market cap.

In our case, the boundaries are blurred, with product leadership taking the primary position, followed by customer intimacy – since we must deliver the latest technology and high performance for algorithmic trading systems, yet need to accommodate customers’ (traders) individual needs.

It is certainly true that operational excellence is a vital characteristic of the trading process in terms of handling high volumes of messages and orders, and we have chosen to work with our customers’ (larger firms and institutions) existing transaction-based systems rather than try to provide an end-to-end system ourselves.

In this way, we concentrate our core competencies on the value disciplines where we can make the biggest impact and complement the disciplines that our clients do best.

Understanding our own value discipline helps us identify what matters when making business decisions: what we can do to incease value, how we partner to benefit from the value others add, how we use our resources, and which target markets we engage.

Simply Brilliant

2009-01-28T19:58:00.000-08:00

Here are some notes from the book called Simply Brilliant by Fergus O'Connell, this has been a great help in getting things done in a common sense way.

1 Many things are simple

Many things are simple - so why make them complicated:

· Ask yourself what is the simplest thing to do?

· Can you describe it on an elevator ride?

· How would you explain it to a 6 year old?

Lastly always insist on simple explanations.

2 Know what you are trying to do

To me this has been the best lesson - sure we think we know what we are doing, be sure you can answer questions like these:

· How will we know when we are finished?

· What physical things will it produce?

· How will the quality of those things be determined?

· What things are definitely parts of this?

· What things are definitely not parts of this?

In other words you must know when you are done.

3 There is always a sequence

In all project there is a sequence of events:

· Make a journey in your head and do it in as much detail as possible.

· Use knowledge and assumption you have made.

· Find alternative ways, there always will be other ways to solve the problem.

· Note what actually happens and look for connections.

4 Things don't get done if people don't do them

This is so obvious it is often overlooked - make sure someone is responsible for each item that needs to be completed.

The book uses the concept of dance cards (A dance card is used by a woman to record with whom she will dance each successive dance at a formal ball. from Wikipedia)

In the same way each team member has a card with all the tasks they will undertake, and every task needs to be on someone’s dance card.

5 Things rarely turn out as expected

Things hardly ever go to plan, so you need to consider the risks and have contingency in place to cover the inevitable.

I ask people to put down their top 3 risks, that way it is quick to get a picture of the main risks:

· Which risks are likely to affect our undertaking

· Likelihood of each of these risks happening

· Impact of each risk

· Calculation of our exposure

6 Things either are or are not

I use this to consider what had been done, a task is finished or not - avoid the part progress reports of small task.

7 Look at things from other peoples viewpoint

It’s true to say that things are simple, but take the time to consider the problem from different points of view. For example in my field considering an issue from the perspective of software developer and a customer support associate can provide a crucial insight.

8 Do things in the shortest possible time

Finally the book shows great techniques to getting things done in the shortest possible time; an example is the "One Day project scoping exercise" this really works.