Insomnia, Libraries, and Loose Ends

Last Workday Feelings

As yesterday marked my final day at work in 2025, my Out-of-Office notice simply stated that I would be returning in 2026, without specifying a date. It made yesterday feel like the start of a weekend, which it wasn't, but your mind tends to play tricks on you. Then, I’ll be channelling Brian.

That feeling had one benefit: I wasn't too bothered by the nighttime insomnia that affected me more than expected. By the afternoon, I was barely able to concentrate or stay awake. I had to ask to leave early, and it still took another 90 minutes to exit the office.

The Mandatory Training Dilemma

At home, I enjoyed a good lie-in, but I couldn't shake the thought of the mandatory training I had to complete before the year ended. I needed to get it done quickly before genuine holiday feelings set in. However, I must admit, I have commitments to certain social events that prevent me from leaving Manchester soon.

I planned to finish the mandatory training at the central library, which has a large reading room. The downside was that if you don't arrive early, you might not find a socket for your laptop. When I finally found a socket, it wasn't working.

Back to the Office

Soon, I was struggling, but I got halfway through the course before deciding that heading to the office would provide everything I needed to complete my tasks for the year: connectivity, lighting, comfort, familiarity, and ambience.

Colleagues were surprised to see me back, especially since I had already said goodbye most of the day before. Brian guessed I might be the last to leave, as I had arrived just before 3:00 PM. I didn’t pursue that conversation, since he could easily have asked me to leave the office before I finished.

Mission Accomplished

I completed the mandatory training on Agentic AI and scored top marks in the assessment, then did another Health and Safety course that wouldn't be due for another month. I seized the opportunity to do it now, and it was best to get it out of the way.

I can now effectively close for the year. Any activity or study from this point onward can be undertaken at leisure, without the pressure of deadlines. As Brian prognosticated, I am the last one in the office. It also means I won’t have to return until 2026. What a wonderful year it has been.

Thought Picnic: How we weep more than the bereaved

Managing the inputs

I have experienced bad dreams, some quite vivid, usually caused by medication I am on, but I also have a very active imagination. I can easily conjure up anything, which is why I control the kinds of input that enter my thoughts, especially what I see or watch.

For that reason, I do not watch horror films; childhood memories of terrifying events keep me guarded about the conversations that reach my ears.

When I was twelve and in secondary boarding school, one night I dreamt that something terrible had happened, and I believed that dream. I was inconsolably distressed most of the day until I received news that everything was fine and that the situation had been a creation of my mind and imagination.

Controlling your thoughts

The mother of a friend used to enquire about him, but her thoughts were filled with worries about something bad happening to him. Although he might be prone to mishaps, I gently advised her to change her thinking and to remove her anxiety by thinking good thoughts when they had not spoken for a while. I told her to surround him with positivity rather than dread.

A certain principle applies: if you have nothing good to say about something, then say nothing. Similarly, I suggest that if you have no good thoughts about something or someone, abandon the negative thoughts and seek better ones for your own peace and well-being. Your thoughts do not necessarily control the person you are thinking about.

How we manage the influence of premonitions, foreboding, and anxiety depends on how we train our minds. If I wake up thinking something bad has happened, I do not immediately accept that as my reality without evidence. I am more likely to comfort myself with the thought that all is well, or to pray for peace and calm amidst the uncertainty—this is better than being driven by every gust of fear and doubt.

A ship caught in a storm will likely founder if the captain and crew do not keep calm, and lives could be lost in the process. We are the captains of our minds, managing the storms of thoughts that pass through them. Yet, we sometimes give these thoughts life by voicing them or acting upon them.

Living with better thoughts

I understand that after a cancer diagnosis, some people might be worried and concerned about me. I cannot fully imagine how they felt, but I was at the centre of that situation. I had the cancer; they only had their imagination. Perhaps if their thoughts had been encouraging about better outcomes, I would have appreciated their positivity to help my situation.

You cannot live solely by the thoughts of others, especially in adversity; you need sources of upliftment that dispel the worst fears. I did not dwell on how cancer might kill; instead, I listened to messages about healing, health, living, thriving, and being strong. Out of over thirty hospital visits, only twice did I have a chaperone—because I needed to keep my thoughts positive.

If I, as the person most affected, can maintain hope, and there are many in worse situations who are not thinking the worst about their circumstances, why then are others we consider close to us full of fear, anxiety, and worry on our behalf? It makes no sense at all. There might be an inadequacy in their development of positivity and faith.

Listening carefully

The other day, after telling someone I had had cancer twice, instead of listening to what I said, he began to talk about herbal remedies and the supposed causes of cancer. A musician by profession is quite a leap from an oncologist. I was so irritated by his ignorance disguising itself as knowledge.

I know the effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy; they can be deadly, and side effects are horrible, but we do not abandon cancer treatment. In most cases, we manage the side effects and ultimately recover.

After all this rambling, perhaps the best thing to say is: please, do not weep more than the bereaved, worry more than the affected, or be burdened more than the truly infirm. Carrying an imaginary burden heavier than the real one is a feat beyond belief.

When we manage our thoughts properly, what might be pity or sympathy often turns into empathy. We walk that long, hard mile in another's shoes, understanding them instead of making it about ourselves, our thoughts and emotions shifting focus away from them.

It is well.

I paused the video so she could take a rest

Too mule to train

My Brian would love the role of a personal trainer, bless him, but not if I could help it. For one, I respond better to gentle persuasion than instruction. 4 years of secondary boarding school was enough of being ordered around that I was unpersuadable about going to sixth-form school and my mother who was a principal then could have obtained entry to any school of choice, but she could not get between my ears.

Obviously, he has taken interest in my return to the gym, discipline and persistence are rivals to my continuing to the point of seeing benefits. The topic of music for my workout came up again and his suggestion just was far from impressive. Yes, I could say to rowers in Cape Town, “Put your back in it, just a little more.”, God forfend in my sweating exhaustion I play that back to my own hearing to urge myself on. [YouTube:Masters at Work – Work at your leisure.]

My drumsticks hurt

As for calling me chicken as if to dare me, what I decide to do is what I do, names are just that, names. Don’t forget chickens are probably the hardiest and most maltreated animals in the whole, yet they thrive in whatever condition they are in. To be chicken is to have tenacity, the will to live and hold life sacred without unnecessarily courting danger.

I picked up a little more speed in my brisk walk on the treadmill, going at 6 km/h for starters and then up to 6.6 km/h for the last 15 of 25 minutes. I worked up a good sweat. Then moved to the floor exercises, going back to an old favourite Rebecca-Louise Smith on YouTube and she left me in the dust. It would take time. Maybe I should take the advice of a comment. “I paused the video so she could take a rest.”

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Meanwhile, for my workout music, it was Anita Baker which strangely was not on my phone, I had it in the cloud on OneDrive and thankfully, the gym offers free Wi-Fi. To stream directly from the cloud, I use the CloudPlayer Premium app.

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Suffice it to say, by the time my timeslot was up, I was ready to up and leave. Tomorrow is another day.

Constantly learning to improve oneself

Experience under review

When I tell people in my professional circle that I have been working with Microsoft System Management Server (SMS) since 1996 with version 1.1, it is neither to intimidate nor to show off, but I hope it comes with a sense of authority that I have an idea of what I am talking about. This knowledge has defined the majority of my professional career.

Experience is a good thing and the SMS we knew then has gone through many name changes and version iterations, features added on, deprecated, evolving and maybe even transmogrifying into a monster of client, user, device, application, and data management proportions.

It became System Center Configuration Manager which we termed SCCM that the professionals called ConfigMgr, then last year, the name changed to Endpoint Configuration Manager, but we have the acronym MEMCM to play with. No questions to that apart from the fact that our Microsoft development and support backchannels prefer it that way and on Twitter, that is the hashtag they will respond too. [Wikipedia: Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager]

Exchanging ideas for improvement

We have a large and active community of administrators and architects who not only share ideas, solutions, and tips, we are also the best innovation resource for getting features implemented in the product, some of which I have contributed to going back over 15 years.

That I know how the product works does not mean I am the apostle of product functionality or technology, I am constantly looking for new ideas and perspectives, scenarios others have encountered that they have applied novel solutions to and shared with our community.

I have a test lab at home running on an extensive setup of virtual machines on which I try out ideas and gain conversance with the new features. Nothing works as good as having an issue at work and me logging on to my home network to check things out either to affirm or dispute issues.

Going back to the roots

Yet, more pertinently is the need for someone with my experience to find time to go back over the fundamentals, the first principles, or the essentials. It is important to never assume that the primers or introductions cannot contain new and useful information to help reinforce or finally, debunk a premise that was getting the prominence of gospel truth until the times and changes obviated that assertion.

For my weekend reading, I found a 346-page manual of how to setup MEMCM from scratch, I know a lot of it, and I and still learn much more, I am open to new knowledge that would give my expertise more heft. The job of learning never ends and like I sometimes say, that is a good thing.

Caught skipping with the girls again

Between Jim and the gym

Just after my birthday, I thought about it again, the need to keep fit and trim, knowing that the passing of time leaves changes one must have in control before it is too difficult to rein it in.

Having been away from home for weeks, I first had to update my swipe card access to the village gym which has everything including a swimming pool, a sauna and games room. The swimming I have to get to eventually, I have been too much of a log or a stone in water, there is no fun in that.

Knowing me, knowing shoes

Then, I needed to get the best shoes to cushion the effect of running because of lifelong shin splints. My research online yielded lots of information which boiled down to the best shoes that had fitting, quality or durability issues, not one stood out as the best and I was in information overload already.

A visit to the shopping mall with sports shops belonging to chains did not seem to offer much encouragement, I did not see anyone who appeared to have any useful knowledge about running shoes or trainers apart from their projecting the necessity to make a sale to the most gullible customer who dared to believe anything they said.

A size for a length

I took a walk down the main street and happened upon a small family shop that had one customer inside who had tried nothing less than seven pairs of shoes, the attendant, patient, understanding, explaining and serving. He seemed to know what he was talking about as I pulled up my references to guide me in decision making.

It became clear that my shoe size for normal shoes was probably two sizes smaller when trying on trainers, but when I slid my feet into Size 19 shoes, I could only presume something was wrong with quality control or the sweatshop makers of the shoes were making skis rather than shoes.

Eventually, I settled for a pair of the most comfortable and well-cushioned shoes, the fitting was so good, knowing how my feet have suffered through spurts of growth that shoes did not expand to, this is like shoe heaven.

Altogether, with Christmas approaching, I got discount on everything and probably paid 30% less along with free merchandise to boot. I was ready for the gym.

Skipping with the girls again

I then revived my gym membership with The Gym Group with the bundle that allows me the countrywide use of any gym in the group and we were on to an exercise program for the first four weeks and then the next four.

Down in Reading, I registered for an induction that went well before opting for a boot camp class. No gym equipment, just running, jumping and stretching over the course of 30 minutes. The setting reviving a childhood experience as I was the only male apart from the trainer in a group of 10.

My childhood fragility meant I was left skipping with the girls rather than playing football with the boys, it appeared I was back doing things with the girls again. Such is life at the gym.

Opinion: Wasting talent toward instant fame

Awesome humanity

This is probably a difficult subject, but one that needs addressing in many ways. We have to ask, what makes the world go round and gives us the comforts that we enjoy and others crave for?

Whilst every profession in its way brings value, there are professions that are more than essential and without creating or engendering rivalries, might be more important than others.

In areas of medicine and technology, if people did not make careers out of the looking to ease pain and discomfort out of curiosity and determination, what kind of a world will we have?

Other professions

In my case, I know that the absence of health can literally mean the absence of ability, will, strength or purpose to do anything else. Last weekend, I hopped on a plane to Bucharest, just because I thought I could go there.

However, I would not be here if not for the doctors, the nurses, the medicine and more invisible but critical support systems had not come to play over centuries of repetition, standardisation and perfecting to find a way to put cancer into remission and keep my health at one of the best levels I have ever had.

My journey to Bucharest also would have been impossible without the fundamentals of physics, the applications of chemistry, many mathematical equations, visionary and sometimes daredevilry thinking that has made cars, trains, airports, aeroplanes and all the backend systems down to the person who has to do the graft work of lifting and throwing my luggage about as it follows me on my journey.

Nurturing talent

This brings me to an aspect of discipline that will apply to literally any vocation, in an opinion piece for the Evening Standard under the title of “Talent is worth little without the hard graft that must go with it.” Sarah Crompton writes about the absence of star English dancers in ballet or contemporary dance.

She mentions three of the leading choreographers who have expressed concerns about the standard of contemporary dance training, Akram Khan for instance says, “I am concerned that somewhere, somehow, the training young dancers go through in the UK is not supporting them in the rigour, technique and discipline that I am looking for in a dancer.”

Lloyd Newson, says, the students trained here “lack rigour, technique and performance skills,” then, Hofesh Shechter suggests, British dancers are “consistently outclassed by fitter, stronger and more versatile dancers trainer internationally.” Let’s not go into the fact that these three leading Britsh exponents are Bangladeshi, Australian and Israeli, respectively.

Then Tamara Rojo, who is the Artistic Director of the English National Ballet, gets to the heart of the matter, “Do we want to promote instant success and instant failure, or do we want to promote self-esteem and hard work?” Now, did I say, she is Spanish?

Really nurturing talent for life

This is not to say there is no raw talent in Great Britain, we have much undiscovered and unrefined genius lurking in the inner recesses of the many youths who have not had the teaching, lecturing, mentoring, coaching or just help to realise their potential.

In other cases, and this is where it gets rather unfortunate, the syllabus structure in many disciplines beyond dance, in schools and universities are not equipping our youth for the varied careers needed to have a thriving country that is building for the future.

Much as we hear that the UK has the fastest growing economy in the developed world, the fact is this is not trickling down or lifting people up, it is the rich getting richer and the poor sinking further into poverty. The political battles of our election already show that the visionary has deserted our leadership; we are aiming for nothing, just fame.

That seems to be the career goal of most of our youth, instant fame, lots of money and a jet-setter’s life, without the really backbreaking hard work, but what is instant is just what it is. There is no depth, no rigour, no discipline, no attention to the fundamentals stemming from the patient and painstaking attention to detail and we wonder why people crack. Just imagine lifting a weight you have never practised for and the back gives.

Project Manager fame

I see this in my field of endeavour, Information Technology, everyone wants to be a Project Manager and they have all acquired the certificates like garlands to litter their CVs with the jargon and superfluity of words as pertains what they seem to have done.

The British in its Empire days had one amazing exportable skill, it was one of managing people, organisation and application, recognising ability and gathering men to perform. This is what put the Great in Great Britain, between negotiation and plunder, we created an Empire on which the sun never set. That is now history.

Sadly, what we now find in many Project Managers who usually get paid a lot more than everyone else are people without the rigour, the technique, the discipline, the depth or basic understanding of the management of projects, the management of people, the fundamentals of the project, the appreciation of the talent pool necessary to achieve project goals and how to nurture that skills pool to achieve results.

Then you wonder why projects fail, because in most cases, Project Managers are an abstraction from the core reality, task masters who have rarely done the task, let alone understood the task and they only have to converse with you to lay out their ignorance like a billboard.

The need for more dirty hands

I have only found a few Project Managers in my 25-year IT career who have taken the time to get involved enough to understand what we want to achieve so that they can take some realism away into crafting their project plans.

I have in certain instances had to take projects I am on by the scruff of the neck and assume the role because my reputation is at stake. Yet, this is the instant success or instant failure Tamara Rojo talks off, the absence of the essential grounding and pain of long-term practice and application that becomes evident when we are really tested by the reality of getting things done.

Objective tests will no more cut it, we need comprehension tests, application tests, less simulation and more practical hands-on, hands-dirty work with the sweat and hard graft that brands perfecting whatever we do into making us completely dissatisfied if things are not just the way they should be.

I salute everyone who does that extra bit beyond the necessary to ensure what they do, even above the call of duty and responsibility makes our world a better place. Thank you.

Thought Picnic: Toughened, Roughened, Hardened

To toughen

To be toughened up, that was the idea when they sent him down South to attend boarding school and get somewhat integrated in their culture.

Probably it was a sheltered kind of life, every need met or rather no need to have needs because the provision was there as both a duty and responsibility, maybe a sign of love too.

To roughen

However, this exposed him to things that were beyond the control of both himself and those who were always there to protect him, either by support, excoriation or some ritual, and that was what the semblance of home life became.

Yet, as he toughened up, he also hardened up, hardened in resolve, hardened in heart and hardened on various elements of life. What resulted was a breakdown of communication, a widening of the gulf such that when he most desired someone to understand and help, there was no one to talk to.

It was a rough time, as if life had really roughened him up and many times that roughening up has happened over decades.

To harden

Now, the detachment is so tangible that the relationship is just historical and almost trivial. Besides, that seems to have become of the foundation of many areas of relationship building that have never endured for long.

It is a sad development, sometimes one of regret, but life must go on, since that detachment was such that when he lay alone dying in a faraway land, none were there to mop his brow. Much as one cannot hold it against them, other ties have developed and the original ones have diminished in value and quality.

Beware of the temptation to send off your offspring for toughening because they might well end up hardened, an unintended consequence and a serious one at that.

In form for more forms

Back to form of forms

Gathered strangers of situation and circumstances from all walks of life seeking new relevance in the world of work.

Under the tutelage of some who for reason and opportunity find a calling in what they do as opposed to what they could do if they cared little.

Yet, they are all caught in the maelstrom and spectrum of ability that ranges from the talentless in other departments to the talented in company, the impartations sometimes useful or sometimes useless.

Tumbled by slumber

Forms ruled the day as time fillers and occupational activity, but one whose slumber interrupted his ability to keep pace was sent to his bed with much agitation, his bad luck, a result of his not being able to keep his eyes open.

Maybe he should have declared Human African trypanosomiasis as a condition, but he did not look African, probably he was a somnambulist and the course leader might have been a bit lenient, but the class being held back meant progress was too slow to retain any patience.

There is no shame is saying you have sleeping disorder, there are therapies and help available to those who recognise their frailties, but that is by the by.

Interesting insights

The discussions, lively, funny and humorous, the time passed with periods of boredom helped along with engagement and banter, sometimes skirting the risqué but never offensive – friendships can grow from this.

Why do you want this job?

What skills do you possess that makes you the right person for this job?

Apparently, those two questions are essentially the same question phrased differently and can be asked at different ends of the interview with the interviewer expecting similar rather than different answers.

In closing

However, one should hope that interviewers are not rigidly schooled in particular expectations without the flexibility to assess the total person beyond the rote of function and conformity.

A few more hand-outs, the polishing up of the marketing literature and the mandated requirement was completed to satisfaction with a certificate to boot.

Here is to better luck, favour and good fortune in the next endeavour.

Sent on a fool's errand to possible frustration

Like a fool’s errand

At a government mandated training course this morning where the disconnect between all related departments became so apparent that it was laughable, the dead hand of government protocols landed with a thud before us.

The question was whether any of the participants knew why they had to attend the course on advice and instruction of their advisors, for literally all the answers given, none was close.

Persuade to dissuade

The referral office was just ticking boxes without knowledge of the reasons to tick boxes, as each answer ranged from helping to write CVs, finding work for long-term unemployed, interviewing technique tips and useful preparations for work.

Surreptitiously, part of the purpose of sending people for this course is to frustrate them off the welfare roll and at least one of the attendees disappeared the moment the group broke up for the first break session.

To the market with the marketable

However, in the midst of the mundane and rudimentary, there are nuggets of wisdom, clues as to how people can alter their outlook and mind-set, leading to gainful employment.

Fundamentally, a CV is marketing literature; it is the means of selling yourself to the market. A market seeking talent and expertise you may possess.

The CV should create enough curiosity to excite interest, but it should never be overloaded such that there are no discussion points to give depth and detail to the ability and personality of the person.

The demeanour to project

We rise to challenges thrown our way in everyday walks of life but that boldness and confidence with which we effortlessly tackle problems seems to be lost at interview.

It is important to act naturally, being oneself rather than trying to impress thereby giving rise to nervousness, one of the factors indicative of poor interview technique.

Blessed at the font of the double page

The advice whilst useful could be quite prescriptive as preferred fonts being Garamond or Verdana, set headings providing uninspiring structure, page setups with set margins or that a CV must never exceed two pages with the employment history restricted to five years except for security or artistic roles.

For information technology roles, the suggestion is to use LinkedIn to document the other roles or have a webpage containing that detail.

Some things

Avoid clichés like ‘hard-working’ or ‘customer service skills’ in the profile because people are expected to be hard-working regardless, and customer service skills are innately functions of a person’s respect for others, acting courteously, politely and with a friendly disposition – you either have it or not.

Besides all this, forms, yes, many forms filled to the point of distraction but with the challenges, opinions, reviews, assessments and the ideas, it really was not a wasted day. Another day of observation and participation is set for the morrow.

Incredible India: Improving the Koenig Solutions brand - Part I

Between expansion and improvement

As my training classes draw to an end today, it has literally been 23 days of intensive coaching with just Sundays off. There were days I just could not take in anymore either by reason of fatigue or incapacitation brought on by the different environment I was in.

Koenig Solutions in their training services have become a brand and one can understand that every organisation has to balance the demands of growth and improvement. As I have noticed here and in many places, one always seems to take away from the other; the organisation has to be so utterly unique to manage both expansion and improvement in tandem without falling a victim of its own previously acclaimed success.

The trainers are really good

The core resource pool of Koenig Solutions is their trainers, young, highly educated, probably driven and maybe ambitious. It would appear the minimum academic requirement for acceptance into the training pool is a Masters degree, though I cannot say much for the other areas of their personal and personality development.

From what I have observed of some of them, they need some adventure and this cannot be acquired by just meeting with trainees who come here from all the corners of the globe.

Language proficiency

English with all its complexities, exceptions and nuance is probably one of the most forgiving of international languages, even where the command of the language is nigh on appalling, if the trainer is quite conversant with the material, they can deliver the curriculum well enough to the understanding of a majority of trainees who in some cases have English as a foreign language too.

In my view, I think Koenig Solutions should invest in more English language training for better expression and usage, not necessarily in the format of formal classes but in bonding encounters around debates, discussions, games and team-building. That way, people do not feel too exposed for their poor command of English even though they are brain boxes on the curriculum.

Koenig Solutions recently announced that certain courses will be conducted in French and considering the visitors from other Hispanic, Germanic and Lusophone countries one would expect Spanish, German and Portuguese to follow; it is doubtful that Italian will become one of those languages though Chinese will be an interesting addition.

Employees include others

Koenig Solutions appears to be a good employer when it comes to its trainers but those not the only people in the employ of this organisation; I leave India mortified at the living conditions of the staff of Koenig Inn and those of the people running the various apartments as reported by other trainees.

Beyond the main distinguishing factor of good trainers, the only other basic advantage of training in India is cost and that is hardly a great differentiator anymore. Training organisations in Europe are trimming their costs and offering incentives to attract the locals that will normally trot out to India.

Besides, Malaysia and Thailand which I dare say are somewhat more exotic locations are offering greater competition and it is only a matter of time before experienced Koenig India staff are lured away to train for these fledgling organisations that will be have newer and better equipment whilst offering even better support than Koenig Solutions has dared to attempt.

There are many areas where Koenig Solutions is in need of considerable improvement and it is a task that requires purposeful and immediate attention.

Location

The reason why I decided to take my training in New Delhi rather than at the other 3 centres in India was because I felt there was no way I could visit India without seeing the Taj Mahal. However, New Delhi is under a constant haze of fog and pollution it is really unhealthy at the best of times. The winter months are probably the best months to come here but Dehradun and Goa will be in my list of options the next time.

It is surprising that there are no training centres in Bangalore, Bombay or Chennai (Madras), I do not know if Koenig Solutions plans to open centres there.

Management

Sometimes things happen within this organisation as if lessons are not being learnt. I can chart a trail of management disarray and disorganisation from information I received for getting my visa, through my being picked up at the airport, a poor introduction process, tardy problem resolution from information dissemination, testing facilitation to internet connectivity and many other things that appear inconsequential but are major operational problems that show an organisation that is not being run like a tight ship.

From observation, it is almost impossible to say that Koenig Solutions has been in this activity for over a decade, for all the growth they seemed to have remained a tyro organisation repeating the same mistakes, offering the same excuses and hardly showing characteristics of a learning organisation.

Facilities

To suggest many of the systems are old is to proffer an understatement. I have taken pictures of systems that charities will probably reject. Much of the equipment is out-dated and they are not keeping up with technical advancements in the industry.

For instance, they offer a 3-month after course support but what is required beyond the classes is good access to the labs, even lesser organisations put a lot of stuff on the cloud. As I have noted before, it is amazing that an organisation that trains in current networking trends and systems cannot offer remote labs when we are present in India and for a limited period of time after we have left India.

Koenig Solutions might not be allowed to upload core curriculum material but having been in this business for over a decade, they should still be able to provide generic accessible systems in the cloud for trainees and ex-trainees to use to help reinforce the training they received in India.

Having been in the MN-1 & MN-2 buildings, I cannot vouch for the other buildings but it did cross my mind that fire safety rules did not matter, I could see the one access into the office areas and quite restricted exits if anything happened. In Europe, none of these locations will pass a fire safety test or be granted a fire safety certificate.

Impressions

All that said, I hope that one fundamental piece of information has not been lost by Koenig Solutions, the idea that trainees that attend courses in December are probably quite senior type personnel in a month that is not as busy.

They will form impressions about the whole gamut of services apart from training provided by Koenig Solutions and that could well inform their recommendations in terms of advising others of attending courses here.

To think there is much incentive in the paltry sums offered for recommending others is a fallacy at best, a service will be recommended if it exceeds expectations regardless of commission.

In general and my honest opinion is this – Koenig Solutions offers excellent training in terms of the personnel, uses average equipment in the delivery of the curriculum, can be quite mediocre in addressing issues raised by trainees either at the training centre or at the residences and really does not pass the muster of exceeding expectations.

I might return to India, I am not fully persuaded of a second helping of Koenig Solutions but then, I have only been in New Delhi; things can be different in Dehradun where they have their largest training centre, in Goa or in Shimla – there is much to be desired but the experience has been eye-opening and wonderful.

Incredible India: Up Against the Koenig Imperative

Boot camp revamp

I had a major falling out with my trainer this morning on a number of issues regarding the delivery of the curriculum leading to a certification I am in interested.

When it comes to boot camp training, it can be difficult to balance the issues of time, complete coverage, teaching, explanation and preparation for tests.

Much as I will like to attain my certifications as soon as possible, my learning methodology has never been by rote, accepted views or concepts have to have undergirding logic and I need to know that I am extending my body of knowledge.

The burden of history

For someone who has been in the ICT profession for 23 years, one can safely say a good deal of the concepts we take for granted today have their foundations in fundamentally primitive things we did decades.

People new to the field may have no need for the history of how, why and what things are today, maybe that is an advantage or disadvantage but it is impossible to expect those who have experience to just become sponges of new thinking without referencing knowledge they already have or activities that have practical affinity with the topic under discussion.

Intensive versus effective

Again, the curriculum is delivered in 6 8-hour days and sometimes Sundays, the danger of saturation looms, the trainer wanting to cover the requisite material, the trainee wanting to pace the absorption so that the quality becomes of greater significance than the quality.

In other words, there might be a case for 5 hours of effective training over 8 hours of intensive training, each trainee knows what they can handle before they begin to wilt and that is only just human.

Delivery prowess

Then, there are amazing differences between the two trainers I have had, the Microsoft Official Curriculum is tied to Powerpoint slides that were followed quite closely and made the taking of notes less easy especially in a one-on-one teaching setup.

The better delivery method with regards to the Powerpoint slides should have been having the slides offered as notes to trainees to annotate thereby helping link discussion with concept and reference.

In the case of my CCNA trainer, she is no less than prodigious, in the 4 days of my training already, she has not one referenced a note, she fills the board with point after point with literal total recall, in the probably 500 sentences she has written on the board, she has only once asked if one point had been written and that point was probably the least significant of the lot.

Rhyme without reason

Things began to reach a head yesterday when first certain definitions appeared to challenge the conventional use of language, English being the medium but meanings appearing to indicate the opposite.

I could not absorb the idea that Least Feasible Distance could go on to mean Best Option, regardless of tone, context, syntax or semantics, this was an exceptional anomaly and I felt quite uncomfortable with this.

I dare say English is not really the same between what is spoken and written in America and what the English speak especially when there is a purist determination in one’s mode of expression – that is just a fact.

English usage and meaning

I have worried that I might get caught out with American usage and Americanisms and a typical example I give is our pants are never exposed whilst Americans wear theirs openly. Alright, pants are underwear in England but trousers in America if viewed from an English perspective just as a negative is always a negative on our side of the pond no matter how many you string together whereas in America the mathematical double negative take precedent to yield a positive or the affirmative.

Another usage of Active and Passive which had the implication of opposites in the class seemed to be given a much more acceptable reading when explained in another context from other material I reviewed.

Just as we have English and US English dictionaries, I am beginning to think whilst allowances can be made for similarity and difference, there might be a case for clearly differentiating the material and not assuming English is really the same around the globe.

However, it was when a formula was written on the board that combined two unrelated units that I had had enough. I was not in class to jettison my engineering background and there had to be a reason why that formula was the accepted code.

Oranges and apples

At this point, I was impervious to the illogical and scientifically incorrect; I could not imagine that all the engineering in Cisco had produced a dimensional and mathematical inexactitude without reason.

That reason was not forthcoming, I was to absorb this by law and learn it by rote – for a person who was first precocious, then inquisitive, interrogative, curious, questioning, researching and challenging assumptions no matter how widely held, this was one of those moments where without reason there could be no progress.

Yesterday, I got up, closed my book, slammed the lid of my netbook and was ready to walk out of the course, she was able to placate me but I was far from satisfied.

Now, I know

On returning to my hotel, that was the first topic I researched and then I saw the extensive formula that got condensed to what was written on the board, the engineering and mathematical proof was evident – that for me is what you call the impartation of knowledge and the fulfilment of understanding – the why and how was there to see.

So, in the morning I took my discovery to my trainer and she acknowledged she knew this but it was beyond the scope of the course I was on. Whilst that was appreciated, I felt a conflict brewing because I was not just going to take everything as gospel but will require clear detail where assumptions are made that seem to challenge the concepts of language or science as predicated from my “wealth” of experience.

Fracture!

By the time we had exchanged a few good views about the material it was time for my trainer to say she could no more continue the training and I felt we had reached an irreconcilable impasse.

I then had a meeting with the officials and technical manager where generally what they seemed to be concerned with was the method (The Koenig Imperative – course material delivered within constrained time-frames leading to certification).

In some ways, I acquiesced and we agreed to continue the course because the curriculum is really an abridged version of the more serious engineering concepts that I will find more interesting and aligned to my engineering background.

Patching up

I can understand my trainer’s frustrations though I cannot say she fully appreciates that I cannot extend my knowledge of these concepts just by faith without seeking the fundamental reasons for why and how such conclusions were arrived at – it is just the bane of my kind of background, that I have become a somewhat difficult and impossible trainee after her having delivered this curriculum to well over 500 trainees is unfortunate.

I am not a robot, God help my intellect and we both need a healthy dose of patience with each other.

We appeared to patch things up and continue with the training, an interestingly eventful day. 

Incredible India: Conditions and Transitions

Silence is not absence

There might be readers of my blog concerning my training in India who might have thought I had already screamed myself hoarse and finally settled down to the scheme of things. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I have been busy and in many cases exhausted but there is so much to write about that the right frame of mind is necessary to be as articulate as possible.

As you would have noticed, I have registered no new comments with regards to my Internet connection that is not because the Internet access problem has been solved properly or that the service is anywhere near acceptable, I simply could not afford to suffer another night of absence of service that the next day I got a mobile Internet dongle that gives me close to unlimited access for the rest of the time I will be in India.

My colleagues at Koenig Inn have endured more frustration than I have the capacity for in terms of that as it were “funny” service. I have on occasion used the wireless Internet service but I suppose because I have contingencies, I am no more as affected.

Acquiring a Microsoft-infused mind

The main tranche of my course finished yesterday. It was a whirlwind tour of the Microsoft Windows enterprise framework strategy. We covered so many topics, I think I was stretched, learning new stuff, relearning interesting stuff and unlearning obsolete stuff – on the latter, there was much to unlearn with experience comes the vagaries of change that compel you to adapt or be face obsolescence.

Koenig Solutions also gave me a birthday present, not a free course but a complete set of all their souvenirs – Thank you.

Much as I seem to have some bravado to face some examinations in order terms I feel I am not as prepared as I should be. It is saturation environment from now on as I do practice tests on my mobile phone, read up on obscure topics and playback videos of the CBT material whilst awake and whilst asleep – my thinking has to become Microsoft(ed) if any such word exists.

Parting with my trainer, I can only commend his knowledge of the material, his understanding of the fundamentals, his confidence in the face of thorny questions and his appreciation of other perspectives that people bring in with regards to the practical experiences they have had. I will hope that I make a friend of him for the invaluable service he has offered.

Feng Shui we need

I received an email yesterday with regards to the next course that I hope to obtain a Cisco certification for. I cannot say much for the attention to detail when the laboratory room number indicated I was to be in a different building from what the email suggested – I am not complaining, just observing.

The training room is in the basement of another building, I would hate to think that I am already suffering the effects of bad Feng Shui and other complications of sick building syndrome – basically, I had basement offices and I have suddenly noticed that I have been in classes without windows, breathing processed air and using artificial light.

The part about breathing processed air is useful because New Delhi is in a constant haze of pollution, there are places you can go that give you serious throat irritation in a matter of minutes.

The same and different all the same

So, after finding my training room, I walked down the length of the corridor noting how clean the whole place looked and could not help but notice that unlike the other building, the sugar bowl had a lid that was used with the notice, to always cover the bowl after use. I still have issues with the spoon being in a cup of water, I would rather they had a proper sugar dispenser or plastic disposable spoons.

In all, many things are the same all around the place, the coffee machines, the water coolers, the serviette boxes, even the microwaves and yet all different – a concept of bulk similarity but varied utility depending on location as regards the training centres and the managed accommodations.

A visit to the gents was a bit more comforting, a lot cleaner in looks than the aging other place but with a façade of the worn, maybe by reason of age, one cannot say.

The lessons have started and this looks like it will be exciting stuff – there is much more to report some of which is almost too incredible to talk about but it will be remiss of me not to cover these matters in the next few blogs I post.

Incredible India: Happier with things at Koenig

Concentrating on the detail

The days at training seem to have settled into some sort of routine now though I am yet to kick into serious study mode.

Yesterday started well, I arrived early enough to at least socialise before my class started and soon we got into a topic I am not only keen of covering or learning, I was determined to understand the full detail of the subject.

This was quite pertinent because it was one in which I could find direct application and realise I had not been opportuned to use – my trainer took his time too to ensure I that I got the best grasp of the subject, it ended up being my longest day at the training centre.

Feedback on feeding back

Besides, early in the morning, as I logged into the “Center Automation System” that allows for a whole range of interactive activity with the organisation, I was presented with an “Interim Feedback” survey covering all aspects of my experience in India.

My trainer in my honest opinion obtained full marks other matters bordered from average to good but I did have a good few opinions about things that needed to be improved upon and felt it was best to reference my earlier 3 blogs on my experiences than itemise each issue again.

In terms of the survey, I felt the user experience was poor for the following reasons; it was not intuitive, the design was perfunctory and each of the rating elements lacked imagination in presentation, we were to offer most of our subjective opinions in terms of numbers from 0 to 10 and that was just not how to set up such surveys.

Words convey thoughts better

The redesign, if they so attempt to be so inspired and responsive is to change the answering model to modal words that in some cases will be one or a combination of the following sets of responses, {true, false}, {very satisfactory, satisfactory, unsatisfactory}, {good, neutral, bad}, {strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree} or {happy, unhappy}.

They could stretch these out to match a range of 10 radio buttons whilst the backend of the survey invisible to us might still use the numerate weighting if they so wish. The simple fact is words and phrases convey thought a lot better than numbers.

I also observed that for a training organisation they did not seem to be eating any of their own dog-food, for instance, if they offered CRM training they should be able to create useful surveys; as one that offered networking training, Internet access downtimes of almost 24 hours were just beyond the pale and most importantly, the labs which could be labour intensive and eat into essential class time to be remotely accessible to students to review and work on after-hours.

One would think that would help the reinforcement process considering most of the training manuals had content of up to 40% labs.

No sleepwalking into food bugs again

After the rite of passage in terms of my Delhi belly, I decided to be less adventurous with regards to food, I will stick to hot rice meals and make curd with honey part of my daily diet.

For my Tuesday class, I struggled to keep awake; the night before for restless and sleepless than I resorted to alarm-patting putting my wake calls into snooze mode every 10 minutes until I had to crawl out of bed and make for the training centre.

My trainer has not mastered the art of teaching into the dreams of nodding students, a skill I think he will do well to acquire.

The virtual prison of Internet down

Meanwhile, Internet access was down for a few hours but the centre proactively had someone bring round a notice to inform us of the problem and why. The road in front of the centre is being repaired and it appears the constructors had dug up the cables – the service was restored just around lunch but informing us ensured we did not end up being frustrated by the inability to access the Internet.

I was able to borrow a mobile dongle for about 15 minutes to check my email and other social networking sites and for short breaks I just go up to the terrace at the top of the building to take in some polluted air and smog, but then, that is New Delhi for you.

All over the world

I am meeting people from many places, as Angola, Tanzania, Cameroon, Eritrea, England, Germany, Iraq, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Nigeria evidently and so on. There is no doubt that the training is excellent; even those who came here with very little Information Technology knowledge, training or career backgrounds are passing their tests at first sitting – it is commendable.

What is also interesting is the number of people who have come here who do not live in their countries of origin, people like me who are in some ways world citizens and those with US military backgrounds; listening to some of the conversations, that setup appears to be an inscrutable bureaucracy rivalling the License Raj in the demotivation of personnel and absurd politics but awash in tax payers’ money expended on atrocious projects – enough said.

Some praise is due

After classes I was on a white-knuckle auto-rickshaw ride to the tailors to consider bespoke suit shopping, you had to be determined, not to be persuaded to buy what you do not want for needs that do not exist.

Dinner is now served as a buffet, the chefs constantly improving the menus and the setup now makes for less waste; that again was a suggestion that was heeded to. It would appear more people are moving from the apartments to our inn; word must have gotten out that things are at a standard that can be appreciated.

Well done to the staff at Koenig Inn and also to the Koenig Solutions team in New Delhi.

Other related blogs

Incredible India: Incredible Dissatisfaction

Incredible India: Honest to Koenig Solutions

Incredible India: We lost power to internet (sic)

Incredible India: The rime, the downtime and what not

Incredible India: Koenig Solutions being responsive

Incredible India: Honest to Koenig Solutions

Growth at the expense of quality

Much as I would want nothing to curb my enthusiasm, I have been forced to curb my expectations but only for a while.

I am saddened to hear that despite the successes of Koenig Solutions in the delivery of Information Technology training that has made them recognised partners with global IT firms of repute and won them many prizes and accolades, their push for growth and expansion is affecting other essential matters badly.

Now, there is a great possibility that the expectations of trainees from the West could be radically different from those of trainees from other parts of the world, it should not make for poor standards of management, administration and trust.

Those silly little things

It is the little things in many places that add up to losing confidence and the encouragement to recommend these albeit good services to others.

For me, it started with the confusion about visas then on to the poor arrangements for picking me up at the airport for which I am yet to get a decent explanation or apology for that cock-up, my training centre where the coffee area is so dirty as to constitute a health risk; the foul dustbin just beneath the coffee machine, the toilet facilities show aging and the hand-soap bottles are best left untouched so as not to invite a plague.

I have somewhat overcome the shock of what to expect for lunch, vegetarian meals from Haldirams will suffice though I know my dentition is naturally intended for meatier stuff with a tendency to vampire lust.

Discontent and frustration

The cooks at the inn seemed to excel themselves this evening for the chicken wings appeared to acquire the excitement of taste by reason of the spices generously poured over them.

However, I sense a seething discontent, complaints about promises left unfulfilled tantamount to untruths on the part of some staff at the centre. The lack of record-keeping in terms of fees paid or books ordered and delivered.

Having conducted courses for years with people from all parts of the globe no discernible lessons have been learnt to facilitate the couriering of the heavy books and manuals to the students’ home countries; verbal arrangements are made to take tests at certain times only for the trainees to be told the tests cannot be taken on the newly arranged dates.

Frustrated opportunities

Trainees who feel that the only advantage of coming to India offers is an environment distant from the distractions at home, some of the trainers not ensuring that their activity is helping the trainees that they have decided to skip class rather than complain out of frustration that only apologies will be offered without effective action to ameliorate the situation.

These are all little probably inconsequential things that could easily be overlooked but when each apparently forgivable thing is collated into a list of issues, you begin to see what are systemic management failings that are creeping onto a heretofore tight ship and it is only a matter of time before the weight of this becomes the fundamental disincentive to those who at one time were persuaded to engage the services of this organisation.

Quality needs to gain new focus

All that said and done, my training is going apace; I am learning new things each day; the times have been productive and I am gaining confidence in the areas where I was once weak. My trainer is a fine young knowledgeable man.

There is no doubt that Koenig Solutions can polish up their act, they have all the potential even in India to make the whole end-to-end experience world-class, efficient, excellent and considerably worthwhile and as for all the quantity, quality will always be the distinguishing factor when we put the matter of cost to one side.

It all matters, every single detail; so far, a straw poll of those from my side of the globe indicates their other colleagues will not hear glowing reviews of how things are at the moment and that would be an avoidable shame.