Author: Jenn Steele

Apologies…

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Sorry about the brief blog hiatus; I’ve been working too hard. And too much. I’ll have a post by the end of the weekend, assuming I don’t have to work again.

On Assumption

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Friday morning, I woke up with a horrendous cold. My throat was sore, my sinuses were stuffy, my ears hurt, and my nose couldn’t find the “off” valve on the snot spigot. (Hope you weren’t eating…) I couldn’t sleep, and my brain was as stuffy as my sinuses. I decided to stay home, since I was non-functional and felt pretty crappy.

Mid-morning, I had to troubleshoot a minor (but extremely annoying) issue that some of the users were having. I felt like it was a Sisyphean task with my stuffy brain, but got it done. The next issue, however, I could not in any way solve, and I had to leave that to my extremely capable staff.

Obviously, I found it frustrating that I wasn’t operating at 100%. I knew that I had disappointed people, who were hoping that I had some insight to add to the technical challenge.

After my nap, I realized that I tend to assume that my geeks will always be operating at 100%, and so do our customers (the infamous “users”). And this is a fundamental fallacy that many leaders tend to follow, because not everyone can be 100% all the time. In fact, in today’s stressful world, it is probably rare to find someone at 100% any part of the time.

I haven’t yet figured out a way to communicate this to the users (“Please be patient–we’re human and trying our best, but we can only do so much” doesn’t play well), but I can certainly keep it in mind while leading my geeks.

New About Post

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I realized my first one was way out of date:

Having the misfortune of sharing a name with a porn star (boy, did that shock my father when he Googled me!!), I realized that I wanted to look at my online personal brand and start building it. Then I realized that I cared less about personal branding and more about sharing my thoughts with the World. My thoughts on leading fellow geeks or complaints about grammar, that is.

My name is Jenn Steele, and I am a Leader of Geeks.

I am the director of information technology at Morrison Mahoney LLP. I hold an MBA from the Simmons School of Management (2008) and a B.S. in biology from MIT, with a minor in expository writing. Prior to Morrison Mahoney, I was the director of information technology at Donovan Hatem LLP from 2002-2007, and the senior applications specialist at Burns & Levinson LLP from 2000-2002. I also have held positions in the health and human services industry.

I live in Waltham, Mass. with my husband and utter lack of any other living things (pets, plants, children, etc.). My hobbies include fine wine, single malt scotch, physical fitness, science fiction television, and epic fantasy novels. I have an obsession with figuring out what motivates people, and tend to concentrate on scientists and technologists. I have a severe Blackberry addiction with no plans for rehab any time soon, much to my husband’s chagrin (although I did take it off vibrate mode and now only check it every 20-30 minutes or so while at home).

Words that have been used to describe me include:

  • Refreshing
  • Straightforward
  • Honest
  • Intimidating
  • Inspirational
  • Odd
  • Funny
  • Intelligent
  • Blunt
  • Perceptive
  • Weird

My speaking engagements and articles include the topics of interpersonal conflict resolution, social networking, professional development, and business disaster recovery/business continuity.

My Myers-Briggs type is ENFJ. This likely gives me an amusing perspective on geek life.

My goal in life? I want to lead geeks. Or lead those who lead geeks. I think that the general mindset of those who choose to go into technology is, uh, different, and thus requires more thoughtful leadership. My personal strengths are in strategy and leadership. Apparently, I have been accused of having people skills and a sense of humor as well. As such, I can be a liaison between geeks and Other Folks.

I also blog for Simmons at http://www.simmons.edu/reconnect/jenn-steele/.

Enjoy!

The Grammar Geek LOVES This

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From http://www.laughitout.com/2008/11/english-is-such-difficult-language.html

  • The bandage was wound around the wound.
  • The farm was used to produce produce.
  • The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse
  • We must polish the Polish furniture.
  • He could lead if he would get the lead out.
  • The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
  • Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
  • A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
  • When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
  • I did not object to the object.
  • The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
  • There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
  • They were too close to the door to close it.
  • The buck does funny things when the does are present.
  • A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
  • To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
  • The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
  • After a number of injections my jaw got number.
  • Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
  • I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
  • How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

The Grammar Geek: IEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

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Once again, I’m venturing into grammar geekery about something that constantly makes me twitch: the usage of i.e. Somehow, folks in my life seem to think this little abbreviation means “for example”. For example, “We’ve seen minor issues following patch installation, i.e. application hanging, credential prompting, etc.”

Wrong!

The nifty little abbreviation that actually means “for example” is e.g.

  • I.e. is an abbreviation for id est from the Latin meaning “that is, in other words”.
  • E.g. is an abbreviation for exempli gratia from the Latin meaning “for example”.

The abbreviations are often italicized because they are abbreviations of foreign words. However, they are both common enough that you’ll often see them in non-italicized font. For example, “etc.” is also a Latin abbreviation, but it is incredibly common and therefore never italicized.

On Postitive Attitudes

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As I head towards the bus on a normal evening’s commute, I pass by a homeless gentleman selling Spare Change newspapers. Since I usually have reading material or use my Blackberry on the way home (yes, I’m on a bus–drivers aren’t in danger), I don’t want the newspaper when I give him money, but he gets me to take one anyhow. How? He asks nicely.

He tells me in a positive, friendly voice that he’s been there since 6:00 AM (and it’s more than 12 hours later), and he only has a couple more to sell before he’s done. He then chats about how he heard it was below freezing in Maine this morning, or how everyone seems tired from watching the Red Sox last night.

I keep stopping and giving him money. I keep taking that paper that goes straight into the recycling at home. Why? Because he’s pleasant to deal with. After a long day, a friendly word and an uplifting little conversation really makes me smile.

This is something I attempt to teach my user-facing geeks. I know it’s tough to work a Help Desk, since you only interact with people when something goes wrong or they need something from you, but having that positive attitude and relating to them as fellow human beings can actually make the geek’s job easier. It can make the geek’s job easier because the person on the other end of the phone will be more likely to treat the geek politely the next time he or she has a computer problem.

As a leader of geeks, I have to make sure that my geeks know that they should come in and vent to me when they get frustrated rather than take it out on the users. That helps them to stay positive on the Help Desk. But even more effective is letting them get to know the users as people. I encourage them to go to firm social events and say hello to people in hallways. Unfortunately, the users themselves often ignore the geeks, but that’s a post for another day.

The Grammar Geek: The Reign in Spain

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I have to admit that I’m really tired of people “raining in” the downloading of music to their networks. I mean, not only is downloaded music a complete annoyance for companies, but water + networks = total badness–trust me, I have experience with this one.

They’re actually trying to rein in this practice. You know, like using a horse’s reins in order to stop or slow it down?

And I’ve only seen people try to reign in their users once or twice. This one almost makes sense if you’re looking at your network geek as a king or queen. But almost does not an idiom make.

So the saying is to “rein in” a practice that you wish to restrain. Got it? Excellent.

I’m all Bloggy

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Simmons (where I did my MBA) has started a blogazine, and I’ve been selected as one of the alumnae/i (seriously, how ridiculous is that word?) bloggers.

Here is the site (where you can read my bio), and here is my first entry. I’ll be updating monthly, and you can find my entries here.

Enjoy!