Sunday, April 01, 2007

Day Zero

A few years ago, I started a consulting company to provide project management services to a number of firms that had IT projects going, but no internal experience in taking a large project from A to B. At the same time as I built the business, I created an e-zine to communicate the trials and successes of starting a small business. I promised to keep a journal that revealed the good parts and the warts of my progress.

During the free-wheeling days of the Internet Bubble, these were fun days. I spent a lot of time documenting the joys of wheeling and dealing, the pains of transcontinental commuting, and the secrets of getting people who don’t work for me to get a project done on time and under budget. It turns out that I also was able to document how to bury a business after the Bubble burst. Like I said, warts and all.

Now, after a few years of licking my wounds and of putting my financial house back into less chaos, I’m going to jump back in the pool. This time, though, I’m not sending out an e-mail magazine. I’ll be blogging the progress – or failure. Believe me, I buried more than my share of small businesses, so I approach this with a touch of reality. However, the same rules apply. You get to see it all – warts and all.

It may be more fun to read someone who just naturally has the world and money fall right in their lap. Reading some of these entries may be a bit painful for you. I’ll try to forewarn you if that is the condition. However, I generally have a very positive outlook on situations, and will persevere through most problems. And, I’ve found in the past that if I share my problems, the readers share their solutions. We all end up learning from it.

So, wish us luck. Today is Day Zero. The counting may start from here.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Recruiters and Outsourcing


A recruiter called me in today to talk about a potential contract for project management. The requisition wasn’t unusual at all. Looks like a fun assignment. I’d love to get back in the saddle again.

What was unusual about this was that this was not a technology recruitment firm. This is the first time they have done anything of this sort. They usually specialize in executive recruitment. The project request from their client was specific and outside of their area of expertize. In fact, the recruiter needed much of the tech stuff interpreted for her.

I offered to translate, and an idea sprung to mind. I suggested that perhaps they could use me to develop a tech recruitment side line. I explained that this was the perfect time to get into that market. Just look at the forces that are aligned to move the market.

1. There are a vast number of IT jobs outsourced overseas. The IT unemployment problem is real and well documented.

2. Kids are shying away from the IT and computer science discipline. The job market isn’t there for them. And they watched their parents give up their lives in IT only to watch their futures get crushed by lay-offs.

3. Outsourcing is a pain. It involves turning control and trust for your core processes to people you do not know, and frequently have trouble understanding. The understanding is as frequently cultural as well as in accent. Your staff frequently resents the folks overseas. Your customers frequently have difficulty dealing with technical support with an accent and lack of sleep from being up long hours into the night to conform with our time zone.

4. Outsourcing returns on investment start to decrease sharply after the first two years. This is the result of interest turning to other problems in the organization. Pam says that American companies suffer from organizational AD/HD. I tend to agree. The next quarter is the only reality. Whatever affects that period of time gets all the interest. Once outsourcing show initial savings, it is pushed off the big priority list, and gets shuffled down to lower tiers to maintain.

5. Outsourcing causes problems in the countries where it is in place. Skilled workers there do not like to be thought of as cheap replacement labor. A rising middle class pushes prices up, and salaries must rise accordingly. Sweat shop conditions are being tolerated less and less.

6. Many outsourcing contracts are coming up for renewal. Quite a few of
them are going to be not renewed or scaled down. There already is a silent
insourcing movement. It is silent because no-one wants to be the first to admit
they are backing off from outsourcing until everyone admits to it.

7. Planning for a contract renewal or cancellation should take place 18 to 24 months before the contract comes up. Organizational AD/HD prevents planning for this length of time. The cowboys in the executive offices are once again going to be forced to “shoot from the hip.”

8. The economy is bound to start up its engines once we can get Iraq and hurricanes behind us. That just adds a multiplier effect.

If I were a recruiter, I would be gearing up to get all the IT geezers in line that I could find. Can I help you?

Sunday, November 27, 2005

May I Present My Resume

HANK HEATH
5242 Edmondson Pike, Apt 416
Nashville, TN 37027
ph: 615-598-3832
e-mail: hheath@resolutionx.com

EXPERIENCE:
Depth of experience in management, technology, and sales

EMPLOYMENT:

Business Sales
Dell, Inc., Nashville, TN
Feb, 2005 to present
Sales to businesses with less than 400 employees and needs for computer networks
and servers.

Contractor ResolutionX, Inc., Brentwood, TN
November 2004 to Feb 2005
COBOL programs for purchasing order conversion.
I.T. Manager

Dunn Corporate Resources, Marlton, NJ
March 2000 to Nov 2004
Accomplishments:

Created new claims management system for unemployment compensation management.
Migrated legacy AS/400 programs and NT-based network to Linux/Java systems.
Reduced overall costs of network by eliminating expensive servers and introducing thin clients.
Worked with state agencies about data formatting.
Introduced document imaging.

Team: 1 programmer; 1 remote contractor.


Project Manager
HLHeath Consulting, Salt Lake City, UT
Feb. 1997 to Mar. 2000

Client: Petersons, Lawrenceville, NJ.

Impleted graduate web-site channel redesign. Produced the graduate channel.
Produced home page in conjunction with marketing, sales, and book
production. Produced Vantage (GRE and GMAT computer-adaptive tests).
Expanded co-branding opportunities (AOL, Gradschools.com, and the U.S. Air
Force).

Team: 5 programmers; 2 graphics designers; 1 administrative assistant.


Client: Medco Systems, Marlton NJ
Accomplishments:

Web site for management consulting group.
Team: 2 programmers.


Client: notsoldseparately.com, Merchantville, NJ
Accomplishments:

Managed projects for notsoldseparately.com’s clients: POS systems
(WineAccess.com) and a realty trackingsystem (TenantMix.com)
Team: 5 programmers and 1 administrative assistant.


Client: GBM, San Jose, Costa Rica
Accomplishments:

Risk management and contingency planning to businesses and government agencies
in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, San Salvador,
and Honduras.


Client: IBM Global Services, White Plains, NY
Accomplishments:

Subcontracted to IBM clients for project management: Mainframe migration project
( District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department Team: 15 systems engineers

Embedded chip retrofit project (District of Columbia Department of Corrections) Team: 12 electrical and mechanical engineers

SAP preparation project on AS/400, DEC VAX, and HP-3000 (Stanley Tools)
Team: varied depending upon project steps


Client: Con Quest Data Corp

Accomplishments: Managed software migration on AS/400 for Alabama state government
Team: varied depending upon project steps


Vice President, Consulting
Medco Systems, Inc., Marlton, NJ
Feb 1993 to Feb 1997



Client: International Schools Services, Princeton, NJ
Accomplishments:

Managed the delivery of client/server software for the recruiting conferences of
International Schools Services on PCs. Macintoshes, and AS/400.

Client:
Coopers & Lybrand, New York, NY

Accomplishments: Provide project
management for AS/400 projects Provide programming services for AS/400 projects

Client: CoreTech, King of Prussia, PA
Accomplishments: Provide
project management for AS/400 projects
Provide programming services for
AS/400 projects


Client: John M. Ward & Associates, Lakewood, NJ

Accomplishments: Managed the conversion of a stand-alone PC application in
Foxpro to run on RS/6000 and AS/400


Client: CoreStates Bank, Philadelphia, PA
Accomplishments: Capacity planning International consolidation of sites (Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, and Seoul)

Senior Systems Engineer
Rosenbluth International, Philadelphia, PA

Mar 1989 to Feb 1993

Accomplishments: Established Rosenbluth.com domain for experiments in Internet
commerce.

UserVision: Managed the Accomplishments of an application to
allow travel managers to directly access the travel information.

Installation of Novell network connected to an AS/400.

Created
data warehouse on the AS/400
Set up token-ring and APPN networking into the
AS/400 - S/38 boxes.

Senior Technologist Ryder Truck Rental, Miami, FL.
Mar 1984 to Mar 1989

Accomplishments:

Planned installation of 108 AS/400's throughout U.S. for FIS (Field
Information Systems) project.

Trained Level One Support.
Researched
APARs and PTFs. Tested PTFs before implementation on live systems.

Built
an APPN (SNA) wide area network to link IBM midranges and PCs with 43XX.

Developed shop automation project to co-ordinate internal truck repairs
and inventory over a network of PC's with bar-code scanners and printers to
S/36's


Computer Scientist Calspan, Buffalo, NY
Jan 1983 to Mar 1984

Accomplishments:

Wrote programs for data collection in trans-sonic (through the speed of sound)
wind tunnel tests

.

Programmer/Analyst
Sorrento Cheese, Lackawanna, NY
Aug 1981 to Jan 1983

Accomplishments:

Wrote programs for sales analysis and inventory control.


Advanced Training Center, Tonawanda, NY
Jan 1978 – Aug 1981

Accomplishments:

Directed staff in computer and robotic theory training.


Manager
Carroll’s Restaurant, Fredonia, NY
Jan 1976 to Jan 1978

Accomplishments:

Fast food management.


Teacher
Buffalo Public Schools and Batavia Public Schools
Sep 1973 to Jan 1976
Mathematics teacher.

Purchasing Manager
A. J. Wahl, Inc., Brocton, NY May 1971 to Sep 1973
Accomplishments:

Managed purchasing crew of buyers and "value-add" engineers.

Education: BA Mathematics Fredonia University, Fredonia, NY., 1973
MS Mathematics Fredonia University, Fredonia, NY., 1980