Bryan Oh

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New York, New York, United States My profile

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Test Test Advice from an Information Architect (IBM) Linux Laptop Client Facilitation Tipping Point

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February 2008 July 2008 January 2009 November 2012

Laptop

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

So I ordered the Lenovo ThinkPad T61 over a month ago through CMU's student discount program. However, the laptop never came and whenever I called the computer store, they kept telling me that it was getting delayed. With only a week left until I go back to Pittsburgh, I decided that I didn't want to wait any longer. While browsing the internet, I found a good "back to school" deal on the Lenovo website, and I customized it with the following specs:

• Intel Core™ 2 Duo processor T9300 (2.5GHz 800MHz 6MBL2)
• Genuine Windows Vista Business
• 14.1 WXGA+ TFT
• nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M 128 MB video Card
• 2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
• UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
• 160GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
• CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim
• Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (supporting Centrino Pro)
• No Bluetooth
• 9 cell Li-Ion Battery
• 1 Year Depot Warranty - Express

The grand total came out to exactly $1,229.56. After putting in my new order, I immediately called up the CMU Computer Store and cancelled my previous order.

The Heinz Program at CMU also offers the Lenovo T61, except the specs are as follows:

• Intel Core 2 Duo processor T8300 (2.4GHz 800MHz 3MBL2)
• Genuine Windows Vista Business
• 14.1 WXGA TFT
• nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M 128 MB video Card
• 2 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
• UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
• 160 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
• DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim
• Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (supporting Centrino Pro)
• Integrated Bluetooth PAN
  
• 6 cell Li-Ion Battery
• 3 year accidental protection
• 3 year depot warranty

CMU offered the above model at a discounted price of exactly $1,230. So basically, both versions cost the same. Overall, my custom made T61 dominates CMU's T61 except for the warranty. Essentially, what I did was gamble away the insurance of my laptop for better specs: faster processor speed, better screen resolution, longer lasting battery life. Although some may think that these differences are trivial, my customized laptop is weakly preferred to the CMU laptop because I've never broken a laptop before. Statistically, my laptop handling history is flawless. Let's just hope that within the next 3 years, I do not falter and regret my decision to live life on the wild side.

posted by Bryan @ 12:00 PM, ,

Client Facilitation

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Quoted from Steve Shu's blog, a master of client facilitation is a person that can:

• Master analysis skills of the trade: use top-down logical reasoning, use many analytical frameworks, work analyses from multiple directions
• Communicate well: whether it be via face-to-face conversation, writing, phone, or instant messaging (yikes)
• Teach and frame things properly: because interactions with parties may be varied, quick and because parties may have varying levels of knowledge, one must be able to ramp-up conversation levels quickly and put them in the proper context
• Recognize where the organization is at and how decisions are made: is the marketing department behind in their understanding? who does the CEO look to as his/her right hand? if so, what are the steps to getting the right hand on-board or up-to-speed? how do we get things to tip? can we get there in one step or will it take two steps?
• Lead people *without formal authority*: can you educate people, empathize with the organization, get the organization to trust you, and pave a vision and/or outline a set of tradeoffs with such clarity that motion must happen?

posted by Bryan @ 8:39 PM, ,