I've recently been tasked with leading the integration effort for a large systems implementation here at work, and am facing a challenge more daunting than any mere technical obstacle; how does one best get hardcore old-school programmers to embrace a new way of integrating our applications?

We're replacing a large, homegrown COBOL application on a mainframe with a more modular, Java-based ERP on a midrange platform. The kicker is that we need to replace over 100 interface points between other internal systems and the legacy app, and the direction we're headed in is to leverage a GUI-based middleware product to accomplish that task, and take initial steps towards establishing a more loosely coupled, flexible systems architecture. I'm convinced this is technically feasible and will reap many benefits going forward (particularly as other major projects come along), but our developers have a hard time letting go of their point-to-point, custom programs with lots of embedded information directing processing for specific customers or situations.

This group is throwing every conceivable objection to the middleware approach, and most of them are failing to make much headway as we develop some pilot projects to build expertise, despite having had ample training and the services of a consultant to provide mentorship as they work their way up the learning curve.

The bottom line is that they are resisting this new method by any means available: submitting lots of trouble tickets for minor issues, not digging through the documentation and throwing up their hands in futility, etc. Has anybody else here in the /. community dealt with such a generational change in development technique with existing IT staff? We're all sympathetic for experienced workers getting pushed aside for younger talent, but if the old dog can't learn new tricks, perhaps it's time to head to the pet store...

Just when you thought managerial spying was the exclusive field for tech-savvy firms like HP, the details are now coming out about an electronic spying scandal that brought down the head of the National Hockey League Players Association, Ted Saskin. Over the course of fifteen months, Saskin and an associate regularly accessed the email accounts of NHL player reps who wanted to have Saskin's hiring investigated. In addition, the results of a secret ballot ratifying the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement were provided to Saskin by members of the NHLPA's IT group - so watch out for any resumes listing NHLPA Network Security as a working experience!

I'm heading off to Summit 2007 this weekend, running Monday through Wednesday in Vegas. It's the user conference for Information Builders, and I'm attending to check out sessions regarding iWay, their software integration tool. I just thought I'd see if any other /.ers would be attending...

This morning's Indianapolis Star profiles a local programmer who is raising funds to put Tux on a race car for the Indianapolis 500, which runs in later this month. His website has already raised over $11,000 for the cause, which hopes to promote Linux during one of the world's most-watched sporting events. If he can raise $350,000, a primary sponsorship would be available, which would mean a larger logo featured on the side of the car.

In order to follow the rest of the herd and see what the new pasture looks like, I've set up a profile over at Multiply. Instead of "TopShelf", I'm going by Forechecker over there, as that's the nic I'm using for my blog and assorted other online venues now (TopShelf comes from a column I wrote over 10 years ago)... so if you see a Forechecker knocking on your Multiply door, you know who's coming.

After getting delayed a week, Sunday's hockey article at the NY Times cites my hockey blog, in a piece discussing the relation (or lack of one) between physical play and scoring. It's nice to get that kind of recognition after having just gotten this blog rolling in the last six months...

This is nice, I just got off the phone with a sports editor at the NY Times, and they'll be mentioning my blog in this Sunday's hockey article, focusing on the lack of any correlative link between NHL teams that out-hit, and teams that out-score their opponents.

The uber-brawl between Colorado and Detroit occured 10 years ago today, and back in those days I wrote for a hockey website called In the Crease (where "Top Shelf" was the title of my column, and became my /. nick). It was a purely "by the fan, for the fan" endeavor, but we had garnered enough credibility that I was issued a press pass to cover this, the most anticipated regular season game in ages. I've posted the original piece I wrote that evening over at my blog (complete with a link to some video of the game), since ITC is no more, only to be found over at the Internet Archive.

Enjoy...

Google announced today a partnership with the National Basketball Association to provide a new "NBA Channel" on YouTube, featuring game highlights and videos featuring NBA players. The new arrangement isn't as extensive as that between Google and the National Hockey League, which provides full games for online viewing, but marks a significant new addition to YouTube's partnership-driven content.

The NHL repeatedly gets blasted for perceived marketing failures, so it's interesting to see the media-darling NBA following in their footsteps in this case.

I thought this was supposed to happen on Monday mornings, but I'm just in pissy mood today:

1. Weight loss has steadied off around 188, down about 20 pounds from where I started (and not going back up), but it's been hard to get back into the 3-workout-per-week routine, particularly after coming down with Strep last week. My original goal was to get down to 175 by early March, and it looks like I'll miss that by a fair margin.
2. Our hockey team, which is much improved this season, lost last night 5-3, and I had a couple bone-headed blunders that, while they didn't lead to a goal against, didn't help things.
3. We're not making as much headway on paying off our debts as I would like. We decided to go with minimum payments during the holiday season, but now we're having to catch up with some things (car repair, vet bills, etc.) that are getting in the way.
4. I found out yesterday (indirectly) that I'm not going to the user conference for the ERP system I'm implementing - although the CIO and a VP who's in charge of an entirely different system are going. I had specifically asked to attend this conference a couple months ago.
5. For our implementation project, we need to get IT training rolling to support our internal development plans, but HR is requiring every aspect of this plan (who's getting trained in what, and when) to be nailed down to the gnat's ass, with objective justifications as to why various people are getting trained and why some aren't, etc. Protecting the company from doing something that will get us sued is one thing, but they keep taking this way too far. We need to get the damn training going...
6. Our ERP vendor blows chunks. We're two months into a massive development effort (think many many man-years) with is due in Q3, and they still don't have a complete plan of how they're going to make it happen, and are still lining up resources. Oh yeah, and the bulk of the work is being done in an offshore startup (not outsourced, as it's their firm, but halfway around the world).
7. I'm realizing more and more that I hate project management. Nagging people to make sure they get $hit done is excruciating to me. Some people are great at that kind of thing, but I'm not one of them. Give me the analytical/architectural problems, and I'll do a great job.
8. WTF, Red Foreman? Where'd ya go?

Not everything is woe and misery. My writings are getting quite a bit of run over at Fox Sports these days, including my recent finding that there may well be a lefty/righty matchup advantage that coaches should utilize during shootouts.

Gotta go, time to flesh out this f*cking training plan for back-to-back meetings coming up...

Well, this is annoying - both Technorati is down, and Blogger's not serving up my blog, or allowing new posts.

I sense something terrible has happened...

You'd think with all this exercising (mostly involving lifting Red Foreman's karma out of the gutter) I'd be making quicker progress on the weight front, but the going is slow. Of course, it didn't help that I got access to a suite for Tuesday's Ducks/Predators game in Nashville. Open access to wings, hot dogs, popcorn & chips was just too big an indulgence to pass up, plus I missed a workout that would normally occur that night.

I made up for it this morning though, heading in to the Y before work. It's definitely been harder getting focus back after the holidays than I thought, however. Down 1 more pound this week, still a couple away from my peak low right before Christmas...

After hitting a bump in the there in late December, the weight loss plan is back on track - down 2 pounds over the week back down to 186, and resuming the routine of 3 workouts a week at the Y, with the odd 15-minute walk during the workday thrown in. The new hockey season starts in a couple weeks, so the more I can drop before then, the better...

Gotta get back to watching the rest of the Steve Yzerman jersey retirement night. Wow, what an event...

Starting today, if you head over to Fox Sports NHL, you'll see selected posts from my blog included in their feature content. The first piece they've grabbed covers unassisted goal scoring...

Whoohooo!!!

Man, the holidays just seem to fly by so quickly, it seems like it's been ages since I've kept up with things here. Really quickly, then (as I've got some CD-based training to get through in the last couple hours here at work):

1. Weight loss has hit a (predictable) plateau around 188, mostly due to a 4-day excursion to my in-laws, where the good cookin' just keeps on coming. I'm back in the saddle now, though, but will have to work hard to get to my goal of 175 by early March.
2. The media tie-in for my blog is signed, sealed, and delivered, now I just have to wait for them to post my first piece sometime in the next couple days. It's been quite a rush, really - I started dedicating more effort to the blog about 3 months ago, and I'm already about to be featured on a big-time site.
3. Bethanie's getting divorced? I missed that one, until browsing through the JE's just now. My oldest brother divorced earlier this year with 2 kids in the middle, and while it was as amicable as any divorce can be (he lives in a new place just blocks away and everyone gets along), you can tell it's going to be a work in progress for quite a while. Best of luck to all parties there...
4. The Xmas haul was less than in previous years, which is perfectly OK, as we're climbing out of a debt hole and have better things to spend money on, but my wife got me a nice jacket, and I pooled monetary gifts to get an LCD monitor for the home PC and pay part of my dues for the upcoming hockey season, which starts in two weeks.

Also pertaining to Christmas, we had our "Worst Online Shopping Experience Ever" this year, with Lillian Vernon. First, they got our credit card number wrong, but since their system doesn't run the credit check right away (strange), we didn't find out until an email arrived hours later saying "call customer service". We got on the phone, corrected the mistake, and a few hours later, got another email. We called again, corrected the mistake AGAIN (someone mistyped our expiration date), and were told everything would be OK. After a couple days, however, my wife checked the order status online, and shortly thereafter, got another email saying "call customer service". She calls, and finds out that someone had cancelled our order, but their system didn't have any notes or tracking information to suggest who or why (this at a time when she was at a spa, and I was at work, so it wasn't us). By this point, we're just a couple days from the holiday, so she gets a manager on the phone, who apologizes profusely, and offers to "manually override" the order and give us expedited shipping for free, in order to get our gifts on time. The packages are being sent to her parents' house in Indiana, since that's where we went for the weekend.

So we get to Indiana, and the goods aren't there yet. Saturday morning comes and goes, still no delivery. We call them yet again, and this time, the manager says the packages are currently in West Virginia. Evidently, the previous manager we spoke to gave us the "expedited shipping discount", but didn't actually flag the order for expedited shipping, so instead it went regular USPS, and was due to arrive on the 30th!

Fortunately, the kids still had a great holiday without those particular gifts, so we're refusing delivery and will get a full refund of our money. I imagine Lillian Vernon must have had terrible problems this season (perhaps a new ordering system?), as it seems we hit so many different bumps along the way, that I doubt ours was an isolated case.