Wrap up '23 with my Personal Scorecard RAGE / Wheel of Life review

In 2016 I started to be more intentional with designing my lifestyle across my personal and professional streams. Without studying deeply the literature or taking personal development training courses, I used my  own work experience as a professional engineer to guide me in designing the framework, which I've called "RAGE" that stands for Reality Aspirations Goals Expectations. At the time, I treated myself as a product I'm building, using similes from agile software development, using the concept of Personas (typically products are designed to meet the needs of different user types, i.e. "personas"). Bringing these concepts into personal lifestyle design, I described my aspirations, goals and expectations in the form of agile user stories. 

This helped me in framing my goals to realise tangible outcomes. Almost eight years later, I've maintained discipline in applying the RAGE framework, year-on-year in my pursuit of the various aspirations defined in each persona, i.e. as a Husband, Father,  Professional, Friend, Individual, etc. Coming from an engineering background, I dived deep into prioritising these streams of life, first starting with 20+ personas, having stabilized on a handful of core personas from 2020 onwards.

Interestingly enough, this post, led me to learning about something called "The Wheel of Life". It so happened, according to ChatGPT, the exact date of the creation of the "Wheel of Life" model by Paul J. Meyer is not well documented in public sources -- but it is known that Paul J. Meyer founded the Success Motivation Institute, Inc. in 1960. Honestly, I'm not sure how I missed Meyer's model all this time, but I'm also comforted by the fact that I've created my own model from scratch through my own attempts in crafting a better version of myself through my RAGE model. Anyway, ChatGPT has helped summarize the differences between Meyer's model and Mo Khan's RAGE model in this post. I do like the radial diagram, which is something I hadn't included in my personametry insights as yet.

I'm writing this post in December 2023, the last post for the year - as I break away from the world and embark on a journey making the minor pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah) for the first time in my life. I've waited a long time to save up for this journey, I made intention at the start of 2023 to do the Umrah, and by the grace of Allah (God), it is about to come true, finishing off 2023 with my most important '23 goal realised - Subhanallah (Glory be to Allah)! And aiming for Hajj (the major pilgrimage) in 4 years time insha Allah (God willing).

Work-wise, my last week was spent completing end of year performance reviews. At Amazon, we treat performance reviews with such seriousness, due care and attention to detail -- that I've never seen done before in other companies I worked with (a post for another day).  For some time now, I have taken mechanisms from my work life and adopted to my personal life. Just as in my RAGE model, breaking down the different domains of life-work streams, I've used business performance scorecards in my tracking progress through the year of my personal performance. If we maintain work logs, performance cards, "baseball cards" for our jobs, is not more important to track our all our streams of life?

Why should we only focus on professional performance reviews and not spare a moment to deeply reflect our performance as a human on this earth? How are we doing personally? How are we performing across the various dimensions of our life? If we live by a value system, how do we know how we're measuring up to that value system? When the year has come and gone, how do you measure progress? Is it only career that matters? Surely not? If not, then why don't we spend as much time, if not more time, doing our own self-assessment and scorecards?? Are we afraid of the reality check? How serious are we in terms of changing ourselves for the better? How are we improving? Do we need to improve? When someone asks you "How's life? How you're doing?" - what's your frame of reference for answering that question? What's the first thing that comes to mind? Is it our work, career? If we're going through a bad patch at work, does this mean our whole life is negative? Often this is exactly what happens. People anchor on the immediate negatives, closest, most recent experiences because without a holistic value system to reference, how should one respond to "How are you doing, really?"

So how am I doing, really - what's my 2023 Performance Scorecard like?

I am sharing my own personal tracking here, not as a means to show off - but as a means to help people, providing an example of how I've managed to use a system that is working for me. This system, called RAGE, may not work for you - but it should give you an idea of the kind of work you need to do, the kind of thinking you need to apply, and the kind of discipline your should consider -- if you are indeed determined to make a concerted effort at changing your current situation, and creating a new trajectory you can aim for to improve the quality, outcome and other aspirations you desire. 

Inspired by Vaugan from Scary Management Playbook's LinkedIn post, here is my Wheel of Life, unpacked in detail, according to my RAGE model. In January '24, I will follow up with the data analytics on time spent in my personas. Given my RAG status, it looks like my wheel of life pretty balanced and aligned with my life-work-stream choices.

My RAGE model compared to The Wheel of Life

 

[I asked ChatGPT to report on the differences between Meyer's Wheel of Life and Mo Khan's RAGE]

Comparative Report: Meyer's Wheel of Life vs. Mo Khan's RAGE Model

Introduction

This report provides a comparative analysis of two influential personal development tools: Meyer's Wheel of Life and Mo Khan's RAGE Model. Both models are designed to enhance self-awareness and personal growth, yet they differ significantly in their approach and methodology.

Meyer's Wheel of Life

• Overview: The Wheel of Life is a holistic self-assessment tool designed by Paul J. Meyer, a pioneer in the field of motivational thinking and self-improvement.
• Components: It typically includes segments such as Career, Personal Growth, Health, Family & Friends, Finances, Spirituality, Recreation, and Physical Environment.
• Function: Users rate their satisfaction in each area, visually representing life balance and identifying areas for improvement.
• Application: Widely used in coaching and self-help, it guides personal development and goal setting.
• Learn More: Success Motivation Institute

Mo Khan's RAGE Model

• Overview: The RAGE Model, an acronym for Reality, Aspirations, Goals, Expectations, is a framework for personal development conceptualized by Mo Khan.
• Components: It involves introspection across various life 'personas', assessing the current reality, setting aspirations, establishing goals, and managing expectations for each persona.
• Function: The model uses agile management techniques and a detailed scoring system for prioritization and tracking progress.
• Application: Khan’s approach is detailed and systematic, suitable for those who prefer an analytical approach to personal development.
• Learn More: Mo Khan’s Blog

Similarities

1. Holistic Approach: Both models provide a comprehensive view of personal life, emphasizing multiple areas or aspects.
2. Self-Reflection: They encourage self-assessment as a means of identifying areas of focus.
3. Goal-Oriented: Each model promotes setting and pursuing personal goals.
4. Personal Development: They are tools for enhancing self-awareness and guiding growth.

Differences

1. Complexity: The Wheel of Life is simpler and more visual, while the RAGE Model is more complex and analytical.
2. Approach: Meyer’s model is qualitative, focusing on self-rated satisfaction, whereas Khan’s model is quantitative, employing a scoring system.
3. Focus Areas: The Wheel of Life has predefined life segments; the RAGE Model allows for personalized 'personas'.
4. Tracking: The RAGE Model includes rigorous tracking mechanisms, unlike the Wheel of Life.
5. Background: Meyer's model stems from motivational training, while Khan’s is influenced by agile product management.

Conclusion

Meyer's Wheel of Life and Mo Khan's RAGE Model, while sharing the goal of fostering personal growth, differ in structure, complexity, and application. The Wheel of Life is a straightforward tool for periodic self-assessment, ideal for a broad audience. In contrast, the RAGE Model offers a detailed framework for systematically setting, prioritizing, and tracking personal development goals, appealing to those who prefer a more structured approach. Both models provide valuable insights into personal development, and the choice between them depends on individual preferences and the desired level of detail and structure in personal growth planning.

Be the leader you wish you had

BE THE LEADER YOU WISH YOU HAD

I use this saying often in my 1:1s with my directs and in my private coaching sessions. It is a powerful way to make one pause for a moment, reflect, adjust to the discomfort, then embrace the excitement of a new energy that is created.

Adopting this mindset has transformed me from standard "manager" to empathetic "leader". Reading Seth Godin's "The Song of Significance" reinforced my instinctual leadership practices. 

Quoting from "13. Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play", Seth says this:

<quote> No one goes to the gym to willingly get punched in the face by the senior vice president of boxing. But some folks eagerly pay for a sparring partner when it's time to get better.  The difference is obvious, but we've forgotten to say it out aloud.  No grades, no check marks, no badges. I'm not in charge of you, and I'm not manipulating you. I'm simply establishing the conditions for you to get to where you said you wanted to go.  You tell me where you're going and what you need. You make promises about your commitment and skills development.  I'll show up to illuminate, question, answer, spar with, and challenge you. I'll make sure you're part of a team of people who are ready to care as much as you do. We can get real. Or let's not play. </quote>

This is not some leadership mumbo jumbo. Some time ago, I developed a model for personal development that borrowed concepts from agile product management by way of user stories (search RAGE tag on this blog). I then used the same methods in the way I work with my direct reports. HR people might call this "contracting with the employee" but I take it further. I get real. It's not about objectives, KPIs & deliver results. I put myself on the line. I reach out. And so when it comes to performance reviews, my reviews are a two-way conversation. My direct also evaluates Mo's performance - because as a leader, I believe leaders mirror & contribute to the performance of their direct reports. 

What's my mechanism then?

I ask each person to write a user story in this format:

In order for me, [Name] to do [XYZ] (e.g. my job | grow | be inspired | learn | etc.) I need my manager (Mo) to support me by doing [....insert your wish-list here] so that I can ....

So I start the year with level setting on our contracts together, and in our 1:1s, we check-in and inspect, comment, re-calibrate, adjust.  

Guess what? 

This mechanism might seem simple but it's quite challenging for people. Usually, it's the first time they're experiencing a manager doing it this way. There's hook both ways. Often, it takes a few iterations to get the user stories crafted in way that is mutually relatable and agreeable. My mechanism goes beyond the standard business SMART goal setting. I make it human. Real. Personal. For me, this is my song of significance.

Here's some real-world examples in play, from senior managers that report into me - See how doing so puts me, Mo, on the hook?

* In order for me to do my job, I need my manager (Mo) to support me by throwing me in the deep end and exposing me to as much as possible so that I can quickly learn and understand this business

* In order for me to do be inspired, I need my manager (Mo) to support me by leading by example so that I can learn from his vast experience

* In order for me to do grow, I need my manager (Mo) to support me by pushing me out my comfort zone so that I can grow in all directions.

* In order for me to do my job. I need my manager (Mo) to support me by throwing me in the deep end and exposing me to as much as possible so that I can quickly learn and understand this business

* In order for me to grow my skillset, I need my manager to support me in blocking out time on my calendar so I can complete the ‘make great hiring decisions’ course (5hrs)

* In order for me to get promoted to L7, I need my manager to support me by identifying key opportunities so that I can start building a roadmap of promotional milestones

Personametry + ChatGPT = personametry.ai (a truly personalised AI)

Around this time of year with 6 months already past us, I spend some time reflecting on my Personametry and RAGE model - keeping in check how I'm performing against my own personal and professional goals -- just like we do in business with mid-year performance reviews. 

If this is the first time you've come across my work on Personametry, here's a view of my time spent in 2022 compared to 2021, click here. 

My workflow until then was:

1) Export data from Harvest

2) Update Amazon Quicksight dataset by importing the Harvest export, creating transforms

3) Create a new analysis

4) Modify all the charts and views to include the latest data, publish a new dashboard

5) Create a Google slide deck 

NO MORE!! ENTER CHATGPT and the NOTEABLE plugin!

My new workflow is now much more simplified:

1) Export data from Harvest

2) Import to Quicksight, creating transforms

3) Export CSV from Quicksight

4) Prompt ChatGPT to produce the insights in Noteable I would normally have manually created

Okay, so I spent my Sunday locked up in my office playing around with ChatGPT geeking out on data analysis & visualisations. So not much gain in time productivity there - but the learning was fun and immensely rewarding. Yes, a good investment of time, spent learning and preparing to adapt for the new world of AI disruption!

I've been on my data capturing journey since 2015. My end goal to end up with an AI personal assistant that truly understands me. I suspect realising my aspiration isn't that far off and neither far fetched for that matter. My entire workflow would be a fully integrated AI assistant that has the ability to track all my activities, by the minute (imagine "personametry.ai"). To get there, the next simpler step would be to automate the data ingestion piece, leaving me with the only manual entry of starting and ending tasks. My next experiment would be to use the raw data export from Harvest, without doing any data transforms and let the AI do that for me. If that works, I can build in automation that does monthly data imports and produces insights for me automatically. Ideally, I would build personametry.ai as a task into my personal assistant. Imagine a time when we're all wearing a device that "just knows" what we're doing, who we're interacting with, and what we're spending our time on? This device, i.e. "my AI" or "personametry" will act as a guide, coaching us along the way to improve - and hold us accountable - calling us out on what we're paying attention to (i.e. deviating from our goals.)

Lessons Learnt - Still early days but very hopeful

• The tools are still early days, but still nevertheless very powerful and will definitely improve my productivity in future.
• It takes a few attempts to load data files with the plugin, CSV seems to cope much better than XLS files.
• ChatGPT/Noteable uses different methods each time for approaching the data analysis - some coaxing on the nature of the dataset produces better insights.
• I didn't need to edit any code myself so there's an immediate empowerment driver right there.
• Don't trust every output though, as the AI can get things wrong
• Double check calculations, ChatGPT still doesn't seem to get some simple math right the first time round
• It is amazing what one can accomplish with simple, clear prompting
• I am definitely going to learn more
• I had so much fun learning, I was in a state of flow for 10 hours and couldn't stop thinking about the world of possibilities of this technology!

Here's a video of ChatGPT prompts - Play at fastest speed (sorry, no time to edit)

Here's the conversation history with ChatGPT

Round 4

Round 3

Round 2

Round 1

Here's the Noteable project that I've released publicly

Here's a screen grab of the visuals in a nice slide view

Here's all the questions ChatGPT answered in various sessions

A blast from the past: my experience building a large-scale tech platform

In the years 2003-2011, I worked for a pure technology service provider, NDS (acquired by Cisco in 2012, then later became Synamedia) which was considered at the time, the world leader in end-to-end digital TV software systems. I was fortunate enough to experience as an engineer every major area of platform development for this complex ecosystem; and then later as a software manager, I would own the software delivery for a core piece of the software stack known as "middleware", for NDS's primary anchor customer BSkyB/Sky Darwin and then later would own the full stack delivery of NDS's flagship Mediahighway Fusion/Unity product. This experience would mark my entry into very complex large-scale technology delivery initiatives, which even to this day, thirteen years later, as I work with the world's largest cloud provider, Amazon AWS, in building out its enterprise cloud support systems (AWS Support Center / Technical contact systems), Fusion still takes the prize for the most intense professional experience, learning and growth, technical complexity, risk and high-stakes projects. So yeah, I find myself having to dig deep into my memory to recall this work experience because it's funny that 13 years on, I'm encountering the same topics of engineering management even though it is supposed to be a different domain, turns out "software is just software"!

NDS had captured almost every top-tier PayTV operator around the globe at the time: Sky, DirecTV, UPC, Sky Italia, Sky Deutschland, Foxtel, Sky LA, Yes, Bharti, etc. NDS was prominently known for its conditional access product, a video content protection system call NDS Videoguard, however, NDS offered more than just security and offered customers a fully vertically integrated ecosystem (think "Apple" ecosystem for PayTV customers). Whilst digital TV was built on open standards and interoperability, most customers limited their integration points. So when they opted for NDS as their security provider, they also had the option of integrating all other services - from broadcast backend services in the headend to consumer device hardware development and software service integration with chipset vendors. The consumer device software was known as TV Middleware. At the time, the main players were NDS Mediahighway, OpenTV & TiVo. NDS was known for convincing customers to migrate to NDS Mediahighway, its technology migration programs were demanding, complex and executed flawlessly. As an engineer, I contributed software to replace TiVo, an overnight win for 40 million devices. Later as a software delivery manager for the Sky Darwin migration project, we would replace OpenTV software almost obliterating its presence from Sky, save for a few ancient, ageing hardware profiles.

NDS, with an increasing number of customers using its security, middleware and application services, couldn't afford to scale out with engineering teams for each custom build. A platform strategy was needed, consolidating the best of software from across the globe (US, UK, India, Israel, France) into a new shared technology stack, that offered flexible customisation and tailoring for any type of customer profile (Tier-1 customers like Sky for advanced applications to Tier-3/4 customers in territories just starting off with basic digital TV), using a shared engineering resource pool - and extensible configuration engine for producing tailored custom releases. So was borne, NDS Mediahighway Fusion.

The flagship customer for Fusion was Sky, which went live in 2010, replacing up to ten variants of its consumer device software services, with new Fusion components and Sky's own custom-developed consumer application "EPG" known then as the "Orchid EPG". Fusion provided an SDK/API for customers to develop their own primary applications, along with an interactive HTML engine, that allowed PayTV operators to add additional mini apps to their devices, like games and weather apps. With Sky being the anchor customer, Fusion had proved itself in the market and thus was ready to onboard new customers like Sky Italia, UPC, Foxtel, Yes, etc. Post Darwin launch, I took the lead for building the new platform vision, called Fusion Snowflake EPG through project Sunrise - birthing the platform that would create customer, tailorable configurations for any customer, maximising reuse and minimising customisation but allowing for a selection of custom user experiences.

Why am I claiming Fusion as large-scale (even in 2023, 13 years later)?

I write this in 2023, after spending 2.5 years with Amazon AWS. I am part of the group that build AWS Support Center and related Contact Center services. We are a team of under 100 people, deemed large- scale and building complex systems. Yet, if I have to be brutally honest with myself, I'm mildly impressed by my exposure to date, because my current work pails in comparison to my work on Fusion, 13 years ago. Yes I know it's a different domain, a different paradigm and culture of Amazon's 2-Pizza team model for software product ownership (which I actually find quite cool)...still I'm finding it hard to rationalise my move to AWS almost 2.5 years on, have I gone too far backwards? Am I living too much in the past & not ready to view things from a new perspective? What am I not seeing? (Topics for another post). So whilst I've defintely adapted my mental models since joining Amazon, yet I really can't ignore some software engineering truths which is the reason for my bringing up the past now. 

In 2012, I wrote the first story about Fusion, introducing the term LSSDP I coined to mean Large Scale Software Development Project. I also dived deep, writing lengthy white papers about the product and engineering management processes:

• How we "scaled agile" to adapt to our unique global challenges
• How to design a global org-structure to deliver a large-scale project in a scaled agile way
• What mechanisms are needed to deliver a large-scale technology initiative in an agile way
• How we executed and raised the engineering & product management bar

Fast forward to 2023, now using my Amazon AWS experience as a lens for defining a large-scale initiative and indirectly checking engineering manager role guidelines for large-scale:

• Business Impact - Fusion started off with a $75 million investment and later a joint-venture with the flagship customer, Sky. The entire company pivoted to focus on Fusion as its next-generation software platform, with up to 3000 engineers world-wide working on multiple streams, some strategic foundational streams kicked off at least 2 years before the mainstream program. In my role as software delivery owner for Sky Darwin project, it was critical the project delivered successfully, flawlessly - as it involved migrating software in 10 million people's homes (their living room TVs) seamlessly with no rollback. To the end customer (the person sitting at home watching TV), they would notice very little change to their experience. Overall, Fusion software components delivered to multiple middleware stacks, at the time of 2011 when I departed NDS, our software was running in excess of 60 million people's homes daily, globally.

• Scope and Size - Fusion introduced a new paradigm of the TV software ecosystem, end-to-end, including broadcast headend components as well as embedded software architecture. The stack was open, based on a Linix/Posix and a complete departure from the initial decade of TV software operating systems. This was before the advent of Android TV or fully open source middleware. Fusion's product backlog captured over 2000 epics in the form of work packages, cutting across multiple customer needs, in parallel. The scope included all layers of the device software stack: Chipset drivers, hardware absraction layer, Linux kernel, Linux abstraction, Middleware services, Application SDK/APIs, multiple frontend application engine proxys for C / C++ / Java / HTML / Flash applications. Take a look at the software architecture diagram - it is multi-layered, multiple service teams. Another point on scope, we managed initiatives or epics in the form of work pacakages (WPs), that could impact up to 25 service teams in one WP, see here.

Product Plan visuals - concepts & examples from real-world programs

I recently wrote about my role as project leader for the original DStv Explora consumer device launched in 50 territories across the African continent from 2012-2014. In this post, I will share some visual tools I used to communicate the planning and release strategy. Suffice it to say, I am a big fan of visual planning tools over detailed text narratives any day. There is power in visualizing the plan, on a single piece of paper that beats reading pages of text.

The launch is when the work actually starts

Here's a sample of a post-launch plan that mashes big-picture milestones for executives whilst providing enough detail to software delivery and integration owners. With this single piece of paper, managers can use this schedule as their primary map to navigate their work plans.

Visualizing an end-to-end technology program on one page

Building a new consumer device such as a digital TV set-top-box, from the ground up, end-to-end is a large-scale program with many moving parts. The challenge is how to show as much high-level and low-level detail as possible, starting with output milestones and cascading to detailed team expectations like agile sprints. I can't claim to have authored this view from scratch since I borrowed concepts from my previous projects and other program managers I looked up to, when I worked with Sky/NDS in the UK. 

The timeline below is a snapshot from the early days of Explora planning, where I was the primary plan owner and designer.

Below is a view with extra commentary showing business leaders the hotspots with the plan and calling to action for workstream owners:

For CEOs, I created much-simplified views since they weren't interested in the agile sprints:

A sample project charter for launching a consumer device end-to-end

In a previous post, I wrote about the importance of the project charter and the various forms it can take. In this post, I will go deeper and share a rather detailed sample of a project charter that I authored for a real-world project that involved launching a new original equipment manufacturer (OEM) consumer device, a digital TV set-top box, called the "DStv Explora" end-to-end. My role was overall program manager. My task was basically - to fix everything and get the project on track to deliver, owning the entire plan, directing and steering multiple businesses, project offices and engineering organisations. My stakeholders were C-suite from at least five firms. The project cost in the region of R2 billion ($200m). 

By end-to-end, I mean all workstreams covering technology innovation & development, satellite infrastructure, device hardware engineering, device software engineering, infrastructure systems & software (including configuring satellites in space), application software development, software testing, end-to-end security, consumer field trials and go-to-market (finance, supply chain, marketing, communications, sales, customer support) launching in 50 countries in Africa, with catering for the unique rules & regulations per country, bespoke marketing & comms plans and at times supporting a different look-and-feel brand per country. I insisted on project charters for each go-to-market stream for significant territories like South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya & Ghana. The structure for the business at that time was rather loose, even though there were centralised project offices co-ordinating major launches, we had to partner with in-country business owners for launch planning. I don't share these business charters here, as they're go-to-market workstreams one can find online (or ask chatGPT).

The Explora project enabled me to make a significant impact on the company, the people and teams I worked with and most importantly, opened up my eyes to my potential as a prominent leader, boosting my confidence. Prior to the Explora, I'd just relocated from the UK, having worked with NDS for the last ten years, building and releasing a variety of TV software services, working in engineering and answerable to a number of customer and account delivery managers, taking instruction from bigger program managers and owning a few core technical workstreams. With Explora, my position was elevated to the highest level, giving me the opportunity I had long sought after, and that is to learn everything there was to know about running and operating a PayTV business. For Explora, I not only enjoyed a birds-eye view of the bigger picture - actually I created the bigger picture for everyone to follow. I was responsible for ensuring engineering teams are set-up for delivery success end-to-end, instigating and driving changes needed to ensure project success. My voice was heard. My opinions were listened to. My advice was heeded. I was granted autonomy once I'd earned the trust of all stakeholders involved (a post for another day). 

As far as I can tell, many of the engineering disciplines I introduced for Explora still remain in place today, 10 years later.  Here are some anecdotes as public endorsements on LinkedIn (so I'm not exaggerating my resume here, check out my LI profile recommendations for additional evidence):

Here's an email from Phil on the interventions I introduced in the last stretch of Explora launch:

Hi Muhammad

This one week cycle you have introduced on Explora is a stroke of genius. We have a lot to thank you for on this project, as you have saved our collective asses several times. I for one, really appreciate the quality and quantity of effort you put into supporting us. When we make it on the 1st August you should be able to look back on this project with a great deal of satisfaction. MCA is not the easiest place to bring order to, but you can't fault the guys on their commitment to making things happen:)

Have a great weekend my friend!
Regards Phil

Here's a video about the DStv Explora from 2013/14:

The project charter for Explora set the high bar for modelling all future consumer device launches going forward. Following Explora, I would manage the launch of the DStv HD decoder, followed by software updates launching new features like Catch Up Plus for streaming over the internet, incuding remote recordings. I left the consumer device division in 2015, to spend the next year running the program for launching Showmax, a new streaming video platform business, end-to-end from zero to launch in 8 months. With these successful launches behind me, I'd developed enough credibility in the market that further opened up opportunities for consulting, and later on, took me one step closer to reaching my original ambition of having a seat at the business table, the C-suite round table. Once I'd experienced that view, I decided to seek a new venture, risking starting over again (a future post, stay tuned).

Sample Project Charter

[Disclaimer: Please note I write about my past work and have permission to share my work experiences through my blog as was part of my contract with employers over the years. I've waited more than 10 years to share this particular work experience, the technology & business have moved on since then, such that this sharing is rather informational and can be seen as training material for engineering/delivery managers.]

A product roadmap visual depicting a single tech platform journey

I spent the first decade of my software engineering life building technology stacks for digital TV businesses for the likes of DirecTV, Sky, Multichoice DStv, Liberty, US Cable, etc - working at that time, for what was the world's leading Digital TV Technology Services company, NDS. We were in the business of selling full-stack embedded software (like Android / iOS SDK) tailored for set-top boxes (STBs), along with the backend infrastructure services needed for digitising, encrypting and transmitting TV signals over-the-[air/cable/internet] to these consumer device STBs, so people can basically watch TV. We would sell the tech stack along with a suite of TV applications that could essentially be tailored for any type of customer need, including changing different look-and-feel frontend/user experiences, configurable features like live recording or basic watching without recording, on-demand or internet streaming -- all without having to run multiple versions of software codebase per customer. In modern software parlance, we built multi-tenanted technology stacks in a way.

In 2010, we embarked on a vision to harmonize in creating the Nextgen version of the platform - taking the best of all customer engineering projects and core platform enhancements, and creating the next-generation stack, to scale to as many video entertainment providers across the world. We called this initiative Project Sunrise, symbolizing a new dawn for the next-generation experience built on Fusion Mediahighway Advanced offering a fully customizable Snowflake Unity UI experience. 

Here's a short clip from 2011 on Snowflake:

Back then in 2010, I'd just come off delivering what was the biggest migration program in the history of the company, launching a new service for Sky - and thereafter landed another client build for UPC Horizon Gateway STB. In addition, we had 5+ other customers all lined up for new tenants! It was going to be a busy next few years indeed. 

Our approach to building this technology stack included foresight from the very beginning. We were intentional about using a single stack, configurable architecture end-to-end, including customizable applications for custom experiences - to avoid rework and duplication, but most importantly quick delivery turnaround times. Our customers also benefited from leveraging features and capabilities they didn't have to pay for, because some other customers would have already funded the development anyway :-) 

Technical Program & Product Management - Visualising the Roadmap

As our company was primarily a technology engineering company and a high-growth start-up, resources were constrained such that people took on multiple roles. I led the Sunrise project covering technical product and program management. I was responsible for creating the roadmap, backlog and overall sequencing, coordinating with multiple customer-delivery streams, along with the main core platform engineering deliveries - building the next-generation stack. The engineering activities were a mix of software integrations and application customizations through configuration, building out the default flagship application, that would come "out-of-the-box" for selling to prospective customers. The sales team would close the sale by signing off on the profiling customizations and configurations - and the Sunrise factory would eventually produce a release for the customer. This pattern of template-driven, profile-based software configuration approach was not new to us, but the technologies we used had changed over time (see the slide deck at the end). Project Sunrise was never a fully funded initiative though, so we had to partner with customer project teams and core platform engineering, being scrappy and inventive - but still ensuring we have a reference stack available, at all times, for new sales.

How did I communicate the Roadmap then?

I had a ton of detail to manage, spanning multiple customer requirements backlogs - working with teams across the globe, managing a unified backlog, understanding the features and gaps, prioritizing features for the base profile & then owning a delivery plan (which I'll expand upon in future posts). The one mechanism that earned the trust of senior leadership was a visualization I produced, that showed on a single piece of paper how all the streams fit together. Once the executives saw the roadmap, they then had an easy mental model to understand the complex pieces and stages of convergence - that went into building out the NextGen Sunrise platform. 

I decided to write this blog piece today, 13+ years later because, it so happens, I find myself now again responsible for building a Nextgen product (V2), with V1 (single tenant) that is currently supporting existing customers with an active roadmap - and V2 targeting multiple-tenants onboarding new customers with their own specific configs/capabilities - and my team are considering ways of communicating the plan!

Check this out:

The above roadmap accomplishes the goal of showing the interplay between Customer engineering deliveries (above the Sunrise line) and simultaneously showing the core platform engineering feature deliveries (below the Sunrise line) - all contributing to the holistic platform called Sunrise. So customers mutually benefit from the platform core and they themselves benefit from the internal platform development. All of these deliveries are contained within a timeline that serves as the roadmap. 

As I revisited this picture, thirteen years later, I can still appreciate the value of a picture like this - a powerful visualization that will beat any detailed text narrative IMHO.

And here's our scrappy Project Kick-Off Charter

Oh, and here is the initial MVP we demoed on Sunrise:

 

Why I never ran a program without a Project Charter

Lessons on large-scale delivery program management ...

I continue to dig into my past artefacts to showcase my work portfolio. I'm using a multi-pronged approach here: 1\ Showcase my work to prospective employers; 2\ Openly share my work so that others (people I coach, my colleagues and boss, etc.) can benefit; and 3\ Act as my own living knowledge repository.  

I spent a decade climbing up the project management ladder, in the same way I climbed up the software engineering ladder (from junior engineer to principal engineer) - I first started project managing small software product development (2-4 teams with 10 services), then scaled up to large middleware services (20+ teams, 50+ services) as lead delivery owner, then up to full stack systems integration (full stack of all major components: kernel, middleware, integration layers, applications), then program managed a full go-to-market product launch scaling out to including Tech, Business (Finance, Marketing, Supply Chain) & Operations (Customer Care, Retention, Content, Legal, Regulatory) - as senior program manager. I also owned the full plan of starting a business from scratch to launch (a video streaming company) in 8 months. I did a stint in management consulting, running the top 5 business projects for a $3 billion run-rate business, which some companies might call Tier 0/1 initiatives - where I co-ordinated these large-scale programs, as Chief Program Director - delivering through multiple business lines, multiple project management offices and multiple product and engineering teams. In a sense, I served as the CxO program manager, advisor and delivery owner.  

It is with this experience and knowledge, that I dare to share about my work experiences - and I'm not making these things up - you can check my LinkedIn recommendations page for proof.

During my tenure as the lead program director mentioned above, I often found myself picking up and repairing distressed programs - and along the way, I'd help improve team processes and coach the management teams as well. I also ran new business & technology initiatives from scratch, start-to-finish-then-handover. So with this diverse experience, I developed a simple method that helped me navigate both types of program scenarios: either resetting or starting from scratch, the simple, powerful mechanism of a Project Charter document. To this day, I'm surprised to see many program & project managers failing to use the Project Charter in the way it was meant to be used (clarifying the essence), and often find less-experienced, newly minted PMP/Prince2 certified professionals, doing it "by the book". My approach to project charters went much deeper than that...

So what do I mean by using the Project Charter in "clarifying the essence" then?

A seasoned, experienced project leader, chief program director, end-to-end project manager, senior technical program manager, etc - call the roles what you like - in my view, is not about just putting a plan together, working backwards from a deadline or target completion date. No, I believe as senior program leaders must apply their minds to appreciate the bigger picture and create a program structure that becomes the north star in guiding and leading multiple delivery teams. I never started a program without first establishing my project charter, which at the top level, focuses on the following:

• Start by understanding the why. Why is this program needed? Why is it important?
• Move on to understanding the who. Who are the sponsors, stakeholders and teams impacted? Who will be working on the program? "First who, then what"
• A program manager must be sufficiently well-versed with all the roles expected from the program, and work hard to secure the roles needed. Yes, this means the program manager must escalate to get the people needed for the program (on the bus, as well as off the bus). A responsible program manager would raise all these risks & concerns up-front, before officially kicking off the program.
• Clarify the what, including calling out what's missing - Set up the mental model for the program. What is this program about? What is it not about? What's in scope? What's not in scope? What workstreams make up the program? How do all pieces come together?
• Agree, Align, Action - The 3 As of project execution involve agreement on the deliverable, alignment of all parties involved which includes acceptance of their workstreams and ultimately agreeing on the action plan to execute.

Project charters don't necessarily have to be communicated in a written document, a slide deck is more than adequate to communicate the essence. Depending on the business environment and culture (for example, some business cultures prefer slide decks over detailed documents to save reading time, whilst others like Amazon, insist on detailed text narratives). So a seasoned project leader must adapt their style to suit the particular business need & culture of the teams.

In this post, I'm sharing a version of a Project Charter as a slide deck. In a future post, I will share a detailed 50+ page document project charter that involved the launch of a consumer electronics device, the program covered a mix of engineering, business and operations workstreams.

Example Program: Transform Digital Self-Service of a $3 billion run-rate business

I was called in to help reset and kickstart an overarching cross-cutting program to improve a selection of key metrics that would result in increased usage of digital self-service channels, improving customer satisfaction and overall reducing operational costs. This program covered the full value chain delivering the service: 3rd party technology vendors developing phone "mobi" apps using USSD, iOS/Android self-service app, Website, Payments, a hardware kiosk station, set-top box interactive application, integration with internal & 3rd party CRM/Billing systems - and resulting business workflows: finance, customer care & banking channels. Technology teams were spread between the CTO/CIO lines (3 IT pillars), and business teams reported separately to the CEO. The program also served the needs of Group Strategy, Risk & Regulatory. Bringing all these things together requires a steady hand, a tactful negotiator, a strategic and business mindset as well as a strong technology leader. This is why I enjoyed such challenges as these programs were never boring, limited to only tech/engineering.

Enough said, let the slides talk and let me know what you think in the comments!

Pearls of Umar ibn Al-Khattab (3)

“Go easy on yourself, for the outcome of all affairs is determined by Allah’s decree. If something is meant to go elsewhere, it will never come your way, but if it is yours by destiny, from you it cannot flee.”

“Sit with those who have sinned and repented for they have the softest of hearts.” 

“Learn dignity and tranquility.”

“No amount of guilt can change the past and no amount of worrying can change the future.”

“Sometimes the people with the worst past, create the best future."

-- Umar ibn Al-Khattab

ChatGPT - Tetris

How to play:

• Arrow Up: Rotate Tetromino
• Arrow Down: Move Tetromino down
• Arrow Left: Move Tetromino left
• Arrow Right: Move Tetromino right

The game will end after 5 minutes.

This game was developed using ChatGPT as my co-pilot.
Thank you, ChatGPT 23/05/08

How I scaled engineering ops excellence to ±10X with Mission Control

Continuing with me sharing my experiences as CTO, in this post I share the actions I took to help improve an engineering organisation's operational health in our journey of scaling an online video streaming platform from 1X to 10X, from May 2017 to October 2020. To get to 10X improvement takes a journey, which I achieved in under 3 years, and after reaching the goal, I decided I'd learnt enough of the CTO experience and exited, after having set up a strong succession leadership pipeline in place. 

To get an idea of some of the major themes that I tackled during this time, as a leader I had to lead from the front, back, left, right setting the direction of my managers to follow (as all of these interventions were new to them), whilst doing my best to respect what came before:

• Establishing the team despite constant re-orgs going on at parent company - getting the right people in the right roles at the right time
• Transforming a rag-tag undisciplined team to a disciplined, clear-headed, focused organised unit 
• Introducing laser focus on product engineering by unbundling non-core video apps to other businesses
• Being critical on the technology platform by establishing a baseline of the architecture, using third party auditors to rate the scalability of the platform
  
• Improving physical infrastructure: networking, compute, storage and data centres. Move away from self-hosted and self managed data centres to partnering, shutting down data centres as needed.
• Build an industrial grade networking stack and leveraging modern peering facilities and overhauling the server infrastructure
• Setting the roadmap for cloud by transitioning first from single region data centres, to multiple data centre deployments, to running multiple stacks simultaneously, introducing containers and microservices then finally getting ready for cloud and leaping first into serverless paradigms
• Embracing cloud partnerships with big players: Akamai, Microsoft, AWS, etc.
• Improving product and engineering delivery by revamping and overhauling the agile work processes and backlog management.
• Introducing communications mechanisms that helped remove doubt and earned trust across the many different business units and teams (we were known as the online pirates doing their own thing)
• Improving risk, governance and security - bringing it to the top, raising awareness
• Creating strategic partnerships internally and externally to leverage skills and expertise I couldn't get in-house or afford to build or manage ourselves
• 
  Introduced technical operations controls - Mission Control, more active management of operations daily, 24/7 with increased focus, planning and prep for peak times, like weekends and major events planning.
• Aggressively reducing costs on key platform components whilst capitalising on gains through economy of scale

In this post, I'm going to share some of the early context and interventions I introduced in my first 3 months on the job, that remain effective to this day, more than five years later: Mission Control Ops.

The dreaded 403 We're sorry, something went wrong

I took over a team that weren't prepared for the intense discipline needed to run and operate a highly available 24/7/365 platform. There were many reasons for this which I might touch on in another most. I recall coining the term "Bloody May" as the month of so many outages, that I wondered: 1\ What on earth have I taken on? 2\ Is my life going to be consumed by work from now on? 3\ Is there any hope for this platform? 4\ How am I going to turn this platform around? 5\ How much is the job worth to me?

It turned out there was going to be many more "Bloody Mays"in 2017 whilst my team set about improving stability. In 2017, the platform experienced outages that racked up about 20 days of downtime in one year. This equates to ± 95% availability, which is unacceptable for a video streaming platform. When I left the team in Oct 2020, we had turned around the platform to reaching 99.5% availability trending higher. Today, 5 years on, I'm told the availability is much higher but their usage profile has drastically changed (reduced the number of concurrent streams to one device only, also reduced their devices supported, moved most of the services to AWS). 

ChatGPT - Stoicism and Islam - common principles?

Yesterday, I had a good conversation with ChatGPT exploring Islam Inc. as a way to explain Islam from the perspective of a Silicon Valley company. As part of this chat, we explored the leadership principles of the people from Islam who were instrumental in making Islam Inc. endure over centuries.

As a long time reader of the modern books of Stoic philosophy, I acknowledged most of Stoic principles from the lens of Islamic principles. A large part, IMHO overlaps and so I don't have any issues promoting Stoicism - although I do advise one doesn't have to look outside the leaders of Islam to find what they're looking for.

I wanted to inspect my opinion so I asked ChatGPT - turns out, I am right... :-) I like the way ChatGPT empathises and also respectfully put PBUH (Peace Be Upon Him) when referring to the prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

I wonder if the source of ChatGPT's response came from here? It would be great to see how the machine reasons and cites references that seeded its response.

When viewed from Stoic philosophy lens, would you say Islam Inc's leaders embodied Stoicism or exceeded it?

Stoicism is a school of philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century BCE. It teaches that the path to happiness and virtue is found in accepting the present moment and focusing on what one can control, rather than being disturbed by external events or emotions. Stoicism emphasizes rational thinking, self-discipline, and emotional resilience.

When examining the leadership of Islam Inc. through the lens of Stoic philosophy, there are certainly some parallels and overlapping principles. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the successive leaders of Islam Inc. exhibited traits such as self-discipline, patience, perseverance, and emotional resilience, which align with Stoic ideals.

However, it is important to recognize that Islam is a distinct belief system with its own set of values and teachings, which are not identical to Stoic philosophy. For example, Islam places a strong emphasis on the belief in God, the importance of prayer, and submission to the will of God. These concepts are not central to Stoic thought, which is more focused on the individual's control over their own reactions and emotions.

It would be an oversimplification to say that the leaders of Islam Inc. either embodied Stoicism or exceeded it. Instead, it is more accurate to acknowledge that there are areas of overlap and shared values between the two belief systems, while also recognizing their distinct philosophical and theological foundations.

Yes, agreed. Let's focus on the areas of overlap. What are they?

There are several areas of overlap between Stoicism and the teachings of Islam Inc. when considering the leadership traits of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the successive leaders. Some of these shared principles include:

1. Self-discipline: Both Stoicism and Islam emphasize the importance of self-discipline and self-control. In Islam, self-discipline is practiced through prayer, fasting, and adherence to moral guidelines. Stoicism encourages self-discipline to maintain rational thinking and emotional resilience in the face of external events or emotions.

2. Patience and perseverance: In both belief systems, patience and perseverance are regarded as essential virtues. Stoicism teaches that individuals should accept the present moment and focus on what they can control, while Islam emphasizes patience in the face of adversity and maintaining faith in God's plan.

3. Emotional resilience: Stoicism and Islam both encourage emotional resilience and the ability to maintain inner peace and tranquility, regardless of external circumstances. Stoicism emphasizes the power of rational thought and self-control to manage emotions, while Islam teaches that reliance on God and spiritual practices can bring peace and contentment.

4. Gratitude and contentment: Both Stoicism and Islam encourage gratitude and contentment with one's circumstances. Stoicism teaches that individuals should appreciate what they have and avoid excessive desires, while Islam encourages gratitude for God's blessings and discourages envy or greed.

5. Compassion and empathy: Both belief systems value compassion and empathy toward others. Stoicism teaches that humans are all part of a larger community and should support one another, while Islam emphasizes the importance of compassion, charity, and helping those in need.

6. Focus on virtue and moral character: Stoicism and Islam both stress the importance of developing strong moral character and living according to ethical principles. Stoicism teaches that virtue is the ultimate good and that individuals should strive to act with wisdom, courage, justice, and moderation. In Islam, moral character is essential in following God's guidance and becoming a righteous believer.

While these areas of overlap exist, it is important to remember that Stoicism and Islam are distinct belief systems with their own unique philosophical and theological foundations. The overlaps can provide an interesting point of comparison but should not be taken as a complete equivalence between the two systems.