First Who ... Then What

Jim Collins says "First Who ... Then What". I begin to see some truth.

I used to think that as a great bus driver, you need to start the journey by telling people where they are heading. You need to set the direction or articulate the vision. But according to Jim, leaders of good to great companies think first about "who" and then about "what". They get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, before they figure where to drive the bus. When you have the right people on the bus, you don't have to worry about changing directions along the way. The right people looks at who else is on the bus and adapts to the change knowing that it is good for the company.

I remember that when we first started Crimsonworks in 2002, we have 3 amigoes on the bus with no bus driver, and not knowing exactly where we are heading. With a sense of collective ownership and trust, we manage to set out the direction and take turns to drive. Though, I can't say that Crimsonworks is today a good company, I realise that it is the people that will make it good. The concept of "First Who ... The What" not only applies on the company itself, it can also apply to projects we embark on. It is the right people who will determine the outcome of the product or service.

Firework is Spectacular

Lucky thing that we made it for the Saturday's final NDP rehearsal. The whole experience was simply great. Kaiyi and I had the chance to see mummy's office. And the view from the top at Doe's office was simply fantastic that evening. The choppers were flying so close, the boats were sailing in formation with the lighted "flying wantons", and the spectacular fireworks. We have never seen fireworks at such close range and so high up. I bet we have better views than those at the spectator stand.

The city skline is going change a lot in the next 2-3 years, and it will be impressive. When Singapore celebrates 45 years in 2010, I hope we have the chance to watch it from the top again.

Vision with a Task

"Vision without a task is only a dream. A task without a vision is but drudgery. But vision with a task is a dream fulfilled."

Finally, we get into doing it. Our vision is to build a comprehensive and generic data exchange framework for mobile solutions.

The idea was born and discussed many months ago. And I finally have the space now to re-jiggle the idea. Leo, as usual, sees it with good technical breadth and depth. It is no wonder that he code named the project NODE (I like it to sound like "Nody") which stands for N-tier Service Oriented Development Environment. I would have code named it something more specific, like Data Exchange Framework for Mobile Solutions. Anyway, we can find a better name as we go along.

The important task now is to get all tasks moving ...