Author Archives: Jason

About Jason

Innovation | Transformation | Success. And for fun - running, Karate, the universe and Star Wars. Made in Hong Kong.

Breaking those barriers – 5km fun runs

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A new Parkrun was set up back in July less than 1/2 mile from us – at Crane Park.  The ideal distance for me to get to, a short warm-up run there and no messing about with parking like at Bushy Park – with the 1,000 other runners they often get there.

Normally 40-60 runners at Crane Park and a very friendly group.  Some very very fast ones – just over 16 minutes I think was the record recently and always a couple with 18 or 19 minutes something.

I did my first one there back in July and got a rather nice 20:50.  My best was 20:19 from back in 2008 in Bushy Park.  I’ve done 11 or 12 runs since and my PB for Crane Park is 20:49.  Most other runs virtually around 20:50.  It’s a new barrier – physical or just in my head.  Normally come anything from 3rd to 7th or 8th but can’t crack the barrier.

Crane Park Parkrun route

 

The route is 1.5 laps – see the map.  A few inclines and lots of bends, particularly near the finish.  I still can’t judge properly when the finish is coming up and when to really step up a gear.  The finish line itself is on a sharp bend (to finish away from the other guys walking in the park and not cause traffic jams).

I’ve been overtaken by a fast 12 year old – very impressive – and then today by a guy with his small (but fast) dog pulling him along (for the whole 5km).

I had a new plan of attack last week – back to pace.  6:41 minutes per mile was the average pace last week, bang on a 20:50 finish time.  And I need to slow down at the start and not head off with the front runners at a too fast pace.  So this week, 4 training runs done in the week all focused on intervals and speed work, stretching every day, a banana for breakfast this morning, pasta last night and a plan to attack my pace.  I was all set this morning to break the barrier…

The heavens opened and there was a lot of rain as left the house and wet route with slippery leaves – not a major issue though.  Set off well at the planned pace – just a bit faster.  Managed to maintain it for about 1.5 miles then it slowed a bit but then got it back around 2.15 miles with a mile to go.  Picked up more for the last 1/4 mile or so and – despite being overtaken by the doggy and his owner – the average pace at the end was 6:42.  Just slower than last week.  Time slower as well.  The barrier still there!  Very frustrating.

Need a new plan of attack for my 5k and training.  Suggestions very very welcome…!

But without a doubt one of the best ways to start your weekend!

Star Wars Episodes 7, 8 and 9 – can it get any better than this?

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Quite simply put – no.  This is a whole other level in excitement.  Episodes 7, 8 and 9 from 2015 every 2 years and after then there could be even more!  My little boy will be 6 when episode 7 comes out, virtually the same age I was when my dad took me to see the original episode 4 (“A New Hope”) back in 1977, in Hong Kong with my friend and his dad.  We’re now a generation on, 2 more movies plus 3 prequels down, a bucket load of Star Wars Lego to the play with, the original 3 movies re-mastered and more, and everyone knows who Darth Vader is!  We had no idea 35 years ago what an amazing story this was going to be…

Even better the great Disney is buying LucasFilm and Star Wars – what better home for it.  And with George Lucas as a consultant.  Rumours are that Darth Vader is coming back from the dead – somehow.  And that they won’t be following the stories in any of the Expanded Universe books or games.  Interesting to see how it pans out.

Director apparently lined up – not sure who.  Writers ready.  Actors soon.  3 years of mega-marketing hype but it’s going to be the Star War fans here already who create the biggest buzz.

For some of this buzz, check out this blog by a fellow excited Star Wars fan…

I can’t wait.  Me, my little ones and my dad all to go and see it.  Need to figure out where though – dad’s over in Sydney with mum and my sister and her family so no cinemas anywhere close to us all!

And in 2015 we also have the NASA spacecraft New Horizons reaching Pluto – the now demoted planet.  But also a Disney dog.  Just a coincidence?

What a great time to be alive…!

No really, poor service is not good

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Ok another post on the sadly too common theme of poor service.  This time it’s from our lovely UK (privatised) utility companies.

It’s been all over the UK press recently with pretty much all of the power companies bringing in a pretty hefty price increase – just before the winter kicks in and we all start using our heating properly.  Clearly the rubbish timing is a coincidence.  Average increases in the region of 10% seemed to be the standard.  So I was prepared – or so I thought.

Woke up this morning to find a nice letter from the lovely people at npower – our power company (who we use for our electricity and gas supplies).  A 3 page letter from them that started off with an apology…

npower saying sorry

Ok, they know it’s not good news and want to be open with me.  Next the reasons…

npower listing their excuses

 

Ok – turn over the page, it’s then the increases, hidden deep in what can only be described as rocket science (and even though I actually do have 2 degrees in rocket science it’s not easy to understand).  They’re planning a 20.3% increase on our electricity and an 18.0% increase for gas.  Did I misread that?  20+%?  I’ve never seen an increase anywhere like that.  Has inflation suddenly changed?  Have the national papers got the average that wrong (and I know it’s an average but this is way off)?  Is it an error?

A quick check on Twitter and it’s not just me.  Lots of people with similar nice letters recently, with the very same reasons (or shall we call them excuses), and with increases – but none quite this high.  Some people even with no increases.  Now maybe I see this in a very simple way but what is it about my supply that means I need a larger increase?  Pass – but npower customer services surely will be able to set me straight.

A nice 0800 freephone number to call and then a multitude of rubbish menus to go through – entering my account number, listening to it, entering my date of birth, pressing the number 6 a few times and a few more.  Then a message saying we’re experiencing a high volume of calls due to the recent letters, oh really?  And you weren’t ready for that?

An irate customer

 

A message then to say they could call me back in about 45 minutes.  Ok, sounds a good idea.  So then about 2 hours later I get the call, and yes more menus and information I have to enter first.  Then the agents on…

I explain the problem and that I’d like to understand why my increase is so much – good question she says.  So then tells me the reasons in the letter – ok that tells everyone why there’s an increase but not why we’ve had the bombshell we’ve had.  She then tells me it’s the region we’re in.  Say what?  Is Twickenham so different in how we receive our power, that they need to charge us twice as much more?  Then she says, it’s also based on our low-ish usage.  Huh?  We have a low-ish usage so the increase is higher?  Nonsense.

Let’s escalate – time for the manager, please can we speak to them?  A 5 minute on-hold pause.  Then, the agent has spoken to the manager and they say the same.  What?  Did “Can I speak to the manager?” not make sense?  So second attempt…

The manager now says the same – and then completes it with we can’t really tell you, we don’t know.  Oh, that’s ok then, so it’s some sort of lottery that even the rocket scientists at npower can’t really explain and it’s ok not to explain to customers, we just charge them 20% more.  Or it’s a secret.

The morals and how this isn’t a good example of customer service…

  1. Don’t send out generic information when what you’re actually saying is very different.
  2. Ditch the menu after menu after menu system – it’s not friendly and no-one likes it.
  3. Employ more staff when you know you’re going to get busy, very busy.  Plan better.
  4. Empower your staff so they can talk to customers and give them real information.
  5. Tell the truth and keep it simple.
  6. Listen and listen again, and understand what is being asked.
  7. If someone needs to escalate, let them – don’t do it for them.
  8. Don’t do something that is guaranteed to lose customers.

The moral?  Well, if I want to keep warm – and today it’s cold – I’m pretty powerless to do anything with npower, the price increase stays and they’re not listening.  But I can switch to someone else.  And yes, no doubt they’ll also have an increase there but there’s a chance that it won’t be an obscene one and they might be able to tell me why….

Happy days, and a nice story in the book on how to lose customers.

The same day also, that a story about how npower mis-sold gas to someone and have been taken to the small claims court and the person has been successful in winning an harassment payment from them…

Digital pricing – it’s not difficult

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Still on the digital books theme as I’m loving iBooks on the iPhone right now.

Pretty much the only reason I visit a real bookshop these days is to browse and let the kids enjoy kiddies book sections. Inevitably I go away and order online (yes through Amazon), for the printed book, as it’s cheaper and not just a bit cheaper.

Last weekend on such a browsing session, I spotted a book called “The Art of Running Faster”. It looked great, (and yes I’m trying to run faster) so I went to Amazon but then thought no, let me check on Apple’s digital bookstore. And yes it was there and about 30% cheaper than the printed one. Sample downloaded, read and enjoyed and I went to click the buy button. Suddenly the price had jumped up to more than the printed book in the real shop. Say what? Why on earth have they done this? Convenience yes but more expensive to download and read on my phone? No thanks. Right now we’re in the transition to digital for books so we need to be incentivised to buy digital. You don’t get more features, it’s just a bit more convenient. It should be cheaper.

What to do? I decided to check out the Kindle app on the iPhone – a first for me – and it was there and even cheaper than the first cheaper price on iBooks. Brilliant. So buy I did, and boy is the purchasing process on Amazon good. So simple and quick. A top result. And yes the Kindle app works well. iBooks now has a competitor.

Please please get the pricing right. Digital should be cheaper. The production costs and other costs of sale should be cheaper. Help us consumers make the transition to digital. Don’t have wildly different prices across digital shops and not more expensive than physical…

iBooks – yes it works (or digital books are now main stream)

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Another nail in the physical content coffin – books. Back on the commuter trail into London, I’ve been using iBooks on the iPhone (my trusty 4S) for a while now. It’s near perfect for train reading. You can hold it in one hand, navigate through the book with your thumb and one finger and with the right type of books, you couldn’t ask for a better reading (consumption) experience.

The books I’m reading right now are a series of history books – “History In An Hour“. Ok so they do take me, a bit more than an hour – 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there (journey in isn’t one hour) – but they’re very readable and hey I’m learning something. South African history, World Wars One and Two, The Afghan Wars (there have been a few), The Cold War and The American Civil War to name a few.

The huge plus with reading them on the iPhone, is the convenience. The phone’s pretty much always with me and very accessible. No more having to carry books around with me, that take up more shelf space at home. Yes I am a huge fan of printed books and my home office wall resembles a small library. That bit about physical books I love and also reading for the little Nobles, but there is a need now for me for digital books and Apple’s iBooks application is the answer. The genius of Apple usability and customer experience helps big time!

Link

Silence for a bit too long – new position back up in the city (London) and lots to do, so quiet on the blog front.

US court to rule on ReDigi’s MP3 digital music resales

But a very interesting article I saw tonight – yes again on the BBC – about a pending court ruling about whether MP3 music files can be resold.  Hmmmmmmm.  Makes you wonder.  As an individual I bought them, as long as I’ve not copied them I should be able to re-sell them.  I can do it with physical goods, so why not digital?  For a business though?  Well why not – you get second hand shops (including for music, videos and games and books) for physical goods and they’re total legal and everyone’s happy about them. What difference does it make that it’s digital, just a different medium for consuming the content?  None really – other than it’s potentially easier to copy the content.

One to watch in the courts – and will it set a precedent?  US only?  Music only?  Watch this space…

Great quotes from Olympic athletes

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The ultimate quotes – inspirational, motivational and more – from Olympic athletes…

  1. “Falling in life is inevitable, staying down is optional” ~ Carrie Johnson
  2. “Never put an age limit on your dreams” ~ Dara Torres
  3. “When anyone tells me I can’t do anything, I’m just not listening anymore” ~ Florence Griffith Joyner
  4. “The only way to overcome is to hang in” ~ Dan O’Brien
  5. “If you want to be the best, you have to do things that other people aren’t willing to do” ~ Michael Phelps
  6. “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey” ~ Missy Franklin
  7. “Nothing can substitute for just plain hard work” ~ Andre Agassi
  8. “Everything that I’ve ever been able to accomplish in skating and in life has come out of adversity and perseverance” ~ Scott Hamilton
  9. “The potential for greatness lives within each of us” ~ Wilma Rudolph
  10. “Have fun, because that’s what life is all about” ~ Ryan Lochte

And a link to another blog (“parents desk”) with some more great quotes.

Truly inspirational.  The motto for the London 2012 Olympics was “Inspire a generation” – I think they’ve gone way beyond this and inspired generations.

London does it best.  I can’t wait for the Paralympics and we’ve got tickets.  Super humans and even more inspiration.

Why testing is important…

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Another Olympic post – this time on the genius (not) that is the London 2012 Olympic ticketing system.  This will be a vent of sorts, as I’ve spent too much time messing about trying to buy tickets as have millions of others.

The games themselves have been nothing short of amazing and what all the athletes have accomplished is incredible, but sport is also about people watching it.  And for an event of this scale you need a good mechanism in place to get people to see the sports they want to see.

Before we get started on the main theme of the post, Royal Mail have done it again.  We managed to get tickets for the Paralympics that start in a couple of weeks time.  An e-mail from LOCOG confirming we’d got them arrived (and we’d paid £6 for super delivery rather than picking them up at the event).  But no details on when they’d arrive, even roughly – so a black hole and left hoping they would arrive in time.  Then an e-mail from Royal Mail telling me the tickets were ready to be delivered…

Followed by another to tell me the tickets would be with me the next day.  And then one to confirm they’d been received by me, literally within seconds of me electronically signing for them with the local postie.  Now that is real service and great to see the Royal Mail – that great British institution – as a shining beacon in the whole Olympic ticketing fiasco.

The actual ticketing system went live around April 2011 – so over 16 months ago – and in that time it hasn’t changed one bit (as in problems fixed, updates done etc).  That’s a year with no new development.  How can that be right?  Was it perfect when first released?  Had all the testing that was done shown it to be perfect?  No and that’s one big no.

Rather than go into all the issues myself there is a great post on BuzzFeed Sports by Alex Rees that very nicely gives you all the juicy details – see below (it’s worth a read)…

It is very apparent from this that virtually no real testing on how the site or service works can possibly have been done.  User acceptance testing?  No – why do we need to do that, it’ll work.  Load testing?  Will many people be wanting to use the site at the same time?  Surely not.  Performance testing?  It’s just a web site.  Problems identified by the public (the users or customers), should we fix them within 16 months?  No, what’s fixing all about?

Any of these are part of computing for beginners 101, and to get onto building a web-site 101 you have to have got the first certificate already.

So why has this happened?  Good old outsourcing.  LOCOG clearly aren’t a software house and don’t build ticketing or e-commerce sites.  So they put together an RFI and get it out with all the big boys in the market place, including ticketmaster (who won it and built the site).  And it will have come down to money – ticketmaster will have bid and bid at a price they could win at and LOCOG will have picked the cheapest so they keep costs down.  Now I may be making some assumptions here, but I’ll bet they’re right!

The site will have been designed to some brief specs (or even an Agile type user story) – we need to sell tickets for the Olympic events for the public – it couldn’t be simpler.  They will have been paid to build it and maybe run it for a little bit but future development, fixes, upgrades etc?  Never – why would we need them, it’s only the Olympics and it’s only on for a short known period.  It’s not an Amazon type service that will keep running.

That’s the key here.  This has never been built to improve or do the job well, it’s been built to just (almost) do the job and no-one’s re-visited it (the design) since and has no intention to.

Testing before we go-live?  Why would we possibly need to do that?  Testing with our actual end users and listening to what they say?  Surely not, you only get…

  • Empty seats
  • Bad press
  • Frustrated British public

But like I said at the start it has been an absolutely awesome Olympic games, the best I’ve seen – and we did get some tickets (for the rowing) and saw some of the free events (road cycling) and today we’re off to see the men’s marathon in London.  And my favourite bits –  the men’s 100m, 200m, 4x100m and the men’s 10,000m and 5,000m.  Mo Farah – a local Teddington man who went to St. Mary’s University in Twickenham (where we do our karate now) and a Bushy Park Parkrun runner – is my hero of the games!  What an athlete.

The little Nobles doing the Mobot after his 5,000m win last night and the man himself with Mr. Bolt…

London does it best…!

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Yes we’re there.  London 2012 is here now and we’ve got another amazing week to go.  The last 7 years of planning, moaning about costs, getting the transport infrastructure sorted out, training for all the athletes, buying (or in most cases trying to buy) tickets and everything else Olympic related has finished and we’re now celebrating in great British style.

The opening ceremony was something else.  A great show, showcasing the amazingness that is this great island country and less of the spectacle that Beijing 2008 was.  Some parts maybe missed if you’re not British but they were genius!  The Mr. Bean bit had us in complete stitches.  Classic.

We had our own Olympic party to watch the ceremony and all got into the spirit of it in true British style…

And then the games began.  Unbelievable achievements everywhere for all countries.  Some stunning events – including gymnastics (what these guys can do with their bodies defies belief), weightlifting (how much can they lift?), athletics (my favourite) and much much more.  The training, focus and everything all the athletes put into it, is a real inspiration to us all.

We had tickets to see the rowing early in the week which was amazing.  Standing seats (?) only but a great atmosphere.  Seeing the boats going past along the 2km course is very cool, with the crowd cheering for them.  Living in Twickenham we were lucky enough to see the cycling time trials come through here – over and done with in 8 seconds (going past you) but again great to see.

      

Paralympic athletic and judo tickets also for us, so more amazingness to see in a few weeks time.

Mrs. Noble managed to see the Olympic torch coming through Richmond – exactly where I was working until the end of last year (typical) and then again going up the Thames to the Olympic Park for the opening ceremony.  Daddy was working so didn’t get to see them!

   

We headed up to Heathrow Airport the week before the Olympics to spot athletes coming in and we did.  We got to see the teams for Australia (rowing), Japan, India (table tennis), UAE, Mongolia, Estonia and a few others.  Very cool to see them arriving.

On the opening weekend we had to venture up into London – without event tickets (on the off chance that we could have bought some – fat chance, the whole ticketing system and process has been a complete and utter shambles; you couldn’t do it worse and whoever built – ha! – the actual online system needs a severe talking to; but that’s for a different post – to be titled something about why testing and planning is important).  And complete with friends up from the South coast.  Great fun, getting the buzz everywhere.  No tickets, not even close but good to be up in the middle of it all.  And seeing our great British armed forces on patrol – filling in brilliantly where G4S abysmally messed up – was the ultimate in re-assurance.

   

Our London 2012 mascots are everywhere in London and all very nicely themed.  Now I’m working in the city (near Bank) I’ve done some great great runs around the city at lunchtime and even better to Vauxhall – part of the way home – in the evenings.  The run across Tower Bridge, along the South Bank, across the Millennium Bridge (what was the wobbly bridge), past London Bridge, past Waterloo and the great London Eye is unbelievable.  What a run past some of the greatest sites in the world.

Amazingly the London transport system is doing very well under the immense pressure that this many more people brings.  There are signs at all the train stations pointing you in the right direction to the different Olympic venues, tube train maps have been updated showing you the right stops to get off at, Olympic volunteers are everywhere to help and daily updates are sent out (by e-mail) to let you know busiest stations that day.  It’s all working and well…

Go Team GB.  An awesome achievement so far and more to come.  14 gold medals (as of now) and 3rd in the medal tables behind the USA and China (both much much bigger countries in terms of land sizes and populations).

A great stat below from a friend on Facebook today…

London doesn’t get much better than this.