Or Intro to Woodworking: Still Have All My Digits and My Eye Is Getting Better

This year has thrown us through a loop and being stuck within our four walls eventually catches up with us all.  Some of my hobbies are no longer safe and a new one needed to take its place.  For me, accentuating the positive meant learning a new hobby.  Finding the tools, information, time, and raw materials for making something I wanted, but did not need was key.  This is my adventure.

Here’s an interesting article by my colleague Craig McDonald exploring steps to achieving your agency’s digital transformation strategy, including creating a culture change, balancing investments, hiring the right talent and managing constituent expectations.

In July, when we were all preparing for a second spike of COVID-19, I—like many other folks who live alone—decided I wouldn’t (couldn’t) go back into shelter-in-place alone. I had limited options, given I have no patience, space, or desire for a roommate and—no matter how cute those Match.com virtual date commercials are—ya girl refuses to spend any more time on dating apps. Enter Remy, my COVID puppy.

...and the Dreaded DTF;YZMCN

In Day 5 of our December Writing Challenge, Head Geek wrangler @jennebarbour realizes her pandemic-driven streaming content consumption is far more voluminous than she thought, as she considers what to watch Tonight in Pandemic Viewing.

Week 1 is in the books and the results are phenomenal.  There are many highlights in the posts and the comments, but here are a few that stood out to me.

Although our Head Geek @adatole may have attempted to predict 2020 last year, no one could’ve prepared us for what was to come. Today as we work from various remote spaces including our living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, or any room where we can find a good Wi-Fi signal, it’s hard to think of what our situation will look like in 2021.

This year our SolarWinds subject matter experts have a few thoughts on what next year will bring with the aftermath and continued effects of this year’s events in mind.  

I was less than a year old when I learned how to eat.
I was eight years old when I learned I loved baseball.
I was nine years old when I learned about losing a parent.
I was 15 years old when I learned to drive.
I was 19 years old when I learned about love.
I was 25 years old when I learned about love’s heartbreak.
I was 30 years old when I learned about SolarWinds.
I was 34 years old when I learned I wanted more from my career.
I was 37 years old when I learned I can start over in my career and in love.
I was 44 years old when I learned I could participate in a writing challenge.
I was 47 years old when I learned I had barely scratched the surface of what I could learn.

Whew! It’s been a year. We’re in the home stretch now. November saw us host THWACKcamp and those of us in the U.S. celebrated Thanksgiving. This is a time to reflect on the year and while it’s been particularly bad in some ways, we find we still have much to be thankful for. One thing we’re thankful for is this wonderful community. Thank you for another wonderful THWACKcamp and another year of great community contribution.

or "My officemate never puts the dishes in the dishwasher (he's a dog)."
or "Did you really just microwave salmon?"

Whether improvised, shared, or particularly beautiful, WFH offices have been our work home (not) away from home in 2020.

It’s ironic how getting what we thought we wanted taught us how much we needed things we thought we were better off without. Bored by idle chitchat, we wished everyone would focus on topics of global importance. Uncomfortable with social gatherings, we craved solitude. Overwhelmed by family obligations, we prayed for a convenient, guilt-free excuse. Distracted by constant interruptions, we bargained and even begged for work-from-home options... and so on.

Here’s an interesting article by my colleague Jim Hansen looking at how schools need to accelerate their cloud adoption to thrive in this dynamic pandemic time.

One of my favorite ways to introduce the December Writing Challenge is to say “the act of writing begets more writing,” because, for me, it’s always been the best explanation for the change I hope the challenge creates in our community and in the world at large: more people taking a little time for themselves each day, to consider a small (and sometimes even trivial) thought, and to share those reflections with others.

I really liked this piece by my SolarWinds associate Brandon Shopp, discussing how hardware health fits into your monitoring strategy and helps complete the picture of what’s happening in your infrastructure.

The act of writing is always a personal one. Each year, the December Writing Challenge is a highly-anticipated chance to peek into the minds, hearts, and lives of the folks we know as colleagues, coworkers, and friends.

When the value is obvious, most companies are willing to invest in tools to help employees get their job done better. But over the course of my career, I’ve noticed a few blind spots companies can’t seem to remember when writing out their tech team grocery list. These include things obvious to many, like training, antivirus for all devices, and comprehensive content management; or the more subtle ones like password managers or (yes) monitoring. In this post I’m going to dig into just three. I hope by sharing this with other folks in your org, it will start a larger conversation

Just imagine the current situation continues well into the foreseeable future—let’s merge reality with a little fiction. The apocalypse is over, but life has changed permanently.

Here’s an interesting article by my colleague Brandon Shopp looking at how tomorrow’s interconnected battlefield is critical yet presents challenges, including battlefield connectivity, and security and personnel technical skills.

IT typically leads the charge on selecting, implementing, and maintaining the organization’s IT Service Management (ITSM) platform of choice. Over time we see ITSM solutions become an integral resource to connect employees and IT.  

Once you’ve completed your initial ITSM implementation and you start the day-to-day grind of administering your ITSM platform – be it answering questions or pulling reports – this is where you can unearth opportunities for cross-departmental collaboration. As traffic increases and you handle a higher volume of tickets, you’ll likely find some inquiries that fall outside IT’s expertise.  

It’s hard to believe another THWACKcamp is now behind us. As I mentioned yesterday, for many of us it will take days—if not longer—to fully process what we’ve heard in these sessions and shared in chat. Not only is that OK, it’s emblematic of our work as IT practitioners. The very best information—whether it’s something we read a book or hear in a class or watch online—stays with us, slowly filtering into our conscious awareness, and from there into our daily habits.

Here at the end of THWACKcamp Day 1, it’s hard to settle down and write a wrap-up. The images and ideas are still very fresh; the conversations we shared are still swirling around my head. For those of us who’ve been around for three, four, five... or even nine (my gosh, how time has flown) years of THWACKcamp will know the new ideas keep bubbling up for weeks afterward. So, I’m going to beg your forgiveness in advance if I miss mentioning the moment that stood out for you, but feel free to share yours in the comments below.

What to do if there's nothing to do?!

I really liked this piece by my SolarWinds associate Craig McDonald, discussing the basics of monitoring, including establishing the what and understanding the how of network monitoring.

Hopefully, you all had a safe and spooky Halloween last weekend and a good time raising Cybersecurity Awareness in October. In case you missed it, SentryOne joined the SolarWinds family last month. We’re very excited to continue growing our portfolio of database monitoring and management products. Look for Tom’s thoughts on that in the list below.

What might you have missed in October?

Here’s an interesting article by my colleague Jim Hansen exploring steps to achieving your agency’s application modernization strategy, including deep application knowledge, strong leadership, and tracking performance improvements.

I’m writing this as I fly to Charlotte. Yes, in the middle of a pandemic, I am on an airplane. My first flight since March and bringing back a flood of memories. Not of flying, though. About my career.

Protecting your identity is becoming more and more difficult. Though many people don’t stop to consider it, even the most minor conveniences can go hand in hand with an incredible amount of privacy loss. For example, Amazon recently debuted new hand scanners in stores in Seattle where you can scan your palm to make a purchase. Even though you gain the convenience of being able to make a contactless payment, the company using this software now has personal information about you they may or may not even be using. Innovations in technology often go to market before their privacy implications are clear. Companies can use or sell your data for market research, for instance, but are at least required to send you privacy notices. In general, you should assume they only protect as much as they’re required to by law and not necessarily what you’d like them to protect.

I really liked this piece by my SolarWinds associate Brandon Shopp, discussing why cybersecurity plans need to be updated and how upgrading access control tools and using multi-faceted security increases protection.

Here’s an interesting article by my colleague Brandon Shopp looking at how network telemetry can be used to collect and analyze data from different sources to improve decision making.