Probably Random

Shadow Project

Shadow Project Scott Mariani

A great thriller, featuring ex-special forces protecting a multi-billionaire businessman, with lots of intrigue and twists including the usual kidnaps, fights, ambushes as well as some re-discovered WWII Nazi special projects.

It was exciting and kept me gripped and wanting to find out more.  In places it felt a bit simplistic and thin but there was enough intrigue to keep me going,  entertaining none the less and, certainly worth a read if you like conspiracy thrillers.

Eight Lives Down

Eight Lives Down Major Chris Hunter

This is an astounding first hand account of Major Hunters time as a Bomb Disposal Technician.  The title refers to the fact the EOD technicians are nicked named Felix (the cat with nine lives) and the book is a trip with the Author learning where the first eight have gone.

He doesn’t hold back  and the book is a fast paced, emotional and exilerating to read.  Most of the book is based around his work in Iraq with stories of bomb makers out to get him, ambushes and the affect of such a high stress, dangerous and addictive job had on him and his family.  Whilst reading I felt that there could be more to come as there were allusions to other postings and happenings, with enough detail to get the message across, intrigue you but not make you feel like you were missing out.

The Naked Trader: How Anyone Can Make Money Trading Shares

The Naked Trader: How Anyone Can Make Money Trading Shares (2nd edition) Robbie Burns

I decided I wanted to know more about the stock market, with, perhaps one day, making a few trades myself… A friend recommended this book to me (and lent me a copy) and I’m so glad he did.

Robbie explains how it all works and why everything I thought would be a great ideas isn’t! I still don’t feel like I understand how it all works but at least I know I don’t know, and I think some of that knowledge will only come from trying.  I have however learnt enough that I could start trading today if I wanted to and I am hoping to start paper trading and doing the research work and watching that he recommends.

It’s a light hearted and easy to read book, it explains what he’s done and why, but it’s a my way is the only way get rich quick. he explains he’s made losses shows you where and why, and that it’s a long term game.

If you’re interested in knowing more about trading, whether you want to do any or not, or if you are going to do some and haven’t done any prep yet, this is the one for you!

Portrait and Candid Photography: Photo Workshop

Portrait and Candid Photography: Photo Workshop Erin Manning

Disappointing from the start.   If you have never used an SLR before and have no idea that photography is about lighting (photos – light graph – draw/write) then this could be the book for you, it’s very repetitive and basic.

Chapters 5-9 finally talk about taking pictures of people but again more repetition of the basics, and the instructions to go practice.  Most of it again is about how to take a picture with occasional comments like:  build rapport with your subjects…  hmm cheers for that insight.

The redeeming feature for me was the fact I have one of the same lenses, so it was nice to see that if I get it right I can take pictures like those (although I’d like to know ho she managed to take a picture at f2.8 on a lens which goes down to f4… or perhaps the captions are wrong).

So overall, if you are new to photography then this may be interesting, if you’re not then you’ll feel patronised and disappointed.

Team Building

As I’ve said before I go to Enterprise Tuesdays at the University of Cambridge.  A recent seminar was all about building teams and it seemed to come at just the right time (it was a great seminar!).  I’m trying to build the development team where I work and with all the usual interviews and tests and everything it was really useful to hear other people experiences.  All along we’ve been trying to build a team rather than pick a group of amazing individuals, and the team experience is one which is very important to us, it was nice to see this post on coding horror too.

Our main difficulty is fitting our team dynamic into the company’s infrastructure.  They are very much dictatorial and reactive; we were giving our schedule for Christmas promotions which needed development work at the beginning of December! needless to say it was shambolic.

One of the presenters made a point which was that interviews are a two way thing, it’s as much about the interviewee deciding if they like you.  The management here come across as fairly arrogant, sometimes the interviews we run feel like interrogations rather than interviews and twice I’ve had people ask when it’s the technical interview with just me there ‘is your boss always like that? if so I don’t want the job’.  The people I want in my team are those who were perceptive enough to notice that at interview and ask the question, the problem is… they are the ones who are most likely to be put off.  Not only does it put off those who we want to join, but it is embarrassing as the interviewer to have to defend policies which you don’t necessarily agree with.  This lead on to ‘Hygiene Factors’ where they were talking about the baseline of requirements, we have minimum legal holidays, very near maximum working hours (plus being on call 24/7 and no company benefits until you’ve been here for 5 years… we do however have interesting work to do, which is what is keeping the team together at the moment.

One of my main faults whilst building the team here was to underestimate how much time it takes to bring new people in to the team, get them up to speed with our code, systems and practices (try and stick to conventions it’s much easier!) which has meant extra pressure on me to deliver new work, my own work and improve the team.

Having good, passionate and motivated people in your team, who aren’t all the same but can get along, having a great working environment and an interesting job to do (one which challenges but doesn’t overwhelm) is really important.  As is having a  perceptive manager who understands people and their biases and goals so that the work can remain interesting and challenging.