When you spend enough time on the road you find that you meet a lot of people. If you pay attention there is a lot to be learned. I was on a trip to Dallas for a team meeting when I met Richard. He was sitting next to me, busy on the phone, taking care of what seemed to be pressing business. After the plane taxied away from the jetway he finished his call and I found the chance to say hello.
After a few polite words, I asked him what he does that keeps him so busy. “They call me the Angel of Death“ he replied casually. This wasn't the response I had expected. I must've given him quite a look because he just smiled. Actually he works as a turnaround specialist for a venture capital firm out of Chicago. His role is to take the reigns a sick, failing companies and turn them around to make a profit. He has to go in and find the sickness and cut it out...decide who keeps their jobs and who doesn't. In short, who lives and who dies.
Now when you meet the Angel of Death and realize that he hasn't come for you, you can have a very interesting conversation. He was on the trip to meet with a new company they had just acquired, and for a couple hours I had a captive audience to find out for myself what it takes to do that kind of job. For instance, how does he know what needs to be cut and what you want to preserve? How do you know who to keep on the team? What projects get the axe? How long can someone do this job before they burn out?
Our conversations covered a lot of territory. We talked about how important it is to be able to focus on the issues and the players to be able to make informed decisions. How to tell whether someone's on you team or not, and how to sift through the vast universe of possibles to identify what deserves more time. This reminded me of how quickly technology changes, and and the challenge of trying to decypher which technologies are worthy enough to invest your precious time.
I told him about my job and what I do for a living. I run a small computer consulting company, and I go on the road and present seminars for Microsoft. I travel around the country and show off the latest tools and techniques for building software solutions to business problems. My goal is not necessarily to provide “training” as much as it is to help those attending to get a better idea of what is possible and which technoloiges are interesting, and where they can go to get more information. By the end of it my hope is that everyone leaves with something that they can use, one way or another.
Later that week, while I was at the team meeting I had a chance to take his advice to heart. We're just getting ready for the launch of the new Visual Studio 2005 tool suites, and in the process we've been preparing our agenda. If you come to see one of my events you will find out what we've put together, and maybe you'll be surprised...At least you will be entertained. I guess you'll have to join me to find out...
Enjoy!
Mike