How to make good Information Technology decisions - Part 1

I have spoken to a lot of different people about the purchase of IT equipment over the last 20+ years.  Many of the people I have spoken to have come to me with a vague idea that putting some computer system in place will make their life better.  Often this is the case because they have come to the decision to purchase without having thought through what they are doing properly.  This is usually because they are aware they have a need but are struggling to work out how to make the decision.

Over the next few weeks I intend to provide a framework that can be used to help make wise IT purchases.  This framework can, and should, be used regardless of the size or type of purchase.  With small purchases the framework can generally be used in your head to help guide you to a good decision.  The larger the purchase, the more formal and detailed the process should be.

Essentially the framework revolves around three key questions.  They are:

1. What For
2. How Long
3. How Much

When these 3 questions are answered properly, you can make a wise purchase.  Leave any one of them unanswered and you are likely to get burnt sooner or later by the decision you make.  On small purchases, you can probably live with it, but on big purchases the results can be catastrophic.  The size of the purchase is defined by two factors.  The straight out dollar cost and the possible impact the decisions has on you and your business.

More in my next post.

Fresh Ideas for Work and Family Grants Program Stimulus Package

If you are like me you are probably completely unaware of the current offer by the Australia Federal government to help out small businesses.

The Australian Government has introduced the Fresh Ideas for Work and Family Grants Program to support Australian small businesses to implement practices that help employees balance their work and family obligations as well as improve employee retention and productivity.


The Program provides grants of up to $15,000 (GST exclusive) to small businesses to help meet the set-up costs of family friendly arrangements that suit the individual needs of the business.

This is a great opportunity for small businesses.

Go to http://www.deewr.gov.au/WorkplaceRelations/FreshIdeas/ to find out more.

If you ring their help line on 13 13 94, select option 4 (I selected option 2 for employers to start off with - which is the wrong option).  You need to ring between 8:00am and 6:00pm.

The Heron State Titles and Navigatum Cup Teams Trophy

I have been fortunate enough to finish off January by racing in the Heron State Titles and Navigatum Cup Teams Trophy.

The Heron State Titles were run on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of January, and Australia Day (26th of January). These days were chosen so that anyone entering in the competition was not disadvantaged if they were unable to get the Monday off as a holiday.

Those of us who were lucky enough to be able to have the Monday as a holiday were able to race in the Navigatum Cup Teams Racing Competition. Ordinarily sailing competitions are an individual boat event. However, it is possible to race as a team. These events have a few changes to the standard racing rules that can make them quite fun. How much fun really depends on those competing.

In ordinary racing, you are required to sail as quickly as possible around the course, from buoy to buoy. Some deviation is allowed from the shortest possible path, but not too much, and you would be penalised if you deliberately deviated from your course to simply impede another boat. In Teams racing this changes. You are allowed to deviate form the shortest path around the course and to deliberately sail a course that will impede another boat.  The majority of other rules still apply. For example, port must give way to starboard and you must avoid contact with other boats.

Teams racing is scored based on where your boats finish, with a penalty for having the last boat. So if your boat is last, then it is in your interest to try to force one of your competitors boat off the course, allowing your boat to pass you both. It can make for some very thrilling and interesting racing.

In several cases, boats turned around and 'hunted' down a boat behind them. The most dramatic of this on Monday was when a boat that was about to finish second turned back a meter from the finish line. They did this because the boat that was first was only a few meters in front, once the first boat had finished they could no longer be involved in the race and were then unable to provide any help to their team mates.

An example of an interesting tactic was when I had been forced off the course by one of my competitors before the start of the race. I had anticipated this and so had formulated a plan to deal with it – essentially I started the race on the wrong side of the start line, ‘dipped’ the start line and was then able to start ahead of my competitor. This action is completely legal in standard racing, but one that you would very rarely contemplate as in standard racing it would be almost impossible to do it successfully.

If you sail and have the opportunity to race in a Teams event, make sure you take it. You will learn an enormous amount about the rules of racing.

One of the major factors that made the Navigatum Cup Teams Racing event so enjoyable was the spirit in which everyone competed and I look forward to racing in it again.

I will finish off now with a brief roundup the results that my family and I achieved in these two events.

The most successful family member was my eldest daughter Jaime. In the first race for the State Title she actually beat me! Jaime skippered in both events with a crew more junior than her. Jaime finished in 16th place on scratch and brought home the following trophies:
• 1st place on Handicap
• 1st place Junior
• 1st place Lady
• Her Team finished 1st in the Navigatum Cup Teams Racing.

Next is Katrina, my second daughter who crewed with Jason Groves. I think Jason has been sailing for over 20 years. Katrina brought home the following:
• 2nd Place on Scratch (1st place to 5th place receive a trophy)
• Her Team finished 2nd in the Navigatum Cup Teams Racing.

And finally my results with my youngest, Matthew. We finished in 8th place on Scratch
• 2nd place on Handicap
• My team finished 3rd in the Navigatum Cup Teams Racing.

Heron Nationals Round Up

The Heron Nationals are completed and the results are all in.


We sailed well, particularly considering the foreign conditions, and finished 19th out of 58 boats. I had set myself the target of finishing in place 19 or better, so we just scraped in.

I normally sail at Dobroyd where the water is flat, there is no swell and little or no passing traffic. Largs Bay has a significant swell and plenty of chop – so this made the conditions quite different to my normal experience.  These are also conditions that my boat is not particularly suited to.

The Heron class is essential One Design class. In a One Design class all the boats are meant to conform to a strict set of design rules which are meant to ensure that the boats are identical. In the Optimist Class (the dinghy that my eldest daughter races) all the boats come from only a hand full of moulds and can only use a handful of masts, booms and other parts. This means that all the boats are almost identical.

The Heron class however was originally established for home boat builders and so has a little bit of room in the specifications to allow for a margin of error. This has resulted in boats with slightly different performance characteristics being built from plywood. When manufacturing boats using fibreglass became cost effective a mould was produced in Australia for the Heron class to use.

The first mould was used for some time. The boats that were made with this mould are referred to as ‘Mark 1’ hulls. This is what I have. Sometime after this mould was made, a boat by the name of Hornet was built from plywood and was seen as a very successful (fast) boat. Due to it’s success, another mould was made using it’s hull.

Hornet had received some damage prior to being used for this, and the mould that was made resulted in boats that were nearly identical in shape to Hornet, including the uneven surface where the repair had been done. Boats made using this hull are referred to as ‘Mark 2’ hulls.

In the last 12 months another new mould has been made. This one is based on the old ‘Mark 2’ mould and it was only intended that to clean up the uneven surface mentioned above and to tidy up a few other similar items. The few boats that have been built using this mould are still referred to as ‘Mark 2’ hulls, but generally with the explanation that they are from the new mould. In addition to being a bit more ‘fair’ (that means nice and smooth) these boats are made using modern materials and techniques making the stiffer. The stiffer the hull is the better. A boat that has a soft hull will perform slower than a boat with a stiff hull.

I don’t believe any of the new boats competed in the Heron Nationals, however the breakdown of the top 20 places goes as follows:

• Places 1-16 were made up of 14 ‘Mark 2’ hulls and 2 plywood hulls
• Places 17-19 were ‘Mark 1’ hulls
• Place 20 was a plywood hull

So I am very pleased to have finished 19th, and except for a silly capsize, would have finished 17th!

With regard to our tent relocation, we got up early and half pulled down our tent so that we could move it. We didn’t need to pull the tent down completely as we had a number of helpers. This meant that we could pick up the tent and move it whilst it was partially set up – saving a lot of time. It did look funny though and brought new meaning to a mobile home.

Our next Heron regatta is the NSW State Championship at Toukley.

Off to the Heron and Optimist Nationals

The big adventure has started. We have put Pippin in the Blue Mountains Retreat for Unloved Dogs (AKA Mama’s house) and headed west to Adelaide.

Two weeks of sun and sailing. I will be racing in the Heron Nationals with my son Matthew as Crew. Kate will be sailing with John Nobbs and my eldest daughter, Jaime, will be sitting on the beach watching and chafing because she is not on the water. Her time will shortly come when she starts the training clinic and nationals for the Optimists (the class of dinghy she sails).

The Nationals are due to start on the 28th with what is called the ‘invitational’ race. This is a bit of a hang over from when sailing regatta’s were so popular that you had to qualify to enter. The invitational race was open to everyone, even those that did not qualify to race in the nationals.

We left Sydney on Boxing Day and stayed overnight at Hay. We then travelled to Adelaide and delivered White Pointer to Largs Bay Sailing Club prior to going to the caravan park we had booked in to.

We arrived at the park to check in and were told we were not expected until the next day. Fortunately Elissa had printed out the confirmation email and was able to present it. We were squeezed in to a vacant bit of grass with the promise of being able to get early access to our site. This will make the morning very busy.

They say that owners start to resemble their pets!

It would seem that the Movember affliction in my house has spread.  Our poor pup, Pippin, appears to have caught a Mo as well!

Movember appears to be contagious!

My wife, Elissa, seems to have caught one too.

Not to mention the kids.

So we are now one big happy Mo family.  And I don't feel so odd anymore.