Salaam, Egypt!!

Tonight I wish the people of Egypt peace…  Salaam, Egypt.
Throughout time, moments come when the voices of caution face the forces of change.  We are now watching history!
This week, the glowing ember of freedom is sparking into fire in the chests of the Egyptian people.  Tomorrow will see the million person march.  History will be on display and we (the people of the world) will be watching it.
This week, the first tentative steps to a new Egypt have been taken.  Small steps.  Important steps.  The people are stirring.  Their voices are rising.  “Hope and justice.”
There has been violence.  There will be more…  Salaam, Egypt.  The future is peace.  Move firmly towards the future and strive to do it peacefully.  The world is watching you.  Allah is watching you.
Poland, South Africa, the Philippines, East Germany…
Peace works!  The transition will not be easy.  True liberty and self-determination are both messy, but hard work will bring you both if you seek them with peaceful determination.  Salaam, Egypt.
I wish I could promise you the United States government will support you in your immediate efforts.  I can not.  Here the voices of caution and half measures can never acknowledge the fierce urgency of now which beats in your hearts.  To do so would mean we have to acknowledge the hearts and hopes of others like you who are not quite ready to take the steps you are now taking.  Take heart, the people of America wish you freedom and hope and justice even if our government cannot openly side with you (at the moment).
Salaam, Egypt.  Eschew violence.   Salaam, Egypt.  We are watching and we are praying for you…
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On This Day In:
2023	Some Of Us Sit Quietly (Indoors), Read And Drink Coffee
2022	Sometimes I’m Confused
2021	You Need Me On That Wall
	Counting Bees And Chasing Clouds (Return To Pooh Corner)
2020	Precious Life
2019	Nothing Is Too Difficult For Me
	Patterns Of Caring
2018	And May Never Be
2017	Don’t Forget
2016	I Was A Percentage Man
2015	It Waits Patiently
2014	Unknown
2013	Explaining Love?
2012	Echoes of 1%
2011	Salaam, Egypt!!
	Where Do You Learn?

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Where Do You Learn?

Learning occurs at the fringes of what you already know;  so that you learn some new things similar to what you know already.  If what you are trying to learn is not too far away from what you already know, you can learn.  The bigger that fringe is — the more you know — the more likely it is, the more possible it is, to discover new things.
—    Douglas B. Lenat
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On This Day In:
2023	Some Of Us Sit Quietly (Indoors), Read And Drink Coffee
2022	Sometimes I’m Confused
2021	You Need Me On That Wall
	Counting Bees And Chasing Clouds (Return To Pooh Corner)
2020	Precious Life
2019	Nothing Is Too Difficult For Me
	Patterns Of Caring
2018	And May Never Be
2017	Don’t Forget
2016	I Was A Percentage Man
2015	It Waits Patiently
2014	Unknown
2013	Explaining Love?
2012	Echoes of 1%
2011	Salaam, Egypt!!
	Where Do You Learn?

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Cultural Equivalence

I believe that all the non-quantitative things probably carry over almost completely from one culture to the other.
—    Donald E. Knuth
From his book:  “Things A Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About“
[Which explains why all cultures have their own bogey-men!    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Just Agree To Disagree
2022	There Is No Fate But What You Make
2021	The Silent Word
	Touched My Hand (I Will Follow Him)
2020	Releasing Their Fears
2019	17 Days Until The Next Government Shutdown
2018	Disciplined Models
2017	We Cannot Afford Enemies
2016	Love Is Just A State Of Mind (The World I Use To Know)
2015	Waiting?
2014	Big C, Little B (II)
	Where God Has Not
2013	Chasing His Dragon
	Shaped And Molded
2012	Believe In Yourself
2011	Cultural Equivalence
	Why Not?
	Books About Books
	The Basis For Adult Continuing Education

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Why Not?

I believe there is a great value to prayer, but I don’t know why.
—    Donald E. Knuth
From his book:  “Things A Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About“
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On This Day In:
2023	Just Agree To Disagree
2022	There Is No Fate But What You Make
2021	The Silent Word
	Touched My Hand (I Will Follow Him)
2020	Releasing Their Fears
2019	17 Days Until The Next Government Shutdown
2018	Disciplined Models
2017	We Cannot Afford Enemies
2016	Love Is Just A State Of Mind (The World I Use To Know)
2015	Waiting?
2014	Big C, Little B (II)
	Where God Has Not
2013	Chasing His Dragon
	Shaped And Molded
2012	Believe In Yourself
2011	Cultural Equivalence
	Why Not?
	Books About Books
	The Basis For Adult Continuing Education

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Books About Books

Today’s book review is a “funny” book.  This is a book about a series of seminars which were held to discuss an earlier book the author wrote.  The book I just completed is titled:  “Things A Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About“, (2001©) and the original book was titled:  “3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated” (1990©), both written by Donald E. Knuth.  Basically, a world famous computer scientist (Knuth) wanted to “know” something about the bible.  Having grown up as a Lutheran, he felt he had a general understanding of the Bible, but he felt he wanted a “depth” of knowledge as well.  As a computer scientist, Knuth felt one way to accurately get the measure of anything is to do a random sampling of the thing, and provided you used a large enough sampling, you could gain a “probable” understanding of thing being studied.  He therefore chose to study Chapter 3, verse 16 of each book in the Bible.
Knuth found he had to study the verses immediately before and after the target verse to actually determine the meaning of the verse.  He also discovered a number of other things which he found personally interesting.  For example, in examining the works of others who discussed the various verses, he found there was general (and specific) disagreement as to what was actually being said.  He therefore went back and personally translated the verses from Greek and Latin.  Knuth then rewrote the verses as he understood them and approached a friend (a world expert in calligraphy), who in turn approached a number of other world experts in calligraphy and asked if they would each take a verse and “interpret”.
The series of verses became a an integral part of the book and later a world traveled exhibition which is currently (permanently housed) held at the San Francisco Public Library.  (And which I hope to make a visit to see.)
To make a longer story shorter, the book (and exhibit) produced a wide amount of interest which led to the series of lectures, which in turn led to the book I’ve recently completed reading.  For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, just prior to my trip to Baltimore, I selected twelve books to take with me to read.  “Things…” was one of these twelve.  Before anyone gets the idea this was “planned”, the taking books was indeed planned, this book was not.  I found the book at my local Half Price Books store in the storefront $2 racks.  Complete serendipity!!
So much for background, how did I like the book?  I enjoyed it tremendously!  What are the things a computer scientist rarely talks about?  His religion, his faith and his God.  The lectures were interesting and faintly humorous.  The author’s brilliance (depth and breadth) are obvious and his humility is engaging.  Knuth’s reasons for belief are straight forward:  Faith gives me comfort and I choose to have / keep it.  He seems to be perfectly willing to straddle both worlds:  science and faith;  and, more importantly, he seems quite willing to let others enjoy whatever faith (or lack of faith) they may have.
If there is a weakness in his book, it is his occasional lapses into trying to explain a facet of God by comparing it to a known (or unknown) in science.  For example, his comparison of infinity (God) and human ability to comprehend (or more accurately not comprehend) very large values like Super K – which he describes as 10 to the 10th power, to the 10th power.  Because this value is greater than the projected number of atoms in the universe, the “value” of the number is purely symbolic.  It exists as an imaginary number (symbol) which we can describe, but which is still not the end of numbers, even though it would be impossible to even write the value down as anything except a symbol.  The bottom line is we can never understand God, we can only choose to believe or not.  Knuth chooses to believe.
I probably found 50-plus great ideas or things worth quoting in this book, so you’ll have to bear with me for a while as I post them periodically.  I will be scheduling them, so you won’t be hit with them all in one go, but you may find getting them over the course of the next month just as annoying.  Once again, highly recommended reading!
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On This Day In:
2023	Just Agree To Disagree
2022	There Is No Fate But What You Make
2021	The Silent Word
	Touched My Hand (I Will Follow Him)
2020	Releasing Their Fears
2019	17 Days Until The Next Government Shutdown
2018	Disciplined Models
2017	We Cannot Afford Enemies
2016	Love Is Just A State Of Mind (The World I Use To Know)
2015	Waiting?
2014	Big C, Little B (II)
	Where God Has Not
2013	Chasing His Dragon
	Shaped And Molded
2012	Believe In Yourself
2011	Cultural Equivalence
	Why Not?
	Books About Books
	The Basis For Adult Continuing Education

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The Basis For Adult Continuing Education

The knowledge principle says the performance depends on the knowledge base, not the logic.  So if the knowledge is out of date, or if you do not routinely update the knowledge, the performance of the system decays over time.
—    Edward A. Feigenbaum
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On This Day In:
2023	Just Agree To Disagree
2022	There Is No Fate But What You Make
2021	The Silent Word
	Touched My Hand (I Will Follow Him)
2020	Releasing Their Fears
2019	17 Days Until The Next Government Shutdown
2018	Disciplined Models
2017	We Cannot Afford Enemies
2016	Love Is Just A State Of Mind (The World I Use To Know)
2015	Waiting?
2014	Big C, Little B (II)
	Where God Has Not
2013	Chasing His Dragon
	Shaped And Molded
2012	Believe In Yourself
2011	Cultural Equivalence
	Why Not?
	Books About Books
	The Basis For Adult Continuing Education

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The Complex Richness Of Life

Biologists believe that simple mathematical theories are usually wrong, because biological systems are multicausal, poorly partitionable — basically, messy.  Biological systems do have a beauty, but it is one of complexity and richness, rather than the simple reductionist elegance of physics.
—    W. Daniel Hillis
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On This Day In:
2023	Musical Notes
	It Was A Very Good Year
2022	A Murmuring Note
2021	Satisfied If Not Fulfilled
	You Don’t Know (Whatcha Gonna Do)
	Urban Ballroom
2020	R.I.P. Kobe
2019	Looks A Lot Like #45
2018	Trying To Stay Young
2017	Seems Reasonable To Me
2016	We Can Get Through This Together (In Time)
2015	How Long Is A Piece Of String?
2014	Heathen, n.
2013	Wisdom’s Folly
2012	When The Student Is Ready
	Disconnected Leadership
2011	The Complex Richness Of Life

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Career Tips (Part 2)

Yesterday, I offered an article I’d read by Miguel Torrado, former Associate Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA).  Today, I’ll offer some of my own thoughts.
Preface:  Some time ago, I met an employee who had fairly recently joined the SSA (less than 5 years of service).  Even though I’m not an executive, manager, or even a supervisor, I was asked for some advice on how to get ahead in a Federal agency.  I think my suggestions will apply to anyone seeking to get ahead in any medium to large company or government agency.  Anyway, here they are:
Generally, there is a list of things one should always be aware of when one is starting out and trying to make a career in a large agency or company:
1)  Look the part…  Dress higher than your current grade / job.  Normally you should shoot for two jobs higher than your current job.  You don’t get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression (well, you do, but it takes a lot more effort to change a bad 1st impression than confirm a good one).  This goes beyond what you wear though.  Examine your bearing and mannerisms in a mirror.  Stand tall, walk confidently and don’t fidget.  Slouching makes you seem less forceful; schlepping along does not connote grace, poise or leadership; and fidgeting makes others nervous.  Practice talking to a mirror or tape yourself.  Then study it.  Do you seem poised?  Do you swing your arms in a distracting fashion?
2)  Do your current job to the best of your ability.  Push yourself…  Look around you at the folks who seem to be getting their job done a little more easily or quickly than anyone else.  What are they doing differently from everyone else (and you)?  If you’re not sure – ask!  Most people love to talk about the little tricks they’ve come up with to do things better.  If nothing else, it will give you different perspectives on what’s considered important to others and why.
3)  Look for opportunities to take initiative.  Don’t try to horn in on other people’s pet jobs, but let it be known that when you are done with one thing (your own job) you look for other ways to help.  This goes hand in hand with leadership – contribute at team meetings, volunteer to help with the X-mas party; diversity week, the CFC campaign, etc.  These are little headaches your manager always needs “a body” to help get the job done.  If you are seen to consistently step up to the plate, you’ll be the first person that comes to mind when other opportunities (details, training, etc) come up.  If you find your paths are temporarily blocked within the job, look outside work.  Find a volunteer interest that excites you, get stuck in there and lead.  Fundamentally, leaders lead.  If you find you don’t want to lead, (it’s best to find out early,) then look at becoming a technical expert as a means of getting ahead.  A word of caution – there are far fewer well paid technical jobs than there are managerial jobs, especially as you get higher and higher in the grades.
4)  Read – continue your education.  You may not always have time to attend formal instruction, but you can always read.  Read deeply and widely.  Read about what interests you and pick a few topics that don’t.  Read about government, history, economics, philosophy, leaders and leadership.  Where did SSA come from?  Why is it still here?  Why do the Regions / Areas / Districts look the way they do?  What program areas are you good at?  What are you not so good at?  How is the Regional Ofc organized, why, how does it affect you?  What does the grade structure of the SSA look like?
5) Plan, Do, Check, Repeat…  Think about yourself and what you want out of life.  That sounds “airy-fairy, warm and fuzzy” but it’s important.  If having a family is important, you will have to make concessions at some points in your career.  If the career is more important, you’ll make different choices.  The important thing is to know yourself – or no matter what you do or have, it won’t fit.  There’s been lots of talk over the last couple of decades about 1yr, 3 to 5 yr, and 10 yr plans.  To the extent you find they help you stay true to your picture of yourself, I think they are of value.
I prefer a “scenario” approach to a rigid plan.  I look ahead to get a feel for where I want to be or what I want to be doing at some points in the future.  Then I try to anticipate the major issues and factors that will affect what I want to do or be.  This includes what I feel I must do (as a minimum) to have the opportunity to get from point A to point B.  (This would be like: if I have a BA and want a PhD, I have to go back to school.  Notice I haven’t decided on the school, subject or completion date.  I just “know” I want to be a PhD.)
I am a big believer in Stochastics, Chaos and Serendipity.  I have found the “goal” is only satisfying if the journey was difficult (or at the very least challenging).  Success is fun, but I almost always learn more from my failures and recoveries than I do from my instant successes.
Ok.  Enough with the general tips.  Now for some specifics –
1)  Keep your weapon loaded and your powder dry.  Every quarter, review your resume and 45 [Form 45 is equivalent to a resume / job application], so you have both ready to apply for a job within a few hours of hearing about it.  Anytime something significant happens (award, detail, project, training) update both within 48 hours.  If you don’t, you’ll forget to and you won’t be ready…  Success is what happens when preparation meets opportunity!
2)  EVERY DAY, check the job pages [most companies have internal job opportunities / announcements].  You’ll never know there’s an opening if you don’t look.  When you see something that looks interesting, study the job description, duties, required skills, etc.  You’ll begin to see a pattern for skill sets for grades, jobs and areas (various Centers in the RO) you may be interested in.
3)  Practice speaking (in public) and volunteer to do it at every opportunity.  Take a class so you’ll learn the theory and then practice, practice, practice.  These days leaders must be able to communicate.  If you’re not sure about your writing ability, practice that as well.
4)  Every day, get your “mental” game face on.  Before you get out of the car, look in the mirror and ask yourself two questions: what do I have to do today to be better at my job; and, what can I do today to make myself a better person.  Neither of these are about the “planning” mentioned above, they are all about the attitude you’re going to have the minute you step through the office door.  At the end of the day, before you drive home, look in the mirror again and ask yourself did you get them done.  You won’t be able to answer “yes” to both every day, but you should be able to answer at least one “yes” most days.
5)  This is probably the most important thing (after doing your job) – be mobile!  If you’re willing to travel – even if just to the next office over, you’ve doubled your opportunities to apply for openings.  You can’t expect to sell your home and move your family every couple of years (although some do), but if you can stay within reasonable commuting distance of an area office, regional office or central office, you’ll have a tremendously broader range of grades and jobs to select from
6)  Finally, take chances!  Sometimes a lateral or a down-grade is the best you can do to get your foot in a different door.  Look before you leap, but there is no profit without risk.
I hope these ideas are of some help.
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On This Day In:
2023	Almost
2022	A Happy Realization
2021	Is Science Cumulative?
	We’re Aging With Time (Yesterday’s Wine)
2020	Where #45 Is Leading The Republican Party
2019	Your Own Blog Posts
	The Man With A Code
2018	Choose Goodness
2017	Developing Translations
2016	Think Like A Hero
2015	Reductionism
2014	Gravitation, n.
2013	Ups And Downs
2012	Nerd Heard – And Good-Bye
	Your Continuum
2011	Career Tips (Part 2)

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Career Tips (Part 1)

If you’ve read this blog for awhile, you know I’m a Federal employee.  I have over 20 years of government service (both civilian and military).  I also have over 15 years of private sector work experience.  Lots of sources will tell you about how to find your next job.  Not many provide advice which will carry you through a career.  The following is an article I found which provides some very good insights in how to advance in a chosen career.  For those of you who are not Federal employees, an Associate Commissioner is equivalent to someone at a big company Board of Directors level.  GS-1s through 4s are high school graduate level hires.  GS5 through 7 are normally college graduate level or someone hired with 5 to 10 years of work experience in their field.  Most hires above GS7 are only internal hires / promotions (hires being from outside the hiring agency – basically a transfer).  Above grade GS11, you practically have to be a scientist, doctor or a lawyer to get hired.  Anyway, take a look through Mr. Torrado’s promotion rules.  (Tomorrow, I share some of my own ideas…)
Promotions: What Mom Never Told You!
Miguel Torrado, former Associate Commissioner for Personnel, tells it straight.
The Real Rules of the Promotion Game
Lo que tu Mami Nunca te Dijo
(What your mom never told you)
By Miguel Torrado
Director, Human Resources, FDIC
Former Associate Commissioner, Personnel, SSA
The most critical concept to grasp in playing the promotion game is perhaps the most difficult to accept.  To compete on an equal footing we have to take individual responsibility for succeeding.  It is up to each of us to figure what it takes to get ahead and to do it.  Blaming our difficulties on others without examining what we need to do differently is a waste of time.  It renders us power-less and slows us down.  Accepting this responsibility can be a scary thing, sort of like getting rid of the training wheels when we were learning to ride a bike.
And yet, effectively taking control of your career, playing the game to win, is actually fairly straightforward.  It boils down to playing the game by its real rules, and knowing what those rules are.  No one talks about these rules, and in fact some folks don’t even know they exist, but there is nothing secret or esoteric about them.  They are just common sense.  In fact you may have seen something similar to some of them in “how to get promoted” presentations.  For me they are the distillation of some 30 years of experience playing the promotion game, not always successfully.  If followed, these roughly two dozen rules will not guarantee a promotion, but will greatly increase your chances of getting one.
There is no one right way of grouping these rules, but for convenience I group them into “Prerequisites”, “Basics” and “Advanced”.  A word of caution: these rules are not what some folks may want to hear, and they are not necessarily “politically correct.”  So skip the rest of this if you don’t want a rough ride through the land of truth.  On the other hand, you may want to buckle your seat belt and pick up a useful tip or two.
The Prerequisites:
Rule 1.  Get a college degree.  An associate degree is good, a bachelors better and a masters best.  These days they are asking folks for a bachelors degree to be hired as GS-5s, and if you graduate with a 3.5 average you will be hired as a GS-7.  At the other end of the grade scale almost everyone above the GS-12 has a bachelors and many have a masters;  ditto for the senior executives.  You do the math.  Can you make it to the top without a college degree?  Yes.  Are you likely to?  No.
Rule 2. Learn to write well, concisely and persuasively.  Writing skills are the scarcest commodity in the Federal workforce.  If you have them (and display them) you will be in demand.  If you don’t have them, get them.  Take at least four courses in English composition at the local community college.  And don’t assume that you write well because you think you do; ask someone you trust to give you bad news to read some of your writings.  By the way, one of the reasons for getting that college degree, particularly a masters, is that it’s difficult to finish the degree without learning to write well.  Why?  Because writing well requires clear and disciplined thinking, usually the side product of a college education.
Rule 3. Learn the art of briefing.  If it takes more than 20 minutes to brief your higher ups on some topic in which you are the reputed expert, you are not briefing them, you’re torturing them.  Learn to deliver your message cogently and convincingly in less than 15 minutes.  Learn how to use visual aids effectively.  An effective 15 minute briefing before the right official will do more to advance your career than almost anything else, so practice your public speaking skills.  The easiest way to pick up this skill is to join your local chapter of Toasmasters.
Rule 4.  Keep a healthy leave balance.  There are many reasons for this, but I will mention only three.  First, it’s nice to be paid while you are recuperating from an unexpected illness.  I found that out when I had bad case of appendicitis.  Second, if on the day you retire (yes, Lupe, the day will come) you are a GS-15 with the maximum amount of use-or-lose leave, you can cash it in and walk away with a check for $20,000 in today’s dollars.  Third, and this is the clincher, if you never accumulate a leave balance, Federal agency culture has a name for you:  leave abuser.  And you will not be promoted, regardless of how good you are.  Why?  You are no good to your manager if you are not at the office to do your job.
Rule 5.  Do your job well.  You do not get promoted for doing your job;  you get paid a salary for that.  But if you do not do your job well, you will not get promoted.  Is this fair?  Depends on how you look at it.  But like life, fair or not, that’s the way it is.  And, by the way, this also means doing your job long enough to be seen as “having paid your dues.”  This means that you should not expect to be picked up for a developmental program eight months into your first job, or for the next level program when you have scarcely finished the prior one.
The Basics:
So much for the prerequisites.  Remember, prerequisites are those things that you have to do before they let you in the game.  We need to move now to what I call the basics.  “Basics” refers to the techniques of the game, like moving your feet side to side to the tune of a merengue.  Further on we will talk about advanced rules, referring to the art of the promotion game, like improvising “pasos” without loosing your rhythm.
The rules below assume that you have mastered the five prerequisites and are in the promotion game.  Some folks have not.  They think they are in the game, but they really are not, because they are, for all practical purposes, invisible to the “referees” (Mr. / Ms. Selecting Official).
Rule 6.  Know what you want.  I’m about to give you the cosmic secret to happiness, so pay attention.  The secret to being happy is not getting what you want, but wanting what you get.  Getting promotion after promotion may seem like the way to happiness, but there are things to trade off and prices to pay along the way.  In general, you can expect far more stress in your life as a GS-15 than as a GS-11. And getting that GS-15 may mean you have to move half way across the country away from friends and family, so you may have to face the added stress alone.  Nothing wrong with wanting that 15, but there is also nothing wrong with being contented with a 12 in a great location with family around and good friends and colleagues surrounding you.  Know what you want and how much you are willing to trade off for it.  There is no need to be careful what you pray for if you are clear about what you want.  The trick is to be a GS-15, or a GS-9, because that is what you want, not what someone else decided for you.
Rule 7.  Dress for success.  You’ve heard this one before, but no one ever defined it.  Dressing for success means dressing two grades above your current one.  If you are a GS- 11, dress like the GS-13s dress in your office, assuming they dress properly.  The reason is simple.  You want to condition Mr. / Ms. Boss, the selecting authority, to think of you as being two grades higher than you really are.  When the opportunity comes to pick someone from a BQ list he / she will have no trouble visualizing you in the higher grade.
We all have the right to dress as we want at work (within reason), but we cannot avoid the impressions our dress causes others.  And while we are talking about dressing for success, let me share what the unstated rule is in some agencies:  coat and ties for men and skirts or conservative dresses, not slacks, for women.  I did not make these rules, so don’t blame me for them.  They are not written anywhere, but they are powerful cultural mores.  The point is not that a suit or a skirt is the only proper attire for feds. The point is that that is what our culture usually dictates.  If you are having trouble with this concept, take solace in the fact that if you worked for SouthWest Airlines, suits and skirts would be completely inappropriate.  Years ago I proposed casual Fridays for the component where I worked.  My boss, a now retired member of the upper leadership, responded with a frosty “No.  How you dress reflects how seriously you take your work.”  Things have changed, but not that much.
Rule 8.  Be the solution to someone’s problem.  You don’t get promoted because you are smart, good-looking, educated, competent, well dressed and hard-working, although those things help.  You get promoted because someone has a problem and you are the best solution.  This entails two things.  First, you have to be the best solution.  Second, the person with the problem to solve has to know you are the best solution.  One does not work without the other.  Make sure your application shows your experience in the best light.  Work at being seen as a problem solver and make sure that the higher ups know it.  This last part is culturally tricky for Latinos who tend to believe that all they have to do is work hard and someone will notice.  Not in the American workplace of 2001.  Promote yourself elegantly y con sutileza.  Don’t be a smartass about it;  remember that burro inteligente is an oxymoron.
Rule 9.  Do more than your fair share.  I know, it ain’t fair.  But you know what, they pay you and everyone around you for a full day’s work.  If you want to stand out from the crowd, do more than the crowd.  If you were the boss, would you promote someone that does the same stuff everyone does, or someone who is always contributing beyond expectations?  I knew you would see it my way!
Rule 10. Volunteer for everything.  This, of course, is a corollary of the last rule, but it goes beyond it.  How are you going to get to do more than your fair share if you don’t volunteer?  How are you going to get those extra brownie points, not to mention those interesting assignments, if you don’t volunteer?  The boss is having a bautismo de muñeca?  Show some initiative and volunteer to organize it!
Rule 11.  Get a detail.  How many people have a grade higher than yours in your office?  This is the number of promotions possible for you if you don’t compete outside of your office.  And this is an inflated number because, if you are a GS-11 and there are four 12s, two 13s and one 14, the number of possible promotions for you is not 7, but 3.  The only way to expand the possibilities is to compete for promotions in other offices, across town, across the state, across the Region or across the country.  (I told you that you needed to know what you wanted, didn’t I?)  And the only way you will be competitive for those outside jobs is to be known by the managers making the selections.  Remember rule 8?  One way to spread your legend is to get a detail, short or long, to other offices, to the Regional Office or even to headquarters.  Be alert for detail opportunities and volunteer.
Rule 12.  Get on a workgroup.  Some federal agencies are very collegial organizations, which means their executives like to make decisions together.  If a manager wants to jump off a ledge, she calls all her peers to the ledge with her, they handcuff their wrists to one another, and then she jumps.  Honest.  In practice, the way this works is that big decisions (and some not so big ones) are only made after a workgroup with folks from several components gets together to explore options and make recommendations.  There are workgroups in individual offices, areas, regions and nationwide.  Getting on one or more of these is a time-honored way to let your star shine brightly.  Assuming, of course, that you contribute something significant to the objective of the workgroup.  Joining one and not doing or saying anything is a sure way to kill your career.  Another good thing about joining a workgroup is that you get to meet folks from other parts of your agency.  This usually makes you a better employee, broadens your horizons and expands your network.  Who knows, the chair of the workgroup may have a vacancy six months later and remember the smart cookie who helped her write the workgroup’s report.
Rule 13.  Go to Headquarters.  SSA, my agency, is a typical agency.  It has 65,000 employees, only 7,000 of whom are in Headquarters.  And yet over 48% of GS 13-15 jobs, and more than 80% of SES positions are there.  It’s easy to see that the ratio of high graded jobs to employees is much better there than in the field.  Not that there are no higher graded jobs in the field.  There are, just not as many.  So if you are in headquarters you have access to far more opportunities for higher graded jobs, making the odds of landing one that much better.  Over the short term, spending some time in headquarters on a detail will make you a better employee in the field because you will get a better sense of the big picture and how the Agency works.  This does not hurt your chances of promotion in the field.  (Alas, spending some time in the field would also vastly improve Headquarters employees, but we are limited to the realm of the possible here.)
Rule 14.  Be mobile.  If you ask any Senior Executive, he or she will tell you that they moved — and I mean moved — at least 5 or 6 times during their career.  The classic career path at SSA is CR trainee to CR to supervisor to branch manager to district manager to area director to a stint in the Regional Office and then on to Headquarters, with a couple of long term details thrown in along the way.  You think you’re going to find all those jobs in your hometown?  You have to be willing to relocate to where the opportunities are because the vacancy for the promotion you want next is not likely to be ready in your office when you are.  Nothing wrong at all with being content with what you have where you have it.  But make sure that that is the case because that is what you want.  If that is your choice, be happy with it and don’t envy the promotion that Pepita got two states down the road.
Rule 15.  If you don’t like your boss…  This one ranks right up there with the cosmic secret to happiness, so let me whisper it in your ear.  If you don’t like your boss, he probably does not like you either.  And if he / she does not like you, what are your chances of him / her giving you a promotion?  So the logic is clear.  If you don’t like your boss, you’re not likely to be promoted by him, so you better find a way to get a lateral and go work for someone else.  Better still, work hard from the beginning at liking your boss (genuinely).  This means working diligently to maintain a mutually enjoyable and productive relation.  No different than working hard at other personal relationships that are important to you.  And if you are the boss, (yea, there are Latino bosses!) this means understanding that no one is perfect and forgetting many of the small mistakes your staff will make.  Remember boss, you are not perfect either.
Rule 16.  Advancement will require sacrifice.  When I first came to SSA headquarters in Baltimore, I was a GS-15 who wanted to be SES and who had just bought a house in Westchester County, New York.  For two years I commuted daily those 228 miles.  And ask me when you see me where I slept and how I took showers whenever the work day got so long that it was too late to go home.  It makes for a really entertaining story, but it is not fit for print.  Was it worth it?  I’m not entirely sure.  I got my SES, but I know that I was not as good a father and husband as I could (should) have been those two years.  The bottom line is that it took sacrifice and not only my own.  Advancement does not come cheap.  Be aware of how much you’re willing to pay for the next step up the ladder.
Rule 17.  Apply for developmental programs.  Some federal agencies have pretty nifty developmental programs at the national, regional and component levels.  There are developmental programs for employees at every grade level above the GS-9.  (If you can’t get that far on your own, we need to talk).  And most agencies work hard at making sure that everyone who applies competes on an equal footing.  But there’s a catch.  There was this very pious lady in my hometown whose name was Lola.  One day she realized that if she won the lottery, she could do many good deeds with the money.  Convinced that this was what the Lord wanted for her, she prayed and prayed, but she did not win the lottery.  So she prayed some more, but the next week she still had not won the lottery.  This went on for several weeks and she could not understand why.  So doña Lola went to church, and asked the Lord “why?”  She knew it was His will, so she was confused. “Lord, what do I have to do to make your will come true.  Tell me.”  And the clouds parted and a light shone upon Lola, and a voice came down and said… “Lola, buy a ticket!”  You can’t be selected for a developmental program, no matter how much the Agency wants to select you, if you do not apply.
18.  If at first you don’t succeed… don’t sulk.  You apply for a job and you are not selected.  You apply for another one and you are still not selected.  What to do?  Well, here’s what not to do.  Don’t get angry at management and start badmouthing them (remember rule 15).  There may be a lot of good reasons why they did not select you even though they think highly of you.  Are there other good candidates around?  Does the selectee have more years of service than you, or (remember rule 1) more college education?  In any case, you are far better off by approaching management nicely and asking for feedback than by going around sulking and complaining.  Be ready to accept constructive criticism (not easy) and don’t approach your supervisor with a “What does someone have to do around here to get promoted?” attitude.  If after trying this several times you are still not promoted, look for a transfer somewhere else.
Advanced rules:
Now it’s time for the advanced stuff, the things you do after you have mastered the basics.  There are not too many of these, so stay with me.
19.  Learn to take risks.  There are no sure bets in life.  None.  Which means that no matter what decision you make or what you do, there are multiple possible outcomes and some of them ain’t pretty to contemplate.  And yet we make decisions all the time.  So we take risks all the time without even thinking about it.  It’s when you have to take that chance consciously that fear strikes.  Get over it.  Learn to take a calculated risk and learn to distinguish a risk from a gamble.  A risk is when there is a chance of losing but you know you can absorb the loss or recover eventually.  A gamble is when you bet something you cannot afford to lose.  Consider the possibilities, good and bad, of the alternatives you have in front of you.  Assess the chances of the good and the bad happening to the best of your ability.  Make a choice, and don’t look back.  Only death is irreversible.  And remember, the biggest risk of all is not taking any.
20.  Attend conferences.  Attending work related conferences accomplishes several things, aside from seeing your quate and having a good time.  First, you get up to date about what’s happening in the rest of your professional world, from the latest budget woes to the local chisme.  Second, you get to do some real networking, which includes meeting new people, but also a chance to talk one on one with senior managers and executives who are hunting for talent (and don’t let them tell you different, they are always hunting for talent).  Many an interesting and career enhancing detail has been obtained this way.  Finally, and most important, conferences are an excellent way of showing that we Latinos are here, we have something to contribute, we have needs, and we support one another.
21.  Be aware of agency culture.  Sometimes it feels like we Hispanics get invited to a game of football, but we hear futbol (you know, what the Anglos call soccer).  So we show up in little black shorts and striped shirts, while they show up in helmets and shoulder pads with an oblong ball, and we get creamed.  We can win any game we play, for sure.  As long as we know what the game is and what the rules are.  Agency culture spells that out for you.  And if you don’t study it, you will try to score a goal when the agency wants you score a touchdown.  Let me give you an example.  There is a good old value in Hispanic cultures that says;  “Keep your nose to the grindstone, do your work well, and don’t worry.  Someone will take notice and you will get promoted.”  Not in the American workplace of the 21st century!  See what I mean?  Study what it is that the agency values and frowns upon, and work to adopt and adapt those values without changing who you are.  This is tricky stuff, but well worth it.
22.  Find a mentor.  Not the kind that gets assigned formally, but the kind that you find on your own and with whom you have great chemistry.  You want a natural, easy, mutually enjoyable relationship.  And the mentor should be someone several grades above you, with lots of experience, and well respected in the Agency.  The mentor must be someone who can give you bad news and constructive criticism about yourself without making you feel lousy.  Let me say this again;  the mentor must be someone that can tell you what you need to do differently that no one else will tell you.  Ideally, the mentor should also have access to places and information you don’t, and should be able to open doors for you.  The best mentorial relationships lead to the mentee rising in the organization as the mentor rises.  They also tend to last a lifetime and feel like a really close friendship with an older sibling.  More than one mentor is also OK.
23.  Different grades require different skills.  The skills that made you a great analyst may help you be a better manager, but they are not enough.  As an analyst you do, as a manager you ensure that others can do.  A manager manages, an executive leads.  These are all different skill sets, and dexterity at one does not confer success in the others.  Learn what skills are required at the next level.  This is not written in the PDs, but in agency culture.
24.  Bring along those behind you.  Do I really need to explain that?  Just one thought.  Before age 50 we keep score by how much we make, what grade we have, where we live, what car we drive, how we dress, etc.  After 50, if we have learned anything, we keep score by how many people we help, how many young people we mentor, what we give back to our community.  And remember, se hace camino al andar, you make a path with your footsteps.  That path should be easier for those that follow because you walked it first.
I hope you have enjoyed these “rules” and that they help you.  Remember that they are a work in progress and that your comments and contributions will help me improve them for the next group of readers — and a big “Thank you!!!” to those of you who have already helped me improve the rules.  Send your thoughts and comments via e-mail to
Have a grrrrrreat career!
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On This Day In:
2023	A Very Few
2022	Are You Confused?
2021	Working On The Ordinary
	Smoothed My Jagged Edges (Just To Be Close To You)
2020	Republican Senators Should Vote For Conviction Of #45
2019	Carry It
2018	Simple
2017	Knowledge Pays
2016	Brief Glimpses And Full Glances
2015	Pursuing Perspective
2014	Wearing Down?
2013	Labouring Under A Curse
2012	Listen To Yourself
2011	Career Tips (Part 1)
	No Captain Dunsel

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No Captain Dunsel

The artificial intelligence approach is to replace the mind.  Our approach is always to have the mind at the very center of the system.
Now the artificial intelligence community has come around to this idea after twenty-five years.  But that wasn’t where they started out.  They used to say, “We’re going to be able to solve these problems.  You don’t need a mind.”  In fact, you do need a mind.
—    Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
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On This Day In:
2023	A Very Few
2022	Are You Confused?
2021	Working On The Ordinary
	Smoothed My Jagged Edges (Just To Be Close To You)
2020	Republican Senators Should Vote For Conviction Of #45
2019	Carry It
2018	Simple
2017	Knowledge Pays
2016	Brief Glimpses And Full Glances
2015	Pursuing Perspective
2014	Wearing Down?
2013	Labouring Under A Curse
2012	Listen To Yourself
2011	Career Tips (Part 1)
	No Captain Dunsel

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Federal Stars

With all the recent verbal and written (and sometimes physical) attacks on government employees in general and Federal employees in particular, I wanted to offer up a link I found on the Washington Post site:  Federal Players – Profiles of little known federal workers who have left a big impact.
These are some of our “TRUE” American patriots.  Read about them and the next time you hear someone criticize YOUR Federal workforce, you’ll have something to respond with.
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On This Day In:
2023	Think About It
2022	An Experiment Without A Control Group
2021	Seeking Center
	Your Love Is Near (Beauty Is Only Skin Deep)
2020	You Mean I’m STILL In School?
2019	Finishing Work
2018	Diversity
2017	Timely Planning
2016	Just Too Easy To Know Fewer And Fewer
2015	A Fine Balance
2014	Next Rung
2013	Super Bowl Prep
	Romantics
	A Goal For Zen?
2012	Mutant Powers Of Obsession
2011	Federal Stars
	Mud Pie

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Mud Pie

As the child delights in his mud pie, so the adult enjoys making things, especially things of his own design.  I think this delight must be an image of God’s delight in making things, a delight shown in the distinctness and newness of each leaf and each snowflake.
—    Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
From:  “The Mythical Man-Month”
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On This Day In:
2023	Think About It
2022	An Experiment Without A Control Group
2021	Seeking Center
	Your Love Is Near (Beauty Is Only Skin Deep)
2020	You Mean I’m STILL In School?
2019	Finishing Work
2018	Diversity
2017	Timely Planning
2016	Just Too Easy To Know Fewer And Fewer
2015	A Fine Balance
2014	Next Rung
2013	Super Bowl Prep
	Romantics
	A Goal For Zen?
2012	Mutant Powers Of Obsession
2011	Federal Stars
	Mud Pie

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Ready, Shoot, Aim!!

In “The Mythical man-Month” I said build one and throw it away.  But that isn’t what I say anymore.  Now I say, build a minimal thing — get it out in the field and start getting feedback, and then add function to it incrementally.  The waterfall model of specify, build, test is just plain wrong for software.  The interaction with the user is crucial to developing the specification.  You have to develop the specification as you build and test.
—    Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
[I think the most important point here is to give junior programmers the opportunity to learn how and why specifications are created and how difficult they are for the user to create without direct input from the systems folks.  It also prepares them for complex programming based on complex specifications.  For senior programmers, it reminds them of same.  This exposure is what is lost when larger organizations try to impose specification development onto the end user before they will agree to accept a project.   —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2023	Don’t Blink
2022	The Fight Continues…
2021	Short, Swift, Haste
	Another Friend’s Passing (Tapestry)
2020	Can We At Least Set The Bar Higher Than An Incompetent Liar In The Oval Office?
2019	Uncertain Times
	And Government Shutdowns, Too
2018	Satisfied
2017	In The Mind
2016	Dreaming
2015	The Best Medicine Is Also Contagious
2014	Eyes Off
2013	The More Things Change…
2012	The Delicate Moment Of Giving
2011	Ready, Shoot, Aim!!

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A Problem Of Scale

To my way of thinking, then and now the principal intellectual problems in software engineering are problems of scale, not how to write little programs but how to manage the complexity of big things.
—    Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
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On This Day In:
2023	Restructuring Persistent Futility
2022	By Any Other Name (Or Description)
2021	Democracy, Pandemic, Economy And Climate Change
	Heaven Is… (Wand’rin’ Star)
2020	Hoping For #46 In January 2021
2019	Interesting, But Not Fascinating
	But Try To Eat The Low-Hanging First
2018	Me, Too
2017	Apt Enough?
2016	Now Or Ever
	21, Pause, Restart
2015	I Am Shocked, Sir, Shocked…
	Lucy & FSND-2
2014	Less Difficult
2013	The Spirit Of Liberty
2012	The Essential Freedom Of Aloneness
2011	A Problem Of Scale
	Fred Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
2010	Another Book, Another Jog…

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Fred Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Up until now, people have lived linear finite lives.  You exist in one place for a time, live for awhile, and then you die.  That’s going to change.  Suppose that you have lots of intelligent agents standing in for you in cyberspace; all sorts of activities involving things you’d like to do.  Your actual consciousness resides in one flesh body.  Suppose that communication bandwidth is high enough that at any given moment you can shift your attention and inhabit these other entities.  After a person died, some of his or her agents would still continue to be around.  Some of Fred is around after Fred is dead.
—    Douglas B. Lenat
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On This Day In:
2023	Restructuring Persistent Futility
2022	By Any Other Name (Or Description)
2021	Democracy, Pandemic, Economy And Climate Change
	Heaven Is… (Wand’rin’ Star)
2020	Hoping For #46 In January 2021
2019	Interesting, But Not Fascinating
	But Try To Eat The Low-Hanging First
2018	Me, Too
2017	Apt Enough?
2016	Now Or Ever
	21, Pause, Restart
2015	I Am Shocked, Sir, Shocked…
	Lucy & FSND-2
2014	Less Difficult
2013	The Spirit Of Liberty
2012	The Essential Freedom Of Aloneness
2011	A Problem Of Scale
	Fred Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
2010	Another Book, Another Jog…

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