7x24 Exchange Spring 2017 Keynote - Creative Problem Solving The Mars Lander Challenge

August 9, 2017 Dave Ohara

It has been 5 years since Curiosity landed on Mars and NASA is celebrating sharing videos like this one.

For the Spring 2017 7x24 Exchange Conference Adam Steltzner presented

Conference Keynote

The Right Kind of Crazy: A True Story of Teamwork, Leadership and High Stakes Innovation

I've been staring at my notes and thinking about the keynote for months and it just wasn't coming together. Adam's keynote was one of the highest rated keynotes given and I agree. Part of the reason why the presentation worked is because Adam was not super polished the way some presenters can be. He came across as an engineer who had a passion to solve the tough problem of landing a one ton vehicle on Mars.

After months of trying to write. Yes I kept on trying for months, but it didn't work and the words didn't flow. The story Adam was telling is of being creative in problem solving. How to land Curiosity on the Mars surface. What the team knew is trying to use what had worked in the past was not going to work for a 900kg payload.

Going over my notes here are some pointsAdam made which is why his presentation was so popular.

Adam described leadership as a service. In comparison to a project management approach which doesn't necessarily focus on leadership skills to rally the team to solve a difficult problem.

Adam would wake 2:30a. Run the risks is his head. Then figure out how it impacts the project.

Much of the data came from failure analysis of past efforts which may not of compromised past missions, but could be catastrophic for Curiosity.

To innovate and rise to the challenge in a mission critical environment Adam stressed to "separate the ideas from the people who hold them." Getting his team to accept the intense review of ideas was key to be creative.

Why did it all work?

Adam switched to "Hold on to the doubt!" Constantly accept that they may not be right.

"Planning is everything. The plan means nothing."

"The process of planning is preparation for the future."

"Falling in love with the plan bypasses the truth."

"Why do we do this?" Adam says this while staring at the image of Curiosity on Mars.

Adam's keynote is one of those that sticks with you and I know others will refer to his presentation. These are the type of keynotes that have lasting value and help all of us be better.

Off to another Fluke Roadshow 2017 in Austin on May 11

May 4, 2017 Dave Ohara

Fluke has a Roadshow event and I was on a panel for the Seattle event on May 2. On May 11 in Austin I'll be presenting a breakout session of the use of Machine Learning. The Seattle event had over a hundred people interested in the smart maintenance and connectivity. What some people may call the Industrial Internet of Things.

The event was well worth my time. One of my data center buddy who used to work a cellular company, Mickey Mouse, and the biggest bookstore was there too and the Fluke engineers were interested is his perspectives on how facility maintenance could be improved with IIOT type of efforts.

I had fun on the panel and tested some ideas I have been working on. Digital media efforts may be the latest, but I am one of the old school people who believe that presenting in front of a live audience allows you to test your ideas. Then scale that work on digital media.

Going to 7x24 Exchange Orlando, June 11-14, 2017

March 30, 2017 Dave Ohara

Over the years I have shifted what conferences I attend. In the beginning of my data center efforts I went to Uptime and I think my first Uptime Symposium was in Orlando. At the time I was following the lead of Mike Manos when he was at Microsoft and we worked together. I can remember meeting some great people at this Orlando conference that I consider some of the best. Uptime Symposium in the US have disappeared and 7x24exchange Exchange is now the main data center conference I go to. Why?

Top is the people attending are some of the most social in the data center industry. Including some of those people I met at Uptime Symposium and some of their staff.

Part of why the people attending are so good is the 7x24 Exchange staff that supports the event are awesome. https://www.7x24exchange.org/about-7x24/7x24-staff/ https://www.7x24exchange.org/about-7x24/board-of-directors/

Looking forward to see friends and making new ones at 7x24 Exchange Orlando. See you there.

http://conferences.7x24exchange.org/spring2017/

Joe Kava, Christian Belady, and Panel Discussion DCD NY Mar 2017

March 20, 2017 Dave Ohara

I didn't make it to DCD NY. The weather limited many of you from attending who planned.

Here is the video of the keynotes by Joe and Christian. The nice thing is the topic is mainly about green data centers.

Save the date, Open Compute Summit Mar 8-9, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center

November 9, 2016 Dave Ohara

Open Compute Summit 2017 is now open for registration.

Registration Now Open for the Open Compute Project U.S. Summit 2017

Monday, November 07, 2016 · Posted by at 8:16 AM

We are pleased to announce that registration is now OPEN for the OCP U.S. Summit 2017 to be held on March 8th & 9th at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Please note that this is a different venue from our 2016 and 2015 events which were held in San Jose.

The OCP Summit is a 2-day event that will feature a stellar lineup of speakers, announcements, demonstrations, booths and networking opportunities. More importantly, it’s your opportunity to work together with the OCP community to progress the future of important projects—Data Center, Compliance and Interoperability (C&I), Hardware Management, High Performance Computing (HPC), Networking, Open Rack, Server, Storage and Telco. Attend OCP U.S. Summit 2017 and find out how you can Consume OCP gear, Collaborate with the OCP Community and Contribute to the OCP ecosystem.