Fred Houk - Thoughts under the Shade Tree

I received word this morning that Fred Houk died Sunday morning. He was a good man, well, respected, and a friend too many – I won’t write of that here. What I will write of is of the power of ideas, and of how formulating the right phrase transforms and magnifies an effort, and creates long term lasting change.

I met Fred as a fellow UNC Football fan. UNC football fans take the long view; we have to. Some fan bases are content to win or lose each week, to experience pain or delight on a short term basis. UNC Football periodically raises itself up as a national power, slowly building over a decade. Then, following a coaching change, it crashes again, and the fan base wallows in misery for another decade. I came to Carolina near the crest of one such cycle, have lived through another, and am beginning on my third. Watching Carolina football teaches one to take the long view on things, and there is a special kinship among those who would get together to talk Carolina football during one of the lean decades.

Fred was a devoted bird watcher. His household was deeply imbued with environmental sensibilities; his wife, Virginia, is one of the top scientific evaluators for EPA projects. He also, as noted above, took the long view on any project he worked in.

Fred’s last career, one of several, was as a coffee roaster. His tales of tastings in Central America were imbued with national figures, random gun lords, and keen observations of the local fauna. Fred was a frequent speaker in coffee related forums when he was back in the US. What he said at one of those forums is what I am writing about today.

As I said, Fred was a dedicated birder. Most North American birds overwinter in Central America; there is a direct link between habitat there and birds here. Fred wanted to do something that had a long term continuing effect. He did not want another short term program. He knew too well how often good intentions leaving the US as dollars arrive somewhere else than intended. So Fred decided to change the game.

Fred introduced the phrase “Shade Tree Coffee” to the coffee roasting world. Coffee is naturally an understory shrub, growing under the canopy. Modern mechanized agricultural practice had moved coffee growing out into the open, in clear-cut fields where it was easy to harvest. Many believe that such beans lose some flavor, becoming the “California tomatoes” of the coffee world. Fred knew that such coffee plantations offered minimal habitat for birds.

Shade Tree Coffee was introduced as a way to get coffee that is richer in flavor, as well as ecologically more sound. Because of its better flavor, it could get better prices, prices that made up for its more expensive production. By linking economic benefits to best practices and better product, he created a whole set of economic practices that are far reaching. By coining and publicizing a name that is easy to recognize, he created a self-sustaining brand for better ecological practices.

Fred has been out of the coffee business for years. His old Company, Counter Culture Coffee, continues to roast some very fine beans. But Shade Tree Coffee is found in gourmet stores all over. There are even Starbucks blends that feature it prominently on the label.

Ideas are important. To make them have effects, they need to have a nice handle for people to use them. Fred gave one such idea a handle and so continues to improve both the coffee we drink and the habitats for the birds he loved to watch. He lives on each time someone goes outside to watch the birds gather for migration in the Fall or to come back in the Spring.

Secure this Building!

There’s an old story told in military circles that illustrates the problems of discussing security. Each of the three forces was told to secure a building. The army arranged for a platoon to set up a perimeter guard around the building. Troops surrounded the building, and let no one out. The Navy sent in the Marines, who took possession of the building, searched it room by room, and set up a guard at all of the entrances so no one could come in. The Air Force contacted a procurement officer, who negotiated a three year lease on the building.

That’s the problem with security. Everyone knows what they mean when they say it, and no one asks what anyone else means.

Proper security is an absolute requirement for modern building control systems. Modern systems have added IP communications, the standard protocol of the internet and sit on the corporate network. If we are going to allow enterprise programmers, and even tenants, to interact with embedded control systems, security is the key. Security is specified as a requirement in every new construction job.

When I ask for security, though, I never know what I am going to get. I am also pretty sure that I will never be asked. Will I get the Army, the Navy, or the Air Force?

Straining the analogy, I can pretty much assume I will get the Army version. Building systems put in perimeter security; nothing gets in or out. To my mind, perimeter security is the most expensive kind.

Perimeter security is too expensive. The control system costs what is costs. I get some minimum value for that cost. Perimeter security means that I will never get more than that minimal value because I cannot get to the systems and their information. Perimeter Security is too expensive because it is the hard way to accomplish results; if I want the system to talk to no one, it is far cheaper and more secure to cut a door into a wall than it is to lock that door carefully. Perimeter Security is insecure because it is not as secure as no access at all.

Until building systems define higher level functions for network access, any security beyond perimeter security indefinable. What does secure access to a temperature setting mean? How to I define the proper access for a C-Level executive, for her administrative assistant, and for a building tenant, if all I have is tags and sensor readings, never defined. IF those tag reading turn into the lobby thermostat, or the building security schedule, then perhaps we have some way to talk about security.

I want better security. I want to have serious discussions about what better security means. But first, we need to define what is being secured.

oBIX – Why have an Enterprise Interface to Control Systems?

What would it be worth to you if building systems could respond to the enterprise?

What if your building could respond to you and your tenants? What if your building was responsive to normal business processes, so that a simple invitation to reserve a room on Saturday set the operating rules for the air conditioning and security systems? What if your tenants did not have to hunt down facilities staff? What would that be worth to you?

What if you could tell how well your building was operating, without expensive on-site expertise? What if you could eliminate unnecessary maintenance? What if your building could tell you when it needed a filter change, so you replaced only on request? What if building system problems were fixed before your tenants knew about them. What would that be worth to you?

What if you could share operating information with off-site experts who would tell you what to fix before it breaks? What if you could find air conditioning problems in the spring instead of on a hot summer’s day? What if these systems could track live energy pricing , so every repair recommendation included the additional cost of not making the repair. What if you could schedule repairs to never inconvenience your tenants. What would that be worth to you?

What if you could tell your building when the repair contractor was coming? What if your access control system could let him in, using his company badge? What if your building logged the time he arrived and left, and f that log were linked to the original service order? What would that save you, in time, in billings, and in staff?

What if your building could negotiate with the power company, buying electricity when it was cheapest, and storing it later use? What if you could disconnect from the grid when prices were high? What if you could offer your tenants power that would not damage their computers, not damage their equipment. What if you could sell energy options back to the power company, and get new revenue from your building? What would that be worth to you?

For the last five years, representatives from major buildings controls companies have worked on an enterprise -ready interface for embedded building control systems. Building control systems include all the intelligent engineered systems in a building, whether HVAC, Access Control, or Medical Gas Distribution. These systems are traditionally invisible and uncontrollable, using protocols little known in the IT world.

Four years ago, oBIX (open Building Information Xml) became a committee of OASIS, (www.oasis-open.org), the premier open standards organization for the enterprise. oBIX 1.0 provides low level access to essential control system functions. oBIX 1.0 offers normalized access to system watches, points, events, and histories. Building systems are no longer invisible and uncontrollable.

Software Architects and Architecture (SOA 1)

I often use the word Architecture when talking about systems. I often get blank looks, or nods that are so quick that conceal a lack of understanding. This leads me to answer the question, so what do I think a systems architect does? Is an architect the senior programmer? What does an architect produce? What should programmers know about architecture?

I don't think architects are just senior developers. It's a different skill. Architects work primarily in models, patterns and process, not code. There are different process patterns that an architect can work with.

One prominent pattern is the Service. A service is a fundamental business function, stripped of process. I say stripped of process because procedures are often mere accretions of tradition. One can’t look to the procedures to see if the service is proper, or what the correct metrics should be.

Think of it this way. I am a regular customer of yours. Your shipping department provides a shipping and logistics service. Your shipping staff may be friendly, and polite. If you find out that I know every one of these friendly guys by first name, you should be concerned about the service you provide. Why do I need to call them so much? Do my shipments never arrive on time? Do I frequently need to arrange for returns of defective merchandise?

I won’t be happy if you automate this system without addressing the underlying issues. If you set your programmers to enshrine your current process in code, the service will still b bad, and you will lose the benefit of your friendly staff. If you work on improving the current processes, but select the wrong metrics, you will waste a lot of resources. All that time you spend training the process of training your shipping staff in customer service will be wasted because I still need to talk to them regularly.

Service Oriented Architecture is the discipline of finding the proper surface on each function, that is the proper interaction between that function and all others, internal or external. In a business it must be a joint process with full participation between IT and business management.

If for some reason, only one side can participate, the business manager participation is the more important of the two. A business that has defined its internal functions as services, a Service Oriented Enterprise, will always be healthier than a business that defines its internal functions as procedures, the Procedure Oriented Enterprise. As someone once said, the problem government, universities, and very large corporations is that they attract people for whom means easily become ends. It also has been said that implementing a business function as a service is trivial in Service Oriented Enterprise.

Companies that understand this quite well still get it wrong sometimes. Dell built its business using a virtual inventory and supply chain based upon solid service oriented principles. Its customers trusted it and the Dell experience. It outsourced its tech support function badly, outsourcing the process rather than the service. Its partners success metrics were process oriented rather than service oriented. Dell took a beating in customer perception.

Next: Applying Service Orientation to the world of Engineered Systems.