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The term web services is getting popular these days. Web services are systems that helps to break down an entire system into sub components, by using services oriented architecture method on the web.

What is does is it is able to provide any type of services you see online, plug it in and out of a system eg. a website, and then “publish” it so that everyone else is able to use it.

This is a research that I have done over the past few days and it shows how businesses of today should adapt the same concept to what web services is providing.

 
What is SOA?

This paper focuses mainly on what is Service Oriented Architecture or SOA in short. SOA is a new technology, and a new buzz trend in the IT industry. In summary, this new technology enables business to reach a new level in terms of business process, improve performance and overall cost savings. This will revolved the way Information systems entirely, therefore improving the productivity.

Services oriented architecture, in other words, is a collection of services provided by systems, that allows inter-communications. To use these services, one need to pass simple data to those services and a result will be returned.

At a more in depth level, an IT software system can or should be built with a loosely coupled collection of services. It means a system containing many other tiny systems that communicate to either internal or external services, also known as “web services”.

In return, any data that are passed to these services will return the proper results for the user who requested it. The user, on the other hand, does not need to understand how the system works.

 
Benefits of SOA and how it re-engineers the business process

There are several advantages with regards to a SOA built system. A system in the current context can either be an IT system with a few computers, an IT application for the enterprise, a software guided process flow, or just a piece of software on running on a network of computers.

One of the main advantages, is the ability to plug and play components. As we have discussed above, the beauty of SOA lies in the possibility to take out or bring in a particular process easily. A revolution will take place and business process will change entirely, saving resources and redesigning the business process. This will therefore improve productivity and other related matters.

Another advantage is the ability to break up an entire system into sub-systems or components, and allow inter-communications among these components to talk one another services provided. In other words, we are able to build a complete software just by bringing smaller components together. These web services are able to provide you with enough resources to produce an output desired.

Just imagine a printer cartridge that consists of black, red, blue and yellow ink. When anyone of these inks are used up, you will need to replace the whole cartridge. Then they started selling separate cartridges, black and color. Then they further break it down to individual color, so when any of the ink color is finished, you only need to replace one of them.

Finally, cost saving is the most concerned factor for businesses. Based on the previous advantage, existing businesses with a software system will not need to spend large amount of money to maintain or upgrade. This system may exist all over multiple sites. By implementing SOA, a business can redesign their processes over these sites, such that they can remove duplicate services, standardize software platform, outsourced or sell some of the non-core activities, and concentrate on core business priorities and improve performance.

 
The dawn of re-engineering

The next step in re-engineering the business process is to map out all activities, including those IT and non IT. This diagram will be term as “Heat map”, which will list down all tasks, grouped according in terms of priority, cost, performance, or other measurement factors. Within each job tasks, list down the possibilities of whether it should be automated with IT, whether if it should be kept in-house, outsourced, brought to customer’s or distributor’s site.

Once a diagram is drafted out, the next tier is to look at what value each task will fetch for the organization. We shall call this tier activity evaluation. Identification for the tasks should be decided, like core or non core activities, or it can be grouped as mandatory or support activities. The value of the tasks will then be evaluated, whether it is generating profits to a company, or if it is an important task in the support arm.

The next tier is about evaluating its current level performance. This step is consider most important, as the turning point on each tasks, whether they should be step up, cut down, terminated, or maintained. This is when the services oriented approached is needed. These tasks can then be purchased (if there’s a solution), sold (as a profitable unit), or enhanced by executing Web services.

The big thing of the 21st century in IT is automation and outsourcing. If the tasks can be automated, maintenance cost could be lowered. If not, it will be decided if it should be kept in-house (running IT web services), or it should be purchased, from other vendor providing these services, or it can be sold to customers, distributors or partners, if this service has started.

Finally the performance of core units can be measured after implementation of the re-engineering exercise. By using the SOA approach, the benefits mentioned in this report should take commence and follow through, giving some yield in terms of performance, or cutting down maintenance cost. The plug and play capabilities displayed here, will ensure that if remodeling or transition of services are needed, then it can done freely.

 
Conclusion
To conclude, large oraganizations should actively change the way traditional IT systems work, adapt, and make full use to whatever new technologies that will revolutionized business of today.

I was thinking through some of the decisions I make in life, big or small, long or short term and I realise I have it similar to that of playing a chess game.

In school, my chess playing skills are consider at the top 10% level, where I compete with the best say 10 games. There was this game where hes good, and I could only beat him 1 or 2 games out of 10. For the rest, it was an easy meat…

So back to the point. Chess game is a very strategic or turn based game. Its based on the moves and styles you use, and could potrait your character very well.

For example, some prefer to eat all the chess pieces of your opponent before ending, while some prefer to kill the “king” as fast as possible. That is similar to pool and 9 ball player I suppose…

This challenges your thoughts on tactics and strategies planning. In our real life, every move and decision we make will affect us in the short and long term. I am not referring to daily routines like eating and sleeping (though sleeping will affect you the next day), but rather those that happen with you at work, with friends, and your personal life.

Plan ahead your “moves” and make sure what you do is meaningful has can change your life in future. Plan it ahead like 3-4 steps, or rather 3-4 years to make it simple. This helps you to think ahead, rather than to worry about it when it happens.

For example, on the very first day you start a new job, you should probably think how long you are going to stay in this job, and what is your next job like. Never ever think about, “if this job is good, I’ll stay, if its bad I’ll quit.” This is a very bad choice.

What about analysing your opponent’s movements and anticipating their strategies? This is very interesting because if you attain that level, you are actually preparing yourself beforehand, some of the threats that might affect you. Seeing though is one thing, making a decision fast enough to overcoe this is another.

As a saying in Sun Tzu:
故曰：知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必殆。(故曰：知彼知己，百战不殆；不知彼而知己，一胜一负；不知彼，不知己，每战必殆。)

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will fight without danger in battles.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

source: Wiki

The enemy could be problems you face, not a “someone”. Some prefer to escape the problem. Others will tackle it, but not with a very good solution. Some have already predicted the problem. So how do you tackle your own problems and decisions ?

Previously on this post here: http://www.dennisquek.com/2008/09/the-human-7-intelligences, I mention about human beings like us not able to fully develop our intelligences. May the fault be the education system, the society, or just plain ignorance, we just don’t know our strengths and weaknesses.

Here I will just like to talk alittle about myself, how I try to develop my strengths whenever I have the chance, and how you could use this as an example to help yourself. I may not be the best, but if it helps, that would be worth your time reading.

So what activities I do to “train” all of the 7 intelligences ? Mainly:

1) IQ, Intelligence Quotient

7) Physical Excellence

 
 
Lets go through one by one.

1) IQ, Intelligence Quotient.
It is one of the hardest to achieve. It is our education system, that has completed taken over. It measures our ability to calculate Mathematics, Science, Logic etc etc.

In my opinion, this is a bad measurement. Because in the 20th century, alot of emphasis has been placed on IQ in regards to academic results. This is then judged by either your Parents, the society, or the employer hiring you.

How I do it:
All I can suggest is not to be lazy and I hope the best in your education system. (Because I am have this worst amongst all others.)

 
 
2) EQ, Emotional Intelligence Quotient.
A few factors affects it. Being strong EQ, it means you are aware of emotionals your family members, your colleague, your friends, the people you talk to, or just any stranger.

How I do it:
Reading eyes cues, looking at body languages, hearing voice tones, putting yourself into their shoes, and asking questions you should and shouldn’t, are some of my practises on developing strong EQ. Your senses should be telling you that people around you are happy, sad, annoyed, or just bored. If you could tell that just by watching, you’ve somewhat grasp hold of the basics.

 
 
3) Intrapersonal, self-intelligent.
By being street smart, it helps alot. Knowing what’s going on around us, cause-and-effect, understands clearly how things happen and the need to know, is what makes this up… I guess.

Hmm examples could be… You understand how the economy works and why things happen that way, like stocks and market shares. Or it could be thinking deep as to why you failed in an interview ? What about the cause of high turn over rates and staff quiting jobs, due to so-so reasons.

What about the reasons what the F1 racing is about (girls… high speed cars… advertising…franchise…) or why credit companies loves you when you borrow money, or even how the government policies work, to make sure a country prosper.

How I do it:
For every cause, theres an effect. For every action, there is a reaction. It is there for you to find out, to get a clear picture of the entire situation. Every wrong move you make leads to a result / feedback…

Using 2..3.. or 4 angles to look at a particular piece of news, decision, event, or subject gets your brain moving, leading you to become street smarter. There are people who simply don’t bother, and there are those who search an answer for themselves.

 
 
4) Spatial, Touch and Feel.
The rest of this article are mostly developed by activities like sports or involvement in some kind of activities.

Getting yourself, or your kids involved in sports is the best way to develop this. I am not getting at being phyiscally strong, but rather to be alert while playing games, while having a touch and feel bout games.

How I do it:
I always love to become better at something, but not too good at it. Let’s say I am able to pick up all types of ball games… except probably hockey and squash. Then there are games such as billiards, pool and snooker, where you are both physically and mentally challenged. It is the same as how Golf is played too.

Being an IT engineer, you’ve got to try, test, engineer, and make sure things work. This means you have to hands-on to touch and get a feeling of how things work. In other words, practise makes perfect, as these activites requires you to constantly practise and master the skills and techniques.

 
 
5) Auditory, Sensitivity to sounds
Have you guessed it right ? It is talking about music here? More or less yes! Although I have my personal site at http://www.singwithpiano.com, this is rather how sensitive you are to sounds, not just music.

How I do it:
I used to join a choir, since I was 12, all the way till I am 21. That doesn’t include when I started singing in halls when I was 5. Which means the ability to differentiate a good and bad music, not just vocals.

Then I learnt how to play beautful pieces on a Piano. Before buying one, I had to pick from over 60 over pianos. I had the chance to feel, touch, play and listen to each individual piano, and the ones that suited me. This chance allowed me to exceled both in the spatial and auditory senses. This is when speech intelligent comes in, because they are all linked up.

 
 
6) Verbal, Speech Intelligence
Verbal communication skills has become one of the 21th century top priorities, when employers hires someone. If the person can’t communicate well, problems are harder to solve, than any other technical issues. Communication is about listening, and talking, not one way but two ways.

How I do it:
I taught Martial Arts for 4 years during my teens. I’m responsibile for a class, which means I had to take charge of the safety, training and examination of those students in my class.I had to teach, by demonstration, as well as to talk to them. This helped in my public speech as as well thinking on my feet!

I am still practising my verbal skills to reach the next level, by giving free piano tutorials in my music site. Though not very good at it yet, I’ll try my best. The aim is to say it in a simple way everyone understood you, period.

 
 
7) Physical Excellence
This describes the very good sportsmen you see in Olympics, soccer, or just any sports athletic. They have what we call the sportsment blood… or the reflexes that allows them to excel in sports activites.
This includes using each person’s strength and weakness to make a great team.

How I do it:
If you look at all the other intelligences, combine point 3 and 4, add alittle bit of point 1, and guess what ? That is physicall excellence. In sports, team sports, there are many coordination, strategies and communications involved.

I played lots of hide and seek and catching games when I was young, as well as involved in sports meet where I took part in all the field events like, long jump, triple jump and high jump. Then I play all the ball games, mainly soccer and basketball, while learning Martial Arts till today.

Have you ever seen someone who never like to perspire or hate to even move a muscle. I feel they are very slow in reactions and might not communicate well, involving body languages. This is why it is better for your child to be involved in sports, it helps.
 
  

To end, This is a long piece of article which shows why humans are afterall still the smartest mammals on earth. It is ok to be ignorance now, and regret later why your Life ended up different from others.

That’s all ! Time for a long break ~

Lets say everyone here are employed and worked for money. What are the pros and cons about it?

Buying or exchanging money with time

For most of us here, being an employee is quite common. We exchange our time and then we get paid. We either get paid by month or by hourly basis, etc. And so we get a sum of money, called salary or wages whatever you call it. Ultimately it is still exchanging time with money.

Working by the hours

Group A
I favour those jobs which are limited by the hour, because although working hours might sound like short, it is a good choice for those who want to have freedom and control. Its a good kinda of job hours to consider if you just want a part time commitment. Examples of these jobs includes giving tutions, coaching, part time staff etc…

Group B
There are another group of people who are employed full time. So at the end of the month, he’ll get paid. When I said by the month, I never meant to say 8 hours a day. It may stretch, for long working hours, and that might be some of the typical working culture for some of you. This is a common example, like most white collar officers. Jobs includes accountants, software engineers, designers etc…

Group C
And then theres yet another group, who have a hell lots of freedom in personal time. They have no bosses to report to, no fixed working hours, and probably work from home. No they are not bosses, but somehow they still fall under the employee category. They could be property agents, insurance agents, sales personnels etc…

Selling away our time… precious time

Time is precious, and everyone agrees with that. Time is used in spending time together with our family, going out with kids, relaxing our mind, doing things that we like. For teenagers, they’ll prefer playing PC games, hanging out at parties, dating, etc etc. But other than these activities, what do we do ? The answer is probably clear. It is a mindset that most people accept, its a matter of earlier or later.

What most of us do for a living, is to “sell” our time to an organization, a company, a shop, a stall, known as slogging… err I mean being employed. This means that we are limited, in the sense that what we could do in a day. Read the following article to see how I spent my day at work and travel..
http://www.dennisquek.com/2008/06/i-spent-12-hours-half-a-day-at-work

When I say limited, I meant time and money limitations, for as long as we stay employed. For Group A employees, I should say they are not really limited by time, but the level of income varies by number of hours.

As for Group B, the good news is when there are increments and bonuses payouts, they differ from industries, trades and companies. Income stays stagnant for a year before some change. So you probably live the life the same way for a year…

Lastly for Group C, there is the good and bad, like I’ve mentioned. Time is more flexible, and I hope so for those who fall under this category. (They might be very busy now, but who knows?) They call the shot in meeting the clients, and probably their income level fluctates, according to the market, with the factors like business oppotunities and personal charisma.

So… towards the end of the road we are always finding what is our objectives, and probably this article might help… Things will start to get interesting…if we become employers or self-employed.

We have some point in time wondered what is the most efficient way of learning new stuff. Just to share with you the different ways of learning something new, and share with your my personal experience to have acquired various types of different skillsets.
 

Throughout the years, I’ve learn Martial Arts, Music, Pool with the 9 Ball, and these skills require some talent, and much more practises. There are other stuff like academic studies, public speaking and communications, human to human relationship and team building, which are another realm on its own. With that said, there are ways to improve or speed things up to be at the top.
 

In my post http://www.dennisquek.com/2008/06/pryamids-and-
how-it-helped-me/, if you look at the pryamid carefully, it represents data on how effective can students learn in a particular subject, or how much information it can retain. Perhaps it is interest on the subject some may argue, but the graph defines the precentage breakdown in a many different processes.
 

My point being, the top 3 most effective fashion to learn and surpass others is to have mainly discussions, practises and by teaching / guiding others. For the last point it might sound like you have to be very good at a subject but it fact it is not.

Most of the stuff that outshine against others are learnt through the various methods. First, you observe what others are doing and how it is done. Then you think of ways to make it better. I often watch Top world players on ESPN fight it out in the 9 Ball Championships. Then I spot my coach on how he teach others during my martial art lessons. Then you’ve got to practise. In my musical journey, for example on the piano, there is no other way better than delibrate practise. There may be other aids like using ears, watch a video, a 1 to 1 teacher, but practises definitely help alot.
 

Finally after several years of practise, you become so good at something, its time you start to guide others. I was a Taekwondo Coach for 3 years, teaching people from kids to adults. It is beneficial as I get to work out my body, as well as coaching people, by speaking to them. This doesn’t just stop the learning. As my instructor once said, “Martial arts isn’t complete once you’ve passed your black belt. You got learn to coach other students so that the next generation can benefit from you.”
 

These skills can be brought over to another area, such as public speaking. And because I have many chances of performing pop and classical songs, so I am used to being on stage. That is during the old school days, I took any oppotunities to give group presentations. I also, often ask stupid questions but that helped me to build the confident to speak. For academic studies, I gues it was one of the toughest area for me. You realised that studying only involves mostly systems in the least %, which is very bad.
 

Nevertheless, we should understand that different topics have their own ways to overcome in effective learning. You should approached something new in different angles, and not just the traditional ways and stop there.
 

There are more interesting discovery on human characters to be posted on later…

On and off we lose interest on daily tasks. After some thoughts, I figured out these few factors that kept people motivated. I felt that these factors keeps me motivated always.

Love

This is a big word. It has different meanings to some of us, because we do what we love right ? Unfortunately, there are things in this world where we are forced to do, like working in a job that is boring or tiring etc.

Be it rushing at a deadline for a project, studying for an exam or just to tidy up your room (mine’s quite messy), we need to find the motivation drive that trigger us. That is where I will list down some reasons why I like to do something particular, and then keep it refreshed in my mind.

And so, this is how I get myself motivated with love. For eg. I hate waking up in the morning for work and then walk 10 mins, just to squeeze on the public transport with a bunge of people who share the same fate as me. However after reaching my desk, I start to chat with colleagues on how I spent my night the day before (obviously I spent my night on my PC blogging away). My brain starts think and analysis, and get errands done for my superiors and bosses. One thing I got to admit, I have a very good work environment that is very motivating!

Money

Money money money. This is what we work for. Theres never too much of it. Looking at rising costs of fuel, medical and probably food in the coming years, I think we may need a whole lot more than today. Not forgetting inflations.

It is obvious that money motivates us, and the more there is, the more we put our attention to it. We get paid by the hour, or by commission by whichever ways to earn that sum of money, we do get excite. So why not we go though some of the stuff which we aren’t motivated at all, and try to put in a money element into it ?

I like music, as a leisure or as a hobby. I learn and enjoy what goes into my ears, but after awhile it just get boring (try listening to the same song over and over again). Have a look at my music profile before you continue: My music profile

At first it was interest that brought me there, but later on I realised there are people out there making money in music. It can be teaching, performances, a rock and roll band, or music related stuff. Along the way I discovered more motivating ways that kept me going on. But as I have said we should love what we do.

Family

What can I say. You work hard and at the end of day you go home and see you spouse and kids. They are the reasons why you get things done. Your kids will certainly motivate you! Though I don’t have a family, but I know I am working for my parents and doing my best for them.

And to other relatives, I try to do something proud and then tell them my achievements. This keeps my motivated as they share their experiences with me. Some of us may be unfortunate, where we were brought up in a unstable or less income family. It is a responsibility of each member to contribute towards the family. After all who would love you more than your family members ?

Summary

In short, if your want to be motivated in something, list out the reasons why you you should love doing it. And look at the potential of returns you can get. Ask and search around whether someone makes money out of what you are doing too. Finally do it so for your family and love ones. Stay happy too !

I wrote this on my Nokia E61 while flying back home from a Hong Kong trip, so it was kind of
I-write-what -I-think” post. Anyway…

This post is about “Why some people are smart and some never will ?”

By learning how a another person behaves, you might be able to be as smart as them. I’m not asking you to copy the way they move or talk, but more how they think and process their thoughts.

Many factors can change you, and turn yourself into a better or worst person.
I’ll just list down some negative and postive factors we should avoid or follow.

Point #1: Don’t be lazy !!!

Laziness.

No matter how smart you are, a lazy guy will lack behind the others. They will be viewed differently. By showing others the lazy side of you, people will just change how they feel towards you. You don’t want others to look at your this way.

Being lazy means you might have done a lot more especially if you were a smart enough, but lack the discipline to do things. This could get you into trouble! The solution is to buck up, remind yourself and be motivated.

Point #2: Think smart, work smart

Working smart.

A clever guy work smartly, and think smart too. Working hard is not what they want, but rather working to find the better ways in doing things, faster and more efficient.

This will come with a price. Imagine your team members trying their best to churn out work, while you hide in a corner challenging your brains to come out with a better solution. There are goods and bads but if lets say you were able to come out with a solution for others to follow, you won them isn’t it ?

Point #3: Work hard and gain creditability

Working hard.

To put in your best effort every now and then is difficult. It takes a lot of motivation and preseverance to maintain the momentum to go on. I posted an article on how to manage work and study. As long as you put in efforts, you will definitely gain in one way or another, and it belongs to you eventually. For eg. studying or learning a new skill. It is a personal gain.

Point #4: Don’t give up !!!

Presevere.

People who don’t give up will get his fair share of rewards. Giving up is quite a common reason why we fail. Lets take dieting for example. It is not easy to maintain a healthy diet, to eat less of those fatty and oily stuff, and switch to healthier food. The temptation for food is simply irresistible. Don’t give up !

There are many instances where as long as we strive hard to do what we think is correct eventually we will get there. There are many success stories on how people succeed. Don’t give up !

Point #5: Practice makes perfect

Practice and practice correctly.

In an unfamiliar area of unknown skills,
practice helps sharpen the skill required. So when time comes, that area of skill can be utilize for better results. Skills we should constantly practice includes verbal communications, human relationships or business understandings etc.

So far there are no such thing as bring born talented in, except for some rare skills, but so far most of the things we can do requires practice. And I emphasis on correct practice, with a mentor who can guide you along.

These were roughly what I had in mind as of this writing. I might have, the special given ability to tell
whose smart and whose not, in many areas. Since human have seven areas of intelligent, if we can identify who is good in which areas, copy and learn them to benefit ourselves, we will definitely become improve.

Hmm.. 7 intelligents of human beings…

A few days ago I posted an article about pie charts, which I thought it might be more interesting writing something related to pyramids diagrams as well…
 
 
The triangular shape is a rough image in my mind. It is a hierachical representation of a subject that deals with populations or are classified into groups and grades. The pryamid differs from pie charts. It provides a top to bottom view, with the higher portion as minority, and the bottom as majority. The top usually represent the rare or unusual, while the base illustrates a more common type or group.
 
 
To analyse pyramids, the figure tells us the breakdown of population more clearly.

 
 
These shapes motivates me as I look at myself and wonder where I am. I often compare myself with things around me, and the ever changing environment.
 
 
What do I compare with ? Sadly to say in my company, I am still a junior staff as I have just started out working not long ago. I often thought about how long or how much effort I need to put in order to reach the top.
 
 
Other stuff cross my minds, like our income and salary. With people of the same age group, I see which percentile I stand in terms of yearly income etc…
 
 
I hope the article triggers you to think about planning your life because these small tricks help you with goals settings and constant feedback to yourself.
 
 

I decided to write this down because I kept thinking of it every moment. What is it ? Its about pictures and images of circles flashing in my mind. So what are in these charts, why are they so important ?
 
 

A circle can represent things like market share, percentages of a particular source or proportions of statistics data. It can show very clearly each type of sources and their % they hold against the total figures, by looking at the size of the pie.

Pie charts

 
This is an example of a pie chart, with a cut-up figures broken into months as a whole, represented in a diagram.

 
Why love them? The charts reminds me of how well the job market looks like in terms of jobs sectors and industries. In the working world, I constantly remind myself where my job stands in this big pie chart. If its a small percentage, it means I am in a niche market. If it is a big share, it means I can move about through different companies or industries, depending on my trade.
 
 
Visualise where your money goes to at the end of every month, with of a chart. Things like how much I set aside for savings, spending, holidays, education, and daily needs. It is good to know what is happening to your money. (I remember playing Management PC games and some games show this chart.
 
 
Another graph that I looked at and studied, is how are traffic driven to my site :). With google’s analytics, I see 3 types of traffic coming here. It is certainly useful and the picture of the division has been photographed into my head. If the porportion changes, I will notice that immediately!
 
 
With some practise, the usage of pie chart may improve our daily lifes by logical thinking as a visual aid.