How to spend $1.5 Billion

Did a brief bit of commentary on TV3 yesterday on what the incoming National Government might do with the $1.5 B they want to invest to deliver super-fast broadband. Apparently I am too serious - I think this might the first time anyone has ever suggested this!

I wrote some notes while I was thinking about this, and am becoming to be more convinced that a quite different approach needs to be taken to work out what to do.

Before you read this you need to know that I have a bunch of interests that may or may not conflict me. But at least you know this now!

1. I am a Director of InternetNZ - a policy and advocacy group with a mission to advance the cause of the Internet in NZ.

2. I worked at Telecom for a while - like 14 years a while

3. I hold Telecom shares still - (ok I missed my window to sell...)

4. I have stakes in, and have worked on a proof of concept for, web based businesses.

5. I support Tottenham Hotspur which makes me something of an optimist.

From what has been said and written to date, the thrust of this investment has been around Fibre to the Home. While this is definitely a good idea, I am not sure if it is the right idea for now.

We have to take a step back and ask ourselves - what is the problem that we are trying to solve here?

In my view the main problem we are trying to solve is to improve the productivity and competitiveness of NZ. Sure there are a bunch of second-order issues (e.g. ameliorating the impact of the financial crisis, keep up with international and technology trends, allowing kids to social network) but the number 1 issue is that NZ's productivity needs to improve.

This is not my idea - Mark Weldon and David Skilling through the NZX blog, and Lloyd Morrison, through the Measureable Goal for New Zealand paper are doing a great job of leading this debate.

What's also clear from the NZX blog is that there are a heap of people who have good skills who are willing to contribute their time and energy to shape this debate. Free resource! Awesome!

It's a selection of people from this group (and others) who should get together real soon to shape this debate. The participation criteria for this is simple - you have to have had experience in lifting productivity in your domain and be a contributor to the debate for the greater good. Selecting it on the basis that every possible interest has to be represented will lead to failure. Furthermore devolving it into interest areas (eg Broadband only) will also mean it diverges from a meaningful goal. That will lead to the phenomenon of 'snouts in the trough' - the people who show are the ones who want to get their mitts on some of the $1.5B, as opposed to driving productivity in NZ. Keeping that off the table for now is a good thing.

Note at this point I still haven't talked about the broadband investment yet - that's because it can only start to be meaningful once the productivity goal is set and all the ways to improve it over the long-term are put forward. Despite my background I am open to the possibility that there are other ways to make this happen - including tax and regulatory structures - that could be more effective. However I would be very surprised if Broadband was not a part of it.

So this gets me to the current issue - should we be spending this $1.5B on Fibre to the Home or on something else?

My view on this is clear

- Fibre to the Home is a great end-game to aim for. 

- Good quality ubiquitous broadband access for homes and businesses is an important first step. While good progress is being made here, there are still inequities in the rural access network which impacts one of our most important industries - agriculture.

- The bottlenecks being experienced in our current broadband network are starting to point to transport issues - both domestic (from DSL cabinets to exchanges) and international.

- $1.5 Billion sounds like a lot but it gets gobbled up pretty easily when rolling our nationwide infrastructure - and it isn't enough for a nationwide Fibre to the Home network.

- DSL 2+ and its variants that run on existing copper lines are able to deliver plenty of access bandwidth for the next 5-10 years.

So if it was me, I would be using the money in this way

1. Improve the overall quality and reliability of the access network nationwide. This probably means

- some more cabinetisation of existing exchanges in fringe areas and development of some rural infrastructure (either fixed wireless or wired - not fussed)

2. Improve the regional transport network - provide enough capacity to allow for -say - on average 1Mb/s per line (note this was engineered for about 32 kb/s per line up until recently - maybe it still is)

3. Invest in a more effective international connection - we need better capacity  and peering charges to ensure we have the best connection possible to the rest of the world.

4. If there's anything less (I doubt there will be much) put that towards targetted Fibre to the Home.

This approach works because it

1. Delivers a tangible outcome - better transport and more ubiquitous access will lift the overall broadband performance for everyone

2. Does not preclude FTTH investment - in fact it probably makes it more effective. Cabinetisation helps the case for fibre. If you rolled out fibre now with the existing transport infrastructure, you would need to make this investment in addition to get the full benefits

3. It can probably get done in one government term if they got moving in 3-6 months.

What do you think?

One down, one to go

Over the last weekend, TelecomOne took place.

Ben and Mauricio's posts sum up really well the types of things that were covered over the weekend at TelecomOne. Big cultural shifts. Noticed by externals. All good.

I didn't go. Arlene and I have an understanding that we make enthusiastic mutual agreements for what we both do. We weren't both enthusiastic.

Despite that, or probably even because of my lack of attendance, TelecomOne was a roaring success.

There are a bunch of people within Telecom who have now had a great experience in terms of getting together their ideas to make Telecom work better. Awesome.

I have two requests for Telecom people.

1. If you attended TelecomOne

The most important thing they have the responsibility to do now is to do something very different in their day to day work even though the prevailing culture will not be that supportive.

2. If you didn't attend TelecomOne

Don't write this off via the Telecom clobbering machine - attendees gave of their own free time and energy to make this happen. Take the time to engage with them. Don't engage over a meeting - just get in a big open space and start sharing. TelecomOne isn't just about the content that was developed in terms of ideas and plans. It's about a more collaborative (and fun) style. 

TelecomOne was spawned as an idea out of the last KiwiFoo. Gripnostril (when can we tell people who you are?) has been the power behind this and is a great example of how 8 months of tenacity and perserverance will really pay off. Well done - take credit for it - it was your idea. Great leadership.  'If you do something with it, it *is* your idea'.

TelecomOne was one of two ideas that I really got excited about after I attended KiwiFoo earlier this year. The other one is about 3 weeks away from becoming real. 

Thanks Nat, Jenine and Mahurangi College for providing the environment where these ideas can flourish.

O for Oarsome

Got a heads up on this book a couple of weeks back from this guy.

I worked with Kevin at Telecom and was stunned at his story then - rowing across the Atlantic after living the corporate lifestyle. This book was actually stolen from his car (on his laptop) while at Telecom so I guess he wrote it all again. He left Telecom and went to the South Pole unaided and now does public speaking gigs - also impressive considering the speech impediment. Sometimes when he was sitting in the office in Auckland blocking out the world with blu-tack in his ears you could see how someone could be focussed enough to make it happen.

 I love this 150 word summary of the book

“I have a traumatic pizza ordering experience and stop being immortal. I quit my job, leave my girlfriend, sell my house and go live with Mum. I watch a lot of daytime TV. The ‘How's Life' show decides that I row the Atlantic. I team up with the original Naked Rower, we struggle to raise money and start building the boat, I start training insanely and nearly lose the plot. Find another rower, lose another rower, get another rower. Start the race (badly). Row into storm. Take the lead. Row. Lose the lead. Row. Row harder. Nothing happens. Row until we hallucinate. We start to close in! Seats break. Rudder breaks. Another storm. Neck and neck as we sprint to the finish. Capsize and thrown out of the boat. Get back in. Get to Barbados first! Yay! Get protested a gainst. Boo! Win at the protest hearing. Still living with Mum.”

There are quite a few extracts from the book on the site - the section about how he decides to row the TransAtlantic race as a result of his concerned Mum's question to How's Life is too funny. 

Make a great gift for someone going through a mid-life crisis.

InternetNZ Directorship

Very pleased to announce that I have been appointed to the Executive Board of Internet NZ.

There is a great mix of board members for this Board - we met for the first time last week and I can say for sure that I am going to have a great opportunity to learn a lot from my Board colleagues. I continue to remind Paul Swain that he was a teacher at my Intermediate School which dates both of us....

Most of all I am excited about being able to do my bit to advance the mission of InternetNZ - to protect and promote the internet in NZ. It's something I am passionate about, and with the broadband access debate starting to reach a level of maturity it's time to look to the next set of issues to address to ensure that the Internet is a key part of NZ's economic and creative engine.

InternetNZ has done a great job of advancing this debate and I look forward to being able to serve its well-informed and passionate members.

Rod's refocussed - who to follow now?

So the circle is now complete - Rod comments on his valedictory blog, an ironic end....

For those who want to know who else to keep tabs on with Rod's move to xero focussed blogging, here are a set of blogs to keep an eye on. This is made up of commentators to this 'last' post as well as others who are pushing the conversation along. 

http://diversity.net.nz
http://rowansimpson.com
http://iyeyl.blogspot.com/
http://techsploder.com
http://amplify.co.nz/
http://work.miramarmike.co.nz/
http://pellacor.com/
http://blog.synapses.co.nz/
http://www.petergriffin.co.nz/blog/
http://www.makeithappenhq.com/
http://lancewiggs.com/
http://www.wine.geek.nz/
http://scio-sphere.blogspot.com/
http://simonyoung.co.nz/
http://asiapacificheadhunter.com/
http://ceej75.wordpress.com/
http://poneke.wordpress.com/
http://www.supervery.com/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/showmethemoney
http://www.saintzeno.com/blog/

http://domaneschi.blogspot.com

http://poneke.wordpress.com/


For completeness throw some traffic my way - I hope to be able to progress along certain aspects of the work Rod has started in my own way

http://szikszai.blogspot.com/

With these blogs you'll get a mix of technology, start-up entrepreneurs,wellington issues, insightful comment, humour and the rest. Still a gap here for some leadership on the big issues like Broadband Trade Routes though.  It is really interesting to me that there is a very deep need for a lot of people who are blazing their own trails to have someone to follow, who can be a collection point for the issues and debates. Rod's blog really hit the spot.

Add any others that you follow in the comments. Self-promotion welcome!

Do what I say or what I do?

Had a funny experience today - was looking after Ella this afternoon. I changed her nappy and she was playing around in her room. I told her not to touch her nappy cream and less than a minute later this was the result - her lion Frankie had his rear end covered in aforementioned nappy cream....

So after I stopped laughing (ok it took a while...) I had a change to reflect on a couple of things.

1. I've been telling people for ages to keep their presentations short and to the point, and tailored to their audience. Yet on Friday I was involved in a team presentation that could be best be described as a powerpoint-a-rama that lasted 2 hours. Broke all the rules that I hold dear - pretty clear what the message is there to people who were unfortunate enough to be on the other end of that. Garr Reynolds would have had a field day.

2. Later on that day we had an activity that was designed specifically to relieve some frustration that is evident in the same team. We did not say what the purpose was - we just acted in a way that gave people the opportunity to genuinely express their concerns in an environment that was safe to do so. Much more effective that point 1 - no fanfare but the result has been enduring.

3. David Beckham - say what you like about him (and I'm a Spurs supporter - damn you Ricky Villa) but this weekend in Wellington he showed what a professional he is. Put himself out for his fans and made every post a winner. Even with bronchitis. Can't wait for the next Phoenix game already.

It didn't matter what I said to Ella - Frankie got his tail covered 'cos that is what happens to her and why should she act any different. No different in the other world.

Where there's a will, there's a way

I used to think that line was a pretty trite comment, but I had cause to reflect on a couple of very different experiences of late that show the power of personal will, and the need to take personal risk to make change happen. It's really important if you want to create powerful customer experiences.

1. I went to our call centres the other day to listen to why customers are calling us (as opposed to contacting us in any other way - btw the reason they do is they want trusted advice from human beings. I'm sure there are other ways to do this that have the human touch but I digress). We had a customer call who wanted to cancel broadband - he wasn't using it. Craig (the rep) could have just gone through the motions and cancelled it but decided to drop his success rate on call metrics and take 10 seconds to look at the customer's overall bill. This guy was spending $350 a month - mainly on domestic and Australian calls. So Craig asks if he wants to look at other options and ends up selling a plan which will probably cut $150 a month off his bill. Customer is stoked and casually asks about mobile - Craig ends up selling him a phone sight unseen which will completely suit his needs. Customer is still paying less per month and now has a great mobile - all because Craig took the personal risk to engage in a conversation that the customer hadn't initiated.

2. I've been shopping around our user-centred design methods internally and talked to a number of senior General Managers. The value of what I was talking about was recognised immediately - however there was no will to implement. I can understand resources are tight, deadlines are near - we've all been there. A will to implement would find a way to get around that.

I had to reflect on the second experience - a normal uncontrolled reaction would be to say 'pack of muppets - they don't get it' but I've realised that I've got to have the will to back up what I believe in and find a way to make it stick. Which means persistence and probably an alternative approach. Thanks Craig from the Helpdesk in Hamilton - you've taught me a great lesson.