Final blog. Sob...

I must be considered kid friendly, at least in the eyes of the CSC Program. We were sent to a school yesterday afternoon by the PGJ (Police Department) to talk to the parents of 15-18 year olds about social networks and how to protect their children when they are online. Part of the CSC program requires giving something back to the community of the host country, so this was our assignment. In fairness, it is hard to imagine anyone better for this topic than me. My so-called "friends" hid my iphone at one point last weekend because I use it so much for facebook, twitter, gmail, etc.  It was one of the worse five minutes of my life. I think I may have broken out in hives.


The school was in the outskirts of Queretaro, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it reminded me of my own secondary school in Shannon, Co.Clare, Ireland. One of the teachers commented that he thought schools in the West would have been much more developed. I am sure the tables and chairs in my old school are newer now, but schools are schools wherever you go. And so are good teachers.

Everything was brightly painted red. We did not question this at the time, but we found out later that schools are often repainted when a political party wins an election. Guess what colour the current party in government uses?

Obviously the talk did not start on time... Or finish on time... "Mexican time" is still something I struggle with being such a planner by nature. Start and finish times are just indications here. There were about seventy parents at our talk in the end, but the good thing is that they all seemed very interested in what we had to say. It was a very invested audience. They care about their kids, and are scared by what the Internet might have for them.

The presentation was in Spanish so I had the English translation in my hand.

My main points to the parents really were:
* Social networks are fun, so teenagers are going to use them regardless of what they think.
* Teenagers behave the same way that they do online as they do in real life, so they are going to do things they do not want their parents to know about.
* It was up to the parents to find out how to use those social networks safely. Security settings are important!

There was a glimpse at Latin culture though when we divided the parents into groups to discuss some social network topics. We asked for a volunteer from three groups to speak about their conclusions. The audience was 85% women, but the three volunteers were all men.
 

Unfortunately, it was the last time that we spent with Rodrigo, our wonderful translator. It is hard to imagine a better translator so I hope he gets lots of work out of this. He was fantastic.

Afterwards, we got driven by police officers to the IBM offices after a mix-up with our taxis, and then back to the PGJ where our stakeholders there brought us to a cantina for some goodbye beers. We were very amused to find out that it was a bar where we had already become familiar a few nights previously, but I will leave that story to Amy June to blog. We only stayed for two beers as the Executive Summary presentation had to be completed, but it was a really nice way to end the day.

This is my last blog, as we give a presentation to the Governor tonight (so the expensive Tom Ford aftershave will be opened), and we then leave Queretaro tomorrow. There are a lot of mixed emotions here. We are all very proud of the work we have done and are glad that we have completed our tasks so successfully, but it is a sad feeling to be leaving everyone. We basically took over a hotel for a month so we have really been flatmates as well as colleagues.

All I can really conclude this blog with is that my CSC experience in Mexico has been one of the best months of my life. I have learned so much about people, work, and myself. It's been amazing.

Thanks for coming along with me on this journey via this blog.

Take care,
Gary.

#ibmcsc mexico1

Final Presentation Delivered!

It took three hours instead of the intended seventy five minutes, but the final presentation to our main clients took place yesterday afternoon. Happy days!

The final version of our presentation ended up being 73 slides as we had the enviable problem of having too much content rather than too little. We stopped at least twice to ask our main stakeholders if they needed a break as even prisoners in solitary confinement are allowed an opportunity to stretch their legs occasionally, but it seemed to go very well. The stakeholders agreed with all of our conclusions and did not question or argue any of our findings, yet they were still impressed with the final results. We had tried to keep the stakeholders aware of what our investigation and research was indicating through out the process.  One admitted that he had been wondering how we would gather so many disparate interviews and topics into a cohesive report, so we are cautiously optimistic that this report will have a life after we are gone, and will not just sit gathering virtual dust in a cyber drawer somewhere.

We ended the day by taking our clients for dinner to say goodbye and thank them for being so easy to work with at a local Mexican restaurant:

We were served huge platters of pork cooked in a dozen different ways. Sausages. Pork chops. Curried pork. Enchilladas made of pork. It was delicious, but there was so much pig on plates that Porky Pig is now in hiding. It was Atkin's Diet heaven.

Afterwards we all felt happy and tired like this:

But, because we are in Mexico, we went out as a team for a single round of these:

We're currently working on a presentation for tomorrow's session with local parents about internet safety so the session can be interactive rather than just listening to us talk for an hour, and we are finalizing our executive summary for the Governor's presentation on Thursday.

But for now I will leave you with this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBzJGckMYO4

#ibmcsc mexico1

Week 3 is almost over

We have started counting the last time things will happen.
Today is our last Friday working.
Today is our last day in the offices of the Secretaria De Seguridad Ciudadana.
Tonight is our last Friday night heading out as a group, as all of us are from all over the world so it is unlikely that we will all ever be together in one place again. Fortunately the Kiwi from Essex is in charge of tonight's adventure to a local Cantinita for, in his words, "Food, music, libation and more". Tell my mother I loved her if I don't survive.

Meanwhile the work continues. We currently are finalising the first draft of our final report. It is currently at 82 Powerpoint slides. We'll need to consider how we present this to our clients after we finish drinking a significant amount of coffee. Our initial presentation has been delayed to the start of next week, but this is going to need a lot of planning if we do not want the presentation to last five to six hours. We would like our client to appreciate our findings instead of praying for release from a talk that never ends. 

The following slide represents the issues our project analysed, just in case everyone thinks we have only been drinking and eating:

However, seeing as we are talking about eating, I should really mention that there was a taco eating competition last night. It was obviously won by a Mexican, but Team Security did well. Kenji, the Dancing Machine, managed sixteen points by eating ten tacos and three gringas. 

These are gringas, which in English roughly translates to "white girls":

These types of tacos are supposedly called gringas because they are "fast and easy". I'll leave you digest that fact (pun intended) without any comment.

It was not all Kenji in the competition though. Chandru bowed out at eleven points once he knew Kenji was unstoppable.

Barbara, "The Rooster", did her part for our team too though...

 

#ibmcsc mexico1

Baptism by (Powerpoint) Fire

It is Wednesday evening. I am sitting outside a cafe in the Historical Centre of Queretaro typing up my notes after a day interviewing the head of the Department of Public Safety and his main IT administrator about everything from biometrics to business continuity planning. There are facts and strategies leaking from my pores. It is not a pretty sight.

The final presentation is about 60% complete thanks to the Powerpoint Wizardy of Amy June and Barbara (henceforth known as "Thelma and Louise" or "The Evil Overlords").
We have to give a presentation of the first draft of our report on Friday, which means we have about 40 hours to do the remaining 40%.
We probably will have to give the final presentation on Tuesday morning.
We have to give a presentation on Internet Safety to fifty parents on Wednesday. This has pretty much come out of nowhere so we'll worry about that next week. It could be worse. It was suggested that we could also give a talk to teenagers. Teenagers are ruthless in packs and attack at the first sign of weakness. Parents will at least pretend to be polite.
We then have to give a summary of our work to the governor and the local media next Thursday, before leaving Queretaro probably forever next Friday morning. I will be dragged on to that bus kicking and screaming.

At least I have the company of two unusual but witty ladies to keep me sane...

#ibmcsc mexico1

Brain shutting down for the weekend...

Hola amigos,

Week 2 was very tiring but very interesting. It's crazy to think we are half way through the month already.

My team has conducted 10 interviews of groups of 2 to 5 people about various security and process issues within the Queretaro Police Department and the Department of Public Safety, while also completing research into areas none of us have ever thought about before.

I'm currently documenting the I.T. infrastructure of the Police Department as best I can in advance of a weekly debriefing with the head of IBM Queretaro.  The chief I.T. administrator here is truly worth his weight in Tequilla. They should double whatever they are paying him.

Tonight all fourteen of us are supposed to cook national dishes that represent our teams in the Hotel canteen. We're making a vegetarian pasta dish and cashew chicken. I've agreed to chop whatever I am told to chop. We're not sure if we are meant to be cooking starters or main course, but we are not losing too much sleep over it. If it turns out that we are meant to be doing the starters then everyone can eat smaller portions. Problem solved! This is the type of initiative and problem solving ability that led to me being accepted into the CSC program.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to look into flights to Cuba for when the assignment is finished...

Hasta luego..

#ibmcsc #mexico1

The Security Team

Hola!

There are fourteen IBMers from all over the world in Queretaro for the month of August. We've been divided into three teams. This is the Security Team:

From left to right:

• Amy June Chan from Hong Kong - "Powerpoint Ninja".
• Gary Halpin (me) from Ireland - "Biometrics-San".
• Barbara Danzl from Austria/Switzerland/The Alps - "The Rooster"
  
• Kenji Matsuzawa - "Dancing Machine"
• Chandru Kavichandran - "IBM Wikipedia"

We're like a little dysfunctional family that no mother could ever love...

Of course, we have our downtime moments as well. ;)

#ibmcsc mexico1

Do as I say, not as I do...

I spent today becoming an expert in all processes relating to driving licenses in Queretaro...

Which is ironic, seeing as I can't actually drive.

Anyone for guacamole?