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?

Random thoughts after week one in Mexico...

• Smiling and friendly body language is just as important as an interpreter when interacting with anyone in Mexico.
• Always stand when anyone enters a room in Mexico. And people will often keep standing until you tell them it is okay to sit down. I discovered this after a poor team of operators stood for 35 mins while their boss explained a particular system to us.
• Meetings will never start on time, and the small talk is as important as the work here.

• A love of chocolate is universal and a great ice-breaker. Always bring sweets from your home country.
• The Mexicans are pretty happy to have won the match:

 

• I am tall in Ireland. I am a giant in Mexico.
• Not having a business card is definitely a disadvantage. However, having the business cards of the head of the police and the head of the Department of Public Safety in our wallets means that we are pretty golden if we get stopped for any reason. ;)
• An expensive tie can be like a suit of armour.
• Portions of tequilla are twice the size here, and four times as strong.
• Never let the Brit/Kiwi pick the restaurant. Although the cold pig's feet he ordered may have taught him caution...
• Shoe shops display every single shoe behind glass here like jewelery shops display gold back home.
• There is a small library every couple of blocks. 
• We all have naturally fallen into overlapping roles in my team, but I apparently am a problem solver. This should not come to any surprise to anyone who has ever told me anything about their personal lives...
• We will never again assume that an IBM debriefing in IBM offices is only for IBM staff...
• There is a lot of big hair here. And that is just the men...

 

• The best food in Queretaro is at the small street smalls or tiny shops where the locals are queuing. Even the milk is practically spicy here. This is not a complaint.

 

• Monica and Sharmila will never think of "reading a book" the same way again.
• Do I really have to go home?

#ibmcsc mexico1

Launch Meeting Photos

Photos of the full Mexico 1 CSC team with main clients and local IBM executives at the launch of the program at the Queretaro Convention Centre on Monday, August 6th, 2012.

So... What am I actually doing in Mexico?

So what exactly am I doing in Mexico with the Corporate Service Corps?

To be honest, I only really found out today...

Queretaro is the second safest state in Mexico, which is obvious when you walk through the tranquil streets. A new governor was elected last month, and one of his goals is to make Queretaro even safer. As a result, many new projects and initiatives are being kicked off, and my team’s assignment has been changed to reflect the new priorities.

We knew we would be doing something with government security, but did not know the details. As a result, we met as a team on Sunday evening to agree a strategy that essentially consisted of asking the client what were the main issues causing them pain and what did they hope IBM could do for them. We then had a ninety minute meeting with the head of IBM in Queretaro, who explained that Queretaro was one of the fastest growing regions in Mexico.

On Monday, our team met the head of the police department and the head of the Public Safety Department for breakfast, and then proceeded to spend yesterday and today grilling them on everything to do with their processes, I.T. infrastructures, and ultimate goals. The police department solve crimes on an individual basis (i.e. incident management), and the Department of Public Safety look into trends and try to prevent crimes from occurring in the first place (i.e. problem management). I can not go into too much detail as obviously the information that was shared is confidential as it relates to public safety and crime prevention, but it became clear that this assignment in Mexico is effectively a pro-bono issue-based consultancy project.

 

I asked the head of the Department of Public Safety what he would choose if we could help with only one area. He replied that he wants IBM to share our expertise and to identify areas of opportunity for how the two departments can share information and work more effectively together in order to make Queretaro even safer. So that is what we are going to try to do.

We have asked for a meeting with the heads of both departments on Friday morning so we can share our initial thoughts and our SOW (statement of work) on what we think we can contribute. This is in order to make sure they are happy with the direction we are taking, and we have asked for a weekly status meeting after that to ensure that they continue to be happy. They could not be more helpful or open with us, which is making our lives a lot easier. The fact that all of our conversations are being conducted via a translator seems incidental.

So that is what I am doing in Mexico…

Helping to end crime in Queretaro…

Sure what else would I be doing on a Tuesday?

Two random thoughts to finish:

* The Mexican people in Queretaro are probably the nicest people in the world. Everybody smiles, except for the statues where everyone looks miserable.

* Apparently for three months I was the Phantom Yawner on our weekly conference calls. No one knew who they could hear yawning, but the fact that the calls were at 05:00 on a Thursday morning for me should have made me prime suspect. I really must learn to use that mute button on calls in the future… 

#ibmcsc mexico1

Big in Mexico

Apparently this says nice things. We'll have to take our coordinator's word for it. :)

http://www.queretaro.gob.mx/documentos_interna1.aspx?q=vUYGbsxLnlgFf7VYr0Z6fn7xIHaMiJIc

That's me in the upper left hand corner, looking like this is just a typical Monday morning...

#ibmcsc mexico1

Hola from a town called Jet-Lag...

Hola folks,

It is 07:00 on a Sunday morning here in Querétaro in Mexico, and a combination of jet lag and the local alarm clock (a rooster crowing somewhere in the vicinity) has me awake and blogging.

It has been a busy but exciting forty eight hours to say the least.

I let my apartment at 09:00 on Friday morning with a suitcase weighing 22.5kg, which should deter any potential burglars as there is obviously nothing left behind to steal. I survived the ordeal of U.S. customs to get on the flight to JFK, where I ignored the horrors of an Eddie Murphy movie shown on the flight where apparently leaves fell from a tree every time he told a lie being (seriously, Delta? Why would someone do that to helpless passengers?), and shared my airspace with a… unique fellow traveller. I had an aisle seat, and in the window seat was a woman who spent seven and a half hours writing intensely into a journal and underlying thoughts vigorously. For seven and a half hours. I am not exaggerating. She did not even take a toilet break, as she would have had to ask me to move. I kept my eyes on Games of Thrones on my ipad, and pretended I could not see the occasional swaying beside me.

At JFK, I had to leave one terminal and check in again due to an issue with my boarding pass, so I once again had the joys of U.S. customs. The flight was delayed by two hours, so I ordered a burger from Beatrix, the world’s oldest waitress. I think she may not have had any teeth, but she never smiled so it was hard to ascertain for certain. She wore a badge saying “Five top tips for customer service” but I feel she may not have been really committed to the concept based on the way she threw my burger at me.

Aero México almost lost my bag, but found it in time for me to finally check in to my hotel room in Mexico City at 02:00 local time, which was 22 hours after leaving my apartment. I crashed for five hours before meeting the rest of my fellow IBMers to travel to Queretaro. I think the general confusion bleariness must have made me stand out, as Laura (from the U.S.), Yuri (from Holland) and Barbara (from Austria) recognised me and took me to their table and fed me with coffee and watched as I accidentally had curried tortilla for breakfast.

The rest of the day is a bit of a pleasant jet-lagged blur.

There are only eleven of the fourteen of us together at the moment due to lost luggage, missed flights, and religious occasions, plus our fifteenth member who is Paula from D.O.T. – IBM’s local partner in Mexico for the CSC program. We piled into two mini-vans to bring us the three hour journey to our new home for the next month, which is much more beautiful than any of us expected. Everything in this city so far has a rustic, Spanish charm. The hotel looks like Zorro might swing by at any moment. My room has a skylight and a chandelier, although with no hot running water yet. There will be no need for an alarm clock here, due to the skylight and my new friend the rooster, who seems to take his job very seriously.

We all went for a small walk to find somewhere to eat for lunch and ended up in a beautiful square which was like something out of a 19^th century novel but with buskers that play Adele songs. It is nice to know some things stay the same where ever you go.

Yesterday evening we had a ninety minute orientation meeting to learn more specifics about what is expected of us in the next month. Our deadline is August 30^th where we will have to give a presentation on our work to the local government, which will include the governor of Queretaro. The specifics of what we will have to work on are still vague. The project specified in the previous blog entry is now not going to happen. The Spanish government changed last month, so the new government has requested that my team of five people consult on a security issue between two different customer information systems. We will hopefully find out the specifics tomorrow. We also have a dinner with the head of the local IBM offices later today to learn more of what will be expected of us.

The evening ended with a meal in a gorgeous traditional Spanish restaurant, where I learned of Vitamin-T (tortilla, tequila, and tacos), and that grasshoppers are a local delicacy but they are best when young (which are bigger than old ones apparently) and served with guacamole. Somehow I think I will take that one on faith…

Now I better go take a cold shower, drink a lot of coffee, and go on a bus tour of this lovely city with the rest of my new amigos.

Buenos dias!

#ibmcsc mexico1

And we have an assignment...

More specific detail is obviously required before we can do any real work, but the (very) broad scope is:

"STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SECURITY ANALYSIS

This assignment includes development of a Strategic Plan for Ministry of Public Security to better understand their security, challenges, and recommend practical solutions for an intelligence analysis.  This may entail an in depth study of one specific security issue to fully understand the security sector. This government area is significant for the government since it is a priority. This sector has a large impact on the state because if the security is improved the social and economic sectors are benefited; therefore if it is managed more efficiently the security sector it can have a large impact on the local economy. This SOW will be developed with the Ministry of Public Security"

Now I'm very glad I bought a nice suit last week...

Bring it on.

#ibmcsc mexico 

Introduction

Hi folks,

I will be flying to Queretaro, Mexico on the 3rd of August as part of IBM's Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program. I will be working for a month with a team of 13 other international IBMers on a community-driven economic development project.

The CSC has often been called a "corporate version" of the Peace Corps. Participants provide technology-related assistance to both local governments and community organizations. Issues they tackle include local economic development, entrepreneurship, transportation, education, citizen services, health care, and disaster recovery. It is a very competitive program so it is an honour to be accepted. Participants are asked to blog about their experiences to give a flavour of what the overall placement is like without revealing any commercially sensitive information or boring readers to death. I shall attempt to avoid both.

A little about me: I have primarily worked as an integration applications specialist with everything from team leader to systems admin to general coffee maker in the mix at some point, so this is going to be a completely new experience for me which is 90% exciting and 10% terrifying (percentages vary depending on the day). The most comparable experience I have to this was building houses with a Habitat for Humanity team in the slums of Delhi last summer which ended up being a life changing experience. No one hit me with a pick axe while I made bad jokes in 42 degree heat there so I'm reasonably confident that the CSC experience should also lead to new friends and memories while equally being outside my comfort zone.

The preparation requires waking up at 04:30 every Thurs morning for twelve weeks for a conference call with my colleagues to bond and to discuss the challenges ahead. I will not miss the early starts but it has been good to get a feel for peoples' personalities before we go. Usually teams know exactly what projects they are working on at this stage so detailed project specific research can be undertaken in advance, but our client has not finalised the team allocations yet. One of my greatest strengths and occasionally a weakness is that I am a planner. I like to know what needs to be done so I can quite happily detail and execute a plan. If you need an application infrastructure built or a holiday for twenty people organised then I am your man. But learning patience and understanding of how different cultures do things is one of the intended benefits of the CSC, so it is probably no harm to start now.

The other IBMers and I have been told that we should be working on one of the following projects, but nothing is finalised as of yet:

1. TOURISM STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR QUERETARO

2. STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR PROMOTING INDIGENOUS HANDICRAFTS

3. STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR TECHNOPARK

4. PROMOTING / SUPPORTING WOMEN ENTERPRENEURSHIP


In the mean time, I need to focus on potentially the greatest challenge of my entire CSC experience - Packing a month's formal clothes and smart casual clothes plus holiday clothes for two weeks afterwards into one suitcase. Anyone have a spare TARDIS?

#ibmcsc