Four Potential Ways Lee Technologies + Schneider Electric are better together

April 4, 2011 Dave Ohara

I had a chance to talk to

Rob McKernan, President, Americas, Schneider Electric IT Business
John Lee, CEO and Chairman, Lee Technologies
Bob Woolley, Senior Vice President, Critical Environment Services, Lee Technologies

about the press release Schneider Electric released on the acquisition of Lee Technologies.

The first thing we covered is the introductions. I've had the pleasure of having lengthy conversations with John Lee and Bob Woolley. Rob McKernan and I had not met and one of the first things we started discussing is my custom house project and my new Woodstone pizza oven. My oven is the Chuckanut 4' diameter, 2,500 lbs, 115,000 btu.

Where the first thing I was cooked was a roast chicken.

Some things can be done much better when you get the right technology with a good process. For fun I like to cook (process), and my pizza oven is my new tool.

Lee Technologies has been able to upgrade its data center capabilities now that it has access to the tools Schneider Electric brings. And, Schneider Electric has picked up a bunch of skilled data center chefs who know how to operate data centers. What are the potential results?

Top of the list is reducing the energy used in data centers. As the Google guys have shared the initial commissioning starts the process to optimize the performance and as load is accumulated, the process continues to improve energy efficiency. Reducing energy beyond the simple things of hot/cold aisle containment, requires more resources and sharing information across teams. Schneider Electric and Lee Technologies are one example of a team who can support more complex energy saving projects.
Products with processes. Processes aligned with products. Lee Technologies has the operations process expertise. Schneider Electric has the products. As one data center executive shared with me, you can talk about any of the products I have in the data center, but you can't talk about how we integrate the products. The integration is our intellectual property and how we are better than most.
Condition Based Management (CBM) is becoming a standard in some industries, but is rarely discussed in data centers. Taking the maintenance information (Lee Tech) and creating a feedback loop to products (Schneider Electric) is part of a CBM solution.

It is Department of Defense policy that condition-based maintenance (CBM) be "implemented to improve maintenance agility and responsiveness, increase operational availability, and reduce life cycle total ownership costs"

Take all these ideas and expand into emerging markets - South America, APAC, Africa, and Middle East.

BTW, John Lee is on my list of visitors to see my new pizza oven. It's great when we can talk food, wine, and data centers. And, best of all be at home.

Application of Video Analysis, future data center capability

July 30, 2010 Dave Ohara

I am having a blast with this helmet cam idea. People are so excited they want to figure out how to use this as a differentiator, and ask to not tell others. I could have gone down the money pit path of trying to patent a helmet cam idea applied to data centers, but that would have just put lots of money in the hands of patent attorneys.

A demonstration of the use of video analysis is in this Fast Company article.

Made to Stick: Watch the Game Film
BY: DAN HEATH AND CHIP HEATHJune 1, 2010

Photograph by Max Wolfe

Dan Heath and Chip Heath ask, Have you been looking closely enough at your business?

Related Content

RELATED LINK

Made to Stick: Presentations that Stick

Football Coaches pore over game film to spot things they'd never see in real time. Check it out: When the defense blitzes, the free safety picks up the running back. So by picking off the safety, the middle of the field will be wide open for a screen pass. The value of this meticulous observation is intuitive in the sports world. After all, coaches get a week to review a 60-minute game. In the organizational world, where every day is game day, such analysis is less common. It's unfortunate because studying the game film can yield unexpected insights.

The application highlighted is in teaching.

Lemov suspected there was technique underneath the teaching magic -- and if he could find it, he could teach it. So he identified a classic top-5% teacher at North Star Academy in Newark, New Jersey, and asked if he could observe the class. Lemov's buddy, a wedding videographer, agreed to record the teacher in action (a welcome relief from the Electric Slide).

Five years later, having recorded and analyzed hundreds of hours of videotape, Lemov has some answers. In his new book, Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques That Put Students on the Path to College, Lemov reveals what he learned. As he expected, great teachers have a lot in common. For instance, star teachers circulate around the whole space of their classrooms. They are always within seconds of being at the shoulder of any student in the room. Less experienced teachers rarely "broke the plane," the imaginary line running between the blackboard and the first row of student desks.

One of the books I am reading now is Teach like a Champion.

Top Five Things Every Teacher Needs to Know (or Do) to Be Successful
Amazon-exclusive content from author Doug Lemov

1. Simplicity is underrated. A simple idea well-implemented is an incredibly powerful thing.

2. You know your classroom best. Always keep in mind that what’s good is what works in your classroom.

3. Excellent teaching is hard work. Excellent teachers continually strive to learn and to master their craft. No matter how good a teacher is it’s always possible to be better.

4. Every teacher must be a reading teacher. Reading is the skill our students need.

5. Teaching is the most important job in the world. And it’s also the most difficult.

Lee Tech's Top 10 Data Center Operating Mistakes, Part 2 updated for an architecture order

July 26, 2010 Dave Ohara

I wrote on Lee Tech's Top 10 Data Center Mistakes, and made the point of reordering the 10 mistakes for an architecture approach.

I like the list, but I would change the ordering to create an architecture approach for looking at the issues. 8, 2, 10, 4, 1, 9, 3, 6, 7, 5 is a quick pass at an order I would choose, but I admit this is 3 minutes of thinking about it.

You can go to the updated post here.

Dave, you make two really great points:

I think the value of a team discussion is enormous as each customer is different both in requirements, constraints and at what point in the process they currently find themselves. This discussion would bring out multiple view points and arrive at an even better place than they had started.

I had not thought in terms of architecture when sequencing the list, and your three minute analysis is great. I would make one small change by moving 4 to follow 3 but could see the argument on both sides.

So if you think in terms of building a foundation on which each would progressively build, quality should be engineered into every system and process to ensure you can provide a sustainable solution. Too many data centers have been subjected to enormous impacts that could have been avoided either during construction or operation. Often, I hear about data centers no more than five years old having enormous infrastructure issues. So if I wrote the paper over again, I think I would adopt your approach and sequence the list as follows:

Big Mistake #8:
Failure to develop and implement Quality Systems

Big Mistake #2:
Relying too much on data center design

Big Mistake #10:
Thinking you can build a best in breed program as quickly as a data center

<the remaining 7>

Click this link to get the other rest of the order.

I could have asked to have this embedded as a comment, but I don't spend much time supporting comments on GreenM3.

Lee Kirby - thanks for updating your document.

Top 10 Mistakes/opportunities in Data Center Operations , my #1 implement quality system

July 23, 2010 Dave Ohara

Lee Technologies has put out a paper on Top 10 mistakes in Data Center Operations. They previously posted on Top 9 Data Center Design Mistakes, and I posted commenting my #1.

Having spent 30 years in high tech working at HP, Apple, Microsoft and consulting I've seen my share of mistakes. You can choose the "ignorance is bliss" strategy and as long as no one else notices, things are fine. Or you can look at a mistake as an opportunity.

Mistakes Merely Opportunities in Disguise
OfficePRO magazine, November/December 1998 issue

Accept your mistakes, accept yourself, and turn blunders and missteps into lessons learned

By Dr. Gene Sharratt and Eldene Wall, CEOE

Mistakes are a part of life. We all make mistakes, but the real mistake is not to learn from them. How can mistakes be turned into opportunities? Effective office professionals acknowledge that errors happen. Most importantly, they learn from their mistakes and move forward.

Each person reacts to mistakes differently, but it's natural to feel angry and disappointed when errors are made. While these are normal responses, your reaction to mistakes largely determines what you learn from them. Some people criticize and belittle themselves for their errors longer than necessary, which can be counterproductive to professional growth.

Why are mistakes so painful? Whether a huge and costly mistake, or a relatively minor one, individuals often feel a strong sense of personal failure. While criticism is usually painful and can even be traumatic, the personal disappointment a person feels can be devastating.

It can be hard to address mistakes as few want to discuss the topic as millions of dollars are spent in data centers, and too many people have seen people dismissed or unfairly punished for mistakes made.

One way to break through this barrier is look at the Top 10 mistakes in data center operations as a guide to run an inventory on where you are at.

Lee Kirby the paper author starts with a piece of data center wisdom.

How can you avoid making major mistakes when operating
and maintaining your data center(s)? The key lies in the
methodology behind your operations and maintenance
program. All too often, companies put immense amounts
of capital and expertise into the design of their facilities.
However, when construction is complete, data center
operations are an afterthought. This whitepaper explores
the top ten mistakes in data center operations.

For those of you who want to know what the top 10 are, here is the summary.

Big Mistake #1:
Not including your operations team in facility design

Big Mistake #2:
Relying too much on data center design

Big Mistake #3:
Failure to correctly address the staffing
requirement

Big Mistake #4:
Failure to train and develop your talent

Big Mistake #5:
Failing to consistently drill and test skills

Big Mistake #6:
Failure to overlay your operations program with
documented processes and procedures

Big Mistake #7:
Failure to implement appropriate processes and
procedures

Big Mistake #8:
Failure to develop and implement Quality Systems

Big Mistake #9:
Failure to use software management tools

Big Mistake #10:
Thinking you can build a best in breed program as
quickly as a data center

I like the list, but I would change the ordering to create an architecture approach for looking at the issues. 8, 2, 10, 4, 1, 9, 3, 6, 7, 5 is a quick pass at an order I would choose, but I admit this is 3 minutes of thinking about it.

You can use the Lee Tech paper in a staff meeting to discuss the Top 10 data center operations mistakes made by others and create your own order, where you are at, and whether the areas warrant investment.

I would start by asking whether you have a quality system (item #8) in place, and whether the quality group is rewarded for finding mistakes and providing early feedback.

Many companies err in thinking that process, once proven, is infallible.
Continuous improvement is the only way to ensure your data center
operations are efficient, reliable and cost effective. A program for quality
systems consists of two principles:
• Quality Assurance (QA): processes to ensure that errors are not
introduced into the system
• Quality Control (QC): measures taken at various stages of the
process to proactively identify problems that could potentially lead
to system failure

Or you can go with "ignorance is bliss" strategy

BTW, eliminating mistakes is another way to reduce the environmental impact for a greener data center. Look at the environmental impact of BP's mistake. Fewer mistakes made the less environmental impact.

Quality Control in the Data Center

July 15, 2010 Dave Ohara

I was talking to one of my really smart data center friends, and he showed me a list of things that need to be done to manage the date center process. I looked at the list after he showed me his video feed using my helmet cam idea I wrote about 2 months ago.

May 16, 2010

Shouldn't Helmet Cams be used to document Data Center action?

I've had this idea for a while, and haven't heard of any doing this yet. Why aren't data center events like maintenance and emergency trouble shooting documented with Helmet Cams?

I saw this article in PopSci that shows a helmet cam on a Dutch Marine boarding a German ship occupied by Somali Pirates.

The helmet camera ideas is working for him and we were laughing that people aren't doing this more. And, the video was hilarious too. He's figured out the whole system and he'll share the parts he used when he gets me his own video feed I can share. He is a believer in the method of open sourcing ideas.

So, back to looking at his list of things that need to be done to manage a data center. I looked at the list, decomposed the list into fundamental concepts, and started thinking how the pieces could be integrated into a system.

After a minute, it hit me. "You need to put all these pieces together into a quality control system. And, give the system to a group independent of the data center operations team to audit operations." What group? "Put it in Marketing or Finance so the issues have to go up to CEO/COO if the groups cannot work directly with each other."

One of my first jobs out of college was working at HP in quality engineering and the group reported up to marketing, not manufacturing. Why? #1, the quality of your products affect the customer experience. Who is focused on the customer? Marketing! They can make the trade-offs of customer and warranty impact vs. manufacturing cost to affect margin. Finance could also do this, but I would choose marketing before finance. The last group you want to do quality control is your group who runs your operations. You need to think where the group should exist so they will get rewarded to find problems.

This idea may sound crazy, but luckily we both know the VP of marketing we can float this idea by on his next trip to Seattle.

And, you thought my helmet cam ideas was crazy. Quality Control in the data center is even more radical. :-)

PS, when I say my friend is really smart, he fits in with a few friends who I worked with developing software, creating OS features back when we all worked for Apple. One thing Apple taught us is sometimes when you know what is right you just do it, because there is no data to support your decision as no one has done it before.