I got a new T-Mobile Shadow™ a couple of weeks ago. Nice phone...about the same size as my old RAZR, but uses a slide instead of the clamshell design. So far, I really like it.

Today I discovered that there's a device software upgrade. OK, no biggie...I can do this. So I go to the T-Mobile support site and (yeah, hard to believe!) read the instructions.

For the most part, they're really well written. There are graphics showing what I'll see when I get to the actual upgrade part, nice warnings to let me know that I'll be resetting my phone to the factory defaults and, even better, a note that tells me to expect the progress indicator to stall at one point. They also provide approximate times for each of the steps...I find this really nice, given that we're talking about it taking almost a half hour.

But there's one bad thing. At one point, I will have to save the upgrade file to my desktop. The instructions say, "...type T-Mobile Shadow™ MSFP Upgrade", and the screenshot shows the same thing.

How exactly do you type TM in superscript in a file name?

OK, so first we have to try to figure out how many users will actually use the instructions. (Given the various warnings, we're going to hope it's most of them! But I kinda doubt it.) But then we have to think about how many of these are new users or users that just aren't that comfortable with installing software (I call this the "mom" test...will my mom be able to follow these instructions or will she be calling me for help?).

I know that Shadow is a trademark. But really, do users have to enter TM in the file name? I doubt it. And using superscript just further confuses the issue.

Overall...I'd give them a A-. Good instructions, nice clarity, effective notes and warnings.

Last Monday, I found myself in Mass General Hospital (MGH) waiting for an ultrasound on my leg. My left foot had been about 50% bigger than my right foot for about three weeks and my doctor was concerned. (As she said, matched swelling is usually OK...mismatched swelling never is!)

After my leg had been scanned, the tech went off to consult with the doctor, and then came back: "You need to go right back to your doctor's office," she said, "and you need to walk real slow."

OK, got it. I have a clot in my left calf, also known as Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). And while I feel fine and have no other symptoms (no pain, no redness, no heat), at this moment I now need to proceed slowly. Even though I spent 20 minutes earlier rushing around MGH like a madwoman because I forgot what building my doctor's office is in, and went to the wrong place first. Even though I spent most of March and April traveling. Even though I walked between terminals 5, 6, and 7 at LAX one morning. Even though I've walked the Mall of America and much of Seattle. All since I noticed that my calf muscle was tight.

So, to make sure that I really did go slow, they admitted me to the hospital for a few days...one way to guarantee that I actually get complete bed rest is to put me in a room with only a bed. Jim and Jesse brought me some comfy jammies, my toothbrush, and my laptop. (You know, I really don't like hospitals all that much...I'm sure I'm not the only one. But there's free wireless, room service three times a day, an adjustable bed...it's better than a hotel!)

So what happens now? Well, I don't get on an airplane for awhile, that's for sure. They say it will take about six months until the clot dissolves, although I'll be able to fly before then (but I'm taking the train to the STC conference in Philly). I have to take some new drugs, mostly blood thinners, for the same six months. (These are so much fun...injections for the first week and Coumadin. No Vitamin K for me!) I need to continue working with my feet up, which is something I've done for years. And I need to try to not get cut because I bleed really well right now ;-)

But I'm fine, honest :-) And if anyone needs me...well, it looks like the virtual office (with Adobe Connect) will be getting used!

On 3 April 2008, I attended Dr. Squyres' keynote at the FOSE Conference in Washington, DC. I originally wanted to go because he was going to be talking about the Mars rovers...Dr. Squyres is the principle investigator for the project, which is still going strong more than 1500 days later (the original "warranty" was for 90 days).

And the presentation didn't disappoint on that aspect. Dr. Squyres described what was going on as he displayed lots of pictures...Mars, its topography, rovers at Cape Canaveral, map of planet alignment, launch and landing, team members. He also showed some videos...what he called "origami in reverse" as Rover unfolded, and another that showed the mobility system that the engineers created to allow the wheels to conform to the topography.

Then he talked about what made the mission work. The number one thing? "An incredibly strong team, absolutely committed to the cause." One thing that helped was having the "coolest project around," which drew a certain category of people.

He then talked about how everyone worked together. Leaders led by example with a light touch. Scientists were led by scientists, engineers by engineers. There weren't a lot of memos, orders, or directives. They created an environment where people could get their jobs done and protected them from day-to-day distractions, and trusted them to do their jobs.

What a concept ;-)

Dr. Squyres said that a crucial piece was knowing exactly what they were trying to do. A statement of mission success was posted for the $800USD million project...it contained seven points and was about a half-page long. (I've looked for it online, but haven't been able to find it.) I was amazed...a government agency that used seven points on one piece of paper as the guidelines for this huge project. Dr. Squyres said that every question that anyone had was analyzed against the statement of success.

Because the project was so big (and the team was so large...over 4000 people), there were lots of decisions. Their process was to bring all stakeholders (all...not just a few, not just the major ones, but all) into a single room and give every person a chance to have their say. Only one person owned the final decision. A consensus made the process easier, but if there was discension, the decision owner made the decision and that was it. No gripes. No should haves, could haves, would haves.

As I left, I kept thinking that Dr. Squyres should be giving sessions on building teams.

I've been seeing "twitters" for awhile now...news stories, Facebook updates, and so on. At last week's MVP Summit, I attended an Open Space session on social networking, and that night I got a Twitter account.

I keep thinking that it has possibilities for more than just social updates, but I haven't yet figured out how to use groups or channels or whatever it is that will let me filter the twitters so that they make sense. For example, I like taking a break every now and then and catching up on what folks have been doing...but I don't want hundreds of text messages sent to my phone with the same information.

I think that means I want the anti-social social networking connection ;-) .

I had originally thought that maybe a weekly "tip" of some kind would be kinda neat...I could maybe create a #helpstuff channel that folks could follow. Of course, there's also the character limit...with only 140 characters, "write tight" will take on a whole new meaning, especially if I have to give up 10 of them just for the channel name. (I can hear you all laughing now...I haven't been able to blog on a regular basis for the last couple of months, so how would I ever regularly post a weekly tip? You can stop now ;-).)

I just have to think on this some more.

Microsoft has posted the text from the closing keynotes of this year's MVP Summit.

• Ray Ozzie spoke first. It's the first time I've heard him speak...he's more like Bill Gates than Steve B when it comes to presentation.
• Steve Ballmer spoke second (or last, depending on how you look at it). Steve has an amazing amount of energy and has a lot of fun, and it shows. What the text can't show you is Steve putting on the Canadian jersey (the Canadian MVPs all wore bright red hockey jerseys, and gave one to him) and then the Simpsons' necktie. (He never put the cape on.) It also doesn't mention the number of hands that were raised when he asked how many people used Live Search (not many), Yahoo Search (one or two), and Google (everyone else). This, of course, led to his comment on the offer to Yahoo ;-)

Unlike previous summits, we received non-NDA information on some of the web-based things that Microsoft is working on. I'll have URLs for you soon :-)