I must be getting old!

I must be getting old! my daughter Andrea is learning to drive!

Fishing Wellington Harbour at Dusk

fishing near Kaiwharawhara at dusk on New Years Day

Kingfish in Wellington Harbour

proof there are Kingfish in Wellington Harbour ~ near Ngauranga anyway!

a year in 40 seconds

a year in 40 seconds via Leo Laporte

Powered by a Revolving Door

Now this is smart.

A cafe is using their revolving door to provide power.

"So, while the coffee powers the customers, the customers are powering the coffee shop."

Makes you wonder how much potential power we just let go to waste!

Maui's Hook

Eye of the Fish reports on a plan to put a giant hook at the bottom of Ngaurange Gorge as a play on the Maori story that the North Island is a fish caught by Maui and Wellington harbour is the fish's mouth - although, as Eye points out:

Traditionally that fish-hook was off the east cape in Hawkes Bay, but hey, myths are always flexible.

I like it!

the new Goodnight Kiwi #2

the new Goodnight Kiwi #1

Southern Hemisphere Dominates World Rugby

The pools draw happens tomorrow morning NZ time, but they have already released the banded seedings for the 2011 Rugby World Cup which are based on IRD world rankings at the end of November.

World rugby is in a parlous state when not one northern hemisphere side is good enough to earn a top four spot for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. We need rugby to be more competive to be interesting. However, this is not surprising given the miserable play by the 'home nations' sides against the All Blacks this past month - none of them could score a try, and so don't deserve a top four spot anyway. Good on Wales though, who beat Australia over the weekend and therefore climbed one spot in the rankings.

Only Munster, a club side playing without most of their top players, managed to play real rugby, and actually score a try against the All Blacks.

The draw is due to take place in London at 4am Tuesday NZT.

Bands for the 2011 World Cup draw
Band 1: New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Argentina
Band 2: Wales, England, France, Ireland
Band 3: Scotland, Fiji, Italy, Tonga

Teams in each band will be drawn randomly into one of the four pools. The final two positions in each pool will be allocated to the eight qualifying places still available for RWC 2011.

The banding of these eight teams is as follows:
Band 4: Americas 1, Europe 1, Europe 2, Oceania 1
Band 5: Africa 1, Americas 2, Asia 1, Play Off place

welcome back Goodnight Kiwi!

welcome back Goodnight Kiwi!

Joel by the Hutt River #2

my son Joel in a reflective mood next to the Hutt River 50m upstream from its juncture with the Akatarawa River

Joel by the Hutt River #1

my son Joel in a reflective mood next to the Hutt River with its juncture with the Akatarawa River on the right of the photo

Makara

last night I was a driver for our church youth group who went out to Makara Beach for the evening, I've never seen it so calm

escape

hat tip Miramar Mike

Leading Effective Business Change

Jim Donovan has some good advice on how the project team should be drawn from the best people in the organisation, and on how to lead and generate effective business change generally. His advice is given as '10 rules' (emphasis mine):

1. The project team should be drawn from the best people in the organisation, the ones who will drive the new way, and will likely hold leadership roles in it. Don’t staff projects with your third-rate cast-offs. Don’t rely on contractors for roles that should be held by business experts.
2. The naval officer on site in the dockyard overseeing the construction of a new ship is ideally the officer who will be its first captain. The best person to lead a change project is the person who will run the new process afterwards. Failing that, get someone even more qualified and powerful, not less, to be your change agent. Sitting on a governance committee is not enough.
3. The change leader and the change team must have been indoctrinated into the new way of thinking, and be passionate, effective advocates as well as good at their jobs.
4. Don’t treat change as an IT project, even if largely based around new IT systems. It’s a business project. The best businesses train their business managers in smart project management, process design and change management. These are not IT skills, they are business skills. Having said that, good business-savvy IT people can make great business change people if you also follow rules 1, 2 and 3.
5. Be ambitious but realistic about what you can achieve with the money, time, resources and ownership support you have available to you. Despite knowing this, I too have sometimes fooled myself or been pressured into going ahead on over-ambitious projects without adequate resources, with predictable results. Heroism, hope and luck are not reliable ingredients for success.
6. Give the change leader the power to decide, as far as possible, and have fast access to higher decision-makers when necessary. There is no value-add and much cost from constantly briefing and waiting on uninvolved decision-makers.
7. Like any major change proposal, nothing will happen unless you dedicate resources (people, time, money) to make the change happen. Expecting people to design and implement a major change while doing their day jobs rarely works, especially when their core process is broken. Put your best operational people onto the change project; here’s where you can usefully deploy contractors - to fill in for them in the operational teams.
8. Avoid highly structured project management methodologies. I recommend a much more agile, lo-tech approach. Don’t try to specify everything before you start. Have a high level “architectural” concept to guide you, but get going!
9. Keep the alligators at bay, but focus on the swamp draining. Don’t worry about dealing with the current stream of problems - that’s the job of the operational teams. Put in place some holding plan, but concentrate your best resources on creating the new model that will work. Get it working, put all new customers, and new transactions onto it, transfer all customers without problems onto it, and then, last, not first, deal with the problem backlog.
10. Notwithstanding rule 9, try to deliver value quickly, in chunks, rather than going for the big bang. Incremental success builds support.
11. Bonus rule: communicate, communicate, communicate; up, down, across, inward, outward.

This is great advice Jim, which lines up with my experience as a project manager bringing about business change, often enabled by IT.

Tui thriving in Wellington

Tui are thriving in Wellington.

When I was a kid it was quite rare to see native birds in Wellington, but now they're everywhere - particularly Tui!

Sponsor someone for Movember

If you haven't already please make sure your sponsor someone for Movember. If you don't have someone to sponsor, then sponsor Cameron. I have.

Tokyo Keys

check out my friend Jordan's new band Tokyo Keys

Don't Underestimate the Spirit of Work

Simon Collins has written a profile of new National cabinet minister Paula Bennett in today's NZ Herald.

The profile moves between discussing her new role as Social Development Minister, and her journey to that position from teenage solo mother.

It is an illustrative account of the best intentions behind National's 'welfare to work' theme.

There is incredible dignity in work.

"Don't underestimate the spirit of work," she says. "It was the people I met while working that changed my life. I didn't always feel that I was better off financially, but I was a lot better off emotionally."

Tumeke! ranking decreases to 95

My NZ political and news blog ranking has reduced further from #91 to #95 during October.

This is unsurprising given that I didn't write much in September and October while settling into self-employment, but the rest of the NZ blogosphere was going crazy with the then pending election.

Thanks to Tim Selwyn of Tumeke! for all the hard work he puts in collating and analysing the data behind these rankings.

Madeleine at MandM has further analysed this month's rankings and produced her ranking of NZ Christian bloggers, where I have slipped from 6th to 7th. Thanks for your work too Madeleine.

ABs 18 Munster 16

All Blacks 18 Munster 16. Just got out of jail with try five minutes to go. Great rugby.

Why can't northern international sides play like that?

I particularly liked the courtesy and passion of the crowd especially the way they go quiet for kicks. Time to bring that back to NZ rugby crowds.

Wow. Munster 16. All blacks 10. Half time.

Wow.
Munster 16. All blacks 10.
Half time.
Great game of rugby.
Munster's try simple rugby beauty.
Why don't northern international sides play like this?

In All My Deeds and Words

A great prayer, courtesy Michael Hyatt who credits it to Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow (1782–1867):

O Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace. Help me in all things to rely upon thy holy will. In every hour of the day reveal thy will to me. Bless my dealings with all who surround me. Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul, and with the firm conviction that thy will governs all. In all my deeds and words guide my thoughts and feelings. In unforeseen events, let me not forget that all are sent by thee. Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering and embarrassing others. Give me strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day and all that it shall bring. Direct my will, teach me to pray, pray thou thyself in me. Amen.

stormy dusk in Wellington

it has been a blustery day in Wellington but the sun is breaking through at dusk

Phil Goff, "the Prince Charles of the Labour Party"

from Colin Espiner's Stuff blog column this morning "All change: New Zealand politics on speed"

"Listening to Goff on the radio this afternoon, he sounded like he’d been the leader of Labour for years. Which, in a sense, he has. He’s the Prince Charles of the Labour Party - the heir apparent who’s been made to wait most of his political life for the prize. No wonder, then, that he sounds polished. He’s been practising at home in the mirror since 1993."

Ouch!

image courtesy NZ Herald 1983 archives

the torch, be yours to hold it high

11 November is my birthday, and like every other year I have been able to spend time today with my family celebrating. But ever since I heard as a young boy that there is a minute's silence on my birthday I have also recognised that it is also Armistice Day, and that increasingly means a lot more to me than just my living for another year.

So many young men in former generations didn't get to live past their teenage years, or enjoy love and marriage, or have their lives unbelievably enriched by fatherhood, or discover their purpose and live it out through a career and community service - all of which, and much more, have been my privelege. Rather their lives were cut way too short by the futility of war.

Today was a day of back to back client meetings, so I wasn't able to attend events at the War Memorial, but did drop by for a moment of quiet reflection on the way home this evening. Joel joined me and I was able to explain why were doing it.

Like others, I mark this memorable 90th anniversay of the ending of WWI, by quoting In Flanders Field:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918), Canadian Army

the hope implicit in the election of Barack Obama

the hope implicit in the election of Barack Obama

source unknown (received by email)

cross-posted to Just Comment

Electoral Finance Act

I have deleted the side bar and Policies page references to Labour's repugnant Electoral Finance Act now that the election is over, so it no longer applies to blogs like this one because I understand the regulated period has completed, and is soon to be repealed anyway (hopefully!).

the heart of the wise inclines to the right

interestingly Ecclesiastes 10:2 says

The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.

(for humourous purposes only, not a theological stance!)

Constitutional Transition Process

Dean Knight (no relation), law lecturer at Wellington's renowned Victoria University law school, has posted another helpful - albeit nerdy! - post on the constitutional transition process NZ will now go through as we transfer power from Helen Clark to John Key over the next week or two.

surely this is the end of 'Christian' parties?

Looking at the preliminary results for yesterday's New Zealand election it is my sincere hope that we have seen the end of what I have previously called "the ridiculous idea of 'the' christian vote" (that link is to my post last week which generated a vigorous debate from some who support the idea of 'the' christian vote).

Of the three 'christian' parties only the Kiwi Party gathered more than 10,000 votes which only equates to approximately 0.5% - very far from the 5% required under MMP to actually get into parliament.

Collectively the three 'christian' parties only gathered 1.22%.

Both the Legalise Cannabis and the Bill & Ben parties gathered more votes than the other two 'christian' parties.

Legalising cannabis is hardly mainstream thought in New Zealand, yet they gathered more votes than parties who tried to monopolise the 'christian' label. Quite obviously against the wishes of the 10%-50% of New Zealanders who identify as christian (10% = rule of thumb figure for Sunday church attendance each Sunday, and more than 50% of kiwis continue to self-identify as christian in our five yearly census despite the secularisation of NZ).

I welcome discussion on this post, but ask that the discussion focus on the reality of how christians actually do vote and engage in politics in New Zealand - not some theoretical, and in my opinion marginal, construct of how christians should vote, or of the conscience vote issues which seem to motivate those who form and support 'christian' parties. Also, please first read last week's post and its comments before commenting on this post so that we can advance the debate rather than simply repeat it.

Reflections on the NZ Election

Yesterday John Key was elected Prime Minister of New Zealand, and today starts the process of formalising his coalition and support arrangements so as to govern our country for the next three years.

My congratulations to John and the National team, and also to ACT and UnitedFuture with whom he will govern.

It is my sincere hope he can include the Maori Party in some form of support arrangement. The future of Maori is too closely aligned to the success of our nation for their main political voice - the Maori Party - to be sidelined.

Likewise, I hope he can form sort of agreement on environment policy with the Green Party. Human impact on the environment is too high, and is producing unsustainable outcomes. National has a well formed view of how this can be addressed but it would be refreshing to bring the Green Party into making this happen. It would also demonstrate that the left wing do not have a monopoly on the environment.

Winston Peters was remarkably gracious in conceding defeat last night. His career promised so much, but he couldn't handle the discipline of playing in a team and had to go off and create his own petty dynasty, known as NZ First. It is NZ's loss that he never rose to the heights he could have, but rather leaves politics with the stench of corruption and hypocrisy swirling around him. We saw sniffs of his potential in his performance as Foreign Minister these past three years, which only served to illustrate what could have been.

Helen Clark has strode like a colossus across our political landscape for a long time now. I never doubted her ability, and always respected her leadership in bringing together and holding together the fractious left for so long. But like Peters she too is standing aside without having fulfilled her destiny. If she had stayed true to her social democrat ideals I would have respected her much more even though I disagreed with many of her policies. But her legacy is that of stealing the 2005 election with our money, legislating to make that theft legal, to legitimise it for this election, and to shut down her opposition. It is to her eternal shame she formed a partnership with Winston Peters, and then stuck by him when it was clear he was at least a hypocrite, and quite probably NZ's first truly corrupt politician.

Of National's first 100 days plan the thing I look forward to most is the repeal of the Electoral Finance Act which was Labour's blight on our democracy. To see it go will be a great day for New Zealand - the ideals of democracy as embedded in our constitution are too important to have been the play thing of the governing party. Yesterday stands testament to the power of democracy in that the people of New Zealand were able to side step its 'chilling effect' on our democracy and throw out its authors anyway.

My prayer is that National keeps its eyes on the vulnerable when dealing with the chaos that Labour has left behind, that has only been made worse by the international economic crisis. While I agree with most of the policy changes made by the 1984-1990 Labour government, and with the continuation of that policy direction under National in the early 1990s, it was all done with too much haste, and with too little regard for the vulnerable who ended up paying too much of the price paid to enjoy the fruit since enjoyed.

I will now focus the political stream of this blog to holding John Key true to his promise last night to 'represent all New Zealanders' as our Prime Minister.

my election day, as recorded on Twitter

my election day, as recorded on Twitter:

• good speech john key, we will hold you to it about 13 hours ago
• goodbye helen, you too offered so much, delivered some of it, but you too sacrificed your principles for power and have paid the price about 14 hours ago
  
• 10:56pm another 17 polling booths reported (6216/6304) = still nat 59 + act 5 + uf 1 = 65 out 122 = still a clear majority about 15 hours ago
  
• the Greens are a big disappointment, they should be polling much higher about 15 hours ago
  
• 10:35pm still nat 59 + act 5 + uf 1 = 65 out 122 = still a clear majority about 15 hours ago
  
• winston peters walking out on a career that promised so much but ended up smelling of corruption and hypocrisy about 15 hours ago
  
• spot the lemon suckers in tauranga about 15 hours ago
  
• wow an almost gracious concession to simon bridges from winston peters about 15 hours ago
  
• impressed with tv3 coverage on main tv, with tv1 on little tv in corner muted about 16 hours ago
  
• @che_tibby stuff ok for me about 16 hours ago
  
• www.electionresults.govt.nz back about 16 hours ago
  
• grrr looks like www electionresults govt nz is down! www.electionresults.govt.nz about 16 hours ago
  
• 76% of polling booths have returned results but that only representats approx 50% of the vote as larger booths are yet to come in = = still early days
  
• simplest summary of results can be found at http://tinyurl.com/5qmf7o about 16 hours ago
  
• 940pm nat 59 + act 5 + uf 1 = 65 out 122 = clear majority ... the next couple hours will be very very interesting about 16 hours ago
  
• @slowblink yr always were a dreamer about 16 hours ago
  
• how do you lead worship at church the morning after an election, particularly a landmark one! about 16 hours ago
  
• at least nz first is under 5% and dropping about 17 hours ago
  
• this time last election i thought national had it, but labour ended up winning ... however surely nat/act/uf's lead is too great this time about 17 hours ago
  
• @che_tibby agree about 18 hours ago
  
• settling in to watch election coverage about 19 hours ago
  
• sometimes the simplest acts are the most meaningful, like voting about 23 hours ago from mobile web

The NZ election and government formation

Dean Knight (no relation), law lecturer at Wellington's renowned Victoria University law school, spoke on Radio NZ the other morning about how a Government and Prime Minister are selected in New Zealand after an election, and has now written up his notes on his blog.

A bit nerdy, but answers almost every constitutional question you might have on this! A useful resource if tomorrow's election does not give a clear cut result given the vagaries of MMP.

solved Blackberry sync crashing reading Outlook calendar

Blackberry sync had started crashing when reading my Outlook calendar but a quick google search for "blackberry desktop manager crashes reading outlook calendar" turned up this helpful post = problem solved, once I'd reset my sync settings.