The Road Less Travelled » Camp Culture

TeamCamp.TV hits the blogwaves

Ian — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:41:56 +0000

Team Camp is one of longest running events at TheCodeFactory and original content. Chris Schmitt is chief instigator and does an amazing job at organizing this series of events, from pitch fest, to local entrepreneurial and technology leaders sharing lessons learned. This is one event I always make time for. Team Camp is from 6pm to 8pm on the first and third Thursday of every month. If you are in Ottawa please feel free to check it out. If you do want to participate the first step is to acknolwedge our participatin agreement.

This post will be the first in a bi-monthly series of TeamCamp.TV videos. Thank you to all of the participants last week and especially to Chris and Jason. Anyway for your viewing pleasure a glimpse of pitchfest:

Ian Graham

Transparency is kryptonite to fight corruption and incompetency

Ian — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:49:42 +0000

The following is a post by Andrew Ross. Andrew is a good friend, open source advocate, event organizing dynamo and founder of FOSSLC an organization with which TheCodeFactory has proudly been affiliated with. I asked Andrew for a guest post and left him to decide the topic. He made a great choice. Transparency is one of the founding principles of Open Source and TheCodeFactory.

The following is in Andrew’s own words.

I find good Science Fiction (Sci Fi) often uses the present or past to justify predictions about the future. Sci Fi often use literature to make observations or statements about society. This blog post attempts to predict the future of government and business practices.

Often Sci Fi shines a light on the best and worst of humanity. For example, the portrayal of the evil humans can do in Arthur C. Clarke’s Rama series will surely disgust you and remind you of genocides that somehow keep occurring around the globe. Humanity’s short attention span and ineffective planning for the future when acting in groups are evident in Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson’s prequels & sequels to Frank Herbert’s classic Dune. They are also central to Asimov’s Foundation series. These themes have a natural parallel to abuses of the environment and (lack of proper) financial planning – two very important issues in society.

Currently I am reading The Star Diaries by Stanislaw Lem. Each chapter presents a voyage of the protagonist, Ljon Tichy. Tichy’s eleventh voyage took him to investigate the disappearance of over one thousand agents on a planet. This planet was inhabited by an all robot society founded by a computer that apparently went rogue after consuming a psychological library including horrible details involving Jack the Ripper, the Boston Strangler, the Marquis de Sade and more. As a result, the robots in this society appeared to have evolved sadist tendencies, were prejudiced, abusive, violent, and more. [SPOILER WARNING: stop here if you plan to read this book and wish to avoid a spoiler for this chapter]

When I finished that chapter, I saw the elegance in what he wrote. Reminiscent of the wizard of Oz, Tichy pulled back the curtain and exposed the fact that the robots, every single one, were in fact humans in robot disguises even though none of them realized it. The fear of being exposed as a human on a planet full of sadistic robots forced for them to conform and pretend to be robots with sadist tendencies and openly practice and encourage abuse. This was all carefully orchestrated by the computer once it realized it’s robots were failing without possibility of repair or replacement. Any newcomers were quickly captured, and offered death or servitude involving them pretending to be robots and exposing any infiltrators.

What does this have to do with this blog you might ask? It speaks to the importance of transparency. With effective transparency, the scenario described in Lem’s Star Diaries could never happen. I like to believe most citizens would never stand for genocide. Similarly, in society today, transparency makes it far more difficult for corruption to take root and grow. The problem is lack of transparency lets these issues grow until they are beyond the means of most individuals or groups to reasonably stop them. Sound familiar? In the business world, think Enron, WorldCom, Nortel. Madoff, and many more.

This is an issue that I feel strongly about, and which draws me to open source communities and companies successfully practicing transparency as part of their business practices. There is a clear difference between keeping your strategies secret from your competitors and unethical practices.

I predict people will naturally gravitate to products, leaders, and organizations that deliver results and transparency so they can measure results for themselves. Apathy is a tough thing to overcome, but emotional motivators such as retirement savings, standard of living, and the planet we hand down to our children become involved, people will act. As I’ve covered at FOSSLC, emotions are very powerful motivators.

Thank you Andrew.

Students and Start-ups 5 – SOLD OUT

Ian — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:29:12 +0000

Students and Start-ups 5 (Tech Edition) is offically SOLD OUT, however don’t despair we have opened up 10 more spots. These spots will be made available to enterprising young students from Algonquin, Carleton and Ottawa U in Engineering, Computer Science and anything software related. After all this is Students and Start-ups 5 (Tech Edition).

Stealthy Students and Start-ups 6 (Business edition) coming next week..

I am an AWESOME TECH STUDENT how do I get one of these 10 spots?

It is really easy … all you have to do is send Samantha (info [AT] thecodefactory [DOT] ca) an email with 100 words (No more) explaining how awesome you are and why you should attend. That’s it. Really simple.

The AWESOME 10 students will be announced early next week on this blog and through Twitter (@thecodefactory). Have your 100 word email submitted by the end of the day Friday March 12th.

Ian Graham

Tech Students WANTED – Apply within!

Ian — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:34:35 +0000

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We have five start-ups signed up for Students and Start-ups 5; YOUi Labs, Zeebu Mobile, Blindside Networks, Exocortex and Infonium. All of these companies are hiring NOW or within the next 3 months.

This is for Technical Students 8 spots left for students.

Note: If you are a biz student expect an announcment next week … Stay Tuned.

Students and start-ups is fun, friendly, informal and a great opportunity for a warm introduction into some great companies that are hiring. We measure success in two ways; hires and smiles and every event thus far has been a success.

This edition of students and start-ups is for computer science, engineering and technical graduates. If you are a business student fear not and expect an announcement regarding students and start-ups 6 Business edition within the next week. STAY Tuned!

Ian Graham

Are you a student? Please read on …

Ian — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:21:53 +0000

Looking for an amazing opportunity to work with great people and cool technology then check out Students and Start-ups 5.

Sign up here.

The Huston effect prevents us from naming this event after any Start Wars episodes. However, we thought lets have an “Own the start-up podium” event. This is your chance to meet up close and personal with some amazing Ottawa start-up talent. The really great part about is that they are looking to hire in the next 3 months. So the outcome is even better than a gold medal you could get a job with some award winning companies.

These are great companies with awesome founders and TONS of potential. Here is the skinny on them;

YOUi Labs – these guys ROCK!
Voted one of CIX top 20 most Innovative companies in Canada
2009 Start-up to Watch by the Ottawa business Journal.

Infonium – Excellence – meets healthcare – meets Ruby on rails
Jay Lawrence OBJ top 40 under 40
Industry Canada recognizes Infonium as a Canadian Innovation leader

Zeebu Mobile – Awesomeness for kids and cool technology
Future – theCodeFactory 2010 start-up to watch
Written up in OBJ.

Exocortex – Gaming Excellence and bleeding edge tehcnology
2008 – TheCodeFactory Start-up to Watch
tetrahedral-based fluid simulator WOW it even sounds cool.

Blindside Networks – Education meets open source – from Carleton
2009 – TheCodeFactory Start-up to Watch
Open Source voice, video and awesomeness!

One more start-up spot available.

Ian Graham

Introducing Collaboration Corner

Ian — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:11:15 +0000

We are going to have a new segment on this blog with guest posts and interviews of the good folks using TheCodeFactory. These are stories about some of the really good things that are being produced by “The Factory”. The articles are guest posts in the author’s own words and they have total freedom to say whatever they like.
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One of the outcomes of TheCodeFactory I am most proud of is the organic collaboration that is happening on a daily basis. Not only are members playing together but they are also working together and collaborating on projects. This is very exciting to watch unfold and an expected by product of creative individuals working together.

Our first entry which we will be posting tomorrow is an interview with Philippe Casgrain, leader of the CocoaHeads Ottawa/Gatineau, co-creator of Tweety10 (iphone app for the Olympics) developed right here at TheCodeFactory in large part at a weekend hackathon and founding member of Cocoaminded.

Upcoming posts will include contributions and collaboration tales from;

- Fred of Blindside Networks with Pascal of Citadel Online Communities
- David (Megginson Technologies) with Michael and Dominique from Groupsia
- Chris and the amazing story of Team Camp and the awesomeness of Twegather
- Andrew Patrick on CapCHI Ottawa and our almost 2 year relationship
- Andrew Ross of FOSSLC and TheCodeFactory
- Many other tales in the works and always new stories being written every day.

I sincerely hope you enjoy this ongoing series.

Ian Graham

Entrepreneurship Series – The Good – Hard work

Ian — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:39:11 +0000

If you are thinking … hard work how the heck is that a good thing. My guess is you would probably fail the marshmallow test too … in which case move along there is nothing to see here. If you like hard work please continue reading.

Those who get it will understand the value of hard work. This is especially true in a web x.0 world. One of my favourite entrepreneurial quotes is from local Ottawa Entrepreneur Aydin Mirzaee of Chide.it and it goes something like this “if it was too easy then anyone could do it.” There is a lot of wisdom in that statement and it highlights the key value underpinning hard work. Lots of people have ideas far fewer the passion and persistence to make them happen.

Both idea and easy are aptly four letter words. The difference between an idea and a successful business is a whole lot of well … you guessed it … hard work or execution. The only way to turn an idea into reality is to make it happen.

Hard work is the new competitive advantage. However much hard work you have had to put into something to make it work anyone with the same idea afterwards is going to have to follow in your footsteps. The harder you work and the more distance you put between yourself and the competition the greater the barrier to entry you have created.

There are two other awesome by products of hard work; serendipity and small victories. If you persist keep at it and continue to make progress I can pretty much guarantee that plenty of both will come your way. I love that Canadian Olympic commercial where the athletes say we create our own destiny and destiny didn’t get up for that 6am practice I did. The entrepreneur and hard work is the same thing. You create your own success and inevitably victories small and large.

Personally I find tremendous comfort in the phrase “if it were too easy anyone could do it.” Bring on the hard work baby.

Next post in the series – Small Victories.

Ian Graham

Students and Start-ups 5 – Looking for …

Ian — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:37:11 +0000

Students, start-ups and supporters.

Student: If you are a student; SIGN UP HERE

If you are a Start-up or supporter: contact ian@thecodefactory.ca for dets.

One of our favourite games at TheCodeFactory (yes we like to play) is students and start-ups a fun filled activity packed rollicking romp on the wild side.

If you thought; WOW! It sounds even better than Avatar and more interactive. You would be right and guess what it is also in organic 3D … ooohh awwww. Here are some pictures of past Glory:

We measure success in two ways for the event; hires and smiles. We had one confirmed hire Students and Start-ups 4 and are hoping for more this time. NEW Games, NEW start-ups and we are looking for plenty of students.

There are lots of ways to get involved. We have 3 start-ups on board so far but there is room for a few more … if you are a start-up contact Ian. If you think that helping start-ups and students is an awesome idea and how can our organization help … if you are a supporter contact Ian.

On that note I’ll (Ian here) be at the University of Ottawa on Tuesday February 24th SITE building room 5084 (thank you Cate) for any U of O students interested in connecting. I will also be at Carleton University on Thursday February 25th in the evening. Tweet or DM me @thecodefactory if you would like to meet.

Ian Graham

Building partnerships – showing your hand

Ian — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:35:00 +0000

Partnerships are an important aspect of almost any business. At TheCodeFactory we are proud to be affiliated with; Acorn Partners, inMedia PR, Lead to Win, Fraser Milner Casgrain, Free Open Source Software Learning Centre, Talent First Network, Lebarge Weinstein, Peters New Jobs and numerous other opportunities in the works (new partners page coming soon). Having been through this a few times certain patterns start to emerge.
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Aligning interests is likely one of the most important aspects in building long term, mutually beneficial and sustainable relationships and partnerships. It all starts with a disclosure of what exactly your intentions and interests are. The more open and honest the participants are; with each other, what they are willing to commit to the arrangement and what they expect to get out of it the great the probability of success.
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Isn’t full disclosure at the start of building a partnership a little naive and with the potential to weaken your negotiating position? Yes and no. If the nature of the relationship is adversarial like; landlord and tenant or car purchaser and used car salesperson or someone that immediately views you as a competitor … then yes it is potentially damaging. These types of business relationships tend to be profit and quite frankly greed driven. The best course of action is to sharpen your elbows and fight for the best deal you can get. The game is played for a win – lose outcome. Fight for a win.
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Full disclosure is desirable if you are working to build a long term mutually beneficial arrangement. It starts with; “what do you want and how can I help”. There is some reciprocity here and the person you are negotiating with should be asking the same questions. You quickly learn what each other want and are able to zero in on a solution in a very short time frame. If there is no reciprocity kill the negotiations early on and move along. What I like most about this mode of negotiations is it is highly efficient and when it works builds strong mutually beneficially partnerships. There are lots of opportunities out there but only a limited amount of time. Play the game for a win – win outcome or kill it quickly.
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I love a fast yes, am ok with a fast no and despise long maybes. Time is your most precious resource so use it wisely … closing a deal is great … pushing on a rope is a waste of time so don’t do it.
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Ian Graham

A New Hope – Looking for a few good students!

Ian — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:29:59 +0000

Are you a third or fourth year student in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or a software enthusiast at; Algonquin, Carleton or Ottawa U? Are you interested in meaningful and relevant work experience with some of Ottawa’s coolest start-ups? If you answered yes to these two questions please read on.
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Introducing Students and Start-ups 4 “A New Hope”:

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Students and Start-ups is an event that couples energetic and enthusiastic students with start-ups looking to hire; full time, part-time, contract or co-op in the next 3 to 6 months. Like all TheCodeFactory events this is fun, friendly and informal with the aim of generating results. In our previous two Students and Start-ups we have had 7 hires and we are looking to improve on that with this edition.
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Look whose coming: Coral CEA, Infonium, Travelpod, Zeebu Mobile and possibly two more really cool start-ups that are just a little stealthier but … shhh don’t tell anyone. These are some of my favourite Ottawa start-ups with a few that have been acclaimed the highly coveted status of TheCodeFactory “Start-ups to watch”.
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What’s the format? Well what would an event be without pizza, pop, introductions and fun and games. We set up a challenge, put you in teams and have you compete in the spirit of friendly competition against your peers for fun, glory and the opportunity to get an awesome job.
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Sounds great how do I sign up? A cautionary note: attendance is limited to 20 students and we have already had a number of spots taken. First come first served. The registration link is here:
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Students and Start-ups 4 – A New Hope Sign up link
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If you attempt to sign up and the registration is full don’t despair you can plead your case with Samantha info@thecodefactory.ca to try and get a spot. Explain in 100 words or less how awesome a programmer you are and why you deserve to attend. (emails exceeding the 100 word limit will be banished to the Tatooine desert)
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Ian Graham