Bonus Track

Bonus points if you can tell me where that was shot.

Belated Happy L. Day, and other such Joyous News!

I know my blog entries have become scarce. There is a fair amount of change happening in my world, and what free time I do have generally goes to L., who demands it most insistently.

For those that don't know, I am finally leaving 3Di after over a year. The final incident that decided the matter was a bit of a much-ado-about-nothing due to political and cultural issues, and I finally realized that what I was doing wasn't rewarding enough to justify that degree of continued frustration. I told the management that something had to change or I would leave; and they sat on their thumbs, and said nothing, as they are wont to do, until I resigned as I said I must. And thus it was decided.

My entire career at 3Di might be considered one of trying to "fix things from the inside", but in the end it must be said that I have failed almost entirely. I don't blame myself for it, though I am hardly blameless -- no doubt my frequent lack of tact when complaining of systematic incompetence throughout the company lead to a situation where after a while no one would hear anything I had to say any more. However simply ignoring a rather insistent complaint doesn't make the root disease vanish, and so it's management's failure to own up to their own ... um failures and implement some real improvement, that was the ultimate ... ah failure. Fail.

That said I cherish my time at 3Di, as it has taught me a lot about technology, business, management, and myself. I am very glad that I joined this rollercoaster, and would do it again.

Where to go from here is a little unclear yet, but one thing I am fairly certain of, I don't wish to work for any Japanese capitalized/managed companies any more. I've had my share, and it's taught me that outside of some superstar companies like Toyota or Sony, (current?) Japanese business culture rewards mediocrity, hides incompetence, and punishes excellence. It obscures clear, precise communication, and is generally ill-suited for business outside of Japan. (This is a whole rant in and of itself!)

I am looking at western companies in Tokyo, a handful of foreign companies related to my work at 3Di, various companies back in Canada and the US. I am also considering taking some of my ideas from working at 3Di and seeing if anyone wants to do some research with me. Particularly I wish to study Scalability, Security, and Identity in Virtual Worlds (OpenSim).

And now time for something completely different.