Gearing up for Drupalcamp Phoenix, GLADCamp, Midcamp. I am working up a new session on project management, which may be ~con-worthy. I vow to make them fun, challenging, and learn 10 things from each trip. Travel season begins...

Sound Opinions reviews the new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album. When I was 30 I all but stopped playing music, because I though I was too old. Apparently, no one told Cave that. Lesson learned.

So Corona's parent company (including Negro Modelo, Pacifico) resists the price increases that Anheuser-Busch sets and Miller generally conforms with (collusion?). This has increased their brands' market share. So with the underperformance of Bud Lime (how could that have failed?), AB looks to buy a controlling share of Modelo (AB owns 50% already, which seems odd to be threataned by a company you have that much equity in). But the DOJ is thinking anti-competitiveness. As for the millions of micro-beers? They are a fragmented market, and don't factor in to the anti-trust equation. Modelo sells 4-5 well-known brands, about $7B revenue, so it's no small potatoes, but is still considered a maverick in the highly consolidated market.

I could care less about beer, but economics is cool. Listen here:

NPR Planet Money Ep. 438: Mavericks, Monopolies And Beer

Cool under pressure, a contrarian, yet completely comfortable changing his opinion. On Hannity and Colmes, he made everyone look silly. His story on the Moth reminded me how brilliant he was. The title is Mistaken Divinity, an excerpt of the even more excellently named show: Mentor, Tormentor, Progenitor. He was someone who faced his opposition in debate so often he was comfortable and unflinching. And he was informed and smart enough to make mincemeat of anyone I saw him debate.

It would be hard to listen to This American Life's two part series on Harper High School, found here and here, and still feel that teachers and school administrators don't care, are all incompetant union sluggards, or don't make a difference. The story of the school who was turning things around, and about to lose the funding which made that possible is just painful to hear.

Just to marginalize a desperate situation, and make it about myself: one social worker's description of how she feels after a student drops out feels very simialr to how I feel about losing a customer. Some folks we see have sites that really are in bad shape, jobs are on the line, etc. Sometimes we fix the issue, but there are always cases where the client chooses another solution. My scenario is a million times less important in the whole scheme of things, to be sure. But the feeling of loss and failure are there, and do wear down a person.

Part of my job is to let my staff know where we succeed, in a bubble where we hear mostly complaints. More than just anecdotal, it is good to see how many successes there are. It's on my list of things to do.

I was looking at my Linkedin dash and saw this teaser for an Infrastructure Project Manager job in Lake Forest, Il:

Multi-national client has the need for an experienced System Delivery Project manager to assist on business projects and IT stand alone projects. The business projects would entail being the system lead managing the execution of all infrastructure tasks required to meet the project requirements. The IT projects would require extensive PM expertise leading and managing the stand alone infrastructure projects including system upgrades and new system installations within the IT organization.

Likely managing 4-5 projects concurrently across multiple regions and multiple technical solution domains. The professional will have to manage their allocated resources and manage project scope, milestones and budget. They will be responsible for project communication through different channels and across all levels of the organization. Additional experience in managing application projects is a plus.

Was it the goal here to write the most depressing job description possible? It's pretty common to see posts like this, where my takeaway is they are seeking an experienced, skilled PM to install some big, dull application in a big, dull office where maybe no-one wants it anyway, and the PM will take the blame if many dull projects don't get done. There isn't a single benefit listed, no details into the company, only duties. Are project managers such a commodity that HR doesn't even bother making their job sound interesting? Is this job really this dry? I would guess "probably not" to both questions, although warning flags are raised regarding the latter. So why make the job sound less appealing than McDonald's fry guy? Who would apply for this position? Woe is them.

Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating the Ninja Rockstar approach is appropriate, but assuming that a company wants to hire the best person they can, it would be helpful to make the job sound somewhat appealing. If the brutal truth is that the job is going to be this dull, it may go a long way towards discovering why the position is open in the first place.

The fact that this description is used by a recruiting company is that much worse. Is there no one at the recruiting agency who can look at this and say, "Hmm, is there anything fun about this job you want to tell readers about? Benefits, Perks, Advantages career-wise? It might make it easier for my staff to find someone." A quick check to make sure the job doesn't sound like bureacratic drudgery might put the role in a more competitive light. Enterprise could take a cue from the startup world.