KELLY BIO

1) What is the link to your Video Cover Letter video upload?

You will do this after you have uploaded your Video Cover Letter. You don't need to answer this question in your video. Please make your video public, and leave it on YouTube or another video sharing site at least until the end of your involvement with the OSE Development Team so that we may share it with other team members as needed.

2) COMMITMENT: Can you commit to 10 hours of volunteer time for 90 days?

A serious time commitment is required.

All we can do is try...and keep trying. I will try 2 hours per day during normal workdays, preferably in the mornings.

3) PURPOSE: What is the biggest value that you get out of volunteering with OSE?

The biggest value volunteering with OSE provides is a team to work on engineering projects that are inline with my abilities and ambitions.

4) OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE AND COLLABORATION Are you willing to download a Ubuntu distribution of Linux that comes preloaded with all software that OSE uses - to facilitate any software issues?

Already done. That was easy! Windows supports the software I use most and that is my primary OS.

5) We collaborate via work logs where we document our work and include links to all work product. Are you willing to do this on a continuing basis?

I like this work log concept. In the past I refused to update worklogs that were very tedious to update, did not provide good data to management, or was any help to me personally. This work log concept is efficient and useful.

6) FINANCES: Do you currently have a full time job?

I have a steady income. I am a manager for the pre-schools my partner runs, and I contract my product design services to OEMs on an occasional basis. My workload may not be consistent, so there are periods that duty calls elsewhere.

7) VIDEO INSTRUCTIONALS: A big part of our work is documentation and instructionals- Are you willing to learn Kdenlive, collaborative video editing and screencasting?

I am very willing to develop video editing services. Showing people the ropes is an asynchronous process these days.

8) EXECUTION AND INITIATIVE: What is the biggest task that you are proudest of yourself most that you accomplished? Please give an example of an audacious goal that you have set for yourself?

One of the biggest tasks that I have completed is getting a job as a machinist making production parts. Assuming this role was critical if I ever wanted to create an OEM.

An audacious goal I have set for myself is creating an OEM.

9) LEARNING: Show an example of something you learned that revolutionized your life?

As a child, I always wondered what the spinning shaft under trucks did. I have learned quite a bit about those spinning shafts; and everything connected to them, and how great they are, and ways to eliminate them, and how to improve them.

10) HARD SKILLS: What hard skills do you have such as IT, CAD, Graphics, Publishing, manufacturing, design, etc.

The skill I do not have that I want is creating design calculations in Smath, or equivalent. I was trained in Matlab, and it hasn't been helpful nor do I feel it is appropriate until at least the third major generation of design.

The skills floating around my head somewhere include:

IT: TCP/IP, CANbus, Modbus.

CAD: AutoCAD, AutoCAD Electrical, Inventor.

Graphics: Illustrator, Corel Draw

Publishing: Microsoft Word using Headings

Manufacturing: hand tools, power tools, lathe, mill, CNC, electrical assembly, mechanical assembly, mechanics, hydraulics, welding, testing.

Design: piece part drawings, weldment drawings, machining drawings, assembly drawings, wire harness drawings, installation drawings, service kit drawings, exploded parts diagrams, simple hydraulic systems, human-machine interface (discrete controls, overlays, and graphic displays), off-highway electrical & control systems, marine crane electrical & control systems, hydraulic dam sizing, wind turbine sizing, PV sizing, budgeting, instructional guides.

etc: cooking, organizing.

Design Guidelines

The goal of engineering, design, and management is linearization. Linearization requires restricting certain degrees of freedom (DOF) and enabling other DOF so that all forces have acceptable reactions and useful work may be extracted. Additional points are awarded for efficiency, predictability, elegance, and aesthetics. Typically, enabling (1) DOF results in the best working efficiency. And, controlling restricted DOF when reactions are not acceptable avoids catastrophic failures.

• To increase rigidity: "box it up."

• To absorb energy, "let it go."

Design Generations

• 1st design is proof of concept, and to determine improvements.
  • Document all possible improvements.
• 2nd design is testing repeatability of the 1st design and adding some incremental improvement.
  • Only seek improvements that are highly desired and can fit in the timeline.
• 3rd design can introduce more improvements and optimization can really begin.

11) SOFT SKILLS: Do you have experience in management+ conflict resolution? Teaching? Managing/starting a community or group?

Basic Summary

The Golden Rule

The Buddy System

The Scientific Method

Hustle

Luck

Lean

Management Philosophy

I like a functional leadership model, and try to fulfill the roles I can. I am better situated on the "other side of the wall," and feel the traditional management that maintains the wall mostly should be replaced by servers in the 21st century. I think computers have really shown humans what it means to be human. I'm all excited to be a human being all day every day.

I am human. I am a human being. When I am supposed to be human I really try to be human, and when I am supposed to be a human being I really try to be a human being. Often, when I am supposed to be human I am a human being. And, when I am supposed to be a human being I often act human. Taking the analogy further, I am a machine controller and not

No person knows what another person is thinking, and that poses difficulties when devising methods of self-preservation.  A group is a way to outline the thoughts that we are all thinking.  Groups are a mechanism of self-preservation.    If a group is formed, then survival requires both self-preservation and group-preservation.  Without a group, self-preservation is less predictable and more difficult.     To obtain self-preservation, A group must encourage self-preservation and      and magnified by a group.   prediction of the future. if individuals can recognize their own reality as a function other people rather than be subject to natural cycles without other people.        Groups support their success by prescribing blame to another group. and seek the most success and the least blame. . formDuring group storming, ideas and experiences to lead and antagonize are communicated until a large enough consensus forms to create a community.  A single mission statement is developed that turns into multiple missions the community is required to do to support itself.  Missions can be classified as boondoggles and duty.  Missions of duty support natural law and deliver to all levels in the hierarchy of needs. 

A leader is chosen based on information and communication skills. An individual is very limited and requires multiple branches of communication to many sources of information. Thus, a leader has good reference abilities and a frame of reference both wide and high. A leader is chosen to manage the success and blame of the group to demonstrate that natural law is being maintained. , Notoriety for creating jobs vs. doing jobs is a distinction that is historically acceptable. The way communication and communities has changed in the 21st century supports Ideally all decisions are driven by logic. Meetings exist because people need community and communication. I prefer to write meeting minutes before a meeting, and see if there is any cause for a meeting. A meeting shall be designed to record the information learned and actions to take.

For the management tasks that servers cannot replace, I have been most interested in adapting the communication paradigms that IT has created, adapting software management strategies, and using the team-based approaches that manufacturing has developed. I believe that documents ultimately rule the show, and ultimately dictate the managers tasks.

Idea management is a core concept to my personal approach, and I believe that data will ultimately provide me the best tools. I don't suppose to know everything, but want to make sure people who do know tell people that need to know. I adapt my language to suite each party for a better take-a-way and reception. Frequently, ego is a stumbling block for people that harbor a mono-view of the dual-nature existence, and I tend to hack away at that to maintain an objective view. I would like to also personally learn what people know, but that is secondary. In the past I have tried to know everything and spread people's ideas. I know this function is better suited for a server, and a wiki provides a good way to keep the tedium out of my head.

A manager has to know what is going on, provide critical resources, prevent distractions, and communicate with people outside the team. Ideally, there is not a lot of explaining about what has to be done and there isn't a lot of pressure to get stuff done, but the priority is clear. I like going over the tasks, assigning a priority to each task, coming up with a time estimate to complete the tasks & doubling it, and talking about something other than the tasks.

The elephant in the room is I do come up with half-brained ideas quite readily that seem to discredit me. If I am ever mistaken, then I greatly want to learn the truth. I followup statements I make to check their accuracy and will state my corrected view if I find disconnect. I will also trust but verify, to remedy my short-sightedness. I'm always hoping someone out there will have a matching half-brained idea. In Belbin's team role theory, this function is referred to as a Shaper. And the process of creating chaos to recognize patterns is vital to strong team development, but a good Coordinator is required to maintain the stability of the team. Teams are built on trust after all. I hope to not to create too much chaos and focus on developing Coordinator skills to maintain trust among the team.

Conflict Resolution

People can agree to about anything, and conflicts frequently result from a communication breakdown that is easily corrected. If emotions become involved in a conflict, then dealing with issues discretely is important. The blame for issues is typically 50/50, and both parties have to work towards a solution. Usually, people just want the truth.

A lot of miss-communication is rooted in a lack of standards. A motto I have is "If you're not using a standard, then you should be creating one." There is a logical approach to every micro-decision, and standards should efficiently organize most of this logic. Standards become the language that enables multiple people to operate together. Greater productivity requires multiple people to make the same decision given the same information. This convergence requires an elimination of tribal knowledge. It has been hard for me to let go of my ego that gives me a sense of value. Through gameification, I have found purpose in devolving tribal knowledge instead of harboring it.

Everything is a game; a very serious game. I play the game by asking good questions, finding out the answers for myself if they are not readily available, and creating reference material to direct people to if they ask me the same question. And, I tell people to relax because it's just a game.

Guidelines for Human Relations

• Communicate well.
  • Always explain the Why, How, When, Where, Who as best as possible when telling people to do something, or don't do something, or what's right, or what's wrong.
  • Explaining the conditions and assumptions allows the listener to adapt the concept to their frame of reference. Also, short-sightedness is revealed before developing a concept too far.
  • Communication should be precise, concise, comprehensible, and revealing.

• Listen.
  • Try to understand people and the essence of their comments and questions.
  • People like being understood and frequently don't give enough information to be understood.
  • Read between the lines.
  • Don't interrupt.

• Be Enjoyable
  • Try to anticipate the reaction of your audience and keep a light air, positive disposition, and provide helpful comments.

• Develop technical and prose explanations of concepts.
  • Short familiar phrases are easier to understand and transmit.
  • Long winded technical explanations are required to fully understand.

• Ask good questions.
  • There are such things as bad questions; and it's better to discover the good questions than seeking an answer to an ill-formed question.
  • Answers to good questions are usually much simpler and comprehensive than answers to bad questions.
  • Break a problem down into its components.

• Try to answer your own questions.
  • There should be resources to answer questions.
  • Ask how to find an answer.

• Don't hypothesize too much or create what-if scenarios.
  • Get actual feedback.
  • Stay to the tasks that matter.
  • It is better to interpolate than extrapolate.

• Propose a solution if you bring up a problem.
  • There are far too many problems and what we really need are solutions.

• Be realistic.
  • There will be a test.
  • A person will complete a task regardless if they have the resources they need, and the results are predictably not ideal.
  • Complexity breeds more complexity.

• Talk it out.
  • Explain an idea or solution out loud instead of just thinking about it.
  • Helping people typically only requires listening to them so they have a chance to formulate their ideas into words.
  • Don't bring ideas up the chain that didn't sound good out loud or you are hesitant to repeat to other people.

• Don't throw people under the bus.
  • You are probably wrong and the problem is much closer to home.
  • People make mistakes, and that is okay.
  • Bring people up instead of putting them down.

• Tame that superiority complex and don't get stuck in a rut; stay even keeled and peachy keen.
  • Accomplishing a goal is great, but you're stuff will likely break or it contains a logical flaw that existed from conception. Keep your head in the game. Your actions speak more than your words.
  • Nothing is really that bad or buggered up. Solutions are typically very simple and elegant, and it is important to seek the answers with a positive attitude.

• Give credit where credit is due.
  • The more the merrier.

• Admit when you are wrong.
  • People like it when you tell them they were right and you were wrong.

• Be lucky (below statements developed from linked article.)
  • See serendipity everywhere. Every moment is rich with lessons. Everything you learn is useful somehow.
  • Prime yourself for chance. Look to your network and keep expanding it. Keep an open mind. Don't judge too soon or too concretely. Avoid neuroticism; the tendency to experience negative emotional states like anxiety, anger, guilt, and depression.
  • Relax a bit. Provide a comfortable environment to share ideas. There are hidden opportunities everywhere.
  • Say yes. Try new things. Supporting another person creates a team, which is more valuable than creating a negative persona.
  • Embrace failure. The greatest learning opportunities are born from failure.

• Plan for failure and forgetting everything.
  • Get your ducks in a row so when failure happens you have resources to remedy the problem and remember why things were done a certain way in the past to correct them in the future.

• Stay the course.
  • This one is tricky, but stay the course under normal conditions.
  • Manage your time.
  • Park what you are working on at a good spot so anyone can pick it up later.

• Avoid discussing conspiracy theories, making judgments with limited information, and discussing things that are outside your domain.
  • There are a lot of cool ideas out there and ways to view events, but they are distracting and trivial to the tasks at hand.
  • This isn't a spin room.
  • A tool that is chattering isn't cutting well.

• Start resolving issues in a prompt manner.
  • Sorting out bugs is a long process and time is valuable.
  • There will frequently be roadblocks that require additional information, that requires more waiting.
  • Morale is improved when issues are dealt in a timely manner.

• Don't ask someone for a resource.
  • Explain your situation, your proposed solution, and how the resource seems like the best option.

12) Which would you prefer to do - this Video Cover Letter or an online interview with OSE staff?

Video cover letter.

13) Do you have any questions about OSE or how the Development Team works? Or final comments that you would like to make that we should have asked you but didn't?

I can show you what projects I have been working on.