SMALL Data

Spoiler alert: this is more of a self-reflecting post than anything else. I’m not trying to lure anyone into the world of Data Privacy or Privacy Governance; it’s simply a recollection of what happened to me professionally in the last months. I've recently become a CIPT (Certified Information Privacy Technologist) by IAPP in an interesting drift from my usual career chores.

As I sit down to write this, I feel still tired from the effort that was preparing for the CIPT certification, which I achieved last Friday. My background in technology had always been an engineering one: understanding how things work in detail to then find solutions to user&business problems. Little I knew about compliance, regulations and the absolute need of answering “it depends” to questions related to those fields. In my mind, everything either worked or didn’t work and responses to queries were mostly binary: “yes, it works (or could work)”, “no, I’m afraid that’s not possible”. When it comes to interpreting frameworks for data management, conforming to standards, implementing privacy policies or responding to queries about regulations, there is certainly a bit more than that. 

It all started last year as the efforts to prepare for the upcoming GDPR regulation were gearing up. I was asked to join an internal workgroup of representatives from all business areas to coordinate efforts needed to achieve compliance. Being part of the sales organization, my focus would be ensuring that we had everything we needed to address customer concerns while at the same time making sure we were conducting business following the new requirements. Easy. That’s until, on a flight from Dublin to San Francisco, I tried to read the entire regulation (which comprises 99 articles and 173 recitals) in one go; massive fail (and the flight is 11 hrs long).

I’ve read now the entire thing but taking a more pragmatic approach. I started with the principles, the basics, and then drilled down into each of the chapters whenever I got a question related to it or we were discussing that area in one of our fortnightly meetings in the working group. If you want a list of all things I used to get acquainted, see the end of this post. 

I also started to network and expand my social profiles to include organizations, companies and professionals that were much more experienced than me in Privacy. I used mostly Twitter and LinkedIN to connect. As part of these efforts, I joined the IAPP organization, went to the Infosecurity 2018 event in London and joined a few groups on LinkedIN. And then I came to explore how I could certify all my efforts, to prove both myself (to know if I was up to the level expected) but also to demonstrate to customers that I did my duties and know the stuff. From the different certifications available by IAPP, the CIPT is the one that made the most sense, taking into account my previous education and background. I might post a follow up article to this explaining what I did to prepare because I found the exam quite challenging and there’s not too much information out there that can guide people to prepare well. 

And so, here I am now taking a bit of a drift in my career and exploring the area of Privacy in Technology. Is it something that I enjoy? Well, yes, it is challenging in a way that it’s different from what I’ve done in the past and as I said, there are no definitive answers to problems or situations, which pushes you to really be listening and understand the context. It really develops the consultative skills  which are sometimes forgotten in sales. 

So from now on expect some posts on the topic and also on some of the situations I face on a regular basis at work talking to customers. As promised before, some of the resources I used to get started:

Read the GDPR regulation. This site offers a better user friendly interface than the official one.

The guys from OneTrust (a vendor that has a software to help you in your compliance journey to GDPR) have created a really nice app for mobile devices that has the text of the GDPR well organized as well as links to the main DPAs of each EU country and the main privacy associations. Get it here (for iOS) and here (for Android). And read again the GDPR.

Follow a few accounts on Twitter: @EU_EDPS (the European Data Protection Supervisor), @ICOnews (the UK Information Commissioner Office), @maxschrems (a troublemaker for some, a privacy hero for others), @ToSDR (Terms of Service;Didn’t Read. Name says it all).

Consider joining an organization that deals with Privacy. The main one is IAPP. 

Have any other resources to share? Comments? Please do!

SpaceX Heavy Falcon was recently launched successfully. It is "the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two". Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores, three rockets that work together to propel the entire unit and its load.

I see this as a good analogy to what I consider an Enterprise solution needs to have in order to "take off" (pun intended):

A good, solid product that addresses the current needs of business customers. It needs to beat some of the current metrics of other similar products in the market. It needs to have some competitive advantage and, ideally, be more cost effective. This is your central rocket.

A well defined vision that translates into a committed roadmap for the next year ahead. This is what will help enterprise customers to see that they're buying a solution not for what it does today, but what it'll be capable of doing in the future. It will re-assure them that the product vision is aligned with their company goals, so expectations are met on both sides. It is what solidifies a partnership: growing together in searching for solutions. This is one of your side rockets.

A customer care organization that is able to address existing and future issues that might arise during the implementation, deployment and running of the solution. Deploying a new solution can be a "bumpy ride". And no products are perfect. It is vital to count on a team of professionals that, once a solution is sold, can take care of the customer, supporting them with the needed levels of service. This is your other side rocket.

The three pieces need to work well together. They cannot work in isolation or the full benefits won't be achieved. There needs to be good collaboration between the three of them or otherwise customers will either not buy into your solution or they won't stick with you for the long run.

You could say I'm quite connected. I have profiles in the major social networks and check them often: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIN...the usual suspects. Plus I do keep up with friends through WhatsApp and iMessage. And then I use cloud services for getting things done: Dropbox of course, Paper, email...Hey, even my entertainment is through Spotify and Youtube and...you get the idea.

But this summer, on the brink of the start of my holidays, I had enough. I felt I needed a break away from all this. It was saturating. The number of times I was unlocking my iPhone, the beeps, chirps, pings coming through, the need to check email and whatsapp every 10 min. I was feeling exhausted and, in a way, disconnected. Disconnected from me, myself. From my own thoughts, ideas and feelings. I was sick of looking outside for things that could tell me how to feel inside. Quite a distressful period, really. And so I decided to quit. For some time. I made the decision to stop using internet for 10 days during my upcoming vacation. And as a side wish, to get away from smart screens as much as possible. Here is how it felt (disclaimer, I wrote these notes and observations in a piece of paper, to which I'm looking at right now next to me).

The preparation

Knowing that I'd have plenty of time (partly because holidays but partly because I know how much time consuming internet is), I bought a few things to help me entertain myself. I ordered paper books (hey, they're a pain to pack). I got myself a little notebook to keep track of my evolution, paper too, of course. I even had a headset with FM radio built-in delivered to home. With that, I figured, I could go running without taking the phone with me and therefore not having to upload my miserable statistics to RunKeeper.

Now the difficult bit: how to stay away from internet while still being reachable for emergencies (family events that is). For some time I thought of getting a GSM phone. Yes, one of those pre-iphone handsets where the battery lasted for entire days and size was an issue. But no. Too much hassle really. Plus I can't force others to stop using iMessage just because I'm on a detox program. And with that came the first revelation: it's not entirely up to us alone to disconnect from the world. We have friends and family that want/need to keep in touch. And just because you decide to lock yourself out of this world doesn't mean they at least don't have the right to tell you you're nuts. To reach out. Today we are so entangled that it's difficult to separate your self-initiated bonds to those which have come to you. So finally I decided to switch off mobile data and wifi from my iPhone, turn off notifications for everything but calls and sms and arrange a new screen to stop me from impulsively checking apps. This is what I kept. Basic comms, taking pictures and a bit of sport, to help with the healthy trend. Oh and a dictionary to help me reading.

The First Two Days

It's pretty amazing how much longer you get on battery time without data (and the usage associated). My iPhone 6Plus lasted 4 days without a recharge. Also, I almost betrayed my promise by going to check WhatsApp the very first day. This is what I missed the most, being able to know what was happening to my closest set of friends. Also, quite curiously, I had a real urge to unlock my iPhone. Even if I knew nothing would come up on the screen. But the fact that I wasn't looking at the screen itself produced some anxiety. Maybe it's not only FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) but also FONO (Fear Of Not Opening) that I suffer from. I promised to keep an eye on this weird feeling during the come back.

The Middle Days

After the initial stress of not being connected started to fade away, I discovered what it is to be with yourself for certain periods of time a day. Quiet moments when I didn't feel like doing anything, not read, not listen to music, nothing. Just enjoy the silence and the sounds around. Even my own breathing. I remember one day sitting in the shadow after lunch and completely blanking out my mind from everything. What a moment of real peace. Maybe this is what mindfulness is all about. Maybe I need to try meditation when I come back. It's good to connect to yourself. I felt like my head was an empty jar that needed to get full of own thoughts before sharing anything with anyone. Like filling up before you start pouring out conversations.

The Final Day

And then when the final 10th day came, I really wasn't feeling for going back online. I could easily have done with the rest of my vacation days being as I was. The thought of all the missing chats, pings, emails, etc just made me shiver. I was expecting thousands of those interactions appearing in bursts. But guess what? It wasn't that big.

 In total I had 254 whatsapps, 134 emails on my personal account and, surprise, 1009 emails in my work account, even though I had set the OOF message with clear dates for return. From these, some thoughts followed:

- we create as much noise as we complain to hear from others. If we tune down ours, eventually we'll see less from the outside

- nothing in social media is critical and the important things can wait until we have proper time for those

- work email is still a big evil. The biggest one.

So, am I feeling better now? Yes. Would I do it again, absolutely yes. In fact I plan to do it during this Xmas break. I learnt two things that I keep very close to everything I do now:

-real persons are more important that virtual ones: the ones you are with at any moment deserve your full attention. Family in particular.

We bring consumer applications to the work environment everyday. It happens mostly because we use one single smartphone where we have all our apps installed. But not only. There are other reasons why we like to use them at work even though they might not be suited for it (think security, control, company policies, etc). Amongst them, collaboration apps are the most frequent. We use them to check if others are available, to quickly say something or to share content.

However, if I look at some of the features consumer apps have versus the more "corporate" ones, it's like trying to mix water and oil.

Consumer apps: user friendly interface, no training required, free, used by others we care about, convenient, quickly updated and evolved, allow for own customisation, allow for user own control.

Enterprise apps: more secure, allow being controlled and configured by IT, integrate with other enterprise apps, have a view of all corporate users, comply with company policies. 

It's also important to note that we're different individuals at work than outside. We behave differently. We have different needs too.

With all this, can we think of an app that combines both requirements? Does it exist today? Will it ever?

I rushed to get it and now I'm running the latest version of iOS, even though it's the first beta release. Yes, I do like to test things and be on the brink of innovations. It's not only the joy of toying with the latest, but also seeing how those new products are then evolved over time until they reach the final and stable version. Hopefully with a bit of my feedback in them. 

But even though 3xbigger emojis are great, I've realized that for me to get the most of it, I need to upgrade my other Apple devices. Being able to share documents, even clipboard content, seamlessly will be so much useful. It's ok to have my iPhone on the latest, but the true value of this round of software enhancements lies when other products are involved and you have a so-called "ecosystem". And I tell you Apple is getting better and better at it. You really enjoy the most when you start combining more of their products together. 

But enough of Apple. Let's take Tumblr. A month ago I decided to ditch my old blog (wordpress running on a hosting service) and look for other alternatives. And while Tumblr might not be the best for this specific use (I believe Medium is better), it overall won my decision by having the richest "ecosystem" of solutions. I can cross post to other social networks, I can link content from here, IFTTT has a channel...you get the point. 

Pedro Domingos in his book “The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World” (phew! that was long wasn’t it) says that the following curve is the most important of them all. Ever.

And it turns out it indeed is. Tweaking the parameters of the formula (check the bottom links), we can represent a wide range of phenomena: from population growths to the making of pop-corn. But there is one particular application of the curve that I find very interesting: the rate at which technology gets adopted. Actually, let me be more specific: the way successful technologies get adopted. Have another look at the curve and think about an innovation that we use now everyday. The TV, Internet, smartphones, Facebook.

The curve reads by itself when applied backwards to something that has happened: new technologies start slow, then they increasingly get adopted, then they reach a plateau. But how can it be useful for forward planning? After all, the purpose of developing a model is that it should help us doing things better today. I don’t pretend to sketch a full in-depth analysis (again, check the links below) but some things strike my mind.

As I see it, the first thing is to realise where you are with your product: when you started and what its adoption is today. If you've been working already for a number of months and your user base is low, you need to keep iterating fast and at the same time make sure you don't run out of funding. Then evaluate yourself again by looking at the S curve. Where are you now?

If in the middle of the curve, keep doing what you're doing.

And for the final part, well congratulations. You have achieved an impressive stage where users have adopted the new solution in mass. Now what? Start again. Find either another product or develop a new feature that will create a parallel S curve next to the current one. And so on. Technology doesn't stop.

I’ve recently skimmed through a book called “The time paradox”, by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd. It’s about how we perceive time and how that affects our behaviour in the present. To be honest, I didn’t find it particularly revealing but it sparked a related idea in my head. Here it goes: If you think how we spend our money today, what are the things we buy, I reckon they fall into one of the following two categories:

things that save us time

things that allow us to enjoy time

This might seem unintuitive and incomplete at first, but let me elaborate. Time today is a scarce resource. Everyone complains that they don’t have enough of it to do all things they need or want to. But we have money. In fact, we invest time from our lives working in our jobs under the premise that this investment will pay for the things we need. That is to say, that the time invested will give us money with which we could buy better things than the ones we could have done ourselves in the same period. Take your home for instance. You could go ahead and build one yourself. But that will take longer and be less efficient than buying one that someone else has done. And of course the nicer the house is, the more we can enjoy the time we spend in it. So the second category includes the things we buy that makes us happier, which is a consequence of enjoying time, either present or future.

Then there are the things we buy so we actually have some more time available to us. And the reasons can be different for different people. Some prefer to have more time for themselves as they are more of a hedonist type. Some others prefer to do more things in the same period of time because that gives them a sense of fulfilment in their lives. Whatever the reason is, we do prefer when things can be done faster, particularly the things that we don’t enjoy doing much. If the previous category can be seen as the “hedonist” spending, this one can be seen as the “utilitarian”. Think about the likes of a car to get to work quicker and avoid public transportation, or the many home tools that help you perform daily tasks faster, or services like Amazon which save you the time to go shopping, park the car, etc.

So, now that I’ve realised of this classification, here is how I see can be used: next time I find myself deciding between items to buy, maybe I’ll throw in the concept of how much time each one can save me. Or how much more I will enjoy my spare time if I choose one over another. Or even I might wonder how much I need that thing thinking about the price vs. the time it buys me. Nevertheless, it will be another dimension to add to the shopping decision.