Mildly putting this, it has been an absolute mongrel to setup the Optus Siemens Speedstream 4200 modem to work with Apple Timecapsule. I have tried many different configurations but have finally worked out how to do it.

There are only a couple of steps:

1. Setup the time capsule to connect using PPPoE with the associated account name and password.
2. Then setup the modem to be in bridge mode by doing a factory reset and then navigating in your browser to http://10.1.1.1. Under the settings -> mode page set it to Full-Bridge mode and click apply. This will reboot your modem (also, by setting it to full-bridge mode, you will no longer will be able to access this web gui for the modem without doing another factory reset on it).
3. Once the modem has reset, then turn both it and the time capsule off and wait a couple of minutes. Then turn the modem on and wait until the modem has finished restarting and then turn on the time capsule and it should start up and go green. If it doesn’t then double check your settings and repeat the process again.

We interact with many interfaces in our everyday life. We get used to these interfaces and how we interact with them and it takes a brave person to move from the pattern of these interfaces.

This raises some interesting hurdles for wannabe game changers:

1. Your new interface may have all the bells and whistles but may still find itself subsumed by an inferior interface that is closer to the norm.

2. If you move away from the norm, how do ensure that your new approach will get traction to become the norm.

You might want to study the new smartphone industry for a great example of how to do it, or in a lot of cases how NOT to do it.

Which leads to the next question, what interface do you want to see redesigned?

I saw a quote the other day, not really sure who said it, that stated that we need to be bored, because out of that boredom we do our best thinking. 

I wonder in this age of always being entertained, whether as a people we are being robbed of many good ideas because there is always to think about, or at least robbing our attention?

Henac

Have you ever been involved in a corporate restructure? Well, I think I am in the third or fourth restructure in a matter of 4-5 years. It is starting to grate on me just a little.

Each time there has been the promise of a better way to work, but realistically they have all been just moving bodies around… and/or renaming team names. Don’t get me wrong, they have all been started with good intentions and with good goals in mind, but they have all failed to deliver what has been promised.

The main reason I believe they have failed is because none of them have really addressed the real cause of why the restructure is required, that is to better the “process” of how we do our work. Without trying to improve the process of how we do our work, moving people around or just renaming teams, is just going to cause disruption to the process that we currently have. It may be successful in the eyes of the managers involved because they get a big tick on their performance appraisal, ie. implement new structure… tick. but that doesn’t help the people that these managers are supposed to be helping, their subordinates/workers.

Anyhow, I had better go to bed and get some rest before heading back into the mix of another restructure tomorrow. My best advice is to get the subordinates/workers to rally together and propose a better way of doing business (a better process) and then restructure your teams, if needed, to accommodate the better process. At least this way there will be two groups of happy people, managers and workers :)

Henac