Leave It Behind > Brian Bailey

Tiger Up Close

The best part of each Apple operating system release is the in-depth review by John Siracusa for Ars Technica. You will not find a more thorough look at the OS anywhere, whether in print or online.

John's review of Tiger spans 21 different sections, including many hard-core developer topics like the underlying kernel and file metadata. Highly recommended!

Ranking PageRank

I'm slowly learning that keeping Google happy is a full-time job. From PageRank to search result placement and AdWords to AdSense, you must constantly monitor and develop your website's relationship with Google.

Today's class was on PageRank. First, I discovered that there still isn't an ideal toolbar solution for non-Microsoft browsers if you want easy access to a site's PageRank. If you are using Internet Explore, just download the Google Toolbar and you're all set.

I did find an excellent alternative, however. This Firefox extension adds a PageRank display to your status bar. I've installed it and so far it works great.

Second, I found a number of sites that allow you to submit a website address and receive the site's PageRank if you'd like to avoid installing any toolbars or extensions. Here is the simplest one I found.

Lastly, I discovered that this site is doing fairly well (a PageRank of 5), as are the sites I managed. For large church sites, 5 appears to be a typical ranking. Here's a basic article on what your PageRank means. What is particularly interesting about this is that my personal site has achieved such a high ranking despite being only a year old and receiving far less traffic than our sites.

This is not something to brag about (in fact, it could interpreted as a sign that I have invested more effort in the success of my own site, which would be a very bad thing!), but an indication of how highly Google values blogs and particularly the conversations (i.e. links) that they inevitably produce.

Over the next month, we will begin rolling out new features to help address this, as sites that participate in and encourage those conversations will eventually surpass those that rely on traffic alone.

Tiger Tales

The Wall Street Journal (Tiger Leaps Out Front) and New York Times (From Apple, A Tiger to Put in Your Mac) on tomorrow's release of Apple's OS X Tiger. Some quotes:

"Overall, Tiger is the best and most advanced personal computer operating system on the market, despite a few drawbacks. It leaves Windows XP in the dust." [WSJ]

"This [Spotlight] isn't just a fast Find command. It's an enhancement that's so deep, convenient and powerful, it threatens to reduce the 20-year-old Mac/Windows system of nested folders to irrelevance." [NYT]

"Tiger is the classiest version of Mac OS X ever and, by many measures, the most secure, stable and satisfying consumer operating system prowling the earth." [NYT]

And if you need something to fill the time between now and 6:00pm Friday, check out our fun tips for Tiger headline writers.

The Mighty Tim

Tim O'Reilly is one of the most consistently interesting people in technology. I have great respect for the O'Reilly company and their outstanding books, conferences, and now, magazines. Lately, Tim's been posting a lot of interesting insights into the world of books on O'Reilly Radar.

Today's post on marketing writing featured this fantastic line:

I try to encourage marketing copy that focuses on telling the truth, simply and powerfully, about why the ideas that we are passionate about are important for others to pay attention to as well.

All public writing should aspire to this standard, whether you're speaking for your church, your company, or yourself.

Microsoft Update

Scoble has kind things to say about Scoble, Microsoft, and Politics:

Brian shows that in today's society we can find a way to communicate, even when we're on different belief systems. In society today we get so polarized and we don't look for ways to work together.

I'm glad that Brian noticed that I can work together with those who I disagree with on some issues. We forget to do that sometimes in our arguing over ideas.

[Read the full post]

I would love to see debate and conversation instead of endless attempts to demonize those who you disagree with. Listen to the different ideas, respect another perspective, and do your best to make your case.

If you don't respect those you disagree with, you will never have the chance to change their mind.

As I wrote a few months ago:

What do we gain from almost exclusively reading the words of people who are exactly like us? Who is going to challenge us, change us, and make us uncomfortable?

Update: Bill Gates indicates the company may reconsider when the bill comes to a vote again.  "We certainly have a lot of employees who sent us mail," Mr. Gates told The Seattle Times. "Next time it comes around that'll be a major factor for us to take into consideration."

Open Source Church Software

Brian Glass has started a terrific conversation about open source software in the church, specifically church management systems. He is in the process of writing software for his church, but wonders whether he should seriously consider a system like Fellowship One from Fellowship Technologies. His post and the ensuing comments cover many of the common dilemmas: cost, vendor lock-in, access to source code, and helping other churches. The highlight is a thoughtful response by Jeff Hook, the president of Fellowship Technologies.

My take? Obviously, I have a personal and professional attachment to Fellowship One. I was heavily involved in the original development (don't worry - all of my code has long since been replaced), many of the staff and developers are friends, and Fellowship benefits immensely from its use every day.

The question comes down to what God has called you to do. Some people are called to serve a local church, while others are called to serve the church. I believe that many churches could benefit from a community-developed, free, open source church management system. No such system exists today and a stable, full-featured, enterprise-level open source option is years away. What should be done now? First and foremost, you have to meet the needs of your church, its members, and the community. The stakes are too high to allow loyalty to a certain platform, technology or methodology stand in the way of a viable solution.

I have heard so many stories from churches who attempted to write their own software. They were told by one or two staff members or volunteers that it would be easy and that the church's needs were so specific that they required a custom solution. I have seen churches struggle for years with incomplete, buggy software - searching for another person to come in and plug the holes. The most common form of vendor lock-in I have heard is, "A volunteer wrote this for us in Access, but he left the church and no one else knows how to make it work."

A major reason that Fellowship One exists is so churches don't have to become software development companies. Not only that, but because the software is accessible via the internet as an ASP, it greatly reduces the amount of technical support, maintenance and infrastructure required on-site.

My recommendation? When given the choice between years of uncertain development and a known solution that will meet the majority of your needs now, support your future growth, and reflects the shared knowledge of hundreds of churches, I will gladly choose the existing solution each and every time. Don't reinvent the wheel. Focus your development hours and creativity on meeting the ministry needs of your church that can only be solved by those who know it best.

Scoble, Microsoft, and Politics

There is substantial debate about a recent decision by Microsoft to stay neutral on a state anti-discrimination (specifically sexual orientation) bill. The arguments have focused primarily on whether it is appropriate for a corporation to take a stand on controversial issues not directly tied to its industry.

Robert Scoble strongly opposed Microsoft's decision and wrote about his disappointment.

I believe that a CEO SHOULD take a position on controversial and divisive issues. That's leadership. Here, let's take it back to software. Are you saying that all employees should vote on the feature set of Longhorn?

Our leaders are paid a lot of money to take stances on tough issues.

Dave Winer, came down on the opposite side:

People should be able to use Microsoft products without having to support political causes they don't.

This is a great question that I've thought about for a long time. Apple, for instance, is commonly identified as a fairly liberal company, including Steve Jobs' work for John Kerry and Al Gore's position on the Board of Directors. Similarly, Michael Dell has been a strong supporter of Republican candidates. Are there individuals or companies who take this into account when making purchase decisions? Is Apple or Dell risking losing customers by not remaining entirely neutral? Are there conservatives or Christians that avoid Whole Foods or Ben & Jerry's?

My take is there is indeed a very small percentage of the population that will make commerce decisions based on politics, but the effect is negligible because an equally small percentage is more loyal and enthusiastic about the company or product for the same reason.

Let me add that I respect Scoble for standing firm for his beliefs, at some risk to his own position and influence. He mentions a number of Christians and conservatives who serve with him and in leadership positions. I'd be curious how many would have spoken out as strongly if the decision had gone the opposite way.

Also, I respect him for being consistent in his support for openness and debate. We had a hypothetical conversation at SXSW about a situation where personal blogs revealed that an organization was dominated by one political view, even though it was completely unrelated to the organization's product or service. He gave three reasons why corporate transparency is a good thing:

First, perhaps the process will wake up the company to its lack of opinion diversity. Second, customers or users will discover this eventually anyway. Third, only a small percentage of people are going to avoid a product or service because of the religious or political views of the leadership.

Lastly, despite the harsh things he wrote about the role of religion in politics, let me say personally that Scoble has been consistently kind and generous to me and my church, despite our differing views. In fact, he has spoken highly of and defended Fellowship in various forums.

My personal view? Corporations take stands every day, through internal policies, lobbyists, actions by leadership, and contributions to causes, charities, and political campaigns. Rarely are these actions this public, but they are certainly not going to go away. The leadership of each company has to make the call of where that line is, and what cause or belief is worth risking a backlash from customers and the press. If the employees, shareholders, or customers believe it has gone too far in one direction or another, there will be a negative impact on the company and an incentive to change.

Table Talk

Two year ago, my family came to the conclusion that our meal conversations were dominated by either tales from the workday or ineffective attempts to get my son to discuss school using more than a few words at a time. So, we came up with a solution.

We called it Table Talk. Each of us took 10 pieces of paper and wrote a topic we'd like to talk about on each one. Then we mixed them altogether and each night picked a new dinner conversation. The ideas included everything from your favorite color and animal to memories of recess and three things you'd like to learn how to do. The experiment was a huge success as suddenly all of us were sharing ideas and opinions. We even made a version to share with friends at Christmas (with 75 cards and 25 blank ones)! I highly recommend starting your own version of Table Talk, especially if you have school-aged children.

Eventually, we started to run out of new ideas and the habit fell out of practice, until tonight.

Ben asked if we could do Table Talk again. In fact, he had a new question for us: What are three questions you'd like to ask God?

What a great idea. We had so much fun coming up with possibilities: What is Heaven like? What have I spent most of my time doing? I was so impressed by his idea, but then he added one more question for God.

What is the highest thing I am capable of?

I was completely stunned and speechless. Don't all of us, deep down, want to know exactly that? In that single question is so many of our heart's desires: to achieve, to serve, to pursue the best, to find our purpose, and to be in the center of God's will. I know I'll be thinking about that question every day.

I love that boy.

Fellowship Church Releases Blogging Policy

Over the past month, I have been working with our HR department on a weblog policy at Fellowship Church. We released it this week and have received a lot of positive feedback. As some of you may be considering something similar, we thought we'd share what we came up with.

Why a blogging policy? Weblogs are a growing part of Fellowship Church and a number of staff have started personal sites, like this one. We thought it would be best to lay out guidelines while we're still early in the process. A church is a unique entity which is rightly held to the highest standards and we take that responsibilty very seriously.

This policy is built on much of the great work done by other organizations, including Groove,  Feedster, Thomas Nelson Publishers, and Forrester. Our thanks to each of these companies for discussing and sharing their policies in public for all of us to learn from.

Personal Website and Weblog Policies

Some Fellowship Church employees who maintain personal websites and/or weblogs, or who are considering beginning one, have asked about the church's perspective regarding these sites. In general, we view personal websites and weblogs positively, and respect the right of our employees to use them as an avenue of self-expression and outreach.

As an employee of Fellowship Church, you are seen by our members and outside parties as a representative of the church. Therefore, as in all areas of daily life, a church staff member's personal website or weblog is a reflection on the church, whether or not the church is specifically discussed or referenced. If you choose to identify yourself as a Fellowship Church employee or to discuss matters related to the church on your website or weblog, please bear in mind that, although you may view your site as a personal project, many readers will assume you are speaking on behalf of the church.

In light of this possibility, Fellowship expects our staff to observe the following important guidelines:

Notify Your Supervisor. If you currently have a personal website or weblog, or are considering starting one, be sure to discuss this with your supervisor. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to share them with HR or the Web Department.

Include a Disclaimer. On your site, please make it clear to your readers that the views you express are yours alone and that they do not necessarily reflect the views of Fellowship Church. To help reduce the potential for confusion, we recommend you prominently display the following notice, or something similar, on the homepage of your site:

I work at Fellowship Church. Everything here, however, is my personal opinion and is not read or approved before it is posted. Opinions, conclusions and other information expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of Fellowship Church.

We recommend a disclaimer if your site is published under your name, even if it is entirely personal and does not mention Fellowship Church or your employment, as readers will inevitably connect your personal life to your professional life.

Respect Confidentiality. You must take proper care not to purposefully or inadvertently disclose any information that is confidential or proprietary to Fellowship Church. Consult Human Resources and the church’s confidentiality policies for guidance about what constitutes “confidential” or “proprietary” information. Be sure that what you are announcing has been in the weekend bulletin, on the website, or announced from the stage before posting it. Otherwise, check with your supervisor. Any employee who violates our policies regarding confidentiality will be subject to serious discipline, up to and including immediate termination of employment.

Respect the Church and its Staff. Since your site is a public space, we expect you to be respectful to the church and our leaders, employees, volunteers and members. Any employee who uses a personal website to disparage the name or reputation of the church, its practices, or its pastors, officers, employees, volunteers or members will be subject to serious discipline, up to and including immediate termination of employment.

Respect Copyright. Do not use Fellowship Church’s logos on your site or reproduce church material without first obtaining written permission from the COO/CTO.

Respect Your Time. All time and effort spent on your personal site should be done on your personal time and should not interfere with your job duties or work commitments.

Respect Our Beliefs. When working for a church, it is important to remember that employment decisions will be made based upon our Christian beliefs. If your personal website displays inappropriate images or reflects personal opinions or life-style choices that are contrary to Fellowship Church’s religious beliefs, you may be subject to discipline, up to and including immediate termination of employment. For this reason, we encourage you to first seek guidance from your supervisor or Human Resources if you have any questions.

Follow the Employee Handbook. Be sure to conform to the rules of the Employee Handbook, especially as it relates to harassment and illegal activities (including, in this case, spam and piracy). As with other forms of communication, do not engage in personal, racial or sexual harassment, unfounded accusations, or remarks that would contribute to a hostile workplace. For more information about Fellowship Church’s Policy Against Harassment, see Human Resources.

Use Common Sense. Use common sense in all communications, particularly on a website accessible to anyone. What you say on your site could potentially be grounds for dismissal. If you would not be comfortable with your manager, co-workers, or the executive team reading your words, do not write them.

A Change is Going to Come

Business Week: Blogs will change your business church!

Check out this great article that will push blogs further into corporate America.

Then take a look at the unreleased cover art :)