A popular feature of the videoconferencing platform Zoom is virtual backgrounds. This allows you to show a picture or video behind you, transforming whatever bland background you have into a scenic vista. If you have a newer Webcam, either built-in to your computer or standalone, it will easily isolate you from whatever is behind you. However not all Webcams can do this. But with Zoom there is another way to achieve this, by using a green screen.

A green screen, or chroma key screen, is a solid green background behind you that, in simple terms, will isolate you in the picture and put an image or video behind you. This technology is common on TV and in movies, as this is how weather reporters present the map behind them and in movies it is used instead of building robust set backdrops. As my own Webcam didn’t work with virtual backgrounds, I sought out a green screen. What I found, however, was more expensive than I wanted to pay; I am simply trying to leverage this feature while I am in this current work situation. Then is dawned on me, there could be another option – green poster board.

A visit to a local dollar store found options for poster board – light and dark green, and only 69 cents per sheet. As I wasn’t sure which shade would work, I picked 4 sheets of each, all for under 6 dollars. With some masking tape, I was able to hang them on the wall, as shown in the opening photo. Where the sight of this in itself doesn’t look professional, in its use it’s quite the contrary.

Below, without turning on the virtual backgrounds in Zoom, the camera image looks like this.

When I turn on virtual backgrounds, there is a sunrise over Cocoa Beach, Florida behind me.

You may have noticed I used both shades of green, as I tried this when I realized I needed a larger area, and they both worked together. A bonus of this solution is the poster board is made by a local company here in Appleton Wisconsin, Pacon Corporation.

Deconstructing a Low-Budget Green Screen

When a situation changes, it is easy to pivot to another solution and spend to accommodate it without thinking of the short-term vs. long-term cost implications. When I put thought into it, ingenuity found an alternative solution that completely solved the need.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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There is a saying that goes, “it’s not personal, it’s business.” Where events occur to the benefit of the business, often times they are done or decisions are made because of the people involved. This following is a true story of a case of the latter.

When I had my Web consulting business, I often partnered with an awesome graphic design firm to develop a Web site. The principal of that firm is someone I met shortly after I started my business. I grew to greatly trust her design and business judgment and enjoyed working with her and her growing firm. Through this we also became friends.

Projects we partnered on usually came as a lead from one of us, and the other would support it. Once such lead was a firm she had worked with for years, providing design services to them and their clients. As she had a very good relationship with this firm, I knew that in partnering with her on this proposal, I surely didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that relationship. Little did I know I would be put to the test on this.

So far, so good

We had a pre-proposal meeting with the firm and I felt it went well. There were 2 people from the firm, myself and my design partner over the phone. As we started the manager from the firm mentioned he was originally from Boston, as I was as well as my colleague from the design firm, and as a result I brought up the resurgent New England Patriots football team. That personalizing, I felt, went well. Though the other person from the firm in the meeting scowled – perhaps she was a Chicago Bears fan? In any case, it was never my intention to or did I feel I overplayed the connection.

As the meeting progressed we learned more about the current Web site, a portal for their clients, and what they were looking for from the next generation of this technology. During the discussion I asked them for a test user login so that I could go back to my office and go through the site in more detail. When they obliged and gave me one, they also offered for me to have a login for their FTP server; if you don’t know what this means, it’s a rather big deal! They basically have me the keys to their kingdom – FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and with this login I could access all of the code for their site and even create a local copy of the site to further analyze it. An offer for this level of access rarely happens at this early stage of the proposal process, especially with nothing formal in writing with them.

After the meeting we debriefed and expressed disbelief that we got the FTP server login, then focused on the structure of the proposal and hopeful project. We decided I would take the lead and the proposal would be from my firm. Next we put in the time, created the proposal, reviewed and reviewed it and when we were ready I sent it to the firm by email. And as we did with any such proposal, we would wait. As best said by the late, great Tom Petty, the waiting is the hardest part.

The Unexpected Phone Call

One day the phone rang and it was a friend of mine. I met him through the tech community and we became friends. We never worked on a project together, though we often discussed business, technology and life and were sounding boards to each other. As the call began and we exchanged peasantries I asked him, “what’s up?” There was silence on the other end of the line and I got a sense he was hesitating at what to say. Then he came out and said what I will paraphrase here but this was very close to it. He said, “Mike, I don’t another way to say this, but I just saw a copy of the proposal you sent to that firm.”

Uh, what?

He was prepared for my shock and the crack in my voice, and I could tell he wasn’t happy being the bearer of bad news. However it was something he had to tell me. In short, a friend of his, whom I met previously, showed him a copy of the proposal we had sent to the firm, asking my friend, “hey, don’t you know him (referring to me)?” Apparently the firm had given it to other firms and Web freelancers, asking them to bid on the project based on our detailed proposal.

Uh, what?

Well, that’s not exactly what I said, for my brain felt like it got slammed with a tidal wave. A tidal wave of thoughts, emotions, words, random sounds… I wasn’t prepared for this, but in hindsight it was the best way to hear about it – from a friendly, sympathetic source, when I was in my home office where nobody would see what I could only imagine was also a tidal wave of facial expressions. My friend couldn’t see the tidal wave over the phone but he knew it hit me, as he was just as shocked by this as he created detailed proposals himself, and would have felt the same had our roles been in reverse.

We talked for a bit more, and I am sure he wanted to make sure I wasn’t climbing out on any ledges. After the call I decided to take a long walk as I could use the exercise and mental cleansing that it offered to clear my head before I had to tell my friend the designer what happened.

But before I called her I realized I had a decision to make. How would I react to this? Would I react? Do I just pretend it didn’t happen? Do I confront them? Do I drop it and not contact them? Or do I pursue the project anyway? Or was there some middle ground? The more I thought about it, I decided I would simply drop it. And I could sum it up in one word – relationship.

I was fortunate, as I stated earlier, to have a great working relationship and friendship with her. She had a great relationship with this firm. I clearly had zero relationship with this firm. For myself, there would be truly nothing to gain from this, even if I called them and told them to fuck off! On the other hand, any action I took could have a negative impact on the relationship between her and I, and could have made a bad situation even worse. This of course was my stance, and I was eager to now talk with her as I had come to peace with this unwanted decision.

Another Unwanted But Important Call

When I called her she was actually expecting me to have good news about the proposal, as it had been a while. I don’t recall the exact words I said, but I was pretty much recalled the story as it was told to me. On the other end of the phone was the sound of a similar tidal wave hitting her, with similar shock and disbelief as we both commiserated about this.

Discussing it further, she was leaning towards confronting them about this awkward situation – not in a combative manner, but being matter of fact about it. When I told her about my decision, she was surprised. Not say anything at all? As I explained why jeopardize her established business with this firm as well, it of course resonated with her, but she still felt really bad about what happened. She never thought this firm would act this way as this was never her experience with them. In the end we both agreed to not say anything, and move on.

It’s all good

Eventually we both got over this and went back to work, later collaborating on several great projects. Years later I recalled this event to a friend who is a lawyer who has his own practice and many small business clients. He had a similar reaction as I did to what happened, but concurred with the conclusion. Could I have sued? Sure. Would I have collected enough in damages to make it worth my while? Doubtful. Would the lawyer representing me made any money? Sure, but I digress.

In the end I had a good story and lesson to tell, and a relationship worth keeping, and fortunately no further contact for me with that firm.

Deconstructing Business vs. Personal

Every day we are all confronted with decisions to make – most minor and a few major. Where some don’t require a lot of thought, for those that do, keeping in mind the big picture of where you are and where you are going is paramount. In this case, I stepped back and used that big picture perspective, and I was pleased with the results.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Chances are you are reading this from the comfort of your home. With the declaration of Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 as a pandemic and declarations of emergencies around the globe, many people are working from home for the near-term. For a lot of them, it is the first time they are working from home for a continuous period of time.

Where working from home isn’t a new concept, not everybody does it. Some companies still don’t have work from home policies. For some industries such as manufacturing, working from home isn’t exactly an option. Even for those people whose employers allow working from home, they may do it once or twice a week, but not every day.

If you are new to this – welcome! I have been working from home continuously for almost the last 3 years and have had a home-based office in the past, so on this topic I have some standing.

Where there is all kinds of advice I can give on working from home for extended periods, I offer these 5 tips to help level-set your experience.

Take a shower – This tip is not as much about your hygiene as it is on your daily routine. Most of us have a routine that leads to us leaving for work, and it is best to continue to do so even while working from home. I do this myself, and it helps prepare me for the day. I then don’t have to scramble if I have to leave the home and go someplace to make myself presentable. Plus, the others in your house will thank you for your cleanliness.

Carve out your space – The ideal work from home scenario would have you in an office with a window and a door that locks that is furnished with the proper desk and chair. In reality, you may be hunkered down on the couch or at best your dining room table. In any case, you need to set space that is yours so that you don’t need to move the kids’ art project in order to create that weekly report. One thing I have done is the past is get some storage bins with snap-locking lids, where I can put my office equipment and supplies and then set them aside at the end of the day, protecting them from other elements around the home.

Don’t obsess over household chores – As you are sitting there, slaving away on your computer on your couch, you may notice more things that need to be cleaned in the house. The carpet could use a shampooing, the furniture is dustier than it should be, and what’s up with all of that laundry? I’m not saying to ignore it completely, but keep it in perspective with the job you still have to do. It’s ok to move laundry from the washer to the dryer during the day and fold some clothes during that status meeting you struggle to keep awake for even when in the office.

Move around – A reality of working from home is that you won’t be moving around as much as you used to. Even if you’re not someone who counts steps and takes the elevator to your office, don’t forget the activity getting to and from the office or within the office will be cut drastically. You don’t need exercise equipment to make up for this, even a walk around the block at lunchtime will help you get some of the body movement you are not getting within the house.

You don’t have to like it – Working from home is not for everyone. Here’s a not-so secret I will share: I am not the ideal work from home person. I am an extrovert, and love working in an office and interacting with team mates to solve the technical problems we face on a daily basis. That being said, all I need for my job is Internet access, my smartphone and a Web browser – not even my own computer – and I can get everything I need to get done during the day. I work from home as we moved hundreds of miles from my office for personal reasons, and where I knew there was an element of sacrifice, I have still been productive and interact virtually with my team throughout the day.

There are a myriad of other work from home tips and life hacks out there, and as I started writing this I saw many myself. I welcome your feedback on these, and if they helped you or anyone else you shared with them to get through this new logistical arrangement.

Deconstructing Working From Home

You too may not be the ideal work from home person, and that’s ok. What’s going on in the world with the reaction to this virus, like anything else going on in the world, is constantly changing. For better or for worse, we as humans have to do the same. Sometimes it’s the small things that need adjustment along with the greater for us to adapt and thrive in changes situations. Good luck.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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“Define the sandbox for me to play in.”

This is a phrase I find myself saying more and more. It is something I have said in the past on occasion, but now it is creeping into my speech with greater frequency.

“The sandbox” I refer to comes from the childhood play thing – a literal box or tray, perhaps a half a foot in depth and a yard square, filled with sand that infants or toddlers would play in. This confined area is designed to keep the sand and the child in a defined space, all the while still allowing them to be creative and have fun.

Later in life the analogy of the sandbox would come into play (pun intended) in my chosen career of software development. Here, a sandbox is an isolated system of servers, network, software and end-user computers and mobile devices where development and experimentation can go on without impacting live software. Though there’s no sand in a technology sandbox, it can easily be as messy.

Thinking Inside and Outside The Box

Many years have passed since my early playing and I have been in all sorts of environments – business, volunteering, social, among others. I have invoked this metaphor of the sandbox as the definition of the overall boundaries or rules of engagement with whatever endeavor I am involved with. In raising this, I am asking for these parameters to be defined, upfront and complete, so I know the limits I am to work within.

In asking for the sandbox definition, I am not looking to limit what I can do. It’s actually the opposite; I want to know the boundaries so I can push them to the limits. When you think about it, there are limits in some way, shape or form in most aspects of life. There’s laws, regulations, policies, traditions, norms, emotions, budgets, physical space, time and design guidelines to name a few. If they exist, let me know them going into whatever I am going to do, so rather than being a hindrance, they are taken into consideration in my planning and actions.

Define your sand-what?

When I speak this phrase – and I find it most effective when spoken – it is often met with puzzlement. What I am asking for is not only something that is not often asked for, but the answer may not even exist, or exist in a form beneficial to myself and others. I am not a perfectionist, and I am not asking for the perfect sandbox either. In some cases, I get various documents or a conversation with someone. When this happens, I try to document what information I have received and as a result am defining the sandbox from these materials. When I do this it is met with some apprehension, especially from those who don’t want to commit or acknowledge the sandbox I have just defined from them.

It’s all play until someone pokes an eye out

Running up against the definition of the sandbox has had both positive and negative results for me in the past.

One time I felt I knew definition of the sandbox, only to find out I didn’t, which had a big impact on my work and emotions. I had to create the technical components of a presentation on a topic, with others creating the other supporting materials. The presentation was short, and I knew I was not going to be able to discuss all aspects of it, so I included external resources for the participants to explore further after the presentation. These resources were Web sites that are known for their leadership on the topic and ones I use myself. However, the day before the presentation, all but one of the links I included was struck from it by the firm’s legal counsel.

Why? They said the sites they had an issue with were run by organizations that also offered consulting services, and by including them it could be implied that the firm were endorsing these vendors. As the firm had strict policies on endorsing vendors, which I found out only as a result of this presentation, these links had to be removed. Period. When I pushed back the lawyers wouldn’t let me finish my sentence.

With the presentation so close, I had no time to find other links to include – I had the best of them, and would have to vet their information thoroughly, as well as ensure they were not offered by someone who was also consulting. So my slide had one link, the one at the bottom of the list, which I had included simply as a reference site. The presentation went on and caused confusion in the mind of some participants, and some told me this. Had I known about this endorsement policy going into it, I would have had plenty of time to rethink my material overall, from what I wrote to what I linked to. But I didn’t, and I couldn’t, and had no fun playing in this tiny sandbox this time.

A more positive example of pushing the limits of a sandbox is when I moved for a more prominent search function on an Intranet portal project I wrote about recently. Even though in this case I didn’t have the full definition of the sandbox in the form of lack of support from my director, I had the confidence that leadership would approve of this change, which they did. Even if it had not been approved, my team and I felt the effort to play to the edge of the sandbox was worth it.

Do you want to play a game?

Even with the sandbox defined for you, it is ultimately up to you if you want to play in it. Though I don’t remember specifically, I bet there were times when I would crawl or jump out of the sandbox as a child. If you do choose to play in it, be aware that on some occasions the sandbox definition may change while you are playing, and this can also trigger a decision point if you want to continue playing or move on.

The decision not to play can be unfortunate for both the person who could have played in it and for the sandbox owner as well. For the owner it can, if they accept it, create a learning moment. Typically a sandbox is there for someone to play with. But what if nobody wants to play in it? The owner – the employer, organization, what have you – has a decision to make. Do they have a sandbox nobody wants to play in?

Deconstructing Defining Sandboxes

I hope the metaphor of a sandbox resonated with your and did not distract from my overall points. In any endeavor there are boundaries. Knowing what they are going into it will make the activity smoother. Changing or just disclosing boundaries late in the process can cause disruption to all involved with the endeavor and can have repercussions to the individuals – the players – and the organization – the sandbox owner.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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A few weeks ago I attended what I will call a "meta meetup" – it was a showcase of business and technology meetup networking groups in Northeast Wisconsin. The event was called Meet the Meetups and was a local version of a similar event held in the Milwaukee area.

Following the event I reached out to the organizers and shared with them how I wished something like this took place a couple of years ago when I moved to the area. My quest for such groups when I first arrived here was nowhere near as bountiful as what I encountered at this gathering in Green Bay.

As one of my goals for the coming year is to immerse myself more in technology – both in general and local – I am sharing this list of meetup groups here. Perhaps it can help someone looking now as I did then, and perhaps I will see you at one of their events?

Rising Tide Society / Tuesday's Together

BAM (Big Data, Advanced Analytics, and Machine Learning)

The Nest

Women In Entrepreneurship - Northeast Wisconsin

Current - Young Professionals (Green Bay Chamber)

1 Million Cups

Green Bay Power BI User Group

Northeast Wisconsin Cloud Users Group

Fox Valley Dev Ops

Northeast Wisconsin Agile Users Group

Digital Fertilizer

Wisconsin UX

ReactJS Green Bay

Fox Valley Business Data Intelligence and Analytics

Fox Valley Microsoft Data Platform

Fox Valley Game Development

WI Kentico User Group

Northeast Wisconsin Developers Users Group

Fox Valley Sharepoint User Group

Thought-Hacking Wisconsin

I would like to share one that was not at this event, but is also a worthwhile networking and learning opportunity. Women in Technology Wisconsin hosts monthly events and networking, and is not only for women – I know, I have attended one of their events.

If you know of other networking opportunities in Northeast Wisconsin for business and technology, please share them in the comments of this post.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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