What Are "Sorcerer Scripts"?
It is funny how day-to-day events lead to some of our best enlightened moments!
I was on a call recently listening to the troubleshooting & analysis for a certain problem. At one point, a participant called out that he needed “the script” that Frances wrote to perform a specific task. (Note: Names have been changed to protect the guilty!)
The script in question would perform, in an automated fashion, maintenance activity and check across a large number of machines. Without this tool, it would be a manual process taking multiple people a longer amount of time to accomplish the same result.
The ensuing effort to “reach out to Frances” to “get her to run the script” led me to frustratedly ask “Why do people keep perpetuating this pattern of ‘sorcerer scripts’?” The person to whom I asked this responded that I should trademark the term!
From a definition standpoint, a “sorcerer script” is a one-off script, utility, or tool that accomplishes a single-point purpose usually in a very direct, technical manner. It’s rarely source controlled or shared, making it centric to the person who wrote/built it.
Is your team/shop developing and using good, repeatable solutions or are they dependent upon a myriad of technical wizardry and code-based “spells” that require magicians to perform?
On a humorous note…
For those who are interested in where I stand on the debate of the day, I’m more closely aligned with Dwayne (@TheRock) Johnson on the Bathing vs Non-Bathing issue. I am not quite a zealous as he is, but my morning routine includes a shower & I take them in the evenings as needed. Just based on how this topic started, I’m glad I wasn’t on the set of “That 70’s Show” as it might’ve smelled a little “70’s” as well! #NowYouKnow
I was never a big hockey fan, but I remember Wayne Gretzky. Still the holder of numerous NHL records, a Hall of Famer, and multiple-time Stanley Cup champion, he is still considered one of (if not the) greatest hockey player of all time.
Seeing his quote above explained some of what made him great & it had little to do with his size (he wasn’t the biggest), his skating (he wasn’t the fastest or best), or his shooting skills (which, while very good, weren’t the most accurate).
Just understanding the simplicity of this idea, he was simply very good (if not the best) at being at the right place at the important moments.
It’s noted in most sports (and true in life as well) that success and failure are determined in those few moments when it truly matters.
- You can prepare for days in advance of a client presentation, but poor delivery has doomed numerous sales.
- You can work for months to build a software product for a single customer (or for a group of them), but failing to identify their actual wants and needs leads to as many failed projects as bad technical skills.
- You can construct and guide prospects through the best Customer Journey (“funnel”) in the world, but if you’re unavailable when they’re ready to buy, that work is usually lost.
You need to be ready to deliver when the moment arrives.
Equally important to this idea, no one wants to be the Blackberry in the iPhone world!
The best ideas and processes for yesterday’s star is many times an empty chase. There may still be a market or need at maturity, but there’s nothing, but heartache when you’re the Greatest Fool in the “Greater Fool” exercise!
Gretzky was a great hockey player and his mentality of focusing on where things will be (as opposed to where or how they are) is a lesson that we can all apply!
For those checking out the book reviews, I reviewed E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. You can check out my notes at this link.
Keep a lookout as I just finished One Million Followers by Brendan Kane and will be posting my notes for that one soon.
Other Links
Making SEO meaningful locally
There is a lot of information and advice available about SEO for businesses. One area where the technology and delivery have not kept pace with the results is its use for local businesses.
Small & Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs), especially local ones, stand to gain a lot from good SEO practices as long as they are focused on delivering results meaningful to them. The article does a good job of differentiating how local businesses view results differently than larger organizations or those businesses focused heavily on the digital space.
It’s not better or worse; it’s just different & needs to be handled that way!
DNS vulnerability for managed infrastructure
If you use managed infrastructure or DNSasS (DNS-as-a-Service), you’ll definitely want to familiarize yourself with their attack vector and ensure that you’re protected. The larger providers (Amazon, Google, etc) have addressed this vulnerability once it was identified, but it’s been exposed for quite a while & there are other providers with customers still at risk.
Both of the following two links are continuations of updates that we’ve shared in the past. Apple & Google have been at the focal point of numerous anti-trust lawsuits dealing with their platform stores (Apple Store & Google Play) as well as their use of technical capabilities that have often drawn accusations of patent infringement.
It is a good thing to keep an eye on how things are progressing as these two companies either control or heavily influence the platforms on which most of us work & play.
Wealth is not about having a lot of money. Wealth is about having a lot of options.
— Jordan Belfort (@wolfofwallst) August 10, 2021
