When, I first became I manager I was terrible. I made so many mistakes that I questioned if I was right for the role for a long time. Although, the fact that I was capable of doing the role and the role of those who reported to me, I continued to struggle. The light did not go off in my head until late 2003, and I did not put the final piece of the puzzle together until a few years later.

The first thing that I realized is that most, if not all, organizations share a core operating structure.

This top-down approach is pretty simple to understand, but the structure is not the most important thing, because at it's core it translates to all levels of leadership in an organization. The most important thing is the relationship that each layer has with the others. Learning to both visualize and understand organizational dynamics quickly helped in figuring out how to navigate in the environment.

Secondly, some basic truths about each layer became very evident.
- Each member must:
- Know their role and be able to perform the tasks associated with it.
- Have clarity about the role above them.
- Understand how their actions impact the organization.
- Speak up if there are needs (skill gaps, resources, etc.).
- Higher-Ups
- Should have an understanding of their team's job.
- Provide no value to the organization if they are the best "doer", but if they can assess the capacity of their "direct" team and provide direction, resources, etc. Example: The manager should spend most of their time working directly with and through the layer below them and resist the urge of working directly with that layer's Team layer too much and when not needed.
- The only things that managers should manage are systems and processes.
- Should not bring their agenda to work it is beyond counter-productive. Example: My career aspirations have nothing to do with helping my team to be successful, but meeting company goals and objectives should be my focus.

Putting one and two together meant one huge thing - you do not manage people, you lead them. Figuring this out helped me to not only be more productive, but extremely effective and then I developed a new skill — the ability to diagnosis an org structure for strengths and weaknesses, and execute on my responsibilities at a higher level.

My earlier struggles that I had were not uncommon, but the natural act of trying to manage people was an obstacle that had to be removed. Learning how to be a better leader was the task set before me.

I have been using Apple computers since 1994, but what attracted me to the operating system is slowly fading away. Innovation was the secret sauce that apple seemed to keep reproducing over the years, and I happily followed their path.

The realization that I am bored with Apple was finalized when I bought my LG G6. Although, the iPhone started out as a game changer and opened up the possibilities for smart phones and mobile tech, that did not last long. Between the two iPhones that I have owned, I have always migrated back to Android, and have no interest in ever buying another iPhone.

Tablets, are a technology that I don't really have "major" need for. My Nexus 7 is still chugging along and functions now as a "light-duty" device. The tech is good, but aside from the occasional task and being convenient for vacations and the sorts, I could never justify the price or need for another high-end tablet especially a Surface or an iPad.

So, what about the desktop? Well, being someone who was never been convinced that Microsoft was able to really push the envelope in tech (until recently, but even their current moves seem late),I used to lean toward the Mac OS in all of its variations over the years and for other devices in my home either Arch Linux ARM or Ubuntu. Admittedly, I do have a Windows 7 computer and its primary function is to run ComicRack (that almost got swapped today because Windows was just botching its startup procedure) and to act as a secondary Plex server (a post for another time). So what happened?

I am currently sitting on a project that I hope to publish early 2018, with the original scope of the project including Android,iOS,and web versions. I was able to get a El Capitan working on a Hackintosh for this endeavor, but something was not feeling right as I was working toward completing a beta version for iOS. Fast forward I decided I did not care about an iOS version at the moment. Now the Hackintosh is running Ubuntu only. Recently, I was cleaning my office, and I was looking at my mid-2007 MacBook that I have not used for awhile and felt sad that I had not used it in forever. Then I ran across this post and thought let me give it a shot and after a few user errors I was able to bring life back to one of the best laptops I have ever typed on and a felt a since of pride renaming it affectionately ubook. Then it struck me.

I thought about the promise of the "future" of the MacOS years ago when Steve Jobs was orchestrating the merging features from Next and the MacOS. I got really excited about the potential of what having a device that would not be limited by the constraints of the current environment, a Windows world whether you wanted to admit it or not; from hardware to software. Well, not so much.

My first issue, hardware. Nothing has been screaming "Buy Me" in the hardware department for some time now from Apple. The fact that you can actually build a Hackintosh that performs the same if not better, sometimes for less money, than something from the intelligent people from Cupertino is sad. It reminds me of the short-lived Mac-clones (I actually owned one back in the day). Ironically, reading through some articles on the Internet I ran across this link that made me think, "Well, isn't that interesting".

My second is the software. I am going to walk on egg shells here, because well I have to. On some, if not most, fronts Apple and third-party developers are keeping the bar set pretty high (Sketch is amazing), but I have realized something huge. I have been depending on a lot of bits that are open-source or cross-platform, and they just work better on Linux. No, really they do. Granted installing via Homebrew (a go to install on a Mac) is most of the time sufficient, but then there are the rare extra steps that I am just not interested in doing since at it's core OSX is nixed-based (date command, etc.). It makes me feel like I am patching my OS like back in the day with Windows just to make it work the way I need.

I say all of that to say this, computers are tools, and currently Apple is not helping me to get things done efficiently. I am feeling pretty good about my decision, and I do not see it changing anytime soon.

If, Apple and Microsoft are not super careful I think that they could end up passed on the road.