July 1998 to March 2000
RuleSpace, Inc., Portland, Oregon, USA
Web Operations Manager
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Key Accomplishments
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- Built hardened web operations infrastructure on a shoe-string budget.
- Designed, developed, and deployed web site integration support for several hybrid software/internet products.
- Directed development and production of four marketing web sites
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Summary of Skills Used
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PROJECT EXPERIENCE
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TECH EXPERIENCE
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Recruiting
Interviewing
Salary Negotiation
Hiring
Staff Managment
Employee Development
Project Scoping
Project Requirements Gathering
Project Design and Planning
Development Management
Partner Development Teams
Domestic Customer Relations
International Customer Relations
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Linux Server Installation
Linux Server Configuration
Linux Server Operation
Open Source Software Sources
Open Source Software Solutions
Apache Web Server
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)
SSH (Secure Shell)
CVS (Version Control)
DNS (Domain Name Service)
MySQL (SQL Database)
Python (Script Language)
BASH (Bourne-Again Shell)
Verisign
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HIGHLIGHTS
About RuleSpace, Inc.
When I joined RuleSpace, Inc. it was called Webco International. They had one great product, a great idea, a lot of brilliant minds, and not much money. The company may have folded within a couple months of my start there, but the people involved were clearly accustomed to danger and what they had was well worth the risk in my estimation.
Their software product was installed to shield children browsing the web from pornography. Their business model was a pioneering hybrid of software client and Internet service. I was attracted instantly. After a thorough examination of their product technology, market position, and long-range vision I decided that not only did they have a good chance of success, but they could sell their vision to investors very well. Also I REALLY liked the people there. Every single one of them was a genius of one kind or another and together they were clearly having fun AND being productive at the same time. It was a great environment.
Another thing I liked about this situation was that money was going to be tight. It would be a great challenge.
Webmaster
Originally they were simply looking for a really good HTML hacker that could work under their fledgling Quality Assurance department. After Adrian Russell-Falla (one of the original founders) discovered my qualifications he created a position for me. I was their 16th hire.
They badly needed someone to take a load of duties off of Andrew Hanson (the other original founder) so he could focus on product development instead of Webmastering and web script management.
The first hot priority was the problems they were having with their virtual server at a local ISP. A virtual server is a single server machine that is shared by many different subscribers. The other companies they shared the server with were crashing it. Since Webco International's entire business ran through its web server this meant every crash brought the online store to a halt and impacted the installed software base too. We needed a solid web operation with high standards of reliability. So my first project was to build a new dedicated web server based upon Linux with Apache and move it to an inexpensive co-location facility nearby.
I had my farewell toast with my Intel cohorts on a Friday evening and then drove straight downtown to get started at Webco International. I worked through that entire weekend (and everyone who worked there did too). I surveyed the situation, assembled a plan and leapt into the fray.
WebChaperone
At the time I started the current and only product was known as WebChaperone. It provided Web filtering for children. The software was integrated to scripts on my web server which would provide downloadable shareware versions and then come back to the site after their trial period ended to allow them to purchase online and activate their full license. The activation was automatic and tied to the web site CGI scripts. The CGI scripts actually sent a message embedded in the http header to the product on the users' computers and told the WebChaperone software to switch from a trial state to a purchased state.
Web Operations Team
The WebChaperone CGI scripts were integrated with a back-end SQL database holding customer information and the scripts were written in a fairly new cross-platform scripting language known as Python. I welcomed the opportunity to learn new technologies so I also eagerly leapt into learning Python and MySQL. I was astounded at how much more stable these technologies were than the ones I'd had experience with in the past.
During this same period the newly hired product development group was inventing our next product. Instead of another business to consumer product we were heading into the business to enterprise space with a proxy server product to filter entire corporate networks.
The integrated nature of our products with the web servers required a much more reliable platform. And I was going to need more hands. So I invented the Web Operations Team.
As the company grew to 30+ employees I realized that my function (which was hierarchically under marketing) was in danger of becoming a weak link in the overall operations of the company. Our company never had an Operations group before. Everything that Operations groups typically do (packaging, distribution, sales, service) was performed primarily through my web servers. So I invented the concept of the Web Operations team. I pitched the concept internally and my boss (Adrian) decided it made sense so it my department was formed.
I formalized the web server environment. I built a larger more stable, hot swappable and redundant server farm and was given budget to hire an additional programmer.
The new server farm included a development environment, a staging/testing environment, a Quality Assurance team checkpoint, and a publishing system. I continued in amazement at the reliability of the Open Source products. My web servers ran for almost a year without a crash and probably would have kept on running if we hadn't had to bring them down and replace them with more powerful machines.
During this phase I was also allowed to hire two full-time employees to assist. I followed some of the tactics for organizing my group that I had learned at Buffalo Products several years back. We were cross-functional, lean, and competent. We were able to turn projects fble to turn projects from concept to live within a matter of days.
Also, the original product integration scripts on the web server were written with a single product in mind. So I rebuilt the entire system in Python from scratch. I designed a system that was legacy proof and would allow flexibility into the future so that we could continue to add new products to the system without dramatically impacting the product development schedule.
Web Traffic Control
Originally this product called WebChaperone Server. It was a content filter proxy server for enterprise networks. The product development team built the next generation product with an upgrade interface which called directly to our web server CGI scripts for update patches.
The design included using the online trial download, timeout, and ecommerce purchase model. So it was included in the plans. Our transactions went through CyberCash via a Python API that integrated with our scripts.
The script suite which I later dubbed the "Transactor" became an important piece of the final product and as we began to sell the product to other companies we built modified versions of it for third-parties. SmartStuff and France Telecom are two of our partners that were using a modification of the Transactor. I sent one of my team to Paris, France to setup and educate our partners in France on the operation and use of the Transactor scripts.
During the lifetime of the WebOps Transactor suite it supported, WebChaperone, RuleSpace Enterprise Suite v1 and v2, Web Traffic Control v1 and v2, and continues to run at other companies which are branding the product under their own labels.
The WebOps Database
As I mentioned earlier this company didn't really have an Operations group. In fact, all sales, distribution, and most of the support was transacted electronically. This was a TRUE Internet company. The back-end database contained our entire customer lists (everyone who registered for trial use and everyone who purchased). It also held the definitive product ID coding database and the automatic update patch system (relating software patches to products). I built some internal CGI-based utilities for accessing the database by internal staff, but we used Microsoft Access on internal desktop computers as a makeshift interface to the database when time to build real interfaces wasn't available.
Privacy Protection and Authenticity
I upheld a strong line on privacy protection which was originally instituted by Adrian. I managed a relationship with the TrustE Organization and personally took responsibility for the care and feeding of our customer's confidential data.
The Great Redesign of 1999
By mid-1999 we had reached almost 50 employees and we were now called RuleSpace, Inc. Our vision was rock-solid and venture money was pouring in. Adrian, who had been juggling very many roles since the start, handed over his Vice President of Marketing position to a new fellow, Rob Warmack. Rob is a world-class marketer. Right away Rob and I saw eye to eye and formulated my group's part in the great redesign of RuleSpace (Three web sites, brand new logo treatment, specially selected color palette, a new strategic direction for our technologies and products). Rob was also an Internet visionary and designs for the Web first, then creates his print collateral to follow. This strategy (one in which I heartily approve) makes the company look solid and professional in all directions of marketing communications.
So for three solid months the new Marketing group and my WebOps team worked ourselves ragged executing a very aggressive redesign. The net of which was a great success.
In previous web site versions we had only been able to repeat print collateral on the web site. The result of which was only partially effective. This time the copy was built on the web site first and all other material was derived from it.
The web site was Rob's proving grounds for the effectiveness of the copy and illustrations we used elsewhere.
Moving Forward
RuleSpace, Inc. was growing up and showing signs of becoming very successful. WebOps was no longer needed. I could see that the time to striate our responsibilities had come and indeed we had designed ourselves out of existence -- our systems were modular and maintainable so we could hand them all off to other groups to handle.
We had reached 65 employees. What a great company! What a great group of people! We had hired up an IT group. Our Marketing group... par excellence! Never a better time to retire the WebOps team and (with enough openings available) split up the roles to the various groups.
Because we were growing so quickly, I was able to reposition one of my staff as the Webmaster working for Marketing and the other to Engineering working as a database architect and administrator. The rest of the WebOps system was handed to a newly created engineering position with me as the backup.
I chose to shift my career after a string of successes. Is there any other way to do it?
In my critical decision period for change in career direction the Executive Staff fought over me (I love those guys!). I was offered the job of IT Director, remaining as Webmaster, or joining Integration Services Group. All the jobs would have been a great challenge.
I chose to join our new Integration Services Group and work on very high-profile integration projects with key customers. I felt the value I could add to the company's success would next show itself there.
 previous experience
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