Once a month we'll shine our virtual spotlight on one of the CA PPM community's members. It's just a fun, easy way for us to get to know one another a little bit beyond our work-related interactions here on the site. This month, we're featuring Dale Stockman, Tech Specialist, ZF.
Picture, attached: My daughter’s graduation dinner from Columbia College, Chicago, Spring 2014. Standing: Me, my daughter Nina; seated, my wife Joanne and son Derek who is studying for a combined engineering/business degree at Michigan State University.
Location: Livonia – a few miles northwest of Detroit, MI.
Current Gig: Tech Specialist at ZF (pronounced Zed-ef), which purchased our company, TRW Automotive, last Fall.
One word that describes how you work: Diligently
How do you use CA Communities and any suggestions for others?
1 – It’s my last resort. I try to use my experience, available documentation and other team members first. Most times, I can find an answer and I use this experience to tell our users to do the same thing: Try, look, ask – most times, an answer is readily available. I’ve also started an internal community for our users, for the same purpose. If we ask each other, we all learn more. In a global company, the person with the answer may be sitting next to you in Shanghai, so ask, don’t wait until Livonia shows up for work 12 hours later!
2 – After exhausting these resources, I’ll hit the community site, first searching for commentary and/or ideas similar to the issue I’m researching – I don’t want to duplicate an existing conversation, if possible – and, if I find useful content I want to hit the ‘like’ and ‘correct answer’ buttons, along with giving thanks where credit is due and/or voting up Ideas.
3 – If I still haven’t found a solution, it may be time for an Idea of my own – describing how the tool works vs. how I think it ought to work. Also, if there are related Ideas, I like to include Hyperlinks to these as well, asking readers to not only vote for my Idea but for the others as well. I do this also when reading Ideas from other people – I may not be creating my own Idea, but I’ll recall related Ideas, and put their hyperlinks into a reply.
4 – Since I’ve gotten help from the community, when I see a question where I may have answer, I like to reply with my experience – give back, if and when I can.
Mac or PC? PC
Mobile Device? Not, yet – considering as part of next home PC – a convertible, possibly.
Apps/software/tools you can’t live without? A Dremel rotary tool and Ski Tracks (app). When I was more involved with CA PPM technically, I often used XMLSpy. I still use Oracle SQL Developer, but much less often now that we have a skilled support team in place.
Besides your phone and computer, what's your favorite gadget? That would be a toss-up between my skis and my RC (radio controlled) aircraft. If out West (rarely), I like to get on a snowboard, as well. Just finished the ski season and I’m currently assembling components for a 1/6 scale Navy fighter aircraft (86” or 2.18 meter wingspan) – might be considered a small plane in the club I belong to…
What’s your daily work space like? Sparse, clean, no clutter.
How do you balance life/work? Work provides a sense of commitment and accomplishment – not to mention paying the bills for everything in life. Happiness happens, and not all that often – so I don’t rely on it as a metric for my life. Joy is a decision one makes, every day – it doesn’t just happen. Make a decision, find something to do, stay engaged, exercise, build something, volunteer, get a smart dog. We just lost our border collie, Trek, after 12 years (named for our bikes, not Star Trek, really!). Sure do miss him.
Best advice you can give and you have received? When dating, date at least one year – in order to get to know your date, the family and to see how your date reacts in all seasons. In Michigan, this might be more important than other parts of the world! 25 years and my wife is still my best friend! In work, if your company and/or bosses exhibit unethical behavior – get out before they drag you down. Almost 28 years now at TRW – it has been a good ride, so far.
What everyday thing are you better at than anyone else? Being me, but there is always room for improvement.