Category Archives: Preaching

What Champagne to drink?

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Reading articles about criminals enjoying (I really hope they are not just flexing) drinking the emperor of all Champagnes aka Dom Pérignon, makes me feel that they are potentially missing out on so many opportunities! Not only Dom Pérignon is not the only champagne that is worth drinking, drinking the same champagne all the time is actually very boring, and let’s be honest – very uninspired. It’s also very self-limiting – c’mon… how do you know you are drinking a superb champagne if you cannot even compare it against others?

This short intro aims at making you a bit more curious about Champagne!

Personally, I’d suggest trying Veuve Clicquot (Yellow Label or Rose), it’s actually a favorite of mine. Price is usually around 4 times lower than Dom, but this champagne is simply fantastic:

Next, try Moët & Chandon – it’s another classic, very popular in UK and on cruises – in fairness though: while I can drink it, I must say this is not my favorite, BUT it it is still a very good champagne:

Another interesting champagne to try is Laurent Perrier Rose – mind you, it’s a very unusual taste, but I love it:

Winston Churchill’s favorite – Paul Roger – is actually not my cup of tea, as I find it a bit too sour for my taste, but apparently UK Tories love it, so it may be worth trying it, even if just to test if there is any bit of UK Tory in you (j/k). Jokes aside, it’s a really decent champagne!

Another one that is pretty good is Bollinger. Also known as the official James Bond champagne it is definitely one you should try (even if not my fav):

Tattinger is strange to me. Can’t put my finger on it, but I quite like it, and since I don’t know why, this is why I am recommending it:

Last, but not least — try Ruinart and Dom Ruinart. This brand is my totes and ultimate favorite, some even think it’s better than Dom Pérignon and I kinda know why — when you drink it you may get that ‘feel’ of complexity that Dom Pérignon is so famous for:

The other ‘super posh’ champagnes are:

  • Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades Champagne – it’s imho definitely overpriced and not worth it
  • Louis Roederer Cristal – decent, but not very inspiring
  • Louis Roederer <any other sub-brand> – again, not my cup of tea, because too much on an acidic side
  • Krug Champagne (including its Rose version) – the most intriguing champagne I have ever tasted; do not buy it until you tried a number of other champagnes first, just to fully understand why drinking this champagne it is one of the most exquisite experiences out there…

There are more, but let’s get you started! Serve them chilled, and drink responsibly! While we may all agree that Dom Pérignon is the Cobalt Strike of champagnes, you can only know for sure if you can actually compare it against the others…

Last, but not least… many of these exquisite brands offer ‘vintage’ or ‘seasonal’ batches that are priced extra, so extra that it sometimes hits many thousands pounds sterling, per bottle. They are often marked by the year (f.ex. Dom Pérignon 2012 or Veuve Clicquot Vintage 2012) to highlight an especially good harvest season. Some are just ‘special’ (aka more expensive) spin-offs f.ex. Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame that I actually don’t like at all. And some are just obvious celebrity trips/flexes (f.ex. Dom Perignon / Lady Gaga edition, Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades as a whole). I tried some of these and I don’t find them convincing enough. I think it’s just a marketing ploy, really, to squeeze us all out. Having said that, you may still want to get familiar with terms like ‘brut’, ‘cuvee’, ‘Blanc de Blancs’, ‘vintage’ vs. ‘non-vintage’ and at least recognize basic types of grapes f.ex. chardonnay (white) and pinot noir (red).

The funniest bit is that I am not a wine sommelier and I actually don’t drink much wine, because… I really don’t like it. I love Champagne though and I have no idea why. Although, I don’t think of it too much because I know what Napoleon, allegedly, said about it: In victory, you deserve champagne. In defeat, you need it. Could not agree more: we all deserve and need it.

The hidden side of 24/7/365 – The dreadful APAC shift

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It’s easy to say ‘we follow the Sun’ or ‘we deliver that 24/7/365 service’. The story doesn’t end there though – the delivery part of this promise has a different story to tell. The one that is rarely talked about, and that’s because it’s rarely even acknowledged…

We all know that many of us who work in cybersecurity work long hours. it is a norm, it probably won’t change much anytime soon, and we simply take it for granted that this is a part of our job to be always online… to be always checking emails, messages, news on social media, and our whole life is structured around ‘being in the know’, and ideally, ‘being the first to know’.

But there is more depth to this promise, because people who deliver the 24/7/365 service from APAC region have it often far worse…

The moment someone starts to work in San Francisco, someone in London stops working (give or take one/two hours). What about people in New Delhi, Manila, Singapore, Sydney?

When you work from APAC region your work day is a mess. You start with your regular 9 to 5/6, but then comes the ‘night shift’. You never signed up for it, but this ‘night shift’ is enforced on you, because this is the one where you talk to your peers in EMEA and NA, attend calls, and respond to urgent queries.

How many people working from NA, EMEA regions take into account that these cross-regional calls, queries often happen during that ‘night shift’ in APAC?

In fairness, some do. I know people in NA that make sacrifices the other way around and get up as early as they can f.ex. 5-6am to make these cross-regional calls as early as possible for the people in APAC, but even that feels like a wrong approach.

How can we change it?

Having a proper, mature handover process is probably the best answer. If the process is well defined, it doesn’t matter who handles what. And if there is a need for 1:1s, or skip ones, that can be a monthly or quarterly sacrifice, not a daily occurrence. And let’s agree that the worst is to maintain the existing status quo where APAC teams work from their early mornings on Monday till their very late evenings on Friday. This is simply not fair and as such, not acceptable.

Again, how can we change it?

Empower your employees in APAC to disable their notifications when they finish their day work, make them comfortable to be assertive and say ‘I will follow-up on this tomorrow’. Schedule less cross-regional calls. Schedule more 2-region calls instead of 3-region calls. Work with the empathy, wear APAC employees’ shoes more often. Visit the region and see how people work there. Shadow them, talk to them, see their struggles. And again, define better handover processes that include at least one SME in each region that can take over. The mature process is the key to smooth transition between regions. And don’t book any calls on Friday. And last, but not least – respect that APAC team. They are often the most hardworking part of your global team…

If you think this is biased, let me say that I worked from APAC region for 5 years. I fought as much as I could to reduce all these night calls, but in the end they were an integral part of my role… It really sucks to hop on calls at 10 or 11pm. Trust me. Think of it for a moment, how often do you take calls at 10pm in NA, EMEA. And in APAC it is very often a daily norm…

So that you know… that ‘norm’ is your security program doing it wrong.

Let’s fix it.