Daily Archive: September 1, 2004

In search of the bottom line

InfoWorld: In search of the bottom line: July 30, 2004: By Robert McMillan : PLATFORMS Linux on the desktop might mean freedom from software-licensing costs for some IT departments. But when it comes to evaluating desktop Linux’s TCO, it’s the human cost that is most important. According to industry research...

Linux Doesn’t Make Sense for Desktops

Linux Doesn’t Make Sense for Desktops By David Coursey August 31, 2004 Longhorn’s woes may open a door for Linux—a very tiny door—but Linux just isn’t a good choice for desktops. Instead, desktop Linux proponents should wake up and switch to the Mac OS.

The benefits of WinFS

Given all of the negative talk about the delay to WinFS I just wanted to say that I have thought since I first glimpsed it that Microsoft are really onto something with WinFS, I have discussed it before but its timely to give my top five reasons again: 1.      It’s...

The decline of enterprise influence over IT

IT is becoming more accessible and more personal in many ways.  The combination has many implications. 

1.      If I can get at the services others provide for me from anywhere

2.      If I can customise the access to these services in a way that suits me

3.      If I can aggregate the information that flows to and from these services in a way that suits me

and if I can do all of this from any device, and over any network then the power that corporate IT held over me declines and IT just becomes more like the rest of the world I live in, for example:

1.      Most companies don’t specify which car a salesman has to use they just provide the money to buy it.

2.      They don’t specify or fund the suit he wears, just the standards he has to comply with

3.      They often don’t specify the pen I use, or the type of diary

As standards mature, security becomes more pervasive and applied to content, rather than container, (e.g.  the content of the document is protected, rather than the directory it resides in), IT will go in this direction. …

Who should work with whom? building effective software project teams

Managing a team is always a challenge, but often great fun.

Peopleware is the best book I know of that talks about managing IT team and individual productivity.  This article provides a fairly detailed analysis of the importance of personality types on team composition.  If you are building a team for a really important task, I suggest you take a look. 

The report is in 3 sections:
1: Poor Performance
2: Effective Personality Attributes
3: The Optimal Team

Here is the conclusion:

  • Software managers should be aware that the optimal personality allocations in small project teams are somewhat different than those in large teams.

  • IS managers should consider selecting personnel so there is personality heterogeneity between the team leader and other team members in the social-interaction and information-gathering dimensions. Thus, the project leader and members should be selected such that all the four of these personality categories are represented: extrovert-intuitive, extrovert-sensing, introvert-intuitive, and introvert-sensing.

  • It is unnecessary to have diversity of personalities among team members (excluding team leader) due to the fact that members need to perform multiple tasks of the SDLC and heterogeneity is not good for all phases [11]. This should give IS managers the flexibility …

Portal Success Stories

My company currently uses Plumtree and I must confess that I have not been a great fan of its portal.  However I did like this posting which described the most successful application types that have been built using their Portal, and probably any other as well. Expert location/knowledge management workspaces...

Corporate blogging

Greg has just written one of the few posts that starts to discuss RSS and its impact behind the firewall.  That is in a corporate environment. greg hughes – dot – net – More on RSS and how it can change the way we work and live I wrote extensively...

Year of Wonders

A book about the plague in England is not the most tempting of subjects.  However this book pulls it off.  Its loosley based on a true story about a village that isolates itself to protect surrounding villages from an outbreak of the plague.  There is plenty of death and misery...