Steve V - Professional

Enterprise Software Vendor Presentations

2008-08-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest obsurdities I observe in IT are vendor sales presentations. For better or worse, I've had the opportunity to sit in on several of these. The experience has usually left me more confused about what the product does walking out. By and large, these presentations abuse jargon and buzzwords. They often use colorful diagrams representing the product with pretty shaded boxes and arrows, yet never really give enough technical detail to ask intelligent questions. Sure, these are often crafted for executives so leaving that level of detail out is appropriate. Still, I think a presentation is ineffective unless it focusses largely on: a product demo, product architecture, and extensibility and support of open standards. The sales people giving these presentations too often lean on buzzwords and cleverly named components and product-lines.

Being a fan of Spinal Tap & Office Space, I thought a mock-presentation would be appropriate.
It may not be a huge exaggeration to say many vendors could take the presentation below, swap in their company logo, and use it on their next road show.

Here's the presentation:

Decision styles & change management

2008-08-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

The way top decisions are made is one of the most defining aspects of a team or organization's culture. The textbooks describe how leaders should swap decision-making technique depending on the situation at hand - see the diagram below.

However, the technique that a decision-maker chooses is often influenced by their personality and communication styles. For example, styles of leaders like Steve Jobs and G.W. Bush would be described largely as 'command', with perhaps moments of 'consultative' style. For leaders with keen vision & strategy, this can be extremely effective. Just look at the iPhone - an risky& expensive product to develop that happened to pay off big time. However, leaders who place bets on the command style stand to lose big time if those decisions don't pan out. The diagram below displays the relationship with culture these results can have... and I think it also emphasizes the positive cultural effects that inclusive decision-making and communciation can have.

Including teams in the input for every decision can be expensive time-wise, but can pay-off in more than just the quality of the decision. A strong two-way communication pattern between decision-makers and affected staff can buid a relationship of trust and respect that is important to maintain.

*P.S. - I'm not sure where these diagrams came from. I found them while cleaning my hard-drive... and they spurred this thought, so I figured they'd do more use in a blog than my recyle bin.

Software Development Project Template

2008-07-01T16:54:00.001-07:00

So Microsoft Project is one of the more abused pieces of software out there...
One of the project 'templates' that come with Project is for 'Software Development'. Although you'd have to be a sorry excuse for a PM if you actually relied on this alone... I did find the list of tasks to be a decent reminder of what is often overlooked: (I've edited the list below down a bit)

Software Development Project

Scope
Determine project scope
Secure project sponsorship
Define preliminary resources
Secure core resources
Scope complete
Analysis/Software Requirements
Conduct needs analysis
Draft preliminary software specifications
Develop preliminary budget
Review software specifications/budget with team
Incorporate feedback on software specifications
Develop delivery timeline
"Obtain approvals to proceed (concept, timeline, budget)"
Secure required resources
Analysis complete
Design
Review preliminary software specifications
Develop functional specifications
Develop prototype based on functional specifications
Review functional specifications
Incorporate feedback into functional specifications
Obtain approval to proceed
Design complete
Development
Review functional specifications
Identify modular/tiered design parameters
Assign development staff
Develop code
Developer testing (primary debugging)
Development complete
Testing
Develop unit test plans using product specifications
Develop integration test plans using product specifications
Unit Testing
Review modular code
Test component modules to product specifications
Identify anomalies to product specifications
Modify code
Re-test modified code
Unit testing complete
Integration Testing
Test module integration
Identify anomalies to specifications
Modify code
Re-test modified code
Integration testing complete
Training
Develop training specifications for end users
Develop training specifications for helpdesk support staff
"Identify training delivery methodology (computer based training, classroom, etc.)"
Develop training materials
Conduct training usability study
Finalize training materials
Develop training delivery mechanism
Training materials complete
Documentation
Develop Help specification
Develop Help system
Review Help documentation
Incorporate Help documentation feedback
Develop user manuals specifications
Develop user manuals
Review all user documentation
Incorporate user documentation feedback
Documentation complete
Pilot
Identify test group
Develop software delivery mechanism
Install/deploy software
Obtain user feedback
Evaluate testing information
Pilot complete
Deployment
Determine final deployment strategy
Develop deployment methodology
Secure deployment resources
Train support staff
Deploy software
Deployment complete
Post Implementation Review
Document lessons learned
Distribute to team members
Create software maintenance team
Post implementation review complete
Software development template complete

Intranet 2.0 - thinking mashups, feeds, and consumability

2008-06-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

The entrepreneurial spirit is demonstrated strongly on the Internet by ambitious web-geeks, excited to develop their ideas into new ‘web 2.0’ applications and ‘mash-ups’ of data and services on the web. Individuals & small teams have rapidly implemented new cutting-edge sites like zillow, del.icio.us, friendfeed, facebook, etc. The ‘web 2.0’ Internet today is becoming ever more useful as social networks, collaboration, and data mashups help make information better and easier to access. So, what about the INTRANET?

It seems that organizations are buzzing about ‘web 2.0’. Adoption is slow due to complex technical (and political) environments, and the lack of exposed services/feeds in legacy apps. Most internal apps are designed around the immediate business requirements... meaning traditional concepts like security and databases are the focus of design. In the Internet ‘web 2.0’ world, things like consumability and open APIs are a new additional design focus. After getting through the policy discussion & dodging the 'yesbutters' of web2.0... there are some new tools that are going to help the workplace play catch-up:

Web 2.0 collaboration platforms like Sharepoint 2007 –

There’s a lot to say about the new Sharepoint. There’s nothing else really like it, since it provides so many ‘web 2.0’ish features in one tidy package (with blogs, wikis, discussions, surveys, sharing, content management, and more). Sure, you could buy separate ‘best of breed’ individual packages for each of these components… but then you'd have to support & implement each product individually. Sharepoint is good enough & lets you easily deliver custom sites that can produce & consume RSS and XML(via XSL).

Mashup tools –

I fell in love with Yahoo! Pipes at first site. On the Internet, you could potentially mashup ANYTHING using this tool (sometimes with the help of a feed scraper like Feed43). There are some promising comparable tools now coming available for organizations to mashup all those internal feeds. One that looks great is IBM’s Damia (very similar to Pipes). Another is Kapow… but Damia looks more advanced. With tools like these, you could start mashing up internal feeds on Sharepoint sites to avoid all those confusing situations where users need to visit multiple places to lookup what they need.

Tools are just part of the solution. Organizations are going to have to start considering support for feeds & consumability in their products & projects now to steer away from the old ways where data needs to be looked up in a dozen different places.

SAP R/3 Icons

2008-04-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

SAP R/3 Icons

...because they are a mystery to us all.

A few helpful SAP nuggets

2008-04-10T10:51:00.001-07:00

SAP Online Help

Useful SAP transaction codes

SAP R/3 Step-By-Step Transaction Instructions

Workstation slowdown?

2008-03-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days where your machine is dragging along?
Maybe IT department deployed an update, or you installed something you shouldn't have.

Whatever the cause - Windows 'Task Manager' doesn't help much... especially when svchost.exe is the culprit. There could be dozens of services running under svchost. You'll never know which one is problematic until you can dig deeeper. Process Explorer is a nice tool to do just that. It let's you expand processes by their threads, DLLS, and examine their CPU+memory usage at a granular level.

It's a first step to healing disfigured workstations:
Process Explorer v11.04

Business Analyst Training

2008-01-10T15:46:00.000-08:00

These are a few links I've collected for Business Analyst (and related) training.

http://b2ttraining.com
http://www.esi-intl.com
http://www.hp.com/education/sections/pm_bus_analy.html#business_amaly
http://www.theiiba.org/default.asp

and a couple that are not specific for analysts, but in Sacramento
http://www.isinc.com/
http://www.dts.ca.gov/training/trsched/csched.asp

I haven't had the chance to try out any of these yet (except for a project management class at ISI)... but perhaps one day.

Office 2.0 Database - My Office 2.0 Setup

2007-12-26T10:16:00.000-08:00

Since I like lists... here's another one.

A list of online productivity applications:
Office 2.0 Database - My Office 2.0 Setup

I use many of these, but quite a few were new to me.

The future web OS. MS vs open source?

2007-11-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

What platforms will be around in 10 years? It will probably look radically different. Two things I do know are: 1) code tends to stay in production a long time, and 2) open source is here to stay. The reason I state #2 is because of things like Ubuntu & gOS. The web IS the new operating system... which means that Microsoft's gravy train will lose steam unless it finds new revenue channels (like enterprise software or Xbox). Of course, people won't think outside the windows box for some time. I'll be an early adopter when I get my next PC which will be running Ubuntu & Google Docs. Large companies run major production systems on Java & Linux. If you're feeling brave enough to try & setup your own web application platform... don't be afraid of open source. With my web development background... I grew up in an IIS/ASP/.NET neighborhood. That platform is solid & won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Still - when you want to get started for free... MS 'Express' line of products leaves something to be desired. Sometimes it's just nice to know that the platform you're developing on has no limitations. If someone walked up to me on the street & asked "Hey buddy, can I setup an enterprise-worthy web application environment for free?" - I'd say, 'You sure can! Check out the webpage Creating a Java, Eclipse, Tomcat, MySQL Environment'

Rules for office politics

2007-11-19T14:52:00.000-08:00

I came across this list and thought it's some adept advice:

Keep it professional at all times.
Play the game being played, not the one you want or think should be played.
Don't make enemies.
Don't burn bridges.
Don't whine and complain.
Don't intimidate superiors.
Try to avoid going over your superior's head.
Don't make others look bad.
Don't criticize employees or bosses.
Couch criticism in terms of employer's interests, not personal.
Help others get what they want.
Establish affiliations of mutual advantage with important people.
Find common ground with others.
Don't discuss personal problems.
Selectively self-disclose.
Don't assume anything will stay secret.
Create win/win solutions.
Keep employer's perspective in mind.
Cultivate a positive, simple, accurate image.
Force yourself to do difficult, uncomfortable or scary things.
Be pleasant. Laugh and smile.
Be assertive and tough when required, not aggressive.
Don't oversell. Be natural. Develop your own style.

(Sorry, I don't know who the original author is...)

Business resources & links

2007-11-13T19:00:00.001-08:00

These are straight from my bookmarks labeled "business":

Free Management Library for For-Profit and Nonp... - A great collection of topics on leadership, organziation, and culture building
NetMBA Business Knowledge Center - An MBA in a nutshell
QuickMBA: Accounting, Business Law, Economics, ... - Another MBA in a nutshell site
MoreSteam.com - Toolbox - A good overview of common tools used for decision making & process analysis
Leadership Knowledge Base: Information to Impro... - A collection of topics on leadership & organizational/professional advice
BusinessBalls.com - decision making - Collection of articles on various topics. Weird name, good site.
Innovation Network - Articles on innovation, collaboration, and group dynamics
Mind Tools - Management Training, Career Traini... - A great collection of management related articles.

Cross-Domain Ajax: Security Implications | Getahead

2007-11-12T16:26:00.000-08:00

I came across this article & personally - I agree with this guy. If the web allowed cross-domain AJAX... there would be a whole lot more 'mashups' and services possible today. (Because the little guys wouldn't have to write a proxy to do it every time). All-in-all, I think the innovation would be worth the extra effort it'd take to write more secure interfaces.

Cross-Domain Ajax: Security Implications Getahead: " will need a fancy server to make it happen, I have a lot of unnecessary extra coding, and when I get Digged or Slashdotted, I'm dead. With Cross-Domain XHR, all I need is Ajax and I'm all set. No server side computation required, no server side coding, no needing to make calls out of your server, life is a lot simpler and you have a much greater chance of surviving becoming famous. But To a certain extent the debate is mute - I doubt very much if Firefox 1.5 or IE7 are going to change their current behaviour. So let's not pretend this is a debate for now. Maybe in a year's time or so... Before you go thinking I'm all for cross-domain XHR, I'm not. Y"

Popular pages tagged with "SAP" on del.icio.us

2007-11-06T08:50:00.000-08:00

Popular pages tagged with "SAP" on del.icio.us

del.icio.us... always a good starting point for links.

18 Actions to Build Your Culture

2007-10-31T19:07:00.000-07:00

18 Actions to Build Your Culture

This is a great list of things that every workplace should strive to keep alive since culture, morale, & productivity are so intertwined.

Regular expressions quick reference

2007-10-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

Regular expressions are an old faithful syntax which has withstood the tests of time & change.
They come up as the means to extract & manipulate text formats everywhere; from Perl, to javascript, to .NET & Java. Understanding how to leverage regex is an invaluable skill for the those who script in anything.

One for the bookmarks: Regular expressions quick reference

One to get started with: http://www.regular-expressions.info/

AutoHotkey - Save Time, Prevent Carpal Tunnel

2007-10-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

This tool was a lifesaver for me when I had to complete a very repetitive task for some data cleanup... and even though I'm a capable programmer, why do things the hard way?

AutoHotkey - Free Mouse and Keyboard Macro Program with Hotkeys and AutoText

PSE Electric Service Handbook

2007-10-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

A good read to skim for one looking to understand some of the issues involved with electricity distribution design.

http://www.pse.com/solutions/buildersPDFs/1220.pdf

Lineman's Slang Dictionary

2007-10-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

More terminology...

http://www.hubbellpowersystems.com/powertest/literature_library/pdfs4lib/Chance-Hotline/19-8011.pdf

The Top 5 most Popular Web2.0 Services Hackers Cannot live Without | GNUCITIZEN

2007-10-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

I'm not a 'hacker' per se, but I like good Top 5 lists... and this one caught my eye (with some tools I haven't tried out yet).

The Top 5 most Popular Web2.0 Services Hackers Cannot live Without GNUCITIZEN

S&C Electric Company - Glossary

2007-10-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

A nice find for me! Especially in a new job role, needing to learn terminology for Electricity Distribution parts & terminology.

S&C Electric Company - Glossary
(More than you ever wanted to know about electricity distribution terminology)

The URLEncode and URLDecode Page

2007-10-06T00:55:00.000-07:00

The URLEncode and URLDecode Page

Comes in handy sometimes...

Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing: 2007 Predictions for the web and software

2007-10-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

Let's see... I bookmarked this earlier in the year thinking 'wonder if this guy will be right'.

Well the years not over yet, but I'd say named some pretty important categories (except for maybe #1 - YouTube is just this recently starting to monetize some videos, but still nothing revolutionary).

I think all items 1-5 will continue to grow through 2008.... even if he was off on the details.

Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing: 2007 Predictions for the web and software

How To Create A RSS Feed From Any Web Page - Robin Good's Latest News

2007-10-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

Great list of online tools for this sometimes needed conundrum.

How To Create A RSS Feed From Any Web Page - Robin Good's Latest News

Update:
and another site that soes similar: http://www.dapper.net/

The BIg Three & their Mashup Platforms

2007-10-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

Google Mashup Editor - Could be the fetus of a new web app platform... just needs work.
Yahoo Pipes - It's like a 'middleware integration mapper' for feeds & services
Microsoft Popfly - It's kind of like Yahoo Pipes, but tries to build the interfaces for you.... a neat toy.

Full WEB 2.0 API List | Tech Magazine

2007-10-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

Now THAT's a list!

Full WEB 2.0 API List Tech Magazine

Extreme ASP.NET: Client-Side Web Service Calls with AJAX Extensions -- MSDN Magazine, January 2007

2007-10-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

If you think about it... handling server-data calls from the client & getting data back in JSON completely erases the need to manage the GUI in server-side code. Now that's a 'presentation layer' if I've ever heard of one. Sure, you'd have to write all your session/security/authentication management a different way - but it opens new doors for web application design.

Extreme ASP.NET: Client-Side Web Service Calls with AJAX Extensions -- MSDN Magazine, January 2007

Electricity distribution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2007-10-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

A starting point for the curious -

Electricity distribution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dion Hinchcliffe's Web 2.0 Blog

2007-10-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

A big fat article on "Web 2.0".

I thought it's pretty good.

Dion Hinchcliffe's Web 2.0 Blog

CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES CODE

2007-10-01T15:06:00.001-07:00

Some pleasure reading...

CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES CODE

MultiSpeak.org - RosettaNet for Utilities?

2007-10-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

Very interesting (from the SOA perspective)

MultiSpeak.org

which seems to be affiliated largely with https://www.cooperative.com/

A whole bunch of javascript/ajax links

2007-10-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

http://script.aculo.us/
http://www.prototypejs.org/
http://www.protolize.org/
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/
http://www.dhtmlgoodies.com/
http://dojotoolkit.org/
The Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI) & http://www.dustindiaz.com/yahoo-event-utility/
http://www.maxkiesler.com/index.php/weblog/comments/round_up_of_50_ajax_toolkits_and_frameworks/
(A roundup of 50 AJAX toolkits/frameworks)
http://edevil.wordpress.com/2005/11/14/javascript-libraries-roundup/
(A roundup of Javascript libraries)
http://www.blinklist.com/tag/api+javascript/ (another collection of libraries)
http://www.mozilla.org/docs/dom/domref/dom_shortTOC.html (DOM reference)

Good icons are hard to find.

2007-10-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Try this

Symbole, Buttons und Icons zum Download Allgemeines, Webdesign

Ajax: Places To Use Ajax

2007-10-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

Ajax, what is it really good for (besides a buzzword)?

Here is a good summary:

Ajax: Places To Use Ajax

CSS Basics - Making Cascading Style Sheets Easy to Understand

2007-10-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

If you wanted to learn about CSS, this would be a good place to start (and/or finish).

CSS Basics - Making Cascading Style Sheets Easy to Understand

Debunking the myths of UI design

2007-10-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

I thought this was a great article on UI design/usability from (of all sources) IBM.
Some important points layed out on the importance of this oft forgotten aspect of development.

Debunking the myths of UI design

Web Layouts | Cool Layouts | Website Layouts

2007-10-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

If someone happened to be a web designer... this could be a good site for ideas:

Web Layouts Cool Layouts Website Layouts

W3Schools Online Web Tutorials

2007-10-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

A terrific overall reference (XML,XSL, and more web technologies - including .NET, CSS, +)
W3Schools Online Web Tutorials

XSL Concepts and Practical Use

2007-10-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

Another XSL reference

XSL Concepts and Practical Use (nwalsh.com)

XSL Tutorial

2007-10-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

One of the better references I've found.

XSL Tutorial @ TopXML.com

WebserviceX.NET :: Webservice Category

2007-10-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

An interesting collection of web services, sorted by category:

WebserviceX.NET :: Webservice Category