Candid CIO - All Comments

re: Bill Gates: A hell of a nice guy but no IT visionary

MyIdea7 — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:55:52 GMT

There are 2 Bill Gates the one before Anti-Trust and the one after. While I would never consider him a swashbuckler, before he was hamstrung by the US Feds, he most certainly had a vision, one that basically made the internet part of the OS, specifically the desktop. We'd be in a vastly different world right now, had we let Bill and the Softies run rough-shot, if you never drank the Kool-aid you'd say that would be a worse place... If you chuggaluged the nectar you'd be in nirvana.

re: Can Microsoft speak reliably in the unified communications space?

Azam — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:03:09 GMT

IMHO I think there's too many gears in that machine. VoIP, Video, IM etc.. Just too many. Microsoft has always bundled more than it can effectively manage in an attempt to give more to the end user. However, the net result is that it reduces the stability of their product offering - and it shows. I doubt this will be any different.

re: Bill Gates: A hell of a nice guy but no IT visionary

Azam — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:03:05 GMT

Hmm I never really thought of it but yes I agree! I don't think I've ever heard anything profoundly moving from Bill.

re: Anatomy of a Kickoff: Part 6: Points to Ponder

Apply food stamp — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:09:14 GMT

I wanted to research this subject and write a paper. Your post what a thousand words would not. Nice job.

re: Bill Gates: A hell of a nice guy but no IT visionary

Gary C — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:03:06 GMT

Could it be possible that the general public is unaware of the truth about how Microsoft happened, how it got funded, what it's role was, what it's role is now?

If the info I have was public knowlege it all makes a lot of sense, right up to and including the observations of this article. hint: follow the money -- start at the beginning

lol my anti-spam word is 'windows'

re: Private Avaya needs to make some public noise

Vijay Kumar — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:01:30 GMT

Are Juniper in the same space?

re: Project management's dirty little secret

Deron — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:12:44 GMT

I've guessed that there should be a secret ;)

Anyway, good communication is everything. Transparency is even more. Now there are tools that help managers make their work transparent for the clients, my favorite is Wrike.com [http://www.wrike.com/]

re: Sell Business to Business Users – Part 2: The Design - Execution

Emma — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:12:18 GMT

Business world is competitive and every one want to get success.To be successful in your business you need to have <a href="mortgagepronews.com/mpn-certified-resources.html" rel="nofollow">business training</a>

where you can learn the different techniques of how to manage business.

re: Project management's dirty little secret

Michael Sheppard — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:11:08 GMT

Thank you Paul and Ron for your comments.

I agree that IT projects are generally iterative in nature and require continual adjustment for which the software packages mentioned are invaluable.

I also agree that it's no secret that the client's perception of these adjustments must be managed carefully. The purpose is of course not to "camouflage" but to smooth out the inevitable bumps along the way. I have never been on a project in which the entire scope, and all the associated problems, could be predicted up front. Our clients however do not usually have the benefit of this experience and may not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The message I would like to send in these situations is "relax ... we'll get there if we work together".

Regards,

Michael Sheppard

University of Waterloo

re: Anatomy of a Kickoff: Part 1: Overview

Dips — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:11:12 GMT

Couldnt agree more with you.In this part of the woods, a kick off meeting is viewed as a formality at the least or an excerise to clear out responsibilites.The aspect of building trust with the customer gets neglected and many a times the project is likely to begin on an acrimonious note when the contract specifications are pasted on the Kick off dec under the name of expectation setting

re: Project management's dirty little secret

Ron Gilmore, CMC — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:11:47 GMT

Sorry to disagree mostly with Michael Sheppard. We get to review a lot of large IT projects and find most "failures" to be well hidden or highly camouflaged. One project managed to use this approach for 3.5 years while virtually nothing got delivered by continuously adjusting the expectations. By the time we arrived, Vice Presidents were yelling at each other in the hallways and every one of the 85 project members was looking to escape eventual lynchings. I would suggest Project Managers bargain hard up front on scope / expectations and seek to over achieve.

re: Project management's dirty little secret

Dr. Paul Giammalvo — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 09:11:48 GMT

Hi Greg (and Michael),

Actually, I don't find the practice of continually adjusting expectations based on actual performance to be a "dirty little secret", but a legitimate and appropriate role and responsibility of the Project Manager/Project Team.

Why do I say this? Because despite what PMI et al may imply or claim, project management is NOT a linear process, but a complex, dynamic system- effectively a "living thing". Based on this, the true "dirty little secret" is that Microsoft Project, Primavera, Artemis are the wrong software packages to be using, simply because they do NOT allow for the feedback loops. What we should be using are software packages such as Powersim, Vennsim, or iThink (Stella).

Best Regards,

Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo, CDT, CCE, MScPM,

from Shenzen, China

re: Sell Business to Business Users – Part 1: The Need

matt — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 07:11:06 GMT

By partnering with your users from the beginning of the project to the end is the best and fastest way to get buy in. Often the front line people who will be using your solution have explicit knowledge that can make or break its deployment, so having them engaged throughout the development is a sure-fire way to get buy-in.

I generally sell my technical solutions as a way to help them do their jobs easier. They'll tell me what they hate and what can be improved, then I work with them to deliver those changes. Using this concept alone, my team has delivered over $15 million in benefits to the company this year.

re: Why are large projects different?

Alan Rocker — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:11:55 GMT

The evidence of history suggests that the largest effective human group is the coven, (13 people). Look at the maximum size of organised sports teams. Excluding American football, which has numerous temporary specialists, Rugby Union's fifteen players per team is the most you'll find. It's probably a function of the factorial explosion of possible relationships in the group.

re: The intrapraneurial factor

Shannon — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:11:52 GMT

I have to agree with the statement. I see this present in my own children. Our current business practices of old that call for constant analysis to make the smallest step could be our downfall.

Especially when I see offers for new jobs being text messaged and people leaving on the spot for something allot less frustrating and more creative empowerment. We the older generation have on thing to realize we created the faster paced world and the younger generation are living it, what have we done to bring us old farts along.

Or do we like to hide behind