Nov
29
A Brief Introduction to Critical Paths
November 29, 2005 | Leave a Comment
The first step in figuring out how long a project is going to take is to identify the critical path. Without getting too much into the details (that’ll cost you; I don’t do PM courses for free although my fees are reasonable) you work out the critical path by:
Listing all the tasks that have to [...]
Nov
24
Build vs. Buy
November 24, 2005 | Leave a Comment
When considering whether to buy a system to fill a business need, or to build your own, remember two rules:
It is cheaper to buy than it is to build.
It is cheaper to build than to rebuild.
In other words, it’s a good idea to buy a system that you’re willing to use as-is, or with very [...]
Nov
21
Open Formats, Google, and Electronic Health
November 21, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Microsoft to open up file formats to standards body. Slashdotters are suspicious.
Ontario’s having a hard time getting doctors to switch to electronic records. I think the problem lies with the incentives: there’s just not enough benefit to the individual doctor to justify the effort to scan old records.
Ross Mayfield thinks processes aren’t going to [...]
Nov
18
Office 12 UI, Again
November 18, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Everybody I’ve shown the new UI to has had the same reaction: it makes the window look too busy, too complicated, and takes space away from viewing the document.
I think the rationale for the change can be found here:
We’ve found in early tests that people find it easier to discover how to do new [...]
Nov
17
Office 12 Beta 1 Out
November 17, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Here’s some info on the release:
SlashDot story (from where most of these links come).
PC Magazine Review.
A blog on the UI improvements.
Excel blog
Wikipedia
Google News stories on Office 12.
I have to say that there’s not much in here for consumers–this is clearly aimed at business. For a business customer that does custom development using things like the [...]
Nov
15
Tuesday Links: Agile Methods, ODF, Thin Clients, and More
November 15, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Martin Fowler has a lengthy (but very good) discussion of agile methods.
Industry organizations for Business Process Management and Workflow: WARIA, BPMI (now part of OMG), and the Workflow Management Coalition. There’s also the AIIM, which focuses on document and records management.
eWeek talks about Microsoft’s growing acceptance of Agile methods (while you’re at it, take [...]
Nov
14
Methodologies vs. the BA BoK
November 14, 2005 | 1 Comment
This post is a semi-personal opinion; I haven’t run this past the rest of the BA BoK Committee yet.
The BA BoK is not a system development or process change methodology, nor is it part of one.
A methodology should provide a project team with several things:
A set of defined roles to be played in the [...]
Nov
10
Process Complexity, Server Farms, Persentations, and More…
November 10, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Rational discusses process complexity and how to determine what amount is right for you. Stephen O’Grady has some additional thoughts.
Nicholas Carr and EDS (part 1, part 2, part 3) talk about the power requirements of server farms and the impact that will have on application delivery. This may be a major motivator to shisf to [...]
Nov
7
On Incompetence
November 7, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Agile methods make one critical assumption: that the people on your team are competent. An agile method isn’t going to work if you have some of the developers I’ve seen in the past working for you. For instance, I remember being shown the database structure for a project done by a former employer (I wasn’t [...]
Nov
7
NT and ST Developers
November 7, 2005 | Leave a Comment
One thing that occurs to me about Agile methods is that they’re aimed squarely at the NT developer. No, not Windows NT. I’m talking about the Myers-Briggs personality types.
However, in practice, I find that a lot of developers are ST types–meticulous, but very uncomfortable without real guidance on what and how they should build [...]