A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions. –Oliver Wendell Holmes
Silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone. –Gertrude Stein
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth. –Albert Einstein
Patience is the companion of wisdom. –St. Augustine
Instead of dirt and poison we have rather chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax, thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light. –Jonathan Swift in The Battle of the Books
One of the hardest tasks in the software development process is to
provide an objective measure of when the project is done. This book excerpt examines techniques to
specify a definition of finished that all project team and stakeholders can
agree to.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=170277
One of the modern growing pains for IT is for the organization to align
itself with the business and to respond quickly to new and changing business
requirements. This article looks at how
some companies are adapting.
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/story/0,10801,90872,00.html
This is a comprehensive set of examples/templates for software
development lifecycle (SDLC) documentation that is aligned with the Microsoft
Solutions Framework (MSF). The
templates themselves are good examples of the appropriate content for project
documentation and do not have to be used with the MSF process/methodology.
Developing a project team is one of the key factors in the success of a
project. This article looks at some of
the key factors in deciding the right size and make up of the team, especially
beyond the technical skills.
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/story/0,10801,92031,00.html
A 20th anniversary discussion with some of the original 19
programmers interviewed in the seminal Programmers At Work book about
the state of software development.
Unfortunately, from these folks' perspective not much has changed in the
past 20 years. But they still have some
good ideas about the future of software development.
http://www.salon.com/tech/col/rose/2004/03/19/programmers_at_work/index_np.html
A couple of brief articles from Cutter IT Journal that help debunk the ideas that automated software testing is the silver bullet for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of testing.
http://www.jeffgainer.com/testmyth.html
http://www.jeffgainer.com/evrythng.html
This detailed article explains some techniques for how to test multiple variables simultaneously (or in combinations) for more efficient testing. It uses many of the concepts related to orthogonal arrays from design of experiments.
http://www.developsense.com/testing/PairwiseTesting.html
This site is the home page for a relative active mailing list about software testing activities. The main emphasis of the virtual group is to define a reusable, standardized software testing process.
While, in general, random testing is often ineffective, this paper discusses some of the types of problems, particularly crashes and memory leaks, that are likely to be detected by providing (somewhat) random inputs to the application under test.
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~bart/fuzz/fuzz-nt.html
While MS Access is not a full-featured database system, it is quite
suitable for many tasks. This nice
15-page reference provides good coverage of using the query tools in Access.
ftp://ftp.download.com/pub/techrepublic/support/resource_doc/access_query.zip
The last thing that most technology workers want to do is to attend another meeting. This dialogue between people offers some ideas to bring life back to meetings and keep participants interest.
http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6314-5171724.html
An MIT productivity expert notes that use of digital technology is what has driven economic growth over the past half century. However, it's not the technology itself per se, but how creative people of used and applied that technology.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_brynjolfsson031004.asp
SysExporter utility allows you to capture the text data stored in standard list-views, list boxes, and combo boxes from almost any application running on your system, and export it to text, HTML or XML file. For example, you can capture file or folder lists from Windows Explorer, data from SysInternals utilities like Process Explorer, e-mail lists from Outlook and more.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/nirsoft1/utils/sysexp.html
cdx attaches a small directory listing window to the command prompt (CMD.EXE) in Windows which allows you to quickly browse for a folder. When you double-click the desired folder, cdx executes a "cd" command to that folder automatically. Very handy!
http://www.xuebrothers.net/misc/cdx.htm
CDR Tools is a graphical front-end for some freeware (mostly GPL license) command-line utilities for creating CDR and CD-RW. This tool greatly simplifies the use of the otherwise arcane free CD burning utilities.
Vital Desktop is a desktop animation utility that allows you to use any screensaver as the desktop wallpaper/background on your system.
Every time that you have to take your hands off of the keyboard in MS Word to use the mouse, it slows you down and can break your concentration. Here a few simple MS Word keyboard shortcuts to improve productivity.
|
Action |
Shortcut |
|
Center text |
<Ctrl>+E |
|
Left justify text |
<Ctrl>+L |
|
Right justify text |
<Ctrl>+R |
|
Increase font size |
<Ctrl>+<Shift>+> |
|
Decrease font size |
<Ctrl>+<Shift>+< |
|
Open Save As… window |
<F12> |
|
Open Thesaurus (for current word) |
<Shift>+<F7> |
|
Print Preview |
<Ctrl>+<F2> |
If you've set up folders in MS Outlook for different correspondence and projects (You have, haven't you?!), in the Message window, you can take advantage of the Move to Folder button (looks like a sheet of paper with a folder) to quickly move your message to the proper folder after reading it. The button "remembers" the last 10 folders that you've filed messages in for quick access. Alternately, you choose Move to Folder… (or press <Ctrl>+<Shift>+V) to display the Move Item To dialog which allows you navigate to the desired folder.
This simulation provided by Intel allows you to play an overworked IT manager trying to keep up with all of the daily tasks and keep the management happy. Of course, Intel is trying to sell its products and services, but this is definitely a unique approach.
http://www.intel.com/corporate/europe/emea/eng/itgame/itgame.htm
Ah! The wit and wisdom of Homer Simpson. Where would the world be without him? This site provides dozens of quotes from the patriarch of the Simpson gang. Doh!
http://smacie.com/randomizer/simpsons/homer.html
SimCity is one of the all-time classic computer games. This version allows you to play the original version online. The site provides complete instructions, including a "quick start guide", in case you haven't played before (or recently).
http://simcity.ea.com/play/simcity_classic.php