August 2007 Newsletter
Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for. –Peter Drucker
Make service your first priority, not success, and success will follow. –Unknown
Worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls due. –William R. Inge
To do any thing, to dig a hole in the ground, to plant a cabbage, to hit a mark, to move a shuttle, to work a pattern, --in a word, to attempt to produce any effect, and to succeed, has something in it that gratifies the love of power, and carries off the restless activity of the mind of man. Indolence is a delightful but distressing state: we must be doing something to be happy. –William Hazlitt
If you want something really important to be done you must not merely satisfy the reason, you must move the heart also. –Mahatma Gandhi
Any necessary work that pays an honest wage carries its own honor and dignity. –W. Kelly Griffith
I have often regretted my speech, never my silence. –Unknown
The Creator has not given you a longing to do that which you have no ability to do. –Orison Swett Marden
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible. –Maya Angelou
The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of. –Blaise Pascal
One of the banes of IT is users who introduce technology or systems
outside of the IT process. IT calls
these "rogue" or "shadow" efforts and they are both
annoying and dangerous. But in many
cases, IT itself is responsible for these efforts because of their lack of
responsiveness to the business users' needs.
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/tve/?p=88
Tom Gilb
presents 10 concepts that will help maintain control and structure to a
development project throughout its life.
Gilb emphasizes delivering value across the
life of the project and using early customer satisfaction (principle #8) to
build confidence and support.
http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=56
Software development projects are notorious for failure. This author suggests that perhaps the better
perspective is not to do everything right, but to avoid doing anything wrong.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000917.html
Tim
Lister discusses his upcoming book and patterns that help determine
software development success or failure.
Interestingly, he says that "best practices" are dangerous and
that projects need to be tailored to an organizations
individual strengths.
http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2007/07/from-project-sl.html
This article explains a simple technique for visualizing tasks based on
importance and difficulty to determine which ones should get the highest
priority.
http://kw-agiledevelopment.blogspot.com/2007/06/how-to-prioritise-quickly-and.html
Everyone in the IT business is keenly aware of project failure. However, it's not always simple to identify
and correct a floundering project. These
articles help you assess your project and provide some ideas for how to revive
it.
http://www.cio.com/article/124309
http://www.cio.com/article/124307
This article gives the philosophical motivation for using UML to model
and document you systems development.
Furthermore, it has links to in depth descriptions and tutorials on the
various elements of a UML model, such as use case diagrams, sequence diagrams,
class diagrams, etc.
http://www.netbeans.org/kb/55/uml-why-model.html
The success or failure of many projects rests on how well the developers
perform. Development managers need to
understand that programmers are frequently motivated by different things than
other groups, particularly by having challenging work.
http://blog.assembleron.com/2007/07/11/what-motivates-programmers/
Agile expert Alistair Cockburn
talks about how the principles of agile development have evolved over the last
5 years since the Agile Manifesto
was conceived.
http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/qna/0,289202,sid92_gci1255480,00.html
Here are brief explanations of some of the common "laws" of
programming named after their originators.
They give some good insight into many of the pitfalls of development and
some good food for thought about effective project management. For more on this topic, see also this
article.
http://haacked.com/archive/2007/07/17/the-eponymous-laws-of-software-development.aspx
Many projects move straight from requirements to implementation. This article discusses the value and
importance of a design document and how to prepare a good one.
http://blog.slickedit.com/?p=43
"Fuzz testing" has become one of the most effective methods of security testing for browser-based applications. However, construction of the test regime is very important to ensure that observed failures can be replicated and isolated.
http://www.ddj.com/dept/security/200001745
Test and QA groups often get little respect and support from the larger IT organization, but frequently this is because others don't understand the importance and value they provide.
http://www.sdtimes.com/article/TQA-20070715-02.html
Testometer is an online tool for evaluating your testing skills by using puzzles, some of which are frequently used in tester interviews, to evaluate your approach. It focuses on class partitioning and boundary value analysis.
http://testinggeek.com/testometer.asp
Test Everything is a collection of dozens of free, online web site testing tools. Simply enter the URL for your site and specify the tests, including CSS and HTML validation, SEO rankings, web proxies, and much more.
New research shows that most software errors/faults are the result of a bad combination of only two input values. This leads to the concept that sufficient test coverage is the result of testing only pairs of input values, rather than all possible combinations of input.
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/07/15/all_pairs_testing/
This introductory-level article explains what XSLT is and how it
is used to transform XML data
into a format that can be used for display, such as on a web page.
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-xslt/
http://immike.net/blog/2007/05/09/xslt-for-web-developers/
Interested in learning about functional
programming, but don't know where to start?
This simple introduction to the Haskell programming language helps
introduce some of the concepts in a clear and concise way.
http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Learn_Haskell_in_10_minutes
While conceptually simple (e.g., a domain name = an IP address), the
domain name system (DNS) has grown in complexity and importance over the
years. This article explains the details
and how DNS works and its future.
http://www.acmqueue.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=481
Eclipse has become the premier platform for Java (and other language)
development. But for the beginner,
Eclipse can be daunting. This excellent
article introduces the platform and some of the core concepts for using it to
do Java development. It has been
completely updated for the Eclipse
3.3 release (part of the Europa release).
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/os-eclipse-platform/
The book
excerpt covers the basics of how to use Microsoft Project to build a project
plan/schedule and some of the quirks of how Project works.
http://www.awprofessional.com/content/images/9780321423429/samplechapter/0321423429_CH02.pdf
This article gives the basics for how to format and structure an RSS feed
using XML. It uses Java to show how
parse the XML for both reading and writing RSS feeds.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=760955&ns=11846
This comprehensive video based tutorial covers dozens of topics related
to SQL and PL/SQL on the Oracle database platform. The tutorials are well organized and are easy
for even the beginner to grasp. Be sure
to check out the site home page for many
other tutorials on technology and other topics.
http://www.tutorom.com/courses/172/Oracle-Introduction-to-Oracle-SQL-and-PLSQL.htm
If you are looking to create your own mashups
or RSS feeds, Yahoo Pipes is one of the simplest ways to go. This excellent tutorial teaches you the
basics.
http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/07/16/an-introduction-to-yahoo-pipes/
Only about 10% of workers move to another job simply due to pay. However, 90% of executives surveys believe that pay is the only factor. Most workers leave for other reasons such as security, benefits, and job satisfaction.
http://www.careers.eweek.com/article/210658_1.aspx
Although mid-market (smaller) companies don't have the deep pockets of the bigger employers they have annual IT staff turnover of 6%, which is the 3% below larger firms, because of long-term dedication to employees, including training and better work/life balance.
http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1540,2151013,00.asp
We are surrounded with lots of discussion about leadership, but what does it really mean? What is a leader and what sets him/her apart from the followers? This article explores the common characteristics of good leaders. And being a manager does not necessarily mean you are a leader.
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/management/lead-follow-and-get-out-of-the-way.html
This article offers some excellent advice about the difference in how large and small organizations are run and how issues are handled. In particular, the author discusses how to get support/help from your boss.
http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-to-talk-to-your-boss-corporations.html
Excessive stress is probably the major contributing factor to poor work performance. Here are some great tips for how to deal with and reduce work-related stress.
http://ririanproject.com/2007/06/11/19-battlefield-tips-to-survive-stress-at-work/
Amiko is an online resume tool. You can create your resume in WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) application and then export the resume into PDF or text format. You can include graphics on your resume and it even supports templates to allow customizing your resume for specific instances. You can even link to your Amiko resume on popular job sites.
What is the proper use of instant messaging (IM) in the business setting? This article has some tips, including using IM for simple requests requiring immediate response and e-mail for items that need more discussion and consideration.
http://management.silicon.com/itpro/0,39024675,39167771,00.htm
Distractions in the workplace are one of the most significant drains on productivity. One of management's main jobs should be to remove distractions from workers' days so that they can get their work done.
http://www.businessweek.com/careers/content/jul2007/ca20070719_880333.htm
How do people's attitudes affect their own work and the work of others? This article also discusses how understanding and using emotional intelligence can enhance your work experience.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=729102&rl=1
While I personally don't like office politics, they are part of life in most organizations. Here are some good tips for how to handle them in a reasonable and professional manner.
http://www.bnet.com/2403-13070_23-93243.html
Here are a dozen IT skills that almost guarantee that you'll be able to land that new job.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9026623
Recent research from AT&T shows that "dumb" (neutral) networks frequently require twice as much peak bandwidth as managed networks which prioritize traffic. However, this conclusion does not necessarily imply that running managed networks is cheaper.
Skylight is the Windows answer to the Macintosh's popular Quicksilver application and file launcher. Skylight makes it quick and easy to locate and launch programs and files, but it does even more, including allowing you to choose alternative actions, such as showing the object in Windows Explorer.
http://www.candylabs.com/skylight/
MAKEMSI is a free Windows installation builder/packager. It will create an MSI-based installer from your files that can be used to install your application on any Windows system. It uses a simple, XML-based language for specifying the installation directories and parameters.
http://makemsi.dennisbareis.com/
Hotwire is an interesting combination of shell/command prompt and GUI file manager. It combines the nice features of each and allows you execute commands via a command line and list and manipulate files graphically. It is based on GTK and Python and, therefore, runs on Linux and Windows (including Cygwin).
WinTabber allows you to group windows of most any application together into a single window with tabs for each of the original windows. You can turn multiple command prompts or terminal sessions into a single window and reduce the clutter on your desktop and task bar.
RSSPopper is an excellent RSS feed reader add-on for Microsoft Outlook. It integrates seamlessly with Outlook by putting feed results in a separate folder in your mailbox. Each feed item appears like a standard e-mail message. Configuration is easy via the RSSPopper toolbar and the toolbar even includes a button to quickly turn feeds on and off to prevent updates when you don't want them.
http://rsspopper.blogspot.com/
Desktop Drape blanks the screen except for an area or window that you specify. This allows you to concentrate on one particular window, such as a video or editing window. The blanking transparency and color is customizable and you and easily resize the focus (displayed) area.
http://www.freedapps.com/desktop-drape/
Sizer is a handy utility for resizing windows to a particular size. While it is mainly intended for web browsers to check how a size looks at particular screen resolutions, it is also useful for wide screens. You can specify your own collection of "standard" window sizes. Just right-click on the window title bar to choose the desired size from the choices. Sizer can also be added to the window menu and even adds a handy tool tip to the standard resize function to dynamically show the size of the window during resizing.
http://www.brianapps.net/sizer.html
Folder2MyPC lets you create shortcuts to most any item (application, documents, etc.) in your My Computer and Control Panel folders. This allows you to quickly launch your most frequently used items from one common place.
http://eng.softq.org/folder2mypc_history
Researchers from the
http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-1035_11-92430.html
This site presents their suggestions for the most intriguing experiments from the history of science. They are based mostly on the keen insight and simplicity of the originator. Each one includes great animations of the particular experiment.
http://physics-animations.com/Physics/English/top_ref.htm
Ever wonder where some of the figures of speech that we use come from? This cool list gives you the story on 18 common ones.
http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/23/origin-of-familiar-phrases/
This interesting Flash-based world clock shows the current time along with some interesting and often startling statistics about the state of the world, including deaths by various causes, current population, oil production and much more. It really kind of puts things in a fascinating perspective.
http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.htm
This fun online tool allows you to create your own Tartan plaid image. You can adjust all of the colors and even the yarn size! Very cool for creating a custom background for your desktop or web site.
Help support the way of life of the boneless pig farmer that is endangered due to McDonald's discontinuing the McRib sandwich. ;)
This online exhibit (coinciding with a regular museum exhibit) includes some recently discovered and archived papers of Isaac Newton that give new insight into his personal and professional life. It includes writings involving alchemical experiments and his interest in ancient history and apocalyptic prophecies.
http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/mss/newton/about_exhibition_eng.html
Here are fantastic pictures and
descriptions of some of the most famous and interesting city skylines from
around the world. The ones you would
expect (
http://necromanc.blogspot.com/2006/03/top-18-skylines-in-world.html