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Hands-On

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This category contains 36 posts

Lost Weekend: Troubleshooting a MySQL Installation

By ⋅ March 21, 2010 ⋅ One comment

Spurred on by Blogger’s decision to stop supporting FTP for publishing blogs, I have finally started the long process to implement a WordPress blog – hosted by myself, not WordPress.com. To be fair, I am making this longer than it necessarily needs to be, but I am continuing my efforts to maintain a comprehensive Admin [...]

Science
Hands-On Project: Offsite Strategy

By ⋅ November 22, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

When I talk about having an “offsite strategy” meeting, I’m looking to get out of the office and have some good, “strategic” conversation over a cup of coffee or a beer. Back when I worked for a software development company, we did our best design work at a hot dog stand in Des Plaines, IL; [...]

Execution, with some elements of Inspiration
Collaboration “in the Wild”: Some Observations

By ⋅ November 15, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

An Enterprise 2.0 dream scenario: implementing a complex project across multiple sites, in two different time zones, with a large team (well over 100). The team was reasonably savvy with collaboration tools; core team members were quite comfortable with Instant Messaging, and we have been relying on SharePoint for many months. A centralized, coordinated document [...]

Science, with some elements of Inspiration
Introducing … Google Wave

By ⋅ October 13, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Thank you for signing up to give us early feedback on Google Wave. We’re happy to give you access to Google Wave and are enlisting your help to improve the product. To accept your invitation, sign into Google Wave at the following link … Well, maybe not the most exciting email I’ve received over the [...]

Inspiration, with some elements of Science
Real Business Users and SharePoint

By ⋅ July 14, 2009 ⋅ One comment

Introducing buzzword-compliant technology like a wiki, or integrated collaboration spaces like SharePoint, will typically go well with a motivated audience like your internal IT department. But if you really want to understand how this stuff works, try it with “real people” – line employees in sales and marketing, operations, and finance. Sure, you’ve heard complaints [...]

Field Notes: Video Conferencing for Business Conversations

By ⋅ March 22, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

This past week saw my first experience with video conference calling – something obvious to consider in these tight economic times. Some observations – I got quick feedback that my original camera position was disconcerting for the others. I had put it off to the side, which made me look “off camera”, almost in profile, [...]

Low Tech SharePoint Hack: Project Status Indicator

By ⋅ March 14, 2009 ⋅ 2 comments

I’m doing a little hacking in SharePoint that is pulling together a few ideas from the past: Keeping my tech skills sharp Knowing when to search for the answer (vs. stubbornly sticking with DIY) Communicating status tersely but effectively Apparently, I’m also trying to answer a question that is meaningful to many others, as it [...]

Science
Hacking the Google Chart API from Excel

By ⋅ January 18, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

a bit of code on a Saturday night … I’ve written before about a simple way to measure and report IT value to the business – quantifying alignment with strategic initiatives  project spend in context. It all culminated with a single, simple slide – numbers, with some Tufte-esque Sparklines thrown in. Well, technologies come and [...]

Third Time’s the Charm? Blackberry Bold

By ⋅ January 6, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

I recently had to part ways with my Blackberry Pearl – some heartache, I suppose, but time and product innnovation march on. There is a lot to like about the Blackberry Bold – I am definitely happy to have made the change … <aside> … although my inner conspiracy theorist sees a case of planned [...]

Best Practices for Requirements Gathering Sessions

By ⋅ December 7, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

It’s been a while since I’ve led an interactive requirements session for an interactive application – but it’s kind of like riding a bike. After a few minutes, the old habits come back, and the iterative ideas and cascading creativity starts to flow. What has changed, however, is the application platform, the office environment, and [...]

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