Hands-On Project: Offsite Strategy

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; since then, I've always found it more fun to conduct some "bidness" in the proper atmosphere ... This was the germ of an idea that…

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Collaboration “in the Wild”: Some Observations

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 repository; a single source, very public bugs/issues list - the foundation was in place for some time, so our "go-live weekend" experience was pleasantly predictable.…

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Introducing … Google Wave

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 past few years, but it was nice to get the [sorta] early notice. I'm definitely in the second wave, but I'll not look a gift…

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Real Business Users and SharePoint

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 from these folks (they have better PCs at home, the SAP/Oracle UI is brutal compared to Amazon and AT&T U-Verse, and why can't they just…

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Low Tech SharePoint Hack: Project Status Indicator

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 is used as an example in the Help files for Microsoft's online SharePoint guides, the add-on Web Parts we use here, and many other places.…

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Hacking the Google Chart API from Excel

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 go, and without going into the boring details, I've had to come up with a new way to generate the mini-bar charts along the left…

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Excel 2007 is a BOB system (Bag’O’Bugs)

I am getting seriously aggravated with the flighty behavior of Excel 2007. Yes, I acknowledge that the spreadsheets in question is quite complicated ... shared VBA modules in an XLA file database read/write using ADO array-manipulation for ranges of cells (see this post) lots of macro (VBA) logic to control look/feel of the tabs code to automatically insert formulae into cells ... and so on. However, some of the observed flightiness is specific to the UberSheet, while other weirdness happens…

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Does Excel 2007 VBA have Sneaky Hidden Issues?

I've done a lot of coding over the past few years, on a number of platforms - but since I'm not a full time developer, it's typically limited to VBA, PHP, SQL, some simple web stuff. Still, I've developed some tools that people use - and need to carry forward as the underlying technology moves along. And so, as I've finally made the leap to Office 2007, I had to come to terms with yet another VBA upgrade. I remember…

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Home Development Workstation – Part 3

See also ... Home Development Workstation - Part 1 Home Development Workstation - Part 2 Ok, here's where we put the rest of these boxes, switches, wires, and other assorted doo dads in their place. Again, the witty reader will note that I am following along with Jeff Atwood's Build a PC posts from last summer, just adding some color commentary and my own personal notes. Hard Drives, Optical Drives When disassembling the case, I found one of the silicon…

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Home Development Workstation – Part 2

See also ... Home Development Workstation - Part 1 If You Build It ... For starters, I give major props to Jeff Atwood's series on building a PC, because the step-by-step assembly notes, and the overriding "calm down, it's like Legos!" tone ... all very comforting. I tend to be a "ready, fire, aim" kinda guy on my home technology projects, so a little common sense around the electrical equipment is always good. I won't replicate all of his build-in-process…

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