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…
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…
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…
If you need a one-slide, three-bullet, PowerPoint special for describing the basic tactics for "How to Achieve Operational Excellence", try these: Process and Procedures Metrics and Measurements Continuous Improvement The first two are nicely alliterative, but you might consider substituting Standards and Processes as your lead-off if we're talking about an IT, Finance, or Engineering department. Now What? Of course, now you have to generate the details; the "motherhood and apple pie" routine only lasts thru the first meeting. Here's…