BOSS logic

Tell me thrice

In certain military contexts there’s the concept of “tell me three times,” a form of checksum that eliminates error by introducing redundancy. This is something I’ve been meaning to write a meaningful piece on for a while — and this diagram is at the root of it. It’s an integral part to any complete process… [...]

iPhones in Iceland?

How do I get an iPhone that works (natively, not using roaming) in Iceland? I’ve visited the Iceland Apple Store but the site is woefully out of date and offers no information about iPhones. And yet, there are a scattering of references across the ‘net that make passing reference to using iPhones in and [...]

Finding strategic learning funds

Training Industry Times recently published some rather disappointing statistics: Over 92% of surveyed business have experienced pressure to reduce their training budget in 2007. Worse, 56% reported that the pressure to reduce or altogether cut training costs were “significant.”
Is this attitude regarding education part-and-parcel of the declining attitude toward education in the United States? More [...]

Recommended reading

If you want to learn about Scrum there are two books I recommend. Well, more than recommend: These are, in my mind, the definitive works on the subject. They’re both an easy read and if, like me, you get engrossed you’ll probably mark them up extensively and finish the set in a weekend.
Agile Software [...]

Rational Scrum

Recently I tried out a variant on methodology that I’ll dub Rational Scrum. I’ve been trying to put together a few thoughts about the overall process for months, and finally found some time for it.
Just as people have specializations, so do processes. Applying one process to all situations is just as wrong as calling your [...]

Whole teams

Creating a cohesive whole team means building a project team with representation from all stakeholders in the project. Doing so requires both defining the team and creating involvement. It also means creating a structure for involvement that does not slow the project down. Creating this environment of constant, informed involvement does not mean throwing everyone into long (and ultimately unproductive) meetings every day.

Coehesive teams

I really liked this post by Patrick Wilson Welsh about the The Fallacy of Individual Accomplishment. Yes it’s true, your heads-down cubicle dwelling knowledge hoarders are more of a liability than an asset. And while we’re here, let’s all just recite: “Hero Culture Is Bad.”

The case for certification

I had to read the Agile Alliance’s position on certification a few times before I could decide whether I liked their position or not. Part of this is that the opinion is not that well written. Getting past that, I came away with these core statements:

Employers should not require certification.
Non-skill-based certification testing procedures have little [...]

Secure OS/X Squirrelmail

I’m very disappointed with Apple at the moment. I expect careful, well-built systems from Apple. I expect things free video poker downloadpoker videofree online poker no download,free poker playing online,free online pokerfree texas holdem poker gamefree on line pokercrazy game of pokerfree online texas holdem poker,free holdem line poker texas,free texas holdem pokerfree internet pokerpoker [...]

My new, favorite CM tool

I recently started looking into Seapine’s Surround SCM as a potential solution to our Software Configuration Management problems at work. Specifically, we were looking for a good suite of tools that provide state-of-the-art source code and document control, and does so with an interface that’s easy enough non-technical people to use. Oh, and it has [...]

When you’re boss doesn’t listen

I was recently approached by someone asking for advice dealing with a boss that won’t listen to the engineering team, and who doesn’t believe in methodology, testing or quality assurance. Statements such as “QA would just find a lot of bugs and keep us from making release dates” raised. This is a lousy place to [...]

VMware converter

Now that we Mac folk have a bit of competition on the virtual operating system front we’re starting to see good things develop. Competition is always good for the market right?
So it would seem, as VMware ships version 1.1 of Fusion. I was eager to try out the Converter application and migrate my virtual Parallels [...]