Archive for the Productivity Category
I must be a glutten for punishment. I've always said that most techies are closet masochists. In truth though, I love the chase, the challenge of the learning curve. It seems that every six months or so I climb yet another hill with every project requiring skills that I don't presently posses.
Four months into an intranet implementation with Microsoft SharePoint it's nice to be moving up the hill a bit further. Fairly new to .Net, I've been configuring the site and leading the team project. Nex
August 27, 2008
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Being a leader is an interesting and challenging responsibility, but leading a cross-departmental team where influencing an already busy group of folks kicks it up a notch. For the last couple of months I've been leading an intranet implementation team for a global enterprise. I work with folks from several department from more than one location and report to a multi-national executive committee. The task is large and the timeline is condensed for the initial launch in the matter of months. Some
June 27, 2008
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This morning I dropped into Starbucks for a non-fat GRTL (Green Tea Latte). Vicariously I'm learning what one Barista called Starbonics, the tribal language of Starbucks. Tribal languages abound in every organization. To communicate effectively within any group it is important to pick-up their language. The development of a tribal language is a natural and critical element that builds cohesion between members. In some cases it facilitates higher thinking, in others more efficient processes
June 24, 2008
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IT professionals, contrary to popular belief are wired for customer service. In fact, Creating innovative solutions and solving problems is a driving factor for why we do what we do.
When technical personnel are approached to solve a technical issue we need clear information in order to most effectively help the person making the request. Some simple steps will expedite your request resulting in better customer service back to you.
1. Be specific as possible. Vague information lea
June 13, 2008
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In the quiet moments early in the morning I sometimes wax philosophical in pursuit of understanding my day-to-day existence. What is it that I really am doing? What difference does pushing 0's and 1's around? To the degree that I am successful, what makes my work stand apart from another? Is it creative ingenuity to solve problems? Yes, I think I have some of that. Is it a strong work ethic? Well, everyday I get up and do it again. Is it work done with integrity? Yes, I am not one to cut corners
May 29, 2008
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A quick search on desktop utilities will reveal a plethora of bells and whistles. Sometimes it's challenging to discern between the helpful suggestions and self-promotion. After trying many utilities, there are a few that have worked their way into my daily work life, utilities I depend on to help me through my day.
Keepass - I don't know what I did all those years without a solid way of storing passwords. What a conundrum it poses. On one hand, best practice says to use unique passwords
May 6, 2008
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Just this past week I was appointed team lead on an intranet implementation team. Endeavoring to structure a site in a meaningful way that will serve the needs of different departments in multiple locations in America, Europe and Asia is more than a little challenging. It reminds me once again that technology per sa is not the most daunting challenge we face.
In this specific case we are implementing MOSS 2007 (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server). While I find some clunky aspects to the platfor
May 1, 2008
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Calculating what to charge for freelance work on the side is a question I wrestled with for a good while. Search the internet and you'll come up with everything from vague answers to complicated formulas. What I've landed on is a simple formula: Take your yearly salary working full-time and drop-off the last three zeros. That means if you are just starting out in web design or development and making $35,000 let's say, then you you'd charge $35 or possibly $40 per hour. As your income goes up, so
March 30, 2008
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RSS feeds provide a means to extract topical information from a website. Often there are subtopics within a site that hold particular value or interest to me that I want to track. Instead of subscribing to the site as a whole, I often add select feeds to my reader. This can be extremely useful in research of any kind.
A good number of sites make the topical feeds option very obvious. Sites such as:
Craigslist.org. I like to keep an eye on the Austin real estate market. I added the fee
October 23, 2007
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There is a pandemic plague afflicting business and home users of technology that is growing exponentially by the day. Spam is a resource parasite that is leaching into every crevice of our communication systems. The economic impact of spam continues to be a fundamental driver for more innovative and rapid change on the IT horizon.
Spammers use tried and true systems to infiltrate email and database systems. Put simply, spammers don't like change.
As a professional web developer
October 17, 2007
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