Archives / August 2008

 
8 Easy Tips on How To Create a Professional Image as a Freelance Developer
 I have been a developer myself, and I know many developers. The nature of these beasts, in general terms, tends to be outside of the 'corporate norm', as quite frankly, development requires abnormal skills (I mean that in the nice way!) However, customers and colleagues of developers who fit in with the norm can sometimes look on this as a disadvantate....
Know When Your Website is Down Before Your Boss Does!
 One of the most embarrassing events to happen to me is when my boss has asked me why our company website is down. I didn't know it was down - and it was. Yellow Pages down the pants-time. One easy way I found to get to know first is to use a website monitoring tool. I've used several different vendors in the past, some at sky-high prices, some for free....



The Leader, The Followers, and the Situation
 If you know history then you'll probably be aware that Winston Churchill was a brilliant wartime leader, bringing the UK from the depths of despair at the beginning of World War II to being triumphant alongside its allies at the end. He was the undisputed king of wartime leadership at that time. But in peacetime, less people know, he was an average...
5 Reasons Why Lightworkers (in IT) are like Luke Skywalker
 I've often written about Lightworkers and Darkworkers. There are similarities between the boy-hero and Lightworkers I thought might be fun. He trusted his instinct and acted upon it:Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: A New Hope switched off his targetting computer and trusts his instinct when firing that bomb thing into the Death Star. What a guy....



How To Ask Questions to get Great Results
 Asking questions is one of the most powerful tools a leader can use. Young children use questions from an early age to find out how the world, and people, works. The great thing about questions is that they enable a leader to direct and instruct without actually giving directions or instructions, and the result of that is more buy-in as they follower...
12 Behaviors Most Disliked by IT Professionals
 Opinion isn't one-sided! In response to my recent article on the 11 behaviors most disliked by IT leaders, here are the 12 behaviors most disliked by IT workers of their managers/leaders. This list was created from surveying some of the IT professionals I know and connect with from a number of countries and industries (56 in fact). If you agree or disagree...



LinkedIn isn’t for Lovesick Teenagers
 I've just seen this article on CIO.COM which lists the top 10 annoying aspects of social networking, according to PCWORLD. Number 8 in their list is a comment about LinkedIn being 'uptight' - the article goes to say:
SOA and Integration – Buyer (Be/A)ware…?
 I'd like to point you to a brief but useful article by Loraine Lawson I found on ITBusinessEdge which discusses cost saving on integration projects. Loraine gives three tips for ensuring your integration project delivers value and isn't pumped up with hype. Vendors are aggressive in their sales tactics as the prize is high, and particularly with integration,...



It’s Leaders Who Create Merit-Whores
 A couple of weeks back I wrote about the most disliked behaviors in IT departments, and one that 80% of IT leaders felt strongly about was the rise of the Merit-Whore. A Merit-Whore is someone who persistently and unfairly takes credit for the work of a team or a subordinate. Why does this happen? In most business organizations now, merit is the currency...
My Tenuous Link To…. Bill Gates
 I Have A Tenuous Link With Bill Gates Because… … I once bought a pizza (although I didn't eat it) from a Seattle restaurant that Bill Gates frequently used in his teenage years!



 

Switch to our mobile site