Doing some consulting work recently reminded me of how new menu items are introduced in top restaurants and especially in restaurant chains. While many think menu selection is simply waking up in the morning and doing what one feels like, it isn't the...

[2007-04-11 11:16:00]

I’m not a software developer, even though that’s what I’ve always wanted to be when I grow up. But I see that VirtualHosting.com has an exhaustive list of tools, guides, and applications to assist in writing that killer app for the iPho...

[2007-10-25 11:13:48]

When we have clients who don’t completely embrace brand as a foundation for doing business - when they’re not smellin’ what we’re cookin’ - we just have to remember one client who has jumped in with both feet: Precision Devel...

[2007-10-19 09:52:13]

Dollar's fall raises costs of outsourcing to India :Around the globe, the falling dollar is touching everyone in the business world, from Saudi oil princes to U.S. computer makers, making American goods and services cheaper while raising the cost of f...

[2007-10-08 00:46:00]

According to Municipal Commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Jairaj Phatak the software will aim at improving the efficiency, cutting corruption and bringing in standardization in the entire process.Processing Time : “The system has been fed...

[2007-10-05 22:36:00]

I sadly claimed at some point that this blog would feature the occasional snippet of software development. It's been a little lacking. Here's what I've been up to lately.Let's play a little game called "Feature or creature?" It works li...

[2007-09-19 11:05:00]

Here's the Lotus Notes error message of the day.(Software development)(Lotus Notes)

[2007-09-13 07:00:00]

I have a new management technique to share with you. It's called the "head in the sand" approach. It doesn't work so well for actually getting software shipped, but it's remarkable for the positive effect it can have on your career. While o...

[2007-09-12 07:00:00]

Two entries from the "not adding much value" file today.public void ShowCursor(Cursor cursor){ const string fn = "ShowCursor()"; if(log.IsDebugEnabled) log.Debug("Entering " + fn); this.Cursor = cursor; if(log.IsDebugEnabled) log.Debug("Exiting " + fn);...

[2007-05-24 07:00:00]

The best part is, I thought I was making it simpler...------ Build started: Project: config, Configuration: Debug .NET ------Preparing resources...Updating references...Performing main compilation...error CS0583: Internal Compiler Error (0xc0000005 at add...

[2007-05-22 07:00:00]

The award for most... let's call it "innovative"... use of a C# Hashtable and an AsyncResult goes to:private Hashtable _asyncResultToStudyUidMap = new Hashtable();... later ...IAsyncResult asyncResult = _services.OrderService.BeginGetOrderForStudyPar...

[2007-05-11 07:01:00]

Too bad SuperMegaCorp is running screaming from .NET. This would be a good add on to anybody's PACS.(BlackBerry)(Software development)

[2007-05-10 07:00:00]

If I were a web developer, I would work this in somehow...http://www.clint.ca/oops/(Software development)(Humour)

[2007-04-23 07:01:00]

Way back, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and "windows" were things you looked out to see what nature was doing, I wrote code using the vi editor.The world was a simpler place then. No mouse to make things easy. No colour on your screen. Well, I guess ...

[2007-03-09 07:00:00]

In a team meeting. Jack is briefing the team.Jack: Next item... I was feeling some pressure from management last week, when they told me that our project was "being watched".Alan: Jack, that's a tactic.Jack: It is?Alan: Yes.Jack: Was I played?Alan: Yes....

[2007-02-13 14:31:00]

I was talking to one of our testers today. He told me he was thinking of moving to our Quality and Regulatory group. To me, that would be like falling through the ice. You'd get numb pretty fast, then really sleepy. Things would get all gray around th...

[2007-02-13 13:47:00]

Time left at the end of the sprint? Unheard of. Yet it happened to Jon Torresdal and he asks what to do? What does the team think it appropriate to do? My team is always wiser than me. Bugs - you have bugs? Isn't that indication that you unfini...

[2007-02-07 10:59:00]

Bob Sutton author of several excellent books “The No Asshole Rule” and “Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense” (my current reading). I took the Asshole Rating Self Exam today and scored 4, which makes me seem pretty normal. More tel...

[2007-02-06 17:02:00]

I just stumbled across this great summary of Scrum by William Wake: "Scrum on a Page" as Word or PDF files. My only quibble - all the times are tied to the original fixed iteration length of 30 days. I would've tried to squeeze in the more flexible approa...

[2007-02-06 12:22:00]

Sitting or Standing! How should the daily status meeting go? Beyond the three questions – Scrum says very little about what should go into the daily stand-up. There was an entire conversation recently on Scrum Development on this very subjectS...

[2007-01-23 13:35:00]

Doug Seven at MS, describes a variation of on Scrum where they only get Customer feedback one sprint in three. This isn’t Scrum. Scrum relies on getting frequent feedback from the Product Owner (aka Customer). Teams should be able to consult with the Pr...

[2007-01-12 09:44:00]