Category: Project Management

Weighing in on Project Orca [updated]

Weighing in on Project Orca [updated]

| November 10, 2012 | 3 Replies

[Final version — flights are done and I’m on the ground in Florida] “All the most important mistakes are made on the first day.” – The Art of Systems Architecting (Maier & Rechtin) Project Orca was the Romney campaign’s technological effort to track in near-real-time actual voting in precincts all over the United States, with […]

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The five books every IT manager should read…right now

The five books every IT manager should read…right now

| November 20, 2008 | Reply

I’ll add “software engineers” as well, not to mention CIOs and CTOs. My latest Baseline column is up, and in it, I discuss just why you should read these books — or, if you have read them already, why you should re-read them.  ..bruce w..

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The latest Baseline columns

The latest Baseline columns

| September 24, 2008 | Reply

The first column, “Second Class Software Quality for Major IT Projects”, talks about the curious fact that organizations are willing to spend millions, tens of millions, even hundred of millions of dollars on major IT project and yet still nickle-and-dime their software quality assurance (SQA) effort. It doesn’t help that SQA personnel are pretty much […]

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“Inside-Out”: IEEE presentation in Longmont (09/02/08)

“Inside-Out”: IEEE presentation in Longmont (09/02/08)

| August 26, 2008 | Reply

On September 2nd, I’ll be speaking at a meeting of the Denver IEEE Reliability Society. It will be held at 5:30 pm in the Seagate Building in Longmont (CO), on Nelson Road between 75th Rd and Airport Rd. Here’s my abstract of the talk: INSIDE-OUT: Organizations too often treat software reliability as an ‘after the […]

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Latest Baseline column up

Latest Baseline column up

| August 22, 2008 | Reply

My latest Baseline column is now up: Last week, I talked about some of the reasons why large organizations often reject the best solutions for a troubled IT project: fear, pride, budget, and the ever-present internal politics. This week, as promised, I will talk about what it takes to champion the right solution. I can’t […]

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New Baseline column up

New Baseline column up

| August 15, 2008 | Reply

I have a new Baseline column up on the tendency of large organizations to reject the best solutions for a troubled IT project: The consultants, usually with the help of the employees in the trenches, would use their time, effort, and expertise to analyze the system under development or in production. They would arrive at […]

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IT projects: fooled by success

IT projects: fooled by success

| August 7, 2008 | Reply

I’m currently reading (and enjoying) Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb; his concepts inspired my latest Baseline column, which talks about the risks that follow a successful IT project: But sometimes with projects that really shouldn’t succeed—that are attempting too much, too fast, with too many risks—enough things go right, particularly along the critical paths, […]

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Latest column up: distributed development (part 2)

Latest column up: distributed development (part 2)

| July 17, 2008 | Reply

My latest Baseline column is up, discussing how to make a distributed software development project work.  ..bruce..

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iPhone 2.0 – Or The Importance Of Load Testing

iPhone 2.0 – Or The Importance Of Load Testing

| July 11, 2008 | Reply

In case you did not happen to be within 3 miles of an Apple fan today, Friday July 11th was THE day, the holy day when Jobs the Magnificent would allow the faithful to purchase some really nice hardware, namely the second generation / 3G iPhone. But, boys and girls, this is instead a lesson […]

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Latest column up: wrapping up IT project metrics

Latest column up: wrapping up IT project metrics

| June 19, 2008 | Reply

My newest Baseline column is up: “Lies, Damned Lies, and Project Metrics (part 3)“. In it, I wrap up my discussion on IT project metrics, outlining a possible approach using instrumentation and heuristics.  Go check it out.  ..bruce..

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