War Stories 20 little rules for surviving in IT Projects Below are just a few things I've come across in almost 19 years of working in IT. After a chat with a good friend who is considering breaking into It I thought it
War Stories New goal - We want to be CMM level 3 For those who don't know CMM stands for . It's a set of standards designed to help an organisations software processes to the point that a software project is easily repeatable. What this actually
War Stories Problem Ownership I've been helping out with some issues found on some development workstations. Fairly simple things like the user not being able to change wallpaper and stuff like that. When the image leaves the
War Stories Exploring the Job Market So it's that time of year again, appraisals - the part where you sit down with your manager, he tells you just how useful you are and how you don't quite get a
War Stories Upcoming Week I already know it's going to be one of "those" weeks, but then I guess it always is, there is always something that turns a nice quiet, productive week into a
War Stories Why change control can be a Bad Idea I'm sure that many people have had to endure the torture that is a change control process. In short, change control is a process whereby changes to a system have to be approved
War Stories Software is not a panacea - Part 2 In the previous article I raised the fictional scenario of a company wanting to automate a timesheet submission process. In this article I'd like to touch on some of the project processes that
War Stories Why Total Cost of Ownership is a fallacy If I have one more potential supplier try and sell me something on the lie that it will "reduce TCO" I will not only scream but I will beat them to
War Stories Legacy Systems and a very handy SQL comparrison Tool On Friday, I had the "pleasure" of having to get a legacy system up and running. This system was originally introduced to allow users in the business to manage group membership
War Stories If in doubt, reboot........ the train........ My journey into work is normally quite uneventful. Since the move out to Kent it generally takes 20 minutes longer but the journey is actually fairly pleasant. Today was the exception. About 20
War Stories Bad Project Management Sometimes this industry makes me want to scream. My old favourite the artificially tight deadline has been back in force this week with a project due to finish at the end of the
War Stories The week from hell Ok, so it's more nine days than a week but you know how people say trouble comes in three's? Well, I've almost had three lots of three over the past nine days. I'll
War Stories A Novel Idea - Let's do what the business wants. I sat in a meeting the other day where a whole new project priority scheme was unveiled based around the unique idea 'Deliver what the business needs'. The idea was greeted with thunderous
War Stories The strange case of the disappearing server Sometimes you have one of those REALLY odd requests... Today I was asked to fix a problem with a web link. A quick look showed that the DNS entry had been removed but