tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68380796152814725182011-07-30T19:59:48.242-07:00IT discussion topics for all IT professionals - not just code writers.Fred Brillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10731385357714489031noreply@blogger.comBlogger81100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838079615281472518.post-73976528380770597952010-03-12T21:17:00.000-08:002010-03-12T21:17:22.070-08:00

Imagine. Imagine being able to send out a single message to a large group of people to solicit a yes or no answer, or to pick one option out of list of several options – and have that single message track all the responses for you in one quick view. Imagine being able to hold a debate – and allowing everyone invited to the debate to weigh in with their opinions – within the container of a

Fred Brillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10731385357714489031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838079615281472518.post-54021555343974445662009-07-04T12:15:00.001-07:002009-07-04T12:50:17.459-07:00

I have invested a lot of time and energy in the recent months in the tools that we commonly refer to as Social Networking.I have written articles and joined groups on Helium.com.I have a found a good number of old and recent friends on Facebook.com.I have a number of professional contacts that I have worked with over the last twenty years on LinkedIn.com.And recently I even started using

Fred Brillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10731385357714489031noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838079615281472518.post-80769110802750398832009-06-24T09:08:00.001-07:002009-06-24T09:10:50.722-07:00

Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a term that has been used loosely and redefined to meet specific needs of various IT organizations, movements (such as Java and Open Source), and individuals needs.Recently I saw a debate on the usefulness of EA being debated in a forum I belong and subscribe to. The business executive was frustrated with trying to understand the principles of EA as it has changed

Fred Brillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10731385357714489031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838079615281472518.post-34922964650034844832008-08-24T11:21:00.001-07:002008-08-24T14:53:25.806-07:00

The most neglected aspect of any IT shop is documentation.Think about it? If a new person comes on board in your IT department, how long does it take for that person to get up to speed before they can be assigned their first task? I am not just talking about programming and coding, but any aspect?Walking into a new work environment is daunting to the best IT professional. Most often the learning

Fred Brillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10731385357714489031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838079615281472518.post-83733255782736725392008-07-26T08:26:00.001-07:002008-07-26T08:40:17.819-07:00

I think there are few industries – if any – that change their minds as fast as the IT industry.I like to use the analogy of a pendulum to discuss this topic. Because at a high level, the decisions go back and forth, swinging right to left. And the one certain fact of a pendulum that you can count on is it will only swing so far to the right, stop, and swing back again to the left.In this analogy,

Fred Brillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10731385357714489031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838079615281472518.post-4052449066447491272008-07-23T19:01:00.000-07:002008-07-24T15:59:59.993-07:00

Over the last thirty years of my working life, I have been continually amazed at how many times a person who fails or does poorly on a project or large task usually gets promoted to manage the outcome of their failure.It happens time and time again.The Peter Principle states that “In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence“. In some cases though, The Dilbert

Fred Brillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10731385357714489031noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838079615281472518.post-5260784611761284712008-07-23T18:54:00.000-07:002008-07-23T19:01:26.394-07:00

Every IT shop I have ever seen is different.The roles are different, as the purpose of IT in every environment is unique.When I discuss this topic with people, I am always quick to point out that there are three main categories of environments that every shop falls under:The software development companyThe IT department in a company or corporate environment.The IT consulting firm The software

Fred Brillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10731385357714489031noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6838079615281472518.post-31521447302132236522008-07-23T18:49:00.000-07:002008-07-23T18:54:33.496-07:00

There is more to having a successful IT team than simply knowing how to write source code.Yet as I surf the Internet, the vast majority of discussion is how to write rock solid code using various techniques, technologies, and best practices.But techniques, technologies and best practices are not constrained only to source code development. There are so many more roles in today’s IT environment,

Fred Brillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10731385357714489031noreply@blogger.com0