David Elliott
Jun 09 2010
Cloud Computing – are you participating and don’t know it?
For something that is attracting boatloads of attention, lots of curiosity, some level of skepticism, but plenty of filled seats in various seminars, Cloud Computing still seems like a pretty mysterious thing. But maybe it’s really in use more than we think, and for many of us, we can actually claim to be participants without having consciously moved towards the cloud.
Apr 16 2010
Managing multiple Calendars in Microsoft Project
I was recently asked to assist a co-worker with an issue he was having with Microsoft Project. He was working on a rather large implementation plan, and needed to assign the first 2/3rds of the tasks using the typical 8-hour day/40-hour week calendar, but the last third (and of course the most critical) were to be done across three 24-hour days. While this seemed like a common enough scenario, especially for large application upgrades and installs, MSProject was balking at allowing us to set this up. It was another case of “I know what I want to do, but I don’t know how”.
After much searching of the help files, google-ing and otherwise gnashing of teeth, we found the answer.
Jan 27 2010
Effective Communication Through a Requirements Document
After reading Chris LaCroix’s blog entry on Requirements gathering (see Five Things Analysts Should Always Do To Ensure Success), I was reminded of a previous assignment where two things I had learned long ago were reinforced. The first was a mantra preached by a senior Business Systems Analyst: “You can never have too much detail in your requirements”. The other was “A picture is still worth a thousand words”. They both fit together into one statement: Requirements must be communicated effectively, in a way that is easy for everyone to understand.