Mar 25 2013
Your Morning Routine: Utilizing Process Failure Modes and Effects Analysis
In 23 years, I have witnessed an undeniable truth: everyone is in a hurry. Human-beings have a knack for squeezing too much into one day. Why? It’s simple, really – there just isn’t enough time in one day. We utilize efficient routines (processes) trying to create time for life’s necessities, such as spending time with family and friends, making time for work, etc. Additionally, unforeseen and disruptive events (failure modes) further prolong our daily routines, forcing us into having condensed and hectic schedules devoid of much breathing room. Sometimes, even the thought of scheduling time for ourselves can be as rigorous as juggling bowling balls while standing one-legged on a swivel chair.
Mar 20 2013
Live Blogging from the Gartner BI Conference in Dallas, TX
Day 2
I’m beginning to notice a theme running through the various seminars and presentations I’ve been attending here at the Gartner BI Conference. I am curious to see if these extend into the last day. If they do, then I’ll summarize them and make a few observations in a separate blog after I get back and can process my thoughts on their implications for our clients and my co-workers.
The day started with a topic I’m personally interested in – How to Deploy Mobile BI presented by Joao Tapadinhas from Gartner. Mr. Tapadinhas was well versed in the benefits of Mobile BI, especially from an international perspective. It was clear that his definition of “Deploy” was not the actual turning up the service, but the whole start-to-finish process. The overview includes:
Mar 19 2013
Live Blogging from the Gartner BI Summit in Dallas, TX
Day 1
I’m a bit overwhelmed and dismayed at the workshop choices here at the Gartner BI Summit. There are so many sessions I’d love to attend, but time is at a premium. Data Discovery/Self-Service BI or Introduction to Hadoop? Data Warehouse Best Practices or Healthcare Analytics? They’re all worthwhile, and applicable to many current CapTech clients. But it looks like I can’t go wrong no matter which ones I attend.
The day started with the Keynote Address, with Bill Hostmann, Ian Bertram and Ted Friedman joining forces to discuss the current state of BI, and the new direction its heading in the next few years. Key points included:
Mar 18 2013
Single Page Web Apps Using Backbone.js
I recently gave a presentation about creating Single Page Web Apps and thought it would be a good topic to blog about as well. “What exactly is a Single Page Web App?” you ask. To put it simply a Single Page Web App is a website that attempts to recreate the experience of a native desktop or mobile application. On a Single Page Web App you are less likely to see page refreshes, the browser navigation within the App is often overridden and there will usually be some offline capabilities. To a user their interaction with a Single Page Web App will be almost identical to how they would interact with a full native application.
Mar 15 2013
Don’t Just Get Stuff Done: A Lesson for all Butchers, PM’s, Architects, and Software Developers
I wrote my recent blog, An Old Dog Makes the Case for New Tricks, on a flight early one morning. That afternoon, in a meeting with an intelligent and well-respected friend and client, we discussed the case for disciplined project management. Why should a PM use MS Project instead of MS Excel to manage the schedule? Why should there be a documented risk and issue log? Why can’t a good PM, whose talent is getting stuff done, just work at getting stuff done? I immediately realized the need for this follow-up blog.