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Whatever happens, fewer and fewer IT departments will own their employees’ equipment. “The genie is out of the bottle”
via IBM Faces the Perils of “Bring Your Own Device” – Technology Review.
It’s tough, it’s dangerous and … it is inevitable.
IT Manager, CIOs out there, what are you doing on this topic? What do you think? Bring your own device or not?
PierG
p.s. Thanks to Davide for suggesting this article.
By By R/DV/RS, Some Rights Reserved
Every time I hear of a big IT projects, with a big RFP, with a big upfront multi-months/years analysis … I think of what happened to my friend Gianmarco some years ago.
He bought a house. The house was already partially built when he bought it (quite common in Italy). As soon as he bought it, he had some choices to make like: where do you want the light switch in the kitchen?
Yes because in the contract the constructor left some flexibility in the form of multiple choices on some things: in this way he can manage some of the changes the owner will need.
Now the problem is that Gianmarco wanted the light switch in a position and of a type that was not part of the options so … he had to pay an extra something (Change Request) and he did it ’cause it was his house, his dream.
As soon as he had time, so many things to do!!!, he went to the furniture maker who designed a great solution but … unfortunately they discovered the new position of the light switch was not good at all. Unfortunately the work to move the switch was already done and so some more money where need for another Change Request.
So two choices: have a ‘not such great solution’ or .. pay another something.
As it was his new house, Gianmarco decided to pay again.
That was a great period for Gianmarco as, few months before moving to the new house, his wife discovered to be pregnant! Great news!
The baby was born few weeks after they moved to the new house and quickly they discovered that this unexpected ‘event’ was not compatible with the brand new kitchen: there was no big table or proper position where to ‘sit’ him and have him under the watchful eye of his parents. So??? Another Change Request :)
Now, going back to my IT projects I have a question: why do we, as IT people, learn from the wrong examples?
PierG
When a SW project finish, a Project Manager is a happy, a company can send the bill and … the team moves to another project leaving the code to the lucky maintenance team.
Is the project team deeply motivated to build a product who can last for long? Is the maintenance team skilled (and willing and has the right incentive) to make the system working better and better?
Mmmm….
Here is a possible recipe:
Form long-lived teams around applications/products, or sets of features. A team works from a prioritised backlog of work that contains a mix of larger initiatives, minor enhancements, or BAU-style bug fixes and maintenance. Second-level support should be handled by people in the product team. Everyone in the team should work with common process and a clear understanding of technical design and business vision.
via Projects are evil and must be destroyed | Evan Bottcher.
What do you think?
PierG
I’ve collected some resources about “UX and friends” and I want to share them with you. I hope they can inspire or be helpful!
Is the New Facebook Timeline a Failure in Design?
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/05/03/is-the-new-facebook-timeline-a-failure-in-design/
A Persona Template
http://www.romanpichler.com/blog/agile-product-innovation/persona-template-for-agile-product-management/
37 Best Wireframing, Prototyping and Mockup Tools for Web Design and Planning
http://www.quertime.com/article/arn-2012-05-02-1-37-best-wireframing-prototyping-and-mockup-tools-for-web-design-and-planning/
How text editing on the iPad should be prsm.tc/VH36XV via @prismatic
PierG
What happens when technology cycles become shorter than corporate decision cycles?
via Business Models and the Singularity | Digital Tonto (see also Facebook, Instagram and the Singularity)
My feeling is that that moment happened 5 years ago in big corporations: IT technology is already changing at a rate Coporate IT and Corporations cannot handle.
What’s the solution?
PierG
Like this:
ok I know some things about IT projects:
1. many IT projects I know usually fail
2. the vast majority of big IT projects I know in Corporate IT fails
Now the question is why? Because if I can understand why, maybe I can solve problem and suxk less 
Unfortunately there are many reasons, but I want to underline one of these reasons that’s particularly true for big projects that span across different business units or areas in a corporations (like CRMs, ERPs …): lack of Product Owner.
Who has the ownership of the project? Who’s accountable for the functionality of the Project / Product as a whole? Who’s responsible that what’s been developed is good for the company and is coherent with the company strategy?
Yes you can find Owners for each business unit or area (maybe!) but what about the Corporate view? Is IT responsible for it? Has IT knowledge or power enough to close this gap?
PierG
Like this:
I’ve collected some resources about “UX and friends” and I want to share them with you. I hope they can inspire or be helpful!
10 Most Popular Drawing iPhone Apps 2012
http://smashinghub.com/10-most-popular-drawing-iphone-apps-2012.htm
How ‘Lean UX’ Can Improve Application Development
http://www.cio.com/article/703557/How_Lean_UX_Can_Improve_Application_Development?taxonomyId=3172&page=1
Organizational Challenges for UX Professionals
http://uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2012/04/organizational-challenges-for-ux-professionals.php
Designing For Mobile – Best Practices for Superior User Experiences
http://www.the-cma.org/about/blog/designing-for-mobile
PierG
Our Public National TV (RAI TV) is not known in Italy for being highly innovative.
But … it has an interesting set of option in the streaming side that’s, as far as I know, unique (and free!!) in Italy.
You can see almost anything on any channel live in streaming just going to the site www.rai.tv: here is the channel 1 link as an example.
The real time streaming is also visible on iOS (not tested on Android but I guess it works) without any extra app.
You can see, for free, almost all the shows from the previous week for channels 1,2,3 and 5 going to the RAI Replay site (here RAI 1 as an example).
Some of the shows are stored for on demand streaming (as an example a piece of SanRemo 2012).
Of course there is streaming for the Radio channels and special web events are available.
For some (very few for now as far as I know) events there is also an HD streaming available.
Not bad, congrats!
PierG
“In today’s world of MBA-managed companies, R&D is perceived as not being a good use of money.” – http://www.cringely.com/2011/08/losing-the-hp-way/
Thanks to Alessio for this article (https://twitter.com/alessiojacona/status/104856565680586753)
PierG
I met a CIO like that. He told me his policy was to never say No to the business. So he always said Yes, and the business was always angry because things he agreed to didn’t get done, or got done poorly or far later than they wished. His Yes meant nothing.
via Insights You Can Use » Blog Archive » Yes. No. Negotiate..
PierG
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