One of the largest tech company in the world
Supposedly earns billions in consulting services
and what happens when thousands (and let’s imagine millions) hit their web app store?
Management
Overheard : Comment about complex organizational structures
More tiers means more tears..
Keep it simple :).
HOW TO : Playbook for creating an effective IT team
Tom Limoncelli put together a list of questions that are essentially a cheat-sheet to creating and running a very effective IT team. He called it the Limoncelli Test (as a tribute to the Joel Spolsky‘s Joel Test) and it can be found at http://everythingsysadmin.com/the-test.html.
The only additional thing I would add to the list is to have a roadmap for the function you provide and ensure it is updated quarterly. A lot of teams spend a lot of time on what they do now, but don’t focus on what they “can” do. This is similar to IT functions spending more than 70% – 80% of their budgets on maintenance rather than innovating.
Overheard : Comment about perception
Comment by Mark Horstman on his recent podcast regd managing a massive workload increase
We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are
I believe this a famous quote.. don’t know who the original author is. But wanted to note, since it is a pretty deep :).
I highly recommend Mark and his partner Mike’s podcast “Manager Tools” and “Career Tools” to every professional. Well worth the time.
Overheard : Comment about being a true Motivater
I was interviewing a candidate for a job opening at my work. I asked him how he motivates his team and he made this comment about how you truly measure if you can motivate a person
Think of a 16 year old working part time at a retailer. She is just working to earn money to buy some lipstick or perfume. Think how you can motivate her to work on a thanksgiving weekend!!
Management : Is your message being heard
Good article regd. communications (verbal and email) on NY Times at http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/are-your-messages-being-heard/ . I esp liked the comment about keeping messages short and smiling. We spend some much time at work (and most of that on email) in the modern work place. And I think these two things will make your colleagues appreciate you a lot more :).
Cloud Computing and your company's infrastructure
Bold forecast :).. But in 5 to 10 years, I predict the majority of a company’s infrastructure will be hosted in a “cloud”. If you recall (circa 2000..), most of the companies were hosting “anti-spam” services in house. If anyone suggested that we can outsource that service, you would get a “are-you-crazy” look :). And now, you will get the same look if anyone suggests they run the anti-spam service in house. I believe the same is going to happen for infrastructure. You might still be running some components in house, but it will get smaller and smaller. Companies will be forced to focus on their core competency rather than try to maintain an army of engineers to perform tasks that someone else might be a lot better at.
Speaking of being visionary, apparently Netflix operates most of their infrastructure in the cloud. If Netflix can operate in the cloud, a majority of us can too :). Here are some links regd their lessons from moving to a cloud.
http://blip.tv/file/4252897 (Video of Netflix Director of Engineering explaining their move to the cloud)
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxwcmFjdGljYWxjbG91ZGNvbXB1dGluZ3xneDo2NDc2ODVjY2ExY2Y1Zjcz&pli=1 (Write up by a Netflix engineer about the move to the cloud from a storage and DB prospective)
What does it mean to be a "Proactive IT Team"?
This picture (credited to Uptime Software) shows how you can classify outages so that you know which ones to tackle first. A very good way to take stock of things and show progress over time.
True Leadership..
As I was channel browsing yesterday, I happened to run across an episode of NOW on my local PBS station. It featured a Harvard educated man that decided to run for the mayor of a rundown steel belt town (Braddock, PA). Besides being impressed and humbled by Mr.John Fetterman, I thought he displayed all the characteristics of a true leader (IMHO).
- Having a Vision
- Committing to the Vision
- Thinking out of the box to implement vision
- Thinking objectively
Highly recommend watching the video, if you have the time 🙂
Creative Genius : Graphical Form
Jeevan Kumar, one of my colleagues and friend, came up with this graphical form of what makes a creative genius.. And I thought, it is only fair to share this art and Jeeva’s talent with the world :)..
