Cuckoo's Egg - by Cliff Stoll

About 10 years ago a saw a special on PBS about Cliff Stoll and how he traced an international hacker after finding a 75cent discrepancy in the Lawrence Berkley computer systems - just an amazing story. This is a true geek/hacker book for those technically inclined (even though there is little technology discussed). Highly recommended enjoyable read - recharges the batteries.

I agreee with Larry

Here's Larry's take on cloud computing....
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13953_3-10052188-80.html..
basically BS, but willing to join if it makes him some more $ (I guess he needs another sail boat). I think I said something similar (without the need to use the BS for more $): http://itprojectguide.blogspot.com/2008/08/something-new-something-old-something.html.
I think as long as leading IT (yes Larry is still up there I guess) promote sales-speech there will always be some BS line leading to some existing technology being sold instead of effort being spent on new ideas. I'd like to call it what it is...but who am I to recommend anything, I'm considering myself the first cloud-centric blog-a-matic project manager. Keep the tasks, risks and plans all in the cloud...I also have a Brooklyn Cloud Bridge to sell if anyone is interested.

Estimation MindMap

Other MindMaps at: http://itprojectguide.org/MindMaps

XP - my take

I recently read a post by Kent Beck in the ExtremeProgramming Yahoo group - http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/extremeprogramming/message/145397 (you'll probably need to join to read the entire post - which I recommend). My take on it is that - like all other revolutions (this one being one of process from traditional SDLC to Agile/XP) - the new becomes the norm and the norm become bureaucratic - making further drastic changes required. I've always seen Agile and XP initiatives as an attempt to deliver greater value by removing the imposed management overhead and miss-steps (such as thinking mediocre can replace exceptional with the right process in place) - and, unfortunately now that many Agile/XP practices/processes have become the norm, they are now the anchor....just my opinion.
Responsible Development is the style of development I aspire to now. It can be summarized by answering the question, "How would I develop if it was my money?" I'm amazed how many theoretical arguments evaporate when faced with this question. Responsible Development shares many practices with XP but the roots are different. Responsible Development's values are honesty, transparency, accountability, and responsibility. These lead me to pairing, test-first, incremental design, continuous integration, and so on because they support the values. - Kent Beck

FLOSS - another podcast from twit.tv

I 'discovered' FLOSS on the twit.tv site recently and after listening to the latest about Drupal had to listen to the last 5 - ALL WORTH IT!
This podcast along with Security Now is worth the cost of 5 iPods and provides more info then any techie can consume weekly. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

A truly interesting story

What the real truth is....who knows: http://www.itworld.com/print/53936
Everyone in IT knows of an admin that has had some 'personal' connection to the network - something that is often fostered and looked on as positive, but what if it gets out of hand? Or what if the admin REALLY does have the network's best interest in mind and the higher-ups are really impacting security going through CYA motions? Should there be a 'special' agreement between those in charge and those overlooking the network? Someway to put vital info in escrow to ensure the network is transferable? Some hot-button the admin can hit when higher-ups are indeed endangering the network? Thank goodness most IT people have high integrity and are mostly focused on solving issues otherwise the lack of mutual trust and transparency would surely impact every company every time an admin moves on (or is moved on).

Talk about Risk!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/business/15street.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
WOW! Imagine having a project within any financial company at this point...how do you mitigate a risk of this magnitude? Makes the late delivery of a document seem meaningless - right? Not really. Projects will be canceled, initiatives put on hold - but that's mid/long term, from my experience most in-progress projects will remain in-progress - the real risk is team morale....
http://valleywag.com/5049763/lehman-brothers-it-guys-still-have-to-work-monday