Craig Bailey on Microsoft

Just going through my backlog of blog posts and read this one from Paul Stovell (from over a month ago).

I totally agree with his main point that 'we are what we repeatedly code'. It takes a while to build a habit. I wish more coders wised up to this. But more importantly I wish more software managers wised up to this.

When it comes to the cost involved, I'd suggest that the cost is a little higher than Paul makes out (and others have alluded to this in his comments), but the important point is that the cost is much smaller long term than not doing it (as Paul points out in his comment reply).

The problem in many places (not here of course :-) is that whilst software managers often pay lip service to wanting proper 'resume quality' code, they often don't really follow through with enough resources. Good developers are the ones who often push for better quality, but managers have to (or is that choose to?) compromise due to other constraints. Sometimes this is because software managers are victim to the old 'all responsibility, no authority' trap, but other times, the pressures of too much work, not enough time get in the way. What value is there in documenting a project that has been delivered and already paid for? And of course here is the problem – it should have been documented during the project... but because we didn't document it last time, we weren't in the habit of documenting, and because we weren't in the habit we didn't... etc the bad cycle becomes the habit.

It takes guts and determination to break the habit, not just from the developers, but from management as well.

And I guess it would help if clients saw the value and agreed to pay for it as well (but that's another discussion).

Next Wed I'm speaking at the South Coast Chapter of the Australian Computer Society, discussing '5 Mistakes Software Managers Make'. This is based on my recent talk at SBTUG, but expanded a little taking into account the great feedback I got at the meeting.

Details here

Not sure if any of my readers are Wollongong based, but if so I'd love to see you there.

Looks like Rahul's beaten me to it again... the presentations from Wednesday night's sessions at SBTUG are up.

A quick report: Steven Ringo gave a very good overview of Web 2.0, where it is used, popular sites, how it can be used in business and where it is headed. Most useful.

Scott Scovell (and yes, Rahul, I agree, he is a guru) managed to cram a comprehensive overview of the entire Connected Systems space into 40 minutes – an incredible feat. In fact it was overwhelming.

The thing about Connected Systems is that it is so broad and all-encompassing, that it is hard to get a take on it. And that's why Scott's session was so valuable. The important point is that Microsoft (and others of course) are making a huge (ahem, gigantic, massive) investment in it. As Scott noted in his session, 10 years ago XML was just a fad that a few techies talked about and the majority dismissed (OK, maybe not quite but you get the point) and then it became the very lifeblood of just about everything we do today. [By the way I wonder if VFP will ever support XML? – that's a joke folks]. An in a similar way, Connected Systems is not really understood by the masses. Of course, XML is a mechanism, whereas Connect Systems is a strategy, so it's not really the same, but the point is that if you want to be at the forefront of technology in the next few years, you need to be understanding Connected Systems.

Scott's session is here

Steve's session is here

Upcoming meetings are listed here

As Rahul has posted, Talman is looking for two more staff to build our VFP team:

1. A Senior VFP Developer
   
2. A Senior QA + Testing professional
   

There are details on the links about how to apply.

Please note: the roles are only open to Australian permanent residents at this stage.

What's interesting about this is that we are growing our VFP team (ie they are not replacements for people leaving). We have an ever growing backlog of VFP work. What's really strange is that our Web work is drying up (something that I thought would be overflowing at the moment) but our VFP work is going nuts. We are seriously considering 'realigning' (warning: management wank-speak in use) our business completely around VFP – there's too much money to be made...

Anyone else having this 'problem' :-) ?

This Wednesday at Sydney Business & Technology User Group (SBTUG) we have two excellent sessions lined up.

The first (Business) has Steven Ringo talking about all things Web 2.0, explaining the different offerings, but most importantly outlining how they can be useful to your business.

The second (Technology) is an overview of Connected Systems by Scott Scovell. This won't be so much HOW to do stuff, but more focussed on answering the WHY questions. Why do need to know about Connected Systems, Why do they matter, Why are they so important etc. So, if you've been wondering about BizTalk, WCF, WF, CardSpace and where they all fit into the scheme of things, then this talk is just what you need.

More details available here:

www.sbtug.com

Don't miss it:

Wed 27 June 2007 @ Microsoft HQ, North Ryde.

We'll be starting with Pizza at 6:30pm and the first session will start at 6:45pm sharp.

I promise to be vigilant on the schedule for the evening – we'll be finishing up around 8:30pm (I realise last time I didn't control time that well :-)

Please sign up on the site to receive email reminders.

Also, check out the sessions coming up later in the year:

http://www.sbtug.com/#Future_meetings

And a reminder that you can help shape the user group by filling out our quick (60 sec) survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=96143930384

You may have already seen this little gem:

http://www.simple-talk.com/opinion/opinion-pieces/fired-with-enthusiasm/

If not, then be dazzled by the genius of Kishor (not his real name).

Do you relate to the author's comment towards the end?:

'It was at that point that I realised I would never make it to the top rank of IT managers. Something else was necessary; a talent I didn't possess. Kishor had it.'

As noted by others, there are a two new VFP bloggers, including:

Bo Durban

Craig Boyd (not sure about this guy – tread carefully J)

Btw does anyone know what Kevin Ragsdale's new blog address is? The new FeedBurner link he provided last week doesn't appear to be working...

About two weeks ago I attended this event, a speed networking event for .Net companies. The idea is that the 'community' of .Net based companies get to know each other better for the purposes of partnering and network building.

I was a little hesitant but went any way (Talman does a lot of .Net stuff in addition to our VFP stuff). The reasons for my hesitancy were because I wasn't quite clear what the objective was, but on reflection Dan's note on Andrew's blog was pretty accurate.

So here's how it panned out:

Eddie Geller (CEO of Unique World MCed the event – let's call him 'MC Eddie' from now one J) and started with a quick run-down of the NSW.Net cluster aims, noting there will be more events commencing in July – stay tuned by checking here every so often)

Next, two brief introductions from people explaining their businesses, and then onto the Speed-Networking itself. This was organised as two circles of people (one inside the other, the inside facing out, the outside facing in) and you were given 4 minutes to network with the person in front of you before a bell rang and the outside circle moved to the left ('...it's just a jump to the left...').

Now before you cringe and think how strange that might be let me make a few comments. First, I thought it was really good. The issue with networking for me has always been about how phoney it seems – you know you wander up to someone at a function and pretend to be interested in them. Here though there is no need to pretend – everyone knows they have just 4 minutes to chat. So, and here's the next good thing, you learn to get your 'elevator speech' pretty smooth. By the end (we had about 30 minutes or 7 changes) I was pretty good at summing up Talman in a minute and knowing what to ask my networking 'target' so I could understand their business as quickly as possible. These are good skills to work on. And, finally, yes I did make some good contacts. People I will probably work with, and others who I will want to work for us. Yikes! Could this networking thing actually have some benefit and not be just a superficial waste of time? Yes, it can and does. I said as much here a while back and am glad to be still saying the same thing.

Eddie has a good summary of networking advantages here.

The event finished with a stunning presentation on Silverlight by Michael Kordahi. Sadly his presentation was too short (he was limited due to all that bloody networking stuff going on earlier!)

Interesting tidbit from someone who needed to learn VFP in a hurry

http://n0tablog.wordpress.com/2007/06/10/how-i-learned-visual-foxpro-in-an-emergency/

Compare this to this

Yes, just got my notebook back after a week without it. This is the second time in as many months that my machine has died. This time it died on Monday morning when I booted up at work, but I'm lucky enough to have it back late on Friday arvo (so I can spend all weekend re-installing all my stuff J).

It makes you realise how lost you can become without your machine. Sure, everything was all backed up (I haven't lost anything – especially my VPCs that I've spent the last month building thank goodness), but if you haven't got anything to restore your backup to then it can be a frustrating time. Fortunately there was spare machine in the office I could use for basic email and office functions – but you really miss not having your space.

I guess this is why most senior managers and presenters these days carry around two machines... just in case.

At times like this you really appreciate the different registration processes that software companies use. For example, at the 'you little ripper' end of the spectrum is FeedDemon. I just downloaded the latest version and it prompted me to enter my Newsgator name and password. It then did the rest – retrieved my subscription details, registration code, everything. A fantastic experience. Others have been a little frustrating, such as SnagIt. I bought this in the days of v7, and then paid for the upgrade to 8. But trying to install their latest version, and hunt back through emails for registration codes, which then turn out to be invalid since they are for 7, and you can't find a code for the 8 upgrade, and on, and on, and on it goes – very painful. I haven't been able to get SnagIt registered yet – and will most likely just buy it again to get around the issue – very frustrating.

In Microsoft's favour I have been pleasantly surprised that activation of Office 2007 has been pain free. Even though this is the 3^rd time this year I've installed it on this notebook (and more if you count my VPCs) there have been no activation issues (and thus no phone calls required to the activation hotline). I'm assuming that part of their activation process records the hardware specs, and somehow knows it is being installed on the same machine. I wonder what will happen when I get another machine (I'm pretty sure I'll be getting a backup machine now).

Anyway, must dash, I have few thousand blog posts from the past week to get through.