The Yourdon Report

Rome presentation: “Strategic Planning for Enterprise 2.0″

ed — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:28:45 +0000

I’m here in Rome this week, participating in a conference on “Enterprise 2.0” for Technology Transfer Institute. You should be there so you can hear the presentations from all of the speakers, as well as the comments and questions from the participants. But if you’re stuck in some other part of the world, or you couldn’t persuade your boss to send you to Rome, you can click here to download the (9 MB) PDF version of a presentation I gave on the final day of the conference on “Strategic Planning for Enterprise 2.0,” which has a whole bunch of embedded links to other presentations, publications, books, articles, websites, etc.

“Death March” seminar in Rome

ed — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:45:17 +0000

I’m here in Rome this week, presenting a two-day seminar on “Managing Death-March Projects” for Technology Transfer Institute. You should be there so you can hear whatever clever jokes may occur to me while I’m presenting my material, as well as the comments and questions from the other participants. But if you’re stuck in some other part of the world, or you couldn’t persuade your boss to send you to Rome, you can click here to download the (17MB) PDF version of the presentation, which has a whole bunch of embedded links to other presentations, publications, books, articles, websites, etc.

The Politics of Metrics

ed — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:16:15 +0000

I’m giving a presentation on “The Politics of Metrics” at the Software Best Practices Conference sponsored by the IT Metrics and Productivity Institute in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on Nov 17, 2009. You should be there so you can meet and hear some of the other great speakers at the conference, as well as whatever clever jokes may occur to me while I’m presenting my material.But if you’re stuck in some other part of the world, or if you think that alligators are still roaming the streets of Ft. Lauderdale, or if you’re just plain lazy, you can click here to download the (1.8MB) PDF version of the presentation, which has a whole bunch of embedded links to other presentations, publications, books, articles, websites, etc.

Enterprise 2.0, version 1.02

ed — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:31:22 +0000

I’ve updated the seminar on “Enterprise 2.0” that I presented in Rome on May 4-5, 2009. You can download the 54.921-megabyte PDF file by clicking on the link above, or you can view/download it on my Slideshare page; a few of the slides (and updates) will seem rather cryptic and mysterious, but if you actually attended the seminar, then hopefully my verbal presentation made everything crystal-clear.

Enterprise 2.0 seminar in Rome

ed — Sun, 03 May 2009 20:48:31 +0000

I’m presenting a seminar on “Enterprise 2.0” in Rome on May 4-5, 2009. You can download the 35.1-megabyte PDF file by clicking on the link above, or you can view/download it on my Slideshare page; a few of the slides will seem rather cryptic and mysterious, but if you’re actually attending the seminar, then hopefully my verbal presentation will make everything crystal-clear.

Sections 2.4 and 2.5 of “Death March” now uploaded

ed — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:16:26 +0000

As noted in previous blog postings, I’ve begun writing a new, updated edition of my Death March book, which was last updated in 2003.Having already uploaded the Table of Contents, Preface, and Chapter 1, and the first few sections to Chapter 2, I’ve now uploaded section 2.4, which is entitled “Key issues that lead to political disagreements,” and a rough outline/draft of section 2.5, tentatively titled “The good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of death-march projects in the current recession.”

I hope to continue revision and the rest of Chapter 2 over the next week, though I’ll have to fit that in with jury duty, which starts on Monday, Mar 29th. Hopefully I won’t end up in an all-consuming, high-profile case, and will be able to hunker down in a corner with my laptop to get some writing done…

All of this is on a separate website from this blog — partly because I’m using Apple’s iWeb development tool to generate new content quickly and easily (with hyperlinks, graphic images, YouTube clips, Google Maps, RSS feed, and various other widgets), and partly to make it password-protected in order to keep spammers and hackers out.

Thus, if you’d like to see the new material as it evolves, and/or if you’d like to provide feedback and commentary, you’ll need to send an email message to ed [at] yourdon [dot] com. I’ll send back an email message with URL, user-id, and password.

Section 2.3 of “Death March” now uploaded

ed — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:17:49 +0000

As noted in previous blog postings, I’ve begun writing a new, updated edition of my Death March book, which was last updated in 2003.Having already uploaded the Table of Contents, Preface, and Chapter 1, and the first couple of sections to Chapter 2, I’ve now uploaded section 2.3, which is entitled “Levels of commitment in death march project teams.”

I hope to continue writing/revising/uploading the remaining sections of Chapter 2 over the next week, though I’ll have to fit that in with jury duty, which starts on Monday, Mar 29th. Hopefully I won’t end up in an all-consuming, high-profile case, and will be able to hunker down in a corner with my laptop to get some writing done…

Section 2.2 of “Death March” now uploaded

ed — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:46:04 +0000

I hope to continue writing/revising/uploading the remaining sections of Chapter 2 over the next week or two, though I’ll have to fit that in with jury duty, which starts next Monday. Hopefully I won’t end up in an all-consuming, high-profile case, and will be able to hunker down in a corner with my laptop to get some writing done…

Section 2.1 of “Death March” now uploaded

ed — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:31:17 +0000

As noted in a previous blog posting, I’ve begun writing a new, updated edition of my Death March book, which was last updated in 2003.Having already uploaded the Table of Contents, Preface, and Chapter 1, and overview/intro to Chapter 2, I’ve now uploaded section 2.1, which is entitled “Identifying the Political Players in the Project.”

I expect to write/revise/upload the remaining sections of Chapter 2 over the next week or so, though I’ll probably be offline for the next four days, while I fly out to Salt Lake City for a family visit.

Overview of Chapter 2 now posted, for “Death March”, 3rd edition

ed — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:59:12 +0000

As noted in a previous blog posting, I’ve begun writing a new, updated edition of my Death March book, which was last updated in 2003.

Having already uploaded the Table of Contents, Preface, and Chapter 1, I’ve now uploaded the overview/intro to Chapter 2. I expect to write/revise/upload individual sections of Chapter 2 over the next week or so, though I may be offline for a 4-day weekend while I fly out to Salt Lake City for a family visit.

Need Death March examples, case studies, war stories, interviews

ed — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:46:47 +0000

As I’ve pointed out in the past few blog postings, I’m updating and revising the Death March book that I last published in 2003.

While I’ve got plenty of new material of my own to add, I’m also looking for new case studies, war stories, gossip, examples, feedback, and commentary from readers, reviewers, and real-world software developers who are currently involved in a death-march project.

If you’d like me to visit your death march project and talk to some of the people (and/or some of the business users), let me know. If you’d like give me an off-the-record commentary on just how crazy things really are (which may be entirely different than the public statements made by your employer), let me know and I will keep everything confidential unless you explicitly tell me that it’s okay to incorporate into the book.

The easiest way to reach me is by email at ed [at] yourdon [dot] com. But if you’re industrious enough, you can probably also figure out how to reach me via Twitter, Facebook, or even an old-fashioned phone call.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Finished Chapter 1 of “Death March,” 3rd edition

ed — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:42:25 +0000

As noted in a previous blog posting, I’ve begun writing a new, updated edition of my Death March book, which was last updated in 2003.

Having already uploaded the Table of Contents, and preface, I’ve now finished Chapter 1, which includes a new section entitled “Why Are Today’s Death-March Projects Different Than The Ones In The Past?”

Thus, if you’d like to see the new material as it evolves, and/or if you’d like to provide feedback and commentary, you’ll need to send an email message to ed at yourdon dot com. I’ll send back an email message with URL, user-id, and password.

Thanks!