I recently read and enjoyed the “quick read” book Oops by Aubrey Daniels. The book is interesting as it focuses on human behavior and discusses management practices, policies and processes that motivate and de-motivate employees. The essence of the book is that business managers need to focus on frequent positive reinforcement of behavior and that motivating through discipline and fear is not effective for long term success. Mr. Daniels makes the analogy of games that we play and how we are constantly getting positive reinforcement when we make that great shot or move as we play. Managers need to reinforce positive behavior regularly and often as well. One practice he points out that does not work is the employee of the month because the metrics are usually not clear and it creates a negative feeling from everyone except that one person. Mr. Daniels suggests a better practice would be to create clear metrics and then recognize everyone who meets or exceeds the threshold. Do this more often – daily if possible!
I think that the book is worth reading. Motivating and driving desired employee behavior is extremely important and there are not many books that focus entirely on this.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Interoperability in the Data Center
Microsoft submitted source code yesterday to be included in the Linux Kernal. This move has been seen by many as another step by Microsoft in embracing Linux, Open Source and interoperability. The code will allow Linux to run on Windows 2008 and Hyper-V. This is also seen as necessary to compete and put pressure on VMWare.
“By allowing greater ability to run Linux on the Hyper-V virtualization platform, Microsoft is making a compelling case that it could be the virtualization vendor of choice for consolidation of Windows and Linux applications” says Gartner analyst George Weiss from PC World article:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/168759/microsoft_linux_move_puts_pressure_on_vmware.html
In either case, Microsoft’s realease of source code to Linux community is another step toward interoperability in the data center where companies have historically continued to compete on standards and not just products. Businesses have a choice to push to add to the bottom line or spend on interoperability. Until interoperating drives to bottom line, it doesn’t happen. In the world of virtualization, interoperability is driving profits so we are seeing this change in behavior. Ultimately the user will benefit from the interoperability and this is one more way the shift to virtualization is helping the industry!
“By allowing greater ability to run Linux on the Hyper-V virtualization platform, Microsoft is making a compelling case that it could be the virtualization vendor of choice for consolidation of Windows and Linux applications” says Gartner analyst George Weiss from PC World article:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/168759/microsoft_linux_move_puts_pressure_on_vmware.html
In either case, Microsoft’s realease of source code to Linux community is another step toward interoperability in the data center where companies have historically continued to compete on standards and not just products. Businesses have a choice to push to add to the bottom line or spend on interoperability. Until interoperating drives to bottom line, it doesn’t happen. In the world of virtualization, interoperability is driving profits so we are seeing this change in behavior. Ultimately the user will benefit from the interoperability and this is one more way the shift to virtualization is helping the industry!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The future of Technology
Bill Buxton, Principal Researcher at Microsoft spoke yesterday at Microsoft World Partner Conference #WPC09. Mr. Buxton primarily presented on multi-touch screen technology and this technology is very cool. He also talked about the future of technology and how technology will work in the future. He spoke of how monitors in general will be everywhere and I think computers in general will be everywhere. You can now purchase a notebook computer at Best Buy on clearance for $350!
Mr. Buxton talked about how 10 years ago he purposed the question “What if broadband internet were essentially free” and today it is essentially free! He then said this is essentially what is happening with monitors and I would argue computers – in the near future they will be essentially free. How will this impact our lives?
Mr. Buxton said that figuring out how technology will impact us in the future is the challenge. He said “nothing we know about technology today, we did not know 10 years ago.” How we use the technology to benefit our lives? It is how we interact with technology with our brain - incidentally our brain is “90% water.”
Mr. Buxton finished with a quote by French Novelist, Marcel Prost:
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
Mr. Buxton talked about how 10 years ago he purposed the question “What if broadband internet were essentially free” and today it is essentially free! He then said this is essentially what is happening with monitors and I would argue computers – in the near future they will be essentially free. How will this impact our lives?
Mr. Buxton said that figuring out how technology will impact us in the future is the challenge. He said “nothing we know about technology today, we did not know 10 years ago.” How we use the technology to benefit our lives? It is how we interact with technology with our brain - incidentally our brain is “90% water.”
Mr. Buxton finished with a quote by French Novelist, Marcel Prost:
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Steve Ballmer's Presentation at Microsoft World Partner Conference
I am in New Orleans at the Microsoft World Partner Conference 2009 #WPC09 and Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO gave his presentation this morning. Mr. Ballmer was very energetic as always and appeared very excited about Bing and the launch of so many products: Windows 7, IE 8, Silverlight 3.0, Office 2010, Windows 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2, Windows Mobile 6.5.
Mr. Ballmer talked about the leaps in technology we are seeing and how Microsoft is on the edge of technology that can understand human language meaning and not just keyword search. He also mentioned the new visual recognition technology developed in the gaming group.
Mr. Ballmer talked about the difficult economy but encouraged everyone to power through this economy and think long term. He said “We can’t fix the economy, but we can innovate and help customers.” He went on to explain that Microsoft will invest 9.5 Billion dollars in R&D in these 8 areas: Windows and IE, Windows Mobile, Communications, Server, Enterprise Infrastructure, Search, Entertainment, and ERP. Mr. Ballmer said “long term, long term, long term! Is Microsoft going to go home? We don’t go home!”
Mr. Ballmer talked about the leaps in technology we are seeing and how Microsoft is on the edge of technology that can understand human language meaning and not just keyword search. He also mentioned the new visual recognition technology developed in the gaming group.
Mr. Ballmer talked about the difficult economy but encouraged everyone to power through this economy and think long term. He said “We can’t fix the economy, but we can innovate and help customers.” He went on to explain that Microsoft will invest 9.5 Billion dollars in R&D in these 8 areas: Windows and IE, Windows Mobile, Communications, Server, Enterprise Infrastructure, Search, Entertainment, and ERP. Mr. Ballmer said “long term, long term, long term! Is Microsoft going to go home? We don’t go home!”
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Billion Dollar Lessons the Why and How
I am just finishing up Billion Dollar Lessons by Paul Carroll and Chunka Mui. The book at the end discusses why we make strategic business mistakes and how to avoid them. The why part is related to another rule I heard recently in regard to technology - The rule is that people value technology they have or use by a factor of 3 more than they are actual worth and discount technology that they don’t know or have by a factor of 3. The result is a factor of about 10 between technology we have and don’t have. This explains passionate differences people have between Macs and PCs or Linux and Windows! The book discusses how we are swayed to decisions based on what we already have, peers and leaders. We as humans have a really difficult time looking at anything objectively as we always have contextual bias. They discuss many ways to try to combat this and I break this down to four things to strive for in management and strategic decision making:
1. Conflict is good – Meetings need conflict otherwise you have false consensus, bad decisions and boring meetings!
2. If necessary, assign someone on the team to be the “devil’s advocate” and postpone the decision until some contrary points are found. Mine for conflict – seek it!
3. Create diverse teams so that you have many perspectives
4. Leadership is important however, be wary of over powerful leadership that squashes anyone who challenges their ideas –Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were great leaders!
I recommend reading the book if you have the time it is entertaining, easy to read and great information.
Here is my previous post on June 1, 2009 if you would like to look at it:
http://andrewgrose.blogspot.com/2009/06/billion-dollar-lesson-by-paul-carroll.html
1. Conflict is good – Meetings need conflict otherwise you have false consensus, bad decisions and boring meetings!
2. If necessary, assign someone on the team to be the “devil’s advocate” and postpone the decision until some contrary points are found. Mine for conflict – seek it!
3. Create diverse teams so that you have many perspectives
4. Leadership is important however, be wary of over powerful leadership that squashes anyone who challenges their ideas –Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were great leaders!
I recommend reading the book if you have the time it is entertaining, easy to read and great information.
Here is my previous post on June 1, 2009 if you would like to look at it:
http://andrewgrose.blogspot.com/2009/06/billion-dollar-lesson-by-paul-carroll.html
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
New book: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-652): Configuring Windows Server Virtualization
Microsoft Press - New Book:
Server virtualization is one of the hottest technologies today, despite a very tough economy. According to a recent IDC study, spending on virtualization is expected to approach $15 billion worldwide this year. The study estimates that over three-quarters of all companies with more than 500 employees are deploying virtual servers.
A strong growth in virtualization means more and better IT jobs for those skilled in the technology. And getting certified is a great way to validate those skills to your current and prospective employers.
To help you on the path to certification, we’re introducing the newest Microsoft Press Training Kit: MCTS Study Guide (Exam 70-652): Configuring Windows Server Virtualization (Microsoft Press, 2009; ISBN: 9780735626799; 656 pages), authored by Nelson Ruest and Danielle Ruest.
Danielle and Nelson were kind enough to send a few words on the book and their thoughts on Virtualization. Merci beaucoup, mes amis!
From Danielle and Nelson Ruest:
Over the course of 2007 and 2008, we toured the U.S. to deliver a series of presentations on virtualization and its impact in the modern datacenter, as well as its impact on server sprawl. We visited over 30 cities and talked to thousands of people in all stages of implementation.
One thing we discovered was that in each and every case, people wanted to know how to move to virtualization—what to do first, how to prepare their infrastructure, how to migrate their physical machines, how to administer hosts and virtual machines, and how to make the most of virtualization in general. This is what we wrote about in the 70-652 Training Kit, beyond providing solid support for passing the exam.
From our discussions with conference attendees, we knew that there are three starting points for organizations moving to Hyper-V virtual infrastructures:
Organizations that are not using virtualization at all
Organizations that are using software virtualization tools such as Microsoft Virtual Server
Organizations that are using a hypervisor other than Microsoft Windows Server with Hyper-V
The book begins by outlining each of these three potential positions and then moves on to provide a structured step-by-step approach to implementing Hyper-V based on your own starting point. It covers the creation of the host server infrastructure, the preparation of your administrative framework for the infrastructure, the migration of server operating systems—whether physical or virtual—to Hyper-V virtual machines, the implementation of high availability strategies for your VMs, the automation of Hyper-V operations through Windows PowerShell, the implementation of a secure Hyper-V infrastructure and more.
Like all of our other books, this guide takes you through the various stages of deployment and then provides guidance on how to administer the infrastructure once it is in place. This is also the approach we used in MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-238): Deploying Messaging Solutions with Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007. In both cases, the guides let you learn all you need to know to pass the exam, but also provide everyday guidance on how to use the product.
In addition, the 70-652 Training Kit provides deep content for studying and passing exam 70-403, Configuring System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 as well as providing updates on Hyper-V R2 features and functionalities. Two chapters have been made available for free: Chapter 6, Migrate to Hyper-V and Chapter 8, Securing Hosts and Virtual Machines. Find them here and get your first taste of what a Hyper-V deployment can and should be like. Good luck with the exam! Danielle and Nelson
Server virtualization is one of the hottest technologies today, despite a very tough economy. According to a recent IDC study, spending on virtualization is expected to approach $15 billion worldwide this year. The study estimates that over three-quarters of all companies with more than 500 employees are deploying virtual servers.
A strong growth in virtualization means more and better IT jobs for those skilled in the technology. And getting certified is a great way to validate those skills to your current and prospective employers.
To help you on the path to certification, we’re introducing the newest Microsoft Press Training Kit: MCTS Study Guide (Exam 70-652): Configuring Windows Server Virtualization (Microsoft Press, 2009; ISBN: 9780735626799; 656 pages), authored by Nelson Ruest and Danielle Ruest.
Danielle and Nelson were kind enough to send a few words on the book and their thoughts on Virtualization. Merci beaucoup, mes amis!
From Danielle and Nelson Ruest:
Over the course of 2007 and 2008, we toured the U.S. to deliver a series of presentations on virtualization and its impact in the modern datacenter, as well as its impact on server sprawl. We visited over 30 cities and talked to thousands of people in all stages of implementation.
One thing we discovered was that in each and every case, people wanted to know how to move to virtualization—what to do first, how to prepare their infrastructure, how to migrate their physical machines, how to administer hosts and virtual machines, and how to make the most of virtualization in general. This is what we wrote about in the 70-652 Training Kit, beyond providing solid support for passing the exam.
From our discussions with conference attendees, we knew that there are three starting points for organizations moving to Hyper-V virtual infrastructures:
Organizations that are not using virtualization at all
Organizations that are using software virtualization tools such as Microsoft Virtual Server
Organizations that are using a hypervisor other than Microsoft Windows Server with Hyper-V
The book begins by outlining each of these three potential positions and then moves on to provide a structured step-by-step approach to implementing Hyper-V based on your own starting point. It covers the creation of the host server infrastructure, the preparation of your administrative framework for the infrastructure, the migration of server operating systems—whether physical or virtual—to Hyper-V virtual machines, the implementation of high availability strategies for your VMs, the automation of Hyper-V operations through Windows PowerShell, the implementation of a secure Hyper-V infrastructure and more.
Like all of our other books, this guide takes you through the various stages of deployment and then provides guidance on how to administer the infrastructure once it is in place. This is also the approach we used in MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-238): Deploying Messaging Solutions with Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007. In both cases, the guides let you learn all you need to know to pass the exam, but also provide everyday guidance on how to use the product.
In addition, the 70-652 Training Kit provides deep content for studying and passing exam 70-403, Configuring System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 as well as providing updates on Hyper-V R2 features and functionalities. Two chapters have been made available for free: Chapter 6, Migrate to Hyper-V and Chapter 8, Securing Hosts and Virtual Machines. Find them here and get your first taste of what a Hyper-V deployment can and should be like. Good luck with the exam! Danielle and Nelson
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