Agile Application Development

I read an article on Agile development: “Agile Adoption – Crossing the Chasm: Why is it so difficult to switch to agile process from waterfall?” by Udayan Banerjee

The article explains how the old school waterfall process of locking down requirements when developing solutions is flawed. This process does prevent scope creep but at the end of the day the solution does not meet the business needs because business needs are changing and it is impossible to really know the requirements right from the onset. The result is that you end with an application that meets the requirement document and is completed on budget and on time but does not meet the business needs. There is a gap between what the business needs and the requirements at the onset of the project. The only way to close the gap is by using an iterative agile process like scrum. Successful application development teams know this and are actively pursuing this kind of methodology. The challenge of course becomes around budgeting, scheduling and how frequent to release each update to the user team. This article does a good job of walking through this.

Is there a place for a more agile design and deployment process for infrastructure implementation? Not completely however, understanding why agile development is effective and the direction for application development should help when doing infrastructure implementation. Keeping the agile concepts in mind and working toward more integration of the users in envisioning planning and deploying an infrastructure solution will help ensure the business needs are met.

Here is a link to Mr. Banerjee’s article:
http://udayanbanerjee.ulitzer.com/node/1137387

Goals for 2010

If you have not already created written goals for 2010 it is time. This can be done in less than an hour, so don’t let the task intimidate you. You may want to wrap it all in to a New Year’s resolution - “This year I will exercise every day and lose 20 lbs……and this time I mean it!”

Clearly the hard part about goals is executing on them. If you don’t know what they are how can you possibly execute on them. Write your goals down and keep them handy – try to review at least once a month to see how you are tracking. Create a relatively short list as too many goals are overwhelming. Create clear measurable goals and target work, personal and family. Share them with someone who will support you and this will help drive success. If you really want to put yourself out there, share your goals with everyone! You probably do not want to do this around financial goals as this can create problems.

Create one year and five year goals and it is incredible how effective this can be with a little discipline! Ok, a lot of discipline….. Nothing worthwhile is easy.

IT Budgeting for 2010

Since we are heading into a new year it is appropriate to discuss IT Budget for 2010. I read an interesting article in CFO Magazine that suggests you should be able to cut 9% to 11% of your budget: “How to Save 11% of Your IT Spend” by David McCann.

The essence of the article is that by modifying last year’s budget IT spends 10% more than they would if they did a from scratch green field approach. This includes the cost associated with the additional time to do a budget from scratch. The article does point out that there are diminishing returns if you do this every year so it suggests breaking the budget into 12 segments and doing a different segment every quarter creating a 3 year cycle.

Creating a budget from scratch does help for all budgeting - not just IT. We have been successful cutting costs dramatically by revisiting expenses with a fresh perspective. There is nothing like a challenging economy to motivate companies to examine costs.

Here is the article “How to Save 11% of Your IT Spend” by David McCann:
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14461534/c_14462479?f=home_todayinfinance

Desktop Virtualization Update

I read an article “Desktop Virtualization: Ready for Prime Time or Still Hype?” by Jessica Davis. I have been following the desktop virtualization market since the mid-90s with Citrix Metaframe. I saw many very un-happy desktop virtualization customers in the late 90s and early 2000s and fortunately we did not implement those solutions.

Here is an excerpt from Steve Ballmer at the Paine Webber Technology Conference back in 1999:

"You know, when you get guys like Scott McNealy and Larry Ellison and Lou Gerstner talking about the end of the PC era, … Fully 60 percent of the personal computers that are sold around the world are used by knowledge workers. They're not just used for manufacturing or order entry or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They're used by people like the people in this room, to send e-mail, to take notes, to do presentations, to do financial analysis, and that is best done today with an intelligent device. Maybe with some of the intelligence, more split client and server, but we can't take tools away from knowledge workers. There are just so many more things knowledge workers want to do. "

So, in ten years has this changed?

A little has changed as we are now constantly connected to the internet. We can do more with a terminal today and a terminal is easier to manage and secure. However, it will be a long time before I give up my PC and this article supports this showing 74% of CIOs do not have a plan for desktop virtualization. The one industry that does have a plan for desktop virtualization is the financial sector and this makes sense as security is extremely important.

Clearly there are situations where it makes sense to save money by implementing a desktop virtualization solution. When it is time to do a desktop refresh IT leaders will want to investigate both a PC and a virtualized desktop option. Each situation will be different and needs to be analyzed on a case by case basis. Every year desktop virtualization will make more sense than in the past year but will not completely replace the PC - Not yet anyway.

http://www.channelinsider.com/cp/bio/Jessica-Davis/

VMotion Sickness

I read an interesting article regarding VMotion Sickness : “Virtualization Will Cross the Chasm in Two Years” by Greg Ness

VMotion Sickness is a term coined to describe the effects from too many virtual machines moving around and VM Sprawl. This causes everything to run slower due to the overhead associated with VMs moving. This negates the basic virtualization benefits of better utilization of resources. VMotion is of course a management tool yet it can be a part of your virtualization management problem.

How do you deal with VMotion Sickness?

It starts with planning and management. Do a comprehensive capacity plan and implement structured management. Here are three keys to success:

1. Monitor right from beginning so you have a long history of data to troubleshoot problems
2. Keep a keen eye out for any virtualization bottlenecks
3. Know what is running on your infrastructure – keep details and avoid server sprawl

You may also want to read this article: “ Virtualization Will Cross the Chasm in Two Years”:

http://web2.sys-con.com/node/1203744

Managed Services Lessoned Learned

Nortec has been offering Nortec 24/7 Managed Network Services for four years now and we have learned several lessons. Nortec 24/7 Managed Services includes remote monitoring, remediation and patch management. Not all managed services are the same so this brings us to our first lesson learned:

1. Be clear on what managed services are included with your service agreement:
a. Monitoring
b. Remote remediation
c. Remote patch management
d. Exactly what servers, switches, routers, desktops are to be managed

2. What will the escalation process be if the problem cannot be resolved remotely:
a. Contact you to resolve issue
b. Send field technical professional to resolve the issue

3. Notification and reporting:
a. You probably do not want emails daily on all issues
b. You may want emails and even a phone call on major server issues
c. You should meet quarterly, semi-annually or at least yearly to review reports and discuss what is working and not working

Remote managed services are the way of the future. Communications is the main issue. Be clear on who is doing what and you will have tremendous success.

3 Basic Rules for Success

I have my three basic rules for success professionally. These rules keep you relevant, connect you and show respect to others.

1. Answer the Phone – If you are available answer the phone. I don’t believe in taking calls when in a meeting. If you must take a call well in a meeting, ask permission before and outline how long the call will last.

2. Return calls and emails – You don’t need to return solicitation calls of course but other calls and emails should be returned within a few hours. I am working on being more responsive on emails as I historically would only respond when necessary. I am working on being more proactive as people like to see that you are reading their emails and that you are not an email vacuum.

3. Show up – Be where you say you will be, when you say you will be there. If you show up late you are screaming to those waiting for you that “I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU.” I heard a Navy Seal talk about this recently. In their training, on time meant 15 minutes early. Anyone who shows up at the last minute would have the extra not wanted duties. I suppose this is why military people are usually very punctual.

It may seem like these rules for success are just way to basic but it is surprising how many people fail on some or all of these on a regular basis. I know I can improve on these rules myself and have had a few hard lessons on showing up on time early in my career. If you can deliver on all three of these rules on a regular basis you are 90% there!

Symantec Vision

Last week at the Symantec Partner Conference Enrique Salem, CEO of Symantec outlined 5 trends in the IT industry:

1. Virtualization
2. “We are under attack” – Businesses are under attack by criminals trying to gain financially through hacking into corporate information
3. “Consumerization of IT” – Consumers adopt and implement new technologies before businesses
4. Storage is growing extremely rapidly: A) 51% businesses plan to spend more on storage next year B) 33% businesses plan to spend the same on storage next year C) 16% businesses plan to spend Less on storage next year
5. Executives are targeted with IT attacks

Symantec is positioned as the company that will protect your information - from backing up to archiving - from end point security to data loss protection. Symantec will provide the solutions for complete information protection and quick recovery when there are server failures or a lost laptop at the airport.

Mr. Salem asks the question, "what is more damaging, servers failing or loss of information and customer data?" Clearly loss of information is a larger issue and this is where Symantec is focused.

Microsoft Exchange 2010 Launch

Steven Elop, President of Microsoft Business Division announced the general availability of Exchange 2010 yesterday at Tech Ed Europe. He announced Forefront 2010 protection for Exchange 2010 and the integration of the two products. Exchange 2010 is a release with several significant advances specifically around message management, archiving and unified communications. We have demonstrated some of the features at several launch events we have hosted with Microsoft in the Mid-Atlantic. The combination of Exchange 2010, Outlook 2010, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 is driving many business to implement a server and desktop refresh. Ultimately the upgrade will drive efficiencies in the marketplace with the enhancements in these products.

Here is a link detailing the news in Redmond Developer:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/181708/microsoft_makes_case_for_upgrade_to_exchange_2010.html

Here is an article on launch in CIO Magazine:
http://www.cio.com/article/507118/Exchange_2010_Launch_Week_Round_Up

Here are video clips from Tech Ed Europe in Microsoft's Virtual Press Room:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/teched/default.mspx

Online Security

I read an article on CSO Online called "Researchers Advise Cyber Self Defense in the Cloud " http://www.csoonline.com/article/504770/Researchers_Advise_Cyber_Self_Defense_in_the_Cloud

The article points out that through social media a criminal could pieces together your birth date, personal photos, family members, and other pieces of personal information. This makes it much easier for identity theft. Between these different social media like a Blog it becomes easy for someone to gather information on someone and therefore does justify some concern.

Using social media it is easier to access personal information needed for identity theft. A stolen identity will allow a criminal access to credit. Banks and anyone providing credit will need to get more sophisticated about how they identify someone. Individuals will need to continue to be vigilant about what information they do give out to social media sites.

Companies that in all regard are good corporate citizens need only one bad apple to compromise their data. This does not even have to be over the internet. I have received letters from banking institutions stating their information was compromised internally and they are sending me a new credit card.

Clearly we are living in a time when it is easier to access information. The battle will be ongoing and will ensure a good living for those focused on information security. We will continue to transact business and share information over the internet. It is extremely effective and efficient. The main thing that an individual can do is be cautious about who they share information with online. Two questions to ask yourself before sharing sensitive information online:

1. How did you ended up at this particular site? Did you seek out this site or did the site find you through an email?

2. Does it make sense to give out the information you are giving out? Is it necessary?

The key is being careful about what information you share and who you are sharing it with.

Cloud computing is a growing trend and I don't think the fear of identity theft will stop the trend. Individuals will continue to use protective software like antivirus, antimalware, and firewalls and probably more important, just think about what information they are sharing online.

What Drives Success

I am preparing for a Nortec Management and Sales Conference and reflecting on what drives success. In a post a couple of weeks ago I wrote about the value of staying focused. This is important. However, first you must determine what you are going to focus on. What drives you? What is it that you want to accomplish? All too often I get caught up in the doing and don’t take the time to step back and reflect on what it is that I want.

Last year, I dealt with a lack of vision regarding my health and fitness. Although I was not completely out of shape, I sporadically exercised and was about forty pounds overweight. I created the vision of a healthy fit version of myself and set out to create a plan to get there. I decided that I would exercise every day first thing in the morning for 30 – 40 minutes alternating between cardio and weight training. By exercising every day I would give myself the ability to skip one or two days a week when my schedule would not permit exercising and still have a viable plan for fitness. I combined this exercise program with an improved diet by eliminating bad foods and eating smaller portions.

In the last nine months I have struggled with the weight. I am down about 10 pounds so I still have about 30 to go. I have done better on the exercise program with only a few lapses usually when on a vacation or when I am not feeling well. Key for me was doing my work outs first thing in the morning in my basement or on the street running. This allows for just one shower a day. I like to be efficient. This also alleviated “the need to exercise” from hanging over me the entire day.

The bottom line is that anyone can accomplish whatever it is they focus on. Clearly, like losing the weight for me, some things are harder to accomplish than others. You will test your discipline since ultimately it takes discipline to accomplish anything. Since humans are creatures of habit I think it is easier if you can build the disciplines into routine. Create the vision and use your passion to drive your discipline to be that person you dream to be.

Oh, one other motivator for me was my realization of my mortality and that if I don’t do something now … well, I may never get a chance in the future – Carpe Diem!

"Getting Things Done" by David Allen

I attended a presentation by David Allen last week the author of “Getting Things Done”. His presentation was straight forward and to the point. I came up with four keys to getting things done based on his presentation:

1. If you have an action that needs to be done and you can do it in less than 2:00 minutes go with the Nike strategy, “just do it!”

2. Create and constantly update your things to do list. Carrying around a list of things in your head is prone to forgetting and is a constant burden that interferes with your effectiveness.

3. Take one of three actions on emails: delete, file, or put in an action folder. Maintain an empty email inbox and clean desk.

4. Review your to do lists and action folders at the beginning of the day. Prioritize what you need to do and then schedule time if necessary.

This is my take away from what he said and the plan I am now implementing. For more details, and a better explanation of how to get things done, I would suggest reading the book. David Allen also has this simple test that can help you determine how effective you are in getting things done – It takes about 2:00 minutes:

http://www.gtdiq.com/

Windows 7 Launched Today

Microsoft released Windows 7 to the market today. So far the product looks terrific – everyone I know that is using it is very happy. Amazon announced yesterday that it was the number one pre-ordered product ever, out performing Harry Potter! If this is any indication, it will be a hit.

Here is a brief description of Windows 7 from the Nortec News Letter:

Windows 7 is the easiest, fastest, and most engaging version of Windows yet. The new user experience is really something to get excited about; thanks to elements like peek through, a whole new taskbar and some common sense simplifications, Windows 7 has a more usable UI and will run even faster than the previous release of Windows, a first for Microsoft. Developed based on feedback from actual customers Windows 7 offers faster and more reliable performance, and great features like Home Group and Windows Touch to make new things possible.

Windows 7 is much smarter than its predecessor, Windows Vista. While Vista’s memory manager devoted the same amount of RAM to each open window, performing as if each open window was visible and full screen sized even if they were minimized or in the background, Window 7’s memory manager doesn’t operate that way. Therefore, users can run Windows 7 with 1GB of RAM, unlike Vista which requires at least 2GB. With application crash resiliency, Windows 7 is also smarter when it comes to unstable apps and errors . If an application crashes multiple times, Windows 7 learns how it should run to avoid crashing. Further, the new Problem Steps Recorder makes error reports useful by generating a detailed error report in plain English.

Here is a review done on you tube. It was recorded about 5 months ago on Windows 7 beta version. I like it because it gives a good and quick introduction to the new features:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jsx-gf-z2U

Staying Focused

I am coaching hockey with my brother, Peter, this year and really enjoying it. Peter is a very seasoned coach having coached many teams including being a paid High School Coach. I have plenty to learn. I asked him what the most important thing is to coach the kids. He said that it is keeping the "main thing" the main thing – staying focused.

In business today, it is hard to stay focused for three reasons:

1. We have so many things coming at us (information over load) that it is hard to stay focused. We are constantly being pushed to look at this product and that product.

2. The entire information technology industry is a moving target. The “main thing” may change. This makes staying focused on the “main thing” really hard!

3. Human desire to seek out new exciting things – bored with “the main thing”

If you are bored with what you are doing. Spice it up and suck it up. If you want to be great at anything you will have to do it over and over again. Is there anyone who does not think Tiger Woods is not tired of swinging a golf club? Look for ways to make it fun by turning everything into a game and seek small incremental improvements. Make it fun!

Re-evaluate the main thing and prioritize. Do not rush to add more and more things that will allow you to lose focus. If you think there is a fundamental change you may have to dramatically change your focus but you will still need to focus.

One of the key differentiators for Nortec is that we are entirely focused on IT infrastructure and primarily around Microsoft. There was a CIO panel at the Microsoft Partner briefing and everyone of the CIOs said they prefer partners that are focused and not one partner for all IT.

Stay focused and be the best of the best in your niche.

BTW – The main thing when coaching kid’s hockey is skills.

IT Changes to Reduce Costs

This year IT Leaders are under pressure to reduce costs. Businesses need to improve cash while increasing operational efficiencies. These demands will cause fast changes.

The shift to virtualization this year has been very swift. IT Managers are now moving from 1.0 issues (What Servers to Virtualize) to 2.0 issues (How do I mange these virtualized servers?).

There is also a shift to cloud computing and hosted applications. This is a very disruptive shift and happening a little slower. The value proposition is very compelling in these times of cost reduction. Businesses can completely offload the infrastructure capital purchase and the management. This is very good for the business cash position.

Gartner points out that outsourcing is anti-cyclical since it is done in growth periods and sometimes more in down turns. They also present moderate results:
"Even during stable economic times, outsourcing has some specific drawbacks. It often delivers moderate (for example, 10% to 20%) cost reduction in exchange for moderate levels of satisfaction (typically 5 on a scale of 1 to 7, in which 7 represents the highest level of satisfaction), low levels of flexibility (4.8 — the lowest satisfaction score on Gartner outsourcing surveys), while causing high levels of lengthy renegotiation (more than 60% of deals are partially renegotiated in the course of their term)."
- Predict 2009: Recession Accelerated Shifts in IT Services, Gartner Report

Clearly there will be a shift to cloud computing but there will be a hybrid model for many years for most businesses. IT department will need to develop new process and methods to manage the hosted applications. Since hosted applications are fast to turn on, IT Departments will also need to manage more applications and have a strategy to stay compliant.

Windows 7 Launch

Microsoft Windows 7 Launch is just 10 days away! Most of our engineers are already running Windows 7 as well as several on the Nortec Sales Team. I am waiting for the official launch and will get a new PC with it pre-loaded in a couple of weeks. The good news is that the PC doesn’t actually need to be new and Windows 7 will run faster than Vista. Windows 7 can also run fine on most computers running XP. Microsoft has designed the Windows 7 operating system to be very quick. Unlike Vista, Windows 7 will be a brilliant success.

Nortec will be hosting Microsoft Launch Events for Windows 7, Exchange 2010, and Windows Server 2008 R2 in the Mid-Atlantic – DC, Richmond, Virginia Beach, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Here is a link to the events scheduled so far: http://www.nortec.com/launch.asp

Microsoft has done a great job with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 from everything I have seen. Exchange 2010 also looks good. Microsoft has incorporated voice mail to email conversion and much needed archiving features just to name a couple of features..

The rest of this year and 2010 will be a great time for making improvements to your desktop and server infrastructure!

Exchange 2010 Release To Manufacturing

Here is the announcement on Microsoft Technet today:

The big news today is that Exchange 2010 is now code complete. The senior leadership team has signed off on the final code, and it has been sent to early adopters for a final look before its public release. This Release To Manufacturing (RTM) milestone means we are well on our way to general availability and launch at TechEd Europe in November. For those of you attending TechEd in Berlin this year, be sure to visit the Exchange booth and tell them what you think of the product. I caught some of you on video with Crystal Flores at TechEd US earlier this year…Crystal will be looking for more of you in Berlin in a few weeks. If you can’t join in person, tune in via the Web (www.thenewefficiency.com) to be part of the launch.
Tags: Exchange, exchange 14, exchange 2010

Driving Business in the New World

I attended an event last week held at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. The event was "Driving Revenue in the New World" put on by the IT Network and Media Network of Young Presidents Organization. We had great guest speakers including several from Google and a panel including leadership from Youtube, Linkedin and Facebook.

I am a neophyte when it comes to marketing in the online world. I have been investing time in trying to understand the best approach to using social media in business this year. This event reinvigorated my passion for online marketing and the best practices. The event also opened my eyes to the need to create an entire online marketing plan from search engine optimization to Ad Words and banner ads online. Paid online advertising was not something I really looked at very seriously and now realize this is worth investigating further.

One piece of wisdom found was that the online strategy is not something you can just delegate. Leaders need to embrace this and understand all that can be done. I have a certain fascination with online marketing and social media so this reinforced what I was already thinking. The world of online marketing is completely different then the old world of marketing and just when you think you have it figured out you discover another entire dimension. This can be very exciting and possibly frustrating! You must thrive on learning.

If you are a business leader or an IT leader I believe you need to be reading and investigating the impact and the fundamental business changes your organization needs to be implementing to grow in the new world. The message of this event was that adopting an online strategy for marketing and interacting with customers will be necessary for business survival! So if you do not have a plan, now is the time to get one!

IT Spending Growth in 2010!

This year has been a year of cost cutting for businesses and this includes IT where the spending dropped a projected 8%. Goldman Sachs on Monday released a prediction of double digit IT spending growth in 2010! They are also predicting growth of about 15% in online advertising after a 4% decrease this year. This is a positive indicator for the business climate overall and even more significant swing for IT professionals. This 20% swing will put pressure on the industry to supply the products, services and technical professionals to meet the demand.

I have already seen an increase in interest and activity in the market. I think the inflection point will be October 22 when Microsoft releases Windows 7. After that, companies will begin technology refresh cycles at a faster rate as we move into 2010.

2010 looks like it will be a great year!

Source:
Google AP - Goldman Sachs
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtH3V91COtoipptOBVJXnfZgT3SgD9ARUUT01

Virtualization Adoption Update

VMWare ESX Server continues to lead according to Centrify survey with 60% of the market. VMWare ESXi has 31%, Microsoft Hyper-V comes in at 26% and Citrix Xen Server at 18%. This is in line with what we have seen. There is definitely a continued trend to move toward virtualization and more often than in the past companies are considering Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix Xen Server.

So what is delaying some companies from implementing a virtual production environment? There is an old adage that pioneers get arrows in their back but the pioneer days of virtualization were 3 -5 years ago and ended 2 years ago when we here at Nortec virtualized our entire infrastructure. The delay has been around cost of the software and the new hardware needed to implement the solution. Microsoft’s pressure on VMWare by bundling Hyper-V with Windows 2008 is solving the cost issue. As more and more businesses reach the point of needing a hardware refresh the hardware cost issue is being resolved as well. There are still of course a few old school hold outs but by in large this shift is happening and happening fast.

If you have not already virtualized your entire server infrastructure then now is time to put your plan together. It is a great time! There are several options and all are viable and make sense. Your design and choice of hypervisor will depend on your environment and what you are trying to accomplish.

Source: Centrify
http://www.centrify.com/news/release.asp?id=2009090101