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Category Archives: Con-(in)sulting

Managed Processes Post 2

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

This is a follow up article to First Steps Toward a More Managed Process I wrote at the end of last month. I’ve been using Trac with the Timing and Estimation plugin now for about a month. I tried to promote it to my team for our next product but they never considered it and [...]

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First Steps Toward a More Managed Process

Friday, January 26, 2007

I hate to say I’m moving toward an agile process and risk becoming too buzzword-focused. But I’m quickly realizing how important it is to have an effective methodology for managing yourself as a consultant. I’ve used task lists for quite a while as a developer, and that’s fine for the most part. But as a [...]

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Agile Anyone?

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

I’ve been reading up on eXtreme programming practices. I’ve really been in a world of hurt at my current project. The engineering team is adequate, the technology I understand, but the management and requirements are a nightmare. I’m thinking that if I don’t act I’ll really find myself in trouble; the use cases are a [...]

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Mo’ Bigga Corporate Environment

Thursday, November 30, 2006

A friend sent this link to a horror story development environment at Microsoft. It was a story about the development of the Vista shutdown menu: Here’s a quote: So that nets us a conservative estimate of 24 people involved in this feature. Also each team of 8 was separated by 6 layers of management from [...]

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Update on Flashdrive Sync

Friday, October 13, 2006

Ok now I’m actually trying to do the synchronization of my work directory… here’s my initial experience: >5:57pm – begin synchronization by right-clicking and selecting “Update All”. >5:58pm – Explorer begins “Not Responding” mode… >6:01pm – Entire screen blacks out >6:04pm – Explorer flashes at the bottom of my screen, and it’s no longer in [...]

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Flashdrive Sync

Friday, October 13, 2006

At my current assignment, I’m allowed to take code home and work on it, but I don’t have remote access. I only have one ethernet port, so bringing my laptop in to synch is a PITA. The solution I’ve found is to use a $20 flashdrive and the windows briefcase option to synchronize. Steps: Create [...]

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