IT Shopkeeping

NE IT Pro Community Leaders will feature Dan Hermes as a speaker on April 23rd, 2013, 3:00pm at the Microsoft Office at 1 Cambridge Center.  He will cover material from his forthcoming books, Softwareball: How to Play as a Team in the Software Industry and How to Interact with People: Human Communication in the Software Industry.
When: April 23rd, 2013, 3:00pm new time
Where: Microsoft Office, 1 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA map
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Topic: Mastering Human Communication Patterns

The Back Bay Large Installation System Administration(BBLISA) group featured Dan Hermes as a speaker on March 13th, 2013, 7:00pm at MIT.  He covered material from his forthcoming book, How to Interact with People: Human Communication in the Software Industry.  For details, see: http://www.bblisa.org/
When: March 13th, 2013, 7:00pm
Where:MIT, Building E51, Room 149, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA
Schedule:
7:00 – Announcements & Introductions
7:30 – Formal presentation
Topic: Mastering Human Communication Patterns
Missed human connections in the software industry account for most of our project failures.  Improving communication can dramatically improve individual and team performance.
Typical Frustrations
They …

On-Line Residential in New York City provides the city’s most authoritative online residential property listing service.  Founded in the 90’s, the company has moved through several technology platforms, most recently .NET.  

So they just don’t get it?  Here’s what to do.  Miscommunication usually boils down to this: someone wants someone to do something they either don’t want to do or something they don’t understand.  Here are three ways to fix it:

At the heart of our country’s founding is the idea that personal integrity is central to our professional success.   Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson wrote a lot about it. So what does character have to do with software development?
The recent debacle of Apple Maps offers a clue. If the manager of Apple Maps, Richard Williamson, had the personal integrity to stand up in a high-level meeting and divulge that the project was in jeopardy before the release date, this could have prevented the CEO of Apple, …

Dan Hermes’ video installation entitled ‘Air in Three Colors’ exhibits every Friday on the Boston Convention Center’s 80-foot-tall multi-screen LED marquee.  Artist’s works were selected by a panel of Boston Cyberarts and MCCA staff.

When: Every Friday from 10PM-7AM.
Where: Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, 3rd Floor Ball Room
http://www.artonthemarquee.com/

View the work here

Application running slow?  The biggest challenge with improving application performance is finding the problems.  There are often more than one.  Narrow down the problem by tier, by machine, by application, then by functionality.   Using this approach, one of our client’s primary product performance improved by over 300%:

The Waterfall model has become the whipping boy of 20th century software development.  The idea that analysis, development, and testing are separate, distinct phases of a development project, where time must be allocated to each, and one must be completed before the next begins, is history.  Although it was seldom actually practiced, with time and budget constraints compressing schedules and steps, it was often an ideal to shoot for.  There was some integrity in it, as I recall.  For a long time, we regarded the model as a sign of …

MVC (Model-View-Controller) is the latest fad in Microsoft .NET development. As Agile and Scrum sweep the industry, a need has grown for continuous integration and deployment, requiring automated unit testing. Conventional ASP.NET architecture makes unit testing of page functionality difficult because form controls are tightly coupled to back end code-behind logic. That is, to simply unit test the selection of a dropdown list along with a Submit button isn’t straightforward. Enter MVC. By clearly delineating front end form functionality, the View, from back end business …

Dan has been asked to speak by New York City-based organization, Leaders in Software and Art (LISA).   He will speak on the use of software and video technology in the arts.  He was chosen by Erik Sanner for the originality of his portfolio of works and his use of video technology in production.