IT Shopkeeping

Software analysis changes with the times, and in these times that means going mobile. The first concept to be aware of is responsive design, the ability of an app or website to adapt to the size of the device it is viewed from. Without it, sites and apps look teeny-tiny on a phone and require a navigation approach called “squint and scroll”. The most important technology decision to be made in the building of a mobile app is:  Do we go with a mobile web app, which is an HTML5 …

Dan Hermes gave a talk at Boston Code Camp 21 on Mobile Design Patterns (mostly UI patterns) and Xamarin.Forms.  Slides below.

Time: 9:00 AM – 10:10 AM, Saturday, June 21, 2014
Location: Microsoft New England (aka NERD), One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA, fl 1: Thomas Paul
Details: https://www.bostoncodecamp.com/CC21/Sessions/Details/7183
SLIDES

One of the most interesting trends in years is emerging now: the notion that the things we use and live in everyday will be online, watching us, hearing us, talking to one another, and communicating with us via our phone.  By ‘things’ I mean our car, our house and its thermostat, lights, and appliances such as refrigerators, exercise equipment, and coffee makers, streetlights, stores and their retail displays and cash registers, museums displays, corporate lobbies, meeting rooms, tourist information booths, buildings, cities, and towns.  This is called the Internet of …

This year mobile is expected to cross the line from trend to paradigm shift.  No longer just for kids and games, mobile phone use is becoming the norm for online access in the US and worldwide.  This means the first choice device for searches, browsing, shopping, and media.  Here are the facts:

A flurry of writing this year leaves me with three little software books to offer you.  One on teamwork, one on communication, and the last on Agile in .NET.
All three will be available on Amazon.com and the Kindle store soon!

Video from Dan Hermes’ talk on human communication in the software industry at MIT. The material is from Mr. Hermes’ book How to Interact with People.

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:

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

Who are those other people running around your office with numbers on their backs? What base do they play?  Which way should you turn to throw to them?  Who’s on first?  Knowing your own job is fine, but it won’t make you an MVP.  An all-star knows what everyone around them is doing and how to make plays on a team.

Is your software project steep and rocky? Can you predict the weather in your office? How many bodies lay on the side of your project trail?
The best sherpas on Mt. Everest expect failure and death as the most likely outcome. They assume that any grey cloud in the sky may develop into a dangerous fog bank, cold front, or blizzard. Recent powder on angled slopes above could pose an avalanche risk. Too quick a pace could dehydrate the team. Too slow a pace and nightfall may come before they reach …