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August 27, 2006
Millenial Culture Wars
Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.
-- J.K. Rowling
One of the massive changes every organization is going to have to deal with in the coming years is the arrival of the millenials in the workplace. These are folks who have been raised on the Web, IM, and SMS. They are digital natives, who think nothing about taking two disparate systems and tying them together with AJAX or whatever is at hand. This is going to be a scary time for a lot of IT organizations, especially ones who are led by digital immigrants. It will be the changing of the guard, the face-off between two cultures who are both large, ego-driven, and don't want to be ignored.
In my time in the industry, I have seen (and heard recounted) the history of a number of cultural conflicts:
- Mainframes vs. Midframes
- Midframes vs. PC's.
- Copybooks vs. Databases
- Databases vs. Spreadsheets
- Memos vs. Email
In each of these cases, the "old timers" resented the "young turks" who had no respect for how things ought to run. At the same time, the turks resented the fact that they had to work so hard to do somethng that was so obviously needed. In retrospect, it wasn't an issue of right or wrong, it was a question of new vs. established.
To learn more about the culture wars and more, take a look at architected.info
Posted by Morgan Goeller at 9:45 PM | Comments (0)
The Millenial Culture Wars
Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.
-- J.K. Rowling
One of the massive changes every organization is going to have to deal with in the coming years is the arrival of the millenials in the workplace. These are folks who have been raised on the Web, IM, and SMS. They are digital natives, who think nothing about taking two disparate systems and tying them together with AJAX or whatever is at hand. This is going to be a scary time for a lot of IT organizations, especially ones who are led by digital immigrants. It will be the changing of the guard, the face-off between two cultures who are both large, ego-driven, and don't want to be ignored.
In my time in the industry, I have seen (and heard recounted) the history of a number of cultural conflicts:
- Mainframes vs. Midframes
- Midframes vs. PC's.
- Copybooks vs. Databases
- Databases vs. Spreadsheets
- Memos vs. Email
In each of these cases, the "old timers" resented the "young turks" who had no respect for how things ought to run. At the same time, the turks resented the fact that they had to work so hard to do somethng that was so obviously needed. In retrospect, it wasn't an issue of right or wrong, it was a question of new vs. established.
To learn more about the culture wars and more, take a look at architected.info
Posted by Morgan Goeller at 9:30 PM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2006
Enterprise Web 2.0, Linux, and Ecclesiastes
Lately I have been pondering the impact of things like SOA and
mashups in the enterprise context, blending in the web dialtone discussion that is happening on the O'Reilly Radar.
This has some interesting applications, especially withdata and ETL ...
You can read about enterprise web 2.0 and more at architected.info.
Posted by Morgan Goeller at 6:30 PM | Comments (0)
8 Truths About Standardization (Especially for Data and ETL)
The ongoing debate about the planetary status of Pluto is a really great example of how the standards-making process really works. Like most debates, everyone involved is supposed to be rational, thinking adults. The most rational, thinking people on earth: scientists.
This planetary debate is highly charged, personal, emotional, contradictory at times, and ended with a solution that defies logic and mollifies more than it satisfies. Of course, this reminds me of the times I have been sitting in a room trying to decide on standard ways to do or classify things. For the most part, this has been as a technologist (around data, ETL and architecture), but also as a member of a business and as a leader in a non-profit organization ...
You can read about the 8 truths and more at architected.info
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Posted by Morgan Goeller at 1:30 PM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2006
WWHD (What Would A Hacker Do)?
Slashdot had an interesting thread on creative responses to security threats. The problem was that people were having others try to piggy-back over their private wireless network.
The solutions, ranged from scary to annoying to hilarious. Instead of taking the enterprise route (find a vendor, spend some money, integrate the system) it is interesting to see what a web hacker would do in the same situation ...
You can read about hackers and more at architected.info
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Posted by Morgan Goeller at 8:00 AM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2006
Versatility and Value
Industry rag Computerworld has a great article about job skills and the marketplace. It predicts that:
[In] 2010 ... IT departments will be populated with "versatilists" -- those with a technology background who also know the business sector inside and out, can architect and carry out IT plans that will add business value, and can cultivate relationships ...
An interesting idea, but is it right?
You can read more about versatilists and more at architected.info
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Posted by Morgan Goeller at 8:45 PM | Comments (0)
August 12, 2006
Why Requirements are Difficult
Having problems dealing with requirements from your customers? It could be worse … imagine if the placement of a single comma cost you $2.13 million! This story is a great reminder why creating, maintaing, and following requirements is so difficult in technology projects ...
You can find about this and more at architected.info.
Posted by Morgan Goeller at 4:45 PM | Comments (0)
August 9, 2006
Bad Information Quality Can Be Devastating
A New Jersey NBC affiliate reported on a shocking turn of events where a deceased infant was accidentally cremated, because:
one of the babies being registered inconsistently at the morgue and in the hospital’s admissions database.
And the real travesty is that this isn’t the worst part of the story ...
You can find about this and more at architected.info.
Posted by Morgan Goeller at 9:30 PM | Comments (0)
August 8, 2006
Poor Information Quality Hits Home
Due to a data processing error, the City of Muncie, Indiana incorrectly assessed property taxes on several large non-profit institutions. The inflated total was then used for budgeting, causing a huge shortfall.
Of course, the people most impacted were the first responders.
You can find about this and more at architected.info.
Posted by Morgan Goeller at 6:30 AM | Comments (0)
