The core activities of configuration management (i.e. changeset management and release management) are essential to control the changes made to a system and to administer the release of its different versions. However getting it wrong damages your brand, customer...
PDM/PLM-Product Data and Lifecycle Management
Five Steps to Take if Your IT Outsourcing Agreement Goes South
IT outsourcing relationships can be fraught with challenges, ranging from communications breakdowns between client and provider to issues surrounding performance. If an IT outsourcing agreement isn’t meeting your company’s expectations (e.g. SLA targets are missed;...
SDLC Basics: The Vision Statement
In the Beginning In the beginning, there was an idea. The idea took shape and became a project. The project became an application and the application got used. Or maybe it didn't get used. Maybe it was completely the wrong application for the business. Or maybe it was...
The Project Management Skills Gap
When it comes to product innovation and project development, the role of the project manager cannot be underestimated. That's why it's important to take an objective look at the skills and resources available in your organization and determine if a skills gap exists...
Avoid Budget Overruns and Unhappy Customers with Better QA and Testing
Any project can be divided into different parts including requirements gathering, design, implementation, documentation and so on. One key aspect of the project lifecycle is quality assurance (QA), but it's often overlooked. Although almost all project managers...
Continuous Integration Best Practices—Part 1
Continuous Integration is a leading software development methodology whereby new development is constantly being submitted and tested against the main body of work. The goal being rapid feedback on incremental changes, resulting in lower maintenance costs and higher...
Continuous Integration Best Practices—Part 3
As I noted in "Continuous Integration Best Practices—Part 1" and "Continuous Integration Best Practices—Part 2" there are 10 best practice principles associated with Continuous Integration and in this previous articles, we covered the first six. In this article, we...
Continuous Integration Best Practices—Part 4
As I noted in other articles in this "Continuous Integration Best Practices" Series (click here for Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3", there are 10 best practice principles associated with Continuous Integration and in this previous articles, we covered the first eight. In...
What Do Late Product Launches REALLY Cost?
Your engineering team’s product launch date just slipped a week. Should you spend $20,000 on an outside engineering service to get the release back on schedule? In these situations, making the right decision quickly requires reliable information and analysis. As more...
The 12 Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto
Last March we introduced "The 12 Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto," a multi-part series that examined the key principles behind an effective agile development strategy. Over the course of this series we have introduced the principles, defined them, and...
Declutter your multi-computer desktop with ‘Mouse without Borders’
For the everyday user with a laptop or desktop, this article may not apply. And for those of you who have no need to have more than one PC on your desk -- kudos! But from time to time, its necessary to have several PC's on your desk at the same time -- especially...
Keep Track of Passwords with Pleasant Solutions
When involved in IT strategy consulting services, you need a way to keep track of passwords in a safe and accessible manner. There are a number of different options out there ranging from single machine managers to cloud-based services. The one I found to be a great...