Why Can’t Enterprise IT Be More Like Consumer IT?
Much of the technology pundi-sphere has been burbling about the creation of shadow IT, cloud democratizing IT, the rise of bring-your-own-device (BYOD), and all sorts of anti-enterprise IT buzz to the point that I've even blogged about it before.
A Call for Ethical IT Selling: Part Two – A Code of Engagement
Thinking back on my previous article, a thought occurred to me: Those of us in the blogosphere, and certainly those of us assisting with governmental IT missions, need to maintain a stricter code of engagement that needs to first and foremost deal with what is needed, not just wanted, from the people that we try to inform. We can do this by applying some of the basics of the journalistic code to all our communications and recommendations:
A Call for Ethical IT Selling: Part One – Don’t Become a News Network
I recently had the opportunity to listen to a riveting keynote given by Ted Koppel at the Symantec Symposium in Washington, DC. Yes, Ted Koppel the journalist spoke at a technology conference, and was by far one of the best reasons to be there.
You’re Sinking My IT Ship: Why Continually Treating IT Like a Battleship is a Problem
Government IT has been characterized by long term monolithic systems that fail to deliver. Part of the problem is approaching IT as a complex durable good, like a battleship, with complete specifications, known life-cycles, and defined missions. Fighter aircraft have six generations of evolving technology and missions, each having known maintenance cycles, life spans, and changing requirements based on future planning and doctrine, as well as, mission feedback.
IT has none of that because it has no duty cycle or doctrine. IT can be obsolete on delivery, regardless of development timeframe. IT delivery can redefine all previous requirements. IT has very little longevity, even if successful on delivery.
Don’t Forget Your System Calls
DLT’s Greg Agana provides a friendly reminder for everyone out there that troubleshooting difficult software application issues doesn't have to be as hard as quantum mechanics.
When you run into an issue, like you would in Solaris or RHEL, there are a few steps we go through to figure out what exactly is causing the problem.
Reducing 2AM headaches Part 3: Resiliency
The title of this series underscores our motivation for building a toolbox for system management, silencing the pager. In the first part of the series, we discussed the importance of standardization. We then talked about automation. As we conclude the series, we turn our focus on resiliency.
The KISS Method to Troubleshooting Network Connectivity Issues
When having what seems to be a complex network connectivity problem, sometimes the best method to tackle the issue is to implement the KISS Method. Look for the simple stuff first and keep these tips in mind when troubleshooting network connectivity.
Top 10 Tips for Troubleshooting Network Connectivity
Federal Government: 24,000 Web Sites and Shrinking; A Four Point Web Optimization Plan
The below blog was written by Aaron Dun and published with permission from Percussion. Percussion provides Web Content Management (WCM) software that helps businesses increase traffic, drive conversion, and improve social interaction. The Percussion Marketing Blog discusses web content, engagement, SEO, inbound marketing, and social media.
In June President Obama took to the airwaves to announce an ambitious campaign to reduce waste. The Campaign to Cut Waste sought to identify pointless Federal spending and eliminate it as rapidly as possible. As of June, as much as $33B was estimated as potential savings.
Reducing 2AM headaches part 2: Automate
Last time we talked about standard operating environments and how they can reduce stress and give back time. Now we'll talk about managing not only systems but the SOEs themselves. Repeatable, reproducible, and remote are the watchwords for managing our environments.
Private Cloud Technologies: Moving Away from a Traditional IT Model
In a traditional Information Technology (IT) model, new IT assets are acquired in support of specific applications. This model has had the unfortunate side effect of casting IT into the role of a cost center. As such, there has been little flexibility within IT to make broad platform changes such as the adoption and deployment of private cloud technologies.