Knowledge Work

Long seen as a method to maximize employment opportunities and salaries in the post-dot-com-bust era, a study released today finds that pay for certified IT skills falls short of the pay for non-certified skills.
The Q1 2006 Hot Technical Skills and Certifications Pay Index, released April 25 by Foote Partners, a New Canaan, Conn., IT compensation […]

Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 7 as a public beta.
I’ve downloaded and installed it without difficulty. Still kicking the tires, but so far I haven’t seen anything that would make me leave Firefox.
Internet Explorer 7: downloads (Microsoft.com)

Robin Yearsley serves up two terrific posts this morning at the IT Service Blog.
One of them is a pointer to a white paper (in PDF format) called Root Cause Analysis for Beginners. (In a former job, I had to develop and teach a root cause analysis class to our problem resolvers, and I wish that […]

If you’re an aggregator “harnessing collective intelligence”, what are you aggregating? If it’s data and information, you’re competing with just about everything–Google searches, reference docs both online and printed, the majority of tech books and articles, etc. But if you’re aggregating up the hierarchy through knowledge, and especially understanding and wisdom, you’re adding huge value […]

If you’re a frequent Googler (and who isn’t?) then you’ll definitely want to grab the newly-updated, two-page PDF version of the Google Cheat Sheets (Version 1.02).
Print them out, stick them in a plastic sheet protector and keep them near your PC.

The concept of the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is not exceedingly difficult to comprehend, particularly as it applies to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).
However, the actual implementation of a CMDB and clearly demonstrating value can introduce subtle complexities as a result of competing business objectives and internal IT requirements.
But as a standard and trusted […]

Blogging is good for your career. A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field.
Ben Day blogged his way into a career as a high-earning software consultant while maintaining the freedom to schedule frequent jam sessions and performances as a keyboard player.
Blogging gave him the opportunity to stand out enough to support […]

An article geared towards tech support staff, but one that most of us who work in technology would do well to read:
You think you’re a good communicator: You keep your users informed and you listen to their problems. So why is it that no one appears to read your e-mails or seems capable of following […]

I have seen the future of management, and it is Indian. Vineet Nayar, president of India’s 30,000-employee HCL Technologies, is creating an IT outsourcing firm where, he says, employees come first and customers second.
“Everybody was aghast the first time I said that,” admits Nayar.
Here are some things I can say about him with confidence: He […]

A group of systems and software vendors (led by BMC, Fujitsu, IBM and HP) are pushing for standards for the databases that track IT assets and how their configurations change over time:
Such a repository, called a Change and Configuration Management Database (CMDB), is called for by ITIL (IT Infrastructure Libraries), a framework that provides terminology […]

The Big Four accounting firms are rapidly rebuilding their consulting divisions, though these days they’re calling them “business advisory” groups. In the wake of the Andersen scandal, and fearing repercussions from crackdowns on conflicts of interest, three of the Big Four sold their consulting arms to outsiders: PriceWaterhouse sold out to IBM, Ernst & […]

Outsourcing of information technology and business services delivers average cost savings of 15 percent, a survey found on Thursday, disproving market claims that outsourcing can reduce costs by more than 60 percent.
After professional fees, severance pay and governance costs, savings range between 10 percent and 39 percent, with the average level at 15 percent when […]

MONEY Magazine’s Best Jobs: #13 - Technical writer

When a Sunnyvale tech company laid off the manager and most of his colleagues in its reliability testing group a year and a half ago, the manager said a few employees were spared — younger, foreign workers on H-1B visas.
The laid-off manager was infuriated that as an American citizen, he wasn’t given priority over the […]

NASA project manager Jerry Madden, the Associate Director of the Flight Projects Directorate at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, was a legend in his field. He began collecting and assembling a set of rules for project managers early in his career; after Jerry retired in 1995, others maintained and updated […]

“If you do not assume responsibility for breaking the system in the way you want it broken and then integrating it to a better plateau, it will break by itself to a worse plateau. So inaction does not save you; it gives the power of your demise to outside forces.”
Ichak Adizes, Managing Corporate Lifecycles

Pink Elephant today announced it has become the first organisation to receive worldwide accreditation for a new integrated ITIL® certification course that will enable practitioners to effectively manage, organise and optimise the Support and Restore processes, and minimise the adverse effects of Incidents and Problems, within the Service Desk function.
Pink […]

Some major acquisitions activity, possibly presaging a trend towards consolidation, in the Indian offshore/outsourcing space.  EDS has apparently just picked up a big chunk (in excess of 40%) of Mphasis:
The EDS-Mphasis deal is part of an ongoing trend that has software and BPO firms shifting large parts of their operations to India. IBM Global, in […]

A great question over at MetaTalk brings the BBSers out of the woodwork: “Were you a BBSer? Did you run a BBS?” The person asking the question has noted some similarities between BBS culture and blog culture, and I think that’s a very good observation.
For those of you who weren’t around or weren’t paying […]

The 2007 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools” has just come out; if you’ve been thinking about adding a graduate degree to your resume, you’ll want to give this comprehensive ranking of the best programs in the United States at least a quick once-over.
USNews.com: America’s Best Graduate Schools 2007