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{ Author Archives } Barry Campbell

Barry Campbell is an experienced technical communicator and process analyst. With over 17 years of experience in information technology, much of it in a consulting role, Barry has written technical documentation and marketing materials, developed new business proposals and RFPs, and prepared and delivered presentations targeted to all levels of management. Barry has held senior staff positions at Capgemini and Summit Systems, and as an independent consultant his clients have included IBM and GlaxoSmithKline (formerly GlaxoWellcome.)

Barry maintains the Knowledge Worker Free/Open Source Toolbox, a document that lists freeware and Open Source equivalents to commercial software used by knowledge workers.

Etherbeat, R.I.P.

The audio soundscape on the Net just got a little less interesting: Etherbeat, a net radio station that played wonderful, sometimes obscure jazz, funk and world-beat music, has closed its virtual doors.
It’s with a great deal of regret that I am announcing the closure of Etherbeat Radio. Proposed legislative changes are signalling a new climate […]

2007 07 08 In the News Comments (0)

Rolling your own online office

I’ve done a lot of telecommuting in my life. My first real writing gig came when I was 16 as a freelancer for a computer magazine whose offices were 3,000 miles from my house, and since then I’ve worked for a number of blogs, web startups, and computer game companies in an online, virtual office […]

2007 06 13 Tools and techniques Comments (0)

Free web conferencing tool: Vyew

If you’re looking for free/extremely low-cost alternatives to online conferencing tools like WebEx, let me suggest Vyew.
Vyew is a next-generation online collaboration and web conferencing service that brings people and content together. With Vyew you can host LIVE conferences and work collaboratively on content asynchronously over time, ANYTIME.
Inside Vyew you can author new content and […]

2007 06 06 Tools and techniques Comments (0)

The Essence of Duct Tape Marketing

Duct tape (the tape) is simple, effective, and affordable—i’s not always the prettiest solution, but it does always work. The central theme of Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide by John Jantsch is that effective small business marketing is a system—not an event—composed of simple, effective, and affordable techniques.
When you […]

2007 04 18 Knowledge work
Tools and techniques Comments (0)

Notes on the APMP Accreditation Process

The Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) has just rolled out a professional accreditation program, designed to offer independent, external validation of a proposal manager’s skills and abilities.
I just successfully completed the APMP-Foundation exam, laying the groundwork to pursue higher levels of certification and entitling me to place “AM.APMP” on my resume and in my […]

2007 04 11 Knowledge work
Proposal management
Professional education Comments (0)

Review: Nokia N800 Internet Tablet

Let’s say you’ve bought into the notion that “the Internet is the computer.” Much of the information you use in your daily life is either online or is accessible from there; you’re wired to the max at work and at home, you’ve got a Wi-Fi equipped laptop, maybe you’ve also got a BlackBerry or […]

2007 04 08 Knowledge work
Tools and techniques Comments (0)

The interrupt-driven life

Several research reports, both recently published and not yet published, provide evidence of the limits of multitasking. The findings, according to neuroscientists, psychologists and management professors, suggest that many people would be wise to curb their multitasking behavior when working in an office, studying or driving a car.
These experts have some basic advice. Check e-mail […]

2007 03 25 Technical communications
Process improvement
Knowledge work
Tools and techniques Comments (0)

CIO Insight: Outsourcing does not save money

Outsourcing may be commonplace, but it continues to confound IT executives’ expectations. Take the common myth that companies outsource to save money. Not only is this not true in half the cases, but our survey shows that most companies aren’t saving money by outsourcing.
And that’s not the only surprise: Insourcing and outsourcing, though polar opposites, […]

2007 03 21 Outsourcing
Knowledge work Comments (1)

How Today’s Techies Work

Do you match the profile of today’s typical high-tech worker? You do if e-mail is your main way of communicating, you spend half your day in meetings, and you search the Internet for the latest research instead of reading print journals.
That’s according to a study of how engineers work, commissioned by the IEEE Publication Services […]

2007 03 19 Knowledge work Comments (0)

ITIL v3 books can be ordered starting today

We are delighted to announce that the five core publications that together comprise ITIL version 3 will publish on 30th May 2007.
Having undergone a major revision, the new service lifecycle-based guidance incorporates the best from the previous two versions and tested current best practice for ITSM.
The five titles forming the core of ITIL practice are:
* […]

2007 03 08 IT service management Comments (0)

The Upside of Assholes: Is there Virtue in Bad Workplace Behavior?

Bob Sutton employs his signature frankness to discuss whether the bad behavior of workplace bullies and jerks should be tolerated in the name of success. While referencing such famous assholes as Steve Jobs of Apple or Hall of Fame baseball player Ty Cobb, Sutton debates the value of getting results with a strategic temper tantrum.
ChangeThis: […]

2007 03 07 Uncategorized
Knowledge work Comments (0)

70 hours a week the new standard?

Before Barbara Agoglia left her job as a director in American Express’ small business unit, she was on the verge of burnout. Aside from logging upward of 50 hours per week, she had a 90-minute commute to and from northern Westchester and had to be reachable to clients nearly 24-7.
The breaking point came when her […]

2007 03 01 Uncategorized
Knowledge work Comments (0)

Failing to support bid managers and proposal managers

The following paragraphs emphatically do not describe my current employer, chosen by me in large part because they grok the importance of well-designed, well-written proposals and are willing to invest in their management and production.
It does describe a few places I’ve had personal experience with, however:
Bid managers are unsung heroes in many companies according to […]

2007 02 28 Knowledge work
Proposal management Comments (0)

Gartner predicts: Nearly Half of IT Jobs will be Lost to Automation by 2015

By 2015, 40% of today’s IT job roles will be lost to automation, predicts [the Gartner Group.] Although the number of people employed in the US manufacturing sector has declined steadily during the past 50 years, productivity per worker continues to rise and has doubled in the past 20 years.
‘The same trend will be true […]

2007 02 16 Knowledge work
In the News Comments (0)

Twelve Tips for Managing Geeks

Those who run the business lack affinity for technology so they need the geeks, but they get frustrated by sloppy procedures, slipped deadlines, tactless communications, mystifying documents, warped priorities, lack of respect, non-compliance and stubborn resistance. Geeks, in the minds of business types, just don’t get it.
I once interviewed a Unix systems programmer in a […]

2007 02 14 IT service management
Knowledge work
Tools and techniques Comments (0)

Web 2.0: The Machine Is Us/Ing Us

Here’s a short YouTube video worth watching if you’re interested in the New Improved Semantic Web.Hat tip: BoingBoing

2007 02 07 Knowledge work
Tools and techniques Comments (0)

A Sinner’s Guide to Offshoring - Analyst Corner - CIO

Very interesting and amusing article in CIO, in which the author manages to characterize six classic errors in offshoring as five of the Seven Deadly Sins (including my personal favorite, Gluttony) and one standard-issue Tragic Flaw (hubris):
Compass analyses indicate that both captive and outsourced offshore projects are often poorly planned, […]

2007 02 02 Outsourcing
IT service management
Knowledge work Comments (0)

The 5 Immutable Laws of Persuasive Blogging (Copyblogger)

While there’s as many ways to approach blogging as there are blogs, some things remain steadfast when it comes to gaining influence and prompting action. Here are the 5 bedrock elements that you might keep in mind when blogging to persuade…
The 5 Immutable Laws of Persuasive Blogging | Copyblogger

2007 02 02 Knowledge work
Tools and techniques Comments (0)

“I’m a Mac, I’m a PC”

Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads (starring John Hodgman and Justin Long in the US) are running in other markets too, with local actors playing the Mac and the PC.
I don’t speak a word of Japanese, which is one reason I may find the Japanese ads the best.
The UK ads are pretty good, […]

2007 01 30 Marketing Comments (1)

The online malware market

Microsoft says its new operating system, Windows Vista, is the most secure in the company’s history. Now the bounty hunters will test just how secure it is.
When its predecessor, Windows XP, was released five years ago, software bugs were typically hunted by hackers for fame and glory, not financial reward. But now software vulnerabilities — […]

2007 01 30 Knowledge work
In the News Comments (0)