Edgardo Vega's Blog

Microsoft bets on 'live software'

Edgardo Vega — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 23:07:00 GMT

According to Dan Farber, Microsoft make its next big bet on 'live software'; a new type of software experience. Gates said, It's about connecting users at the center, with relationships with people, data people care about, applications and all devices coming together to do things for you.

Here are more blogs talking about it: Crunchnotes Microsoft Live Event - My Real Time Notes, Dave Winer http://archive.scripting.com/2005/11/01.

Windows Live is here

Edgardo Vega — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 23:21:00 GMT

Check out Windows Live. At a quick glance, it looks like start.com.

Goodbye Old friend

Edgardo Vega — Mon, 24 Oct 2005 22:33:00 GMT

After 10 years, Mini has died, of a stroke. Mini was the family dog. I dedicate this day in memory of Mini.

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Released

Edgardo Vega — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 23:41:00 GMT

SPS SP 2 has been released. SPS can now:

Support for running on 64-bit machines in 32-bit emulation mode

Support for Reverse Proxy and Alternate URL support

Support for IP-Bound virtual servers

Support for off-box SSL termination

Support for SQL Server 2005

Kerberos-enabled by default

Download @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=171DC9A7-B4BA-4759-BD64-6B7D851A97EF

NOTE: Before you install SharePoint Portal Server 2003 SP2 on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

905854 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905854/) Prerequisites information for installing SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Service Pack 2 on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition

Windows SharePoint Services Service Pack 2 Released

Edgardo Vega — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 17:26:00 GMT

WSS SP 2 has been released. WSS can now:

Support for running on 64-bit machines in 32-bit emulation mode

Support for Reverse Proxy and Alternate URL support

Support for IP Bound virtual servers

Support for off-box SSL termination

Support for SQL Server 2005

Support for ASP.NET 2.0

Download @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9C552114-DC9A-43EE-9281-B080B7C280B4

NOTE: Windows SharePoint Services SP2 should not be used until Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003

Service Pack 2 (SP2) is released and installed on the computer that is running Windows SharePoint Services SP2

NOTE: If you perform Windows SharePoint Services-only deployments, you can take advantage of the new functionality without waiting for the release of SharePoint Portal Server 2003 SP2.

Pre Con Patterns and Practices for Designing Service Oriented Applications (pt1)

Edgardo Vega — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 23:49:00 GMT

I will be at PRE13 Patterns and Practices for Designing Service Oriented Applications,for the day. I am here with DonXML. Last night I had dinner at a tapas restaurant with Vin, Beat, Ron, Don, DonXML and Peter. Peter talks about the dinner and the first part of the session here. Dinner was a lot of fun with good company, good food, and good conversation.

Ron also pointed to a XSD Object Code Generation on gotdotnet that he uses.

PDC05

Made it to LA

Edgardo Vega — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 04:05:00 GMT

Made it to LA. I have already stopped by the convention center and did my registration.

PDC05

On my way to PDC

Edgardo Vega — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 15:46:00 GMT

So I am officially on my way to my first PDC. I should be in LA by 1:00PM. If you want to meet up with me just contact me with your phone number and I will give you a call right back (if I can). Otherwise I will most likely be on the Don plan.

PDC05

Meeting Hell Part 5

Edgardo Vega — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 06:59:00 GMT

After my last post, two people agreed with Chris. Here are their stories and I don't think I will have to make the commentary on this one.

Jeremy

Oh Chris, that sounds awfully familiar. At one point I was the"Architect" on 7 projects at one time. My solution for meeting hell was to jump to a company doing Agile development (flat team structure, more collaboration, better communication channels). Meeting hell is a major process and organizational smell. If you really have to schedule meetings just to get to talk about an issue with your teamates, you're team is inefficient (I've been there).

Prophetic is how I would describe it. I'm going to have to inquire, but the data architect that I've been dealing with was given the position as a promotion directly from the business-client phone desks. Perhaps all he had to do to get the job with no skill, training or knowledge was be disagreeable. It's frightening for me since every meeting that I have with this non-data architect makes me disagree with him for the sake of disagreeing. Maybe I'm inline for a promotion.

Meeting Hell Part 4

Edgardo Vega — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 23:37:00 GMT

This was left in my comments here and written by Chris Williams

I've found that if you disagree with every single point made by anyone in the meeting, they tend to not invite you back. Of course, credibility suffers some... but you're left alone to do your work.

The danger of this... is if you work somewhere that everyone thinks you are the smartest one on the team, they assume you're right and invite you to even MORE meetings.

Then they "promote you" to system designer or architect... and you find that coding is no longer one of your responsibilities. Then you're stuck in meetings all day, every day until review time, when they realize you have accomplished nothing and they fire you.

or maybe not... :)

I find this extremely funny and true (most of it). I am sure many of you have either gone through this or seen it happen.

Meeting Hell Part 3

Edgardo Vega — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 18:02:00 GMT

I have found the solution to Meeting Hell, more holidays. Yesterday (Labor Day) was great because there were no meetings. It was also excellent, because meetings were already being cancelled, due to the long weekend.

This event got me thinking. Why should a meeting be cancelled, due to the long weekend? The difference is only one work day. If the work week was cut down to 4 days, would we have the same amount of meetings or would that number go down?

I have had people ask me to post more often on this topic. So my goal is to post one of these every work day.

There are some good stories in my comments that I plan to elevate into full posts. So please keep the comments coming or email me. Also let me know what you like or don't like.

Meeting Hell Part 2

Edgardo Vega — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 20:24:00 GMT

From my experience, most projects are already in Meeting Hell. So the next few posts will be focused on stopping meeting hell. These experience will hopefully not only come from me, but from the rest of the blogosphere. Remember to leave a comment or contact me, in order to share your stories.

I have gone into several meetings and have had Person A giving their status report and then Person B raises an objection to the way Person A is implementing a feature. Soon it evolves (or devolves in my opinion), to a large discussion of what exactly is being done and why. Then Person C (who really just wants to leave the meeting and get some work done) says hey why don't we have meeting on this (knowing full well they either won't show up or wont be invited). Everyone thinks that seems like a reasonable idea and the PM is left with scheduling another meeting.

This scenario seems to play itself out at least once during a meeting. The trick is to just say NO (just like smoking again). Either as a member of the team or as the PM, suggest that the two people with the problem meet at one of their desks, talk through the issue, come to a resolution, implement the resolution, and give a status update at the next meeting. I know I just suggested having another meeting. I have used this in meetings several times and it seems to work.

Another meeting with the entire group has now just been avoided . That alone is a big win. Everyone is happy that they don't have another meeting scheduled and everyone can actually get work done, keeping the project from slipping. Everyone is also equally relieved that the meeting can continue.

Now it is true that two people must now meet, but they are meeting on less hostile terms. Conference rooms full of your peers can be intimidating and everyone seems to be just a bit tenser (another reason discussions seem to spiral out of control). By having these two people in a more relaxed setting, seems to get the issue resolved faster than if you had another meeting or let the meeting continue on. Finally the two people show up at the next meeting, with a quick status update on what has been done to resolve the conflict and everything is good to go.

Please leave a comment or contact me, so that I may share your stories.

Meeting Hell Part 1

Edgardo Vega — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 08:02:00 GMT

I have done a lot of project management, since graduation. I was thrilled to be put in that role for several projects. I have learned that nothing gets people more irritated then 'Meeting Hell'. I can tell you that as a project manger and as a team member 'Meeting Hell' irritates me equally as much.

I define 'Meeting Hell' as going into one meeting and coming out scheduling three to four more and in those meetings scheduling more meetings. Soon enough no one is actually working and the project is falling further and further behind schedule. That's 'Meeting Hell'.

My first piece of advise is that the best way to stop meeting hell is don't start (like smoking). If you are already in meeting hell or would like my advise in preventing 'Meeting Hell', your going to have to wait for my next posts.

I am starting this series as a way of helping others deal with 'Meeting Hell'. I am also hoping that people will share there experiences on their blogs or in my comments. You are also welcome to email me with stories and I will post the good ones.

Note: I graduated from Virginia Tech on May 15th 2004, with degree a in CS (for those of you wondering).

Love Triangle Killing

Edgardo Vega — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 03:44:00 GMT

I found this hilarious!

A 78-year-old woman was indicted on charges she killed her 85-year-old ex-boyfriend at the senior citizens home where they lived because he had been seeing another woman. The accused, Lena Sims Driskell, was charged with murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Her ex-boyfriend, Herman Winslow, was killed June 10. The police said Ms. Driskell, angry that her yearlong romance with Mr. Winslow had ended, shot him four times with an antique handgun at the Hightower Manor retirement home in southwest Atlanta, where the two lived. "I did it and I'd do it again!" she told officers, according to the police. (AP)

Santa Barbara Airport (SBA)

Edgardo Vega — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 18:37:00 GMT

Doc Searls, in Wasting away again in Delayflightville, says that SBA is a 'little airport'. I would have to say that Doc is making it seem much bigger than it is. It is tiny. I have been there several times in the last year and half and I have yet to go to an airport that is smaller. Here is a map of the airport. Speaking of Santa Barbara, I will there September 16th - September 18th.