|
Hiring the right programmers is key for development, but it can be a nightmare to find time to administer coding tests and interview candidates. So rather than relying on a scripted phone round that potential hires can easily game, the mobile consulting firm Mutual Mobile is implementing more pragmatic screening in which candidates have to fix a broken app and run it in order to get to the next round of interviews. That’s it. Don't bother hiring, just keep interviewing until the app is done!
|
|
|
|
|
Microsoft continues to finalize its Windows 8.1 update, but the company revealed today that it plans to make it available on October 18th. The free update will be listed in the Windows Store for existing Windows 8 users at 7AM ET on October 17th, with boxed copies, new hardware, and a full retail release on October 18th. Just in time for all those holiday requests for tech support from relatives
|
|
|
|
|
They're actually posting something for download in the Windows Store? There must be lots of space available on there and not much to compete with so download speeds will be impressive.
If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.
|
|
|
|
|
Two ears and a tail for you, good one.
--------------
TTFN - Kent
|
|
|
|
|
No matter which CPU you choose, these new Mac Pros are looking like they’re going to be pretty expensive if you want a good amount of CPU power. Typically, the outgoing Mac Pro has been priced at about $2000 plus the CPU cost (or more), with the entry CPU being a few hundred bucks (and really not worth buying), and that’s without the dual high-powered workstation GPUs that the new Mac Pro will apparently have standard. Today's totally predictable headline (for your consideration)
|
|
|
|
|
Microsoft shows off some numbers, and one reveals very much. This news item best viewed on Internet Explorer
|
|
|
|
|
Google has open sourced Gumbo, an HTML parsing library written in C. Gumbo adheres to the HTML5 parsing algorithm, passing all html5lib-0.95 tests, and has been tested on 2.5 billion pages indexed by Google. There's no okra in there, is there? I'm allergic.
|
|
|
|
|
Orange County files lawsuit to recover damages from offshore firm in tax system rewrite {shocked, totally shocked} Who could have seen that coming?
|
|
|
|
|
Over 98% of our business comes from repeat clients
Yup, as in, we needed an extra $8 mil. And another. And another.
Marc
|
|
|
|
|
Yes indeed but doesn't $8m to start with sound very low. A proper due diligence should have spotted that. I don't know the scope of work but check out what similar systems cost.
Peter Wasser
Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.
Frank Zappa
modified 13-Aug-13 21:16pm.
|
|
|
|
|
Apart from other miscalculations and lapses of management, I'm willing to bet they didn't use an agile process (i.e. several small deliverables at regular intervals).
/ravi
|
|
|
|
|
6000 pages of specs, and nothing to show for it? I'm definitely tempted to agree with you.
This is the worst of waterfall, combined with the worst of government-managed project, I think. Made worse by the mindset of many a consultant ("just keep doing it while they keep paying").
This is why IT has a bad rep in various circles, IMO.
--------------
TTFN - Kent
|
|
|
|
|
Are you kidding me?? Their process was very agile! "Are they still paying? ... Then ask for more! Otherwise, RUN!!!..."
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein
|
|
|
|
|
and our other headlines...
Pope admits to being Catholic.
Bear found defecating in wood.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
|
|
|
|
|
Microsoft officials say the company now has 16 billion-dollar businesses inside the company. We know what 15 of them are. Carl Sagan would be proud
|
|
|
|
|
Mary Jo's gotten old.
Marc
|
|
|
|
|
I didn't know that you had plans for the two of you to be an item? :P
Or did you mean that her topics and/or style have gotten old? Yeah, she hasn't been the same since when she was riding the buses around campus to get leads. Still, she's one of the few writers who consistently covers the Fish Shoppe. I know I can't find too many young/hip types who do; I can't imagine why.
I'll try to leave her off for a while, though. Unless she does have something useful to say. Or I'm short of items. Or I think of a blurb that amuses me.
--------------
TTFN - Kent
|
|
|
|
|
I go through periods of reading old items from MJ. It's worth it to go through old predictions to see what has come to fruition and what got kicked into touch. If Marc wants an intro though, I can put him in touch with her.
|
|
|
|
|
If you've ever been mystified by how Google knows what you're looking for before you even finish typing your query into the search box, or had voice search on Android recognize exactly what you said even though you're in a noisy subway, chances are you have Jeff Dean and the Systems Infrastructure Group to thank for it. "Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate."
|
|
|
|
|
April's Software Test Professionals Conference ended with a panel discussion about the future of the industry. Rex Black said agile methods were "picking up steam." His colleague on the panel, Cem Kaner, a professor of software engineering at Florida Institute of Technology, replied that agile software development is, on the other hand, already mainstream, and those not already doing agile are in danger of being left behind. Let's talk about it during tomorrow's stand-up meeting.
|
|
|
|
|
Kent Sharkey wrote: Let's talk about it during tomorrow's stand-up meeting. Not if you're agile. Standups are for presenting status and raising red-flags - discussions are taken offline.
/ravi
|
|
|
|
|
Shows how "agile" I am.
--------------
TTFN - Kent
|
|
|
|
|
Heh.
2 years ago I resisted agile because it was alien to me as the bubonic plague. I wanted nothing to do with it. I was convinced it was another left-wing (I'm not a conservative) hippie-induced (I am a hippie) fad (I my pet rock) designed by the weirdos of Silicon Valley (I have many close friends who I respect who work in the Valley).
Today I wonder how I got on without it. I'm much less stressed, more able to estimate a realistic ship date (I love reality vs. arbitrary schedules - agile lets me clearly identify why a release date may be unrealistic), and able to have a shippable (but not necessarily complete) product at almost any time in the dev cycle.
An agile organization makes sense to me today. Maybe because I learned agile isn't some voodoo you throw on a project to make it magically ship on time, but is a way of running a development organization.
/ravi
|
|
|
|
|
Ravi Bhavnani wrote: An agile organization makes sense to me today. Maybe because I learned agile isn't some voodoo you throw on a project to make it magically ship on time, but is a way of running a development organization.
I hear you. I'm partly hesitant as I'm feeling a bit out of the biz these days. I see the value in it. I'm resistant to the religion, but I've always pushed for many of the same ideas: small, rapid cycles, heavy customer involvement, etc. I'm sure if I were involved in a real agile project, I'd love it.
--------------
TTFN - Kent
|
|
|
|
|
I would say that Agile has always been with us. The problem is that then somebody thought that they way to do things was top down. Those projects tend to fail unless there is a lot of government money behind them, and usually they are never pointed to as being an example of how to do a project. A lot of people made a lot of money and fame by proposing to go with top down. Often they left the project before it failed and thus the blame was not pointed at them (ie FAA's Advanced Automation System). The government still has not learned that top down is an expensive approach.
|
|
|
|