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PMP Certificate
Hi there,
if you work in a corporate environment, in a small business, as sole trader or even in a family, you will be a project manager at some sort. Our entire life can be broken down into projects. There is the education project, the getting the kids to survive adolescence project, the holiday trip, the wedding, the getting your company to the next level and last but not least the projects you might manage for your work place.
Now, how do we learn to manage projects? Well, a big part of PM (project management) is common sense. We think about the task and create work steps in our mind. We might formalize them, bring them onto paper, communicate them and control the processes and the outcome. All pretty obvious. Until this is, well until we have to project management together with others. That is a complete different ball game. Starting with the good old wedding. Planning this thing together can be a nightmare, simply because groom and bride seem to speak completely different languages.
And that is exactly the reason why it is so difficult to share PM. The terminology and language. Also the system. Each person has their own way of thinking. We all tick differently and that is usually not a problem since a lot of ways will get the aspired solution. In a team environment it is a bit of a problem, though.
This is where methods come in handy. There are countless definitions out there but IMO the world wide standard is PMP (Project Manager Practitioner) from PMI. This is a methodology and a rule set. It establishes a common language and breaks projects down into smaller entities which are easier to manage.
I am just doing my PMP accreditation and I am absolutely thrilled with the tool that is in my hands now. This thing is great. It allows me to communicate with PM's all over the world in the same (methodology) language. Everyone knows (more or less) the same. It is a bit like a party with lots of strangers who all are bar keepers by trade. Good communication and great drinks are a given.
I encourage you to have a look at this. It might just change the way you attack things for ever.
CU later
Mike
PS. Check out our improved website ... any comments are more than welcome.
certifications
Hi there,
Todays topic: What IT certifications hold the most value?
It is one of those topics. Some say, IT certifications aren'r worth the paper they are printed on because it is all about skill-sets and not about a snap shot of one particular skill at all. Other will tell you that the certifications they did accellerated their carrers and are a big boost for every CV.
I gues, this is both true. Sure, a snapshot wont show anyone the real skill lever but at least a certification proves that this person did something (most of the times proactive) to strengthen his/her skill set. Point is, we don't know what skills someone has before we see him in action. Certifications can only be an indicator but they also provide at least a foundation. A MS certificate has a certain standard and unless it is forged, it will provide some security that this person knows something about the topic on hand.
Now that leaves us with the question: What certifications will provide maximum career leverage? There are countless opinions and it obviously depends on what part of the IT industry they will be applied. Let's just say we are talking management area with 100k$+ wages. Obviously there are still countless niches, we can think about, but let's just stick with generall stuff like e.g. Prince2 (project management).
What do you guys think? I started a post about this in some LinkedIn groups as well and will post the results in my blog later on.
I am looking forward to hearing your thougts :)
Cheers
Mike
PS. Please also check out our improved website ... any comments are more than welcome.
SharePoint
Hi guys,
Here is the thing: I was wrong! I followed the wrong path for more than 12 years :(
Why am I saying that and why should you care? I tell you what: If you are not a developer of corporate systems and you are not working for a corporation and are not running your own business, you should probably just cary on surfing, this post won't mean much to you.
BUT IF YOU ARE... keep on reading - well, just a suggestion ;)
I start from the beginning: When I began working in the industry (IT that is) there was the good guys and the evil guys. The good ones where using Unix and as much open source as possible, the evil ones where all called Bill and lived behind big gates trying to take over the world!
Microsoft was trying to extend and extend and extend. They had sales people in every government organization, every school, every bigger corporation and they did a good job. They sold! This was something that us Linux geeks really pissed off. So we closed our eyes to everything MS and just focused on what we thought where better solutions. Fair enough.
Now, more than a decade later, it seems like (at least) I made a mistake there. Just recently I discovered MS SharePoint. This is a collaboration platform as well as an information base, as well as a CMS, a CRM, a business intelligence center and pretty much everything you tell it to be. It is fairly easy to use and quite inexpensive. It can do just about everything you need and is easy to extend to cover all the things you want.
Why did I spent all this years developing software which did the same thing (obviously not that comprehensive)? This encounter opened my eyes towards MS. I am about to turn around on my preconceptions. I still hate that MS website really only work in IE. I don't like the recklessness copy right violation is punished with but I can start to see the point. The MS business projects are really good products. There is a reason for the price tag and while I am not going so far to sanction everything the representative, owner and CEO of MS does, I must admit that Billy boy doesn't seem to be the devil. After all he is funding the worlds richest charity organization and sinks just about all his money and the money of his mega rich friends into it.
The reason for me to write this blog post (I guess) is to share my mistake and warn about being narrow minded. Avoiding a technology because of ignorance isn't the smartest move and I am looking forward to a future in which I will be able to offer much more comprehensive and complete services to my clients. I guess I needed a while to grow up. It cost me a lot of money and opportunities but I finally did and it feels quite good. I am looking forward to new, exciting projects in the LAMP AND the MS world from now on.
CU there!
Mike
PS. Check out our improved website ... any comments are more than welcome.
GIT vs SVN
Hi everybody,
Started a nice discussion about versioning systems which I would like to share with you. It boiled down to the biggest system, which is SVN and the "newcomer" GIT, which comes from Linus T. himself:
We also use sub-versioning mostly form a web development perspective.
SVN seemed to be the choice 4-5 years ago, and it was fine in a simple development environment (1-2 user on a project, not much branching). But recently we just noticed it wasn't optimal anymore - one mistake in merging could leave you with lost changes, merging took forever with a svn server on the internet.
Since our web server panel started to support GIT repositories (needed a bit of tweaking to get it running wiht smart http), we figured to give it a try. So far we love it! As with any software it's important to avoid certain traps, but my god is it fast and great in branching/merging! And the post commit hook works too in our web server environment for instance to update the staging instance of a project when pushing into the staging branch.
Also the Windows GUI (we use Tortoise GIT) doesn't seem as bad anymore either (even though it leaves me scratching my head some times :-) )...
The discussion will continue. Stay tuned or find me "Michael Zwiener" on linkedIn.
Check out our improved website ... any comments are more than welcome.
Cheers
Mike
Flash vs HTML5
Hi everybody,
Flash vs HTML5
For many years Web Developers have been discussing the pros and cons of Flash and HTML5. Now even Adobe, Flash-creator, introduced a new tool in their product line, called Adobe Edge.
The tool is still in the first stages of its development but it is already possible to download a preview. The new Adobe tool entitles you to create animation and transitions using the capabilities of HTML5, Javascript and CSS3.
Adobe claims that the tool is going to be updated regularly, to provide best functionality and experience. I reckon it wont be just us who can´t wait for the launch of the new Adobe product, eh?!
Check out our improved website ... any comments are more than welcome.
Cheers
Mike
New partners
Hi everybody,
We have great news. We went into partnership with a local agency which will outsource a lot of their work to us. We love to work with other web professionals and I am looking forward to a great partnership. We are also working on our website. It can be hard to find time for improving the own website when there are so many clients projects but I took some time of my day and added a lot of content. The web site is much better structured now and we added some references. This is a work in progress, but the great thing is that we use our own CMS, created on basis of Silverstrype to do the website, which makes it very easy for me to change it around. We are also spending more time with typo3 and typo light (not as close to each other as the name would suggest) as alternatives to Silverstripe. Check out our improved website ... any comments are more than welcome.
Cheers
Mike
I am design blind! You too?
Hi everybody,
I am design blind! You too?
How is it that almost no real programmer seems to be able to make his stuff look good? Is it just a different mind set? Programmers tend to be analytical function focused people. Designers are creative and a bit "head in the clouds" kind of guys. I would bet that more signers wear hats and drive colorful golf cabriolets then software developers do. Is there a way around? Can I learn design skills?
Well, it would be really handy to do it all, but after years of trying to get better in it myself and pushing my own team into thinking about the user, thinking about making interfaces look good, I kind of gave up.
How about you? What are your experiences? Is it a skill that can (and should) be learned or should everyone just stay with his expertise and outsource the rest? I am looking forward to hear your opinion about it.
Cheers
Mike from www.signetix.co.nz
Hybrid Apps as an interface of HTML5 and native Apps?!
Hi guys,
App developers argue whether HTML or native apps are better for the user and for business. It both has its pros and cons.
With HTML it is, according to rumours of Facebook´s " Project Spartan" and Microsoft´s plan to create apps for Windows 8 in HTML5 and JavaScript, just a matter of time when,not if, companies will completely adopt HTML apps.
Still, there are many HTML coded apps which can not access features like your phones camera, microphone or address book.
Native apps which use direct images of the provider and can show off with game-quality graphics, are not believed to survive on the long run.
Hybrid apps, however, function as a link of HTML or JavaScript coded pages and native coded pages. It enables you to use the advantages of the coding language in question and smooth away the respective disadvantages. However, the main benefit is that when creating a hybrid app and deciding to swith to a completely HTML coded app, wou do not have to rewrite the app from the scratch.
You can keep the HTML coded pages and edit the rest while the user will not see a difference to a native app.
Stay tuned or find me "Michael Zwiener" on linkedIn.
Check out our improved website ... any comments are more than welcome.
Cheers
Mike
Project Sportportalonline.com
Hello again,
the hardworking guys of Signetix were also working on a new sporty project called Sportportalonline.com. The cooperation with Results!-Athletic Centre in Nelson is a project which has received a big deal of our attention during the last months. This Website does not just feature the opportunity to set up a membership for the Results! - Athletic Centre. Its main right to exist is a forum where everyone who is interested in Sports can chat and exchange latest news, dates, experiences and insights. It will also be possible to use the websites own shop for fitness gear in all kinds and colors and to receive latest official perceptions of the world of sports. We are still working on this project but we are keen to present a fully working and exploratory website very soon.
Signetix is very thankful for this great assignment and is looking forward to a long lasting relationship with the world of sports and fitness.
Cheers
Lisa