Oracle Looks At Buying Novell AND/ OR making their own linux distro! I am not really a Novell fan – but a Suse fan I am. I would hate to see Oracel eat and destry Suse. Oracle – greate database product (a lil’ pricey friends) but great product. Do not try to make OracleWindows (some linux distro they embrace and extend into Oracle OS).
-Chris

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Here is a link that has all 10 parts of an interview with the Pragmatic Programmer guys. I refer to lots of these ideas all the time. So – go read this stuff – better – get and read the 1st book The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

Then get this one and read it: Ship it!: A Practical Guide to Successful Software Projects

Then if you like Ruby – get these – Programming Ruby (2nd Edition) and Agile Web Development with Rails: A Pragmatic Guide …

I guess I am a fan of thier work – lol.

Chris

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Thoughtworks has some ineteresting metrics posted. It seems that they have tasked Forrester Research with quantifying the advantage that ‘their’ agile approach provided their clients. Here is a noteworthy metric excerpt (again, wish we had an xhtml web where I could xlink/ point to this):

Client: Four Fortune 500 Companies
• Improved time to benefit by 69%
• Reduced cost by 57%
• Reduced effort by 62%
• Reduced critical defects by nearly 80%
• Reduced overall defects by more than 60%

Wow. Those are some nice #s. There are links through to some underlying white papers. Being someone that appreciates a good quantification of work being done – this stuff is great.

Here is another interesting excerpt:

“The quality of the ThoughtWorks staff and their ability to handle difficult projects drove
efficiency within the organization, reducing the potential for defects and rework down the
road that can be associated with complex projects.”

I can certainly say that hiring the best is one of the biggest – if not THE biggest element to a winning software project. I think if you combine this notion with an agile process – you really can realize some substantial benefits when running your software projects. I think this is also just what Finetix - my illustrious employer is trying to do; hire the best and brightest and run the projects with an agile approach. Furthermore – they are focused on the financial markets projects – thus winning an edge in specialization over companies like Thoughtworks. While I DO believe and have seen how an agile approach is key to winning software projects – having serious software developers on the team is just as pivotal. Teams of ALL junior developers can realize benefits by follwing an agile approach – but teams with leadership and excellent developers will realize much more substantial benefits.

-Chris

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