What if bricklayers worldwide all upgraded their trowels for more ergonomic versions with gold-plated handles, but they weren’t compatible with some brands of mortar and were slower to use? The economy would slow down further as the brickies couldn’t complete their work, or on time. Well this is analogous to what Windows Vista could bring, […]
Would You Back Your Business on Windows Vista? Read More »
Last week I met with 20 CIOs and other senior IT leaders over dinner and we approached the subject of behavior in their departments. We went around the table sharing the behaviors we would most like to see the back of. So I noted them down to share with you.I should first say that, of
11 Behaviors Most Disliked by IT Leaders Read More »
This is my first article aimed at IT Sales. Selling technology is not easy, particularly in this Web2.0-fuelled, open-source aware, web-enabled environment. There is always a competitive product, and sometimes the competition might be available for free. Sales calls are a wonderful bevy of pleasantries and good intentions. Sales, though, are not won or lost
How to Avoid Wasting Time When Selling Technology Read More »
Successfully sharing your vision for technology in your business is a constant challenge. If there was a silver bullet to this, it would be worth more than its weight in gold (nice metaphor, eh?) The IT vision isn’t something owned only by the CIO, it is a product of many people in the organization. Once
How to Successfully Share Your Vision for IT Read More »
I have just launched an opt-in email newsletter which will give you more from SimonStapleton.com. The newsletter isn’t just a re-hash of the same content, but it will be more great news, discussion and advice not available on the website. It’s stuff like this: More personal views on the IT industry from me, Simon Stapleton
Join my Newsletter for more SimonStapleton.com! Read More »
The last six weeks have been an interesting time in the world of virtualization. In late June Microsoft released their final version of Hyper-V, their new virtualization platform built into Windows Server 2008. Hyper-V has been widely anticipated, as Microsoft’s absence from the enterprise virtual market has left VMWare and some smaller players free to
Is Virtualization a Buyer’s Market? Why it is a Real Opportunity for IT Read More »
I found this great article on CIO.COM , which discusses ways to raising the awareness of the value you create. I strongly recommend you take a look at it. What I like is the tips are simple and straightforward, and anyone can implement them – you don’t have to be top brass. And they’re fun!
Putting Your Value in the Spotlight Read More »
Ring-tone… A few years ago when cellphones had taken off commercially I turned up at my friends place and the door was answered by his wife – my friend had gone out. She said I should wait, so I followed her into the kitchen where she started to pick up the body of a wired
A Funny Story I Was Just Reminded Of! Read More »
The average tenure of an IT professional in an organization is still around two years on average, but there are exceptions where workers stay around what seems forever. Why?I know of several dedicated, experienced IT professionals in the US, UK and South Africa that are in a ‘trap’ – i.e. they feel stuck in a
Why IT People Don’t Move Jobs Read More »
It’s so easy to be alerted to new articles on this website every day by Subscribing to my RSS Feed. It’s simple, and you can use your favorite RSS reader by adding the feed address below or simply view it using the Free RSS viewer with Feedburner – just click on the link! What’s more I’ll be giving
Be Enlightened Each Day! Read More »
When you’re headlong into a programme of work which requires significant process change, it is so easy to forget about the people the processes have an effect on. I’ve just realized this to my dispeasure!Right now I am involved in a programme of working changing IT delivery processes, that covers the standard ITIL approach of Release
A Painful Reminder About Change Management Read More »
Lightworkers and Darkworkers are rare(ish) people who are polarized around a deeply ingrained intent. Lightworkers live and breathe to service humankind, whilst Darkworkers live and breathe to serve only themselves. The remainder of people on this earth could be described as Greyworkers, who tend not to know who they serve.I’ve written about Lightworkers and Darkworkers
Why I Prefer to Work with Darkworkers than ‘Greyworkers’ Read More »
The majority of freelancers in IT have their head in the sand, as far as their personal performance goes.IT leaders from across several industries have commented to me that freelancers tend to move from appointments without seeking feedback on their performance. It’s estimated that over 60% of freelancers do not receive regular feedback on their
Freelancers Tend to Have Their Head In The Sand (and Nine Free Course places available!) Read More »
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) isn’t a new concept, but its emergence in organizations is demanding transformational leadership to be applied at all levels.I’m assuming you already know about SOA, but I want to recap one important point. The nature of SOA is that it demands server-based technology functions, such as an accounting suite, to become the
SOA Demands Different Leaders Read More »
The Industrialization of IT is one of my current favorite topics as I think we are at a turning point of the whole industry. But one of the biggest implications of this change is that it will reshape the workforce towards blue-collar working.Industrialization of the IT department and the services it provides is a good
Industrialization of IT Will Create a Blue-Collar Sub-Class of IT Workers Read More »
I’ve added a Leaderboard for on the far right sidebar to show the most active commentators. And I will be giving $10 USD to the top ranked commentator on the first day of each month! I’ve done this to encourage commenting. Why? Commenting adds to the quality and richness of this site’s content as comments
Commentator Leaderboard added! Bonus Cash Prize! Read More »
Networking is an important part of professional life – it’s how you build useful relationships, extend your influence, and gain information outside of your line. So how do you do it? I want to ask this question to find out if there is a ‘best’ way of networking, irrespective of personality type. I must admit
How Do You Network? Read More »
IT Leaders have been burnt badly over CRM (Customer Relationship Management).There are many failed CRM initiatives to dine out on. But CRM is set to face a resurgence as technology and business has matured towards being really ready for it. And this I think is they key reason why. CRM in the late 90s and
Is CRM On Your Agenda? Read More »
How important is DR to your business? Probably not important enough!
How To Win the War on Disaster Recovery! Read More »
Cloud Computing, where the architecture of your technology estate is based upon the integration of third-party technologies and services, is gaining momentum in the industry. It’s a natural extension of outsourcing where an organization uses technology within it’s own physical boundary (i.e. its data-center) but the technology is owned and operated by the vendor. The
Can You Afford the Cloud? Read More »
I’ve been fishing around the IT community for a couple of months to understand the general attitude towards ‘green IT’. I received quite a mixed bag of results so I thought I’d share them with you.Firstly some stats. I’ve spoken with 98 people, mostly from IT ops, specifically about the issue:Only 12 of these people
Not Green IT again! Read More »
