An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field. -Niels Bohr

...There are no rules here-we're trying to accomplish something. -Thomas A. Edison

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. -Winston Churchill

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something. -Plato

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

This article looks at how reviewing and assessing a failed IT project can help prevent similar mistakes in the future and how it can help re-establish the IT group's credibility.

A tongue-in-cheek article about techniques that make it difficult for others to understand (and therefore, update or correct) code. Of course, the purpose is to get you to avoid these pitfalls. The article is oriented toward Java, but it is applicable to most any high-level language.

The author looks at the key elements of any project: features, time, and resources. He discusses the relationships between them and how to leverage these relationships to keep a project on track.

In this opinion, the author makes a strong case for IT taking a leadership role in driving business changes in terms of process and systems. (You have to get past some political rambling at the beginning of the piece, but the meat is there.)

Kent Beck, the founder of Extreme Programming, and Alan Cooper, designer of Visual Basic and Interaction Design, face off to discuss the pros and cons of their two design methodologies.

Non-functional (sometimes called "quality") requirements are a key to the success of any development project. It is not simply enough for an application to carry out the tasks intend, but it must also do so in a reasonable amount of time and be robust. This article looks at how solid nonfunctional requirements can boost the overall quality of the system.

Noted software testing and QA consultant Boris Beizer lists thirteen qualities that he believes are necessary for a successful software tester. Some are obvious and some are more esoteric (and controversial).

This article provides a good overview of the Windows registry, which is where Windows and most applications store their non-persistent settings, and how it works. It foregoes the technical details, but provides a good background for reviewing other more technical resources.

This site features over 100 (and counting) regular expressions for performing various tasks, such as validating and e-mail address, finding repeated words, etc. In addition, it's a great reference for learning regular expressions.

Article provides excellent explanations of the purpose and syntax of INNER, LEFT, and RIGHT joins. Good examples show how and when to use these types of joins.

This site is an well-organized, easy-to-navigate index of hundreds of online tutorials on IT topics ranging from programming to operating systems to scripting.

The author proposes that many managers are not much more than talk when it comes to "winning" in business using teams. He proposes the following concepts: Teams have stars, winners don't carry losers, and the 98th percentile isn't good enough.

Raising issues is a fundamental task of any IT professional. However, how you go about presenting problems is key to the success of getting the message across.

A special report from Business Week magazine on the future of the telecom industry. Includes many articles about the failures and consolidations in the industry and the outlook.

Troubleshooting a problem with a web page or a connection to a web server is daunting task. This little utility from Microsoft can help. It allows you to send to and retrieve from a web server just like a browser would, but you can see the entire "conversation". Supports all common actions to send a web server and various protocol types, including HTTP and HTTPS, and the reporting tool is excellent.

Advanced Explorer (AE) is a 100% Java dual-pane file manager for the Windows platform. In addition to it's lean footprint, it has many great features such as a built-in file viewer (supports GIF, JPEG, and other graphics formats) and a text editor.

There are many (probably dozens) of free RegEdit enhancements and replacements available. But why bother with an extra application when you can browse and edit the Windows registry in the familiar Windows Explorer interface? Registry Explorer is a registry shell extension that integrates directly into Windows Explorer and allows you to navigate and edit the registry (add and remove keys, modify values, etc.) via an Explorer window. Just give it a try to see the convenience and efficiency.

This is not a single utility, but an ambitious effort to create a single CD that contains a variety of productivity tools that are all free under the GNU Public License. The base set has already been established and site includes links to download all of the tools, most of which have Windows versions. You can also participate in reviewing these applications.

If you've ever used Unix much, you remember the "cookie" (short for "fortune cookie") command that would display some pithy saying or humorous quote. Smart Bee does the same thing for your Windows PC. And it includes 111111 items in the default cookie file. You can set it up to run automatically at Windows startup to start each day with some wit or wisdom.

A tongue-in-cheek look at possible future headlines and news. Most of the "stories" focus on technology "what if".

No, this is not a synopsis history of Oklahoma, but rather the history of the most common and versatile of phrases: OK. Includes links to related resources and famous "OK" statements.

This satire site pokes fun at the world of big business, especially the e-business sector, and the silliness that abounds. The tongue-in-cheek tenor of the site will have you rolling.