The significant
problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that
created them. –Albert Einstein
All models are wrong; some models
are useful. –George Box (industrial statistician)
There is no such thing as a
minor lapse of integrity. –Tom Peters
Projects often falter due to incorrect assumptions when estimating the effort required on the various areas and tasks of the project. This article examines some of the common estimation errors and offer some advice on avoiding these mistakes.
An excerpt from Karl Wiegers' book on software requirements which provides some great tips on how to go about gathering requirements and drilling down with users about what the requirements mean and their implications.
This article contains the observations and aphorisms of a 35-year veteran of software development at Bell Labs. They range from project success and planning to usability, testing, and leadership.
As part of the SI initiative to develop an intranet site to highlight the department's services, the Systems Integration Test (SIT) team has developed a mission statement:
The WCG Systems Integration Test (SIT) group strives to
minimize risk associated with system deployments, reduce post-implementation costs, and increase end-user satisfaction
through independent verification and validation of system functionality, reliability and maintainability, using structured and repeatable risk-based testing techniques.
The mission statement highlights
some of the cornerstone principles of the team, particularly the use
of the risk-based testing approach to provide the appropriate level
of service based on project needs and constraints and the use of a planned
testing methodology.
Roger Draper, supervisor of Vyvx,
EIT, and business systems testing, notes, "This mission statement
highlights the foundation of SIT's test approach of having a process
in place to provide SIT the ability to perform repeatable steps to ensure
the success of the product being tested. The first major step for software
development success is a defined, repeatable process."
This is a three-part essay by Boris Beizer detailing the differences in assessing and measuring quality of software as compared to manufactured goods.
The author comments on the burn-out factors that many testers experience and offers some suggestions for maintaining perspective and managing expectations to help avoid some of the factors that contribute to "testing fatigue".
This article from the Unix Basics column of Server/Workstation Expert magazine looks at basics and some advanced techniques in using grep. Grep is a tool for searching and parsing text on Unix systems. Freeware ports of grep for Windows are available, as well.
This site provides links to hundreds, possibly thousands, of technical tutorials for IT folks from across the Internet. Topics include Unix, all flavors of Windows, security, programming and development, and databases. The site has a very good search capability, as well.
A brief quiz to test your knowledge about databases. Presented by WhatIs.com , it includes links to a number of database- related to terms and topics. The site offers quizzes on a variety of other topics, as well.
This article traces the development of the graphical user interface (GUI) and how we got from the text-based "green screens" to today's iconic desktop.
This article examines what many consider to the "holy grail" of OSS development: a one-stop solution. It looks at whether this is possible or even desirable.
The Multi-Calendar Viewer add-on for Outlook 2000 allows you to view multiple users' (up to 6) calendars in a side-by-side manner to help in coordinating schedules and planning meetings that don't cause conflicts. Other users must share their calendars with you in order for this to work. [Note: This add-on does not work with Outlook 98.]
Dirkey is a handy folder/directory bookmarking utility (similar to the Favorites function in Internet Explorer). When Dirkey is active simply press <Ctrl>+<Alt>+1…9 from any Explorer window or dialog, such as the Save As window, to set a bookmark. To go to a bookmarked directory, press <Ctrl>+1…9. Very small and unobtrusive utility that is extremely handy.
In MS
Word, today's date can be quickly inserted by typing <Alt>+<Shift>+D.
This will insert the date as a field. To convert the field to regular
text, select the field and enter <Ctrl>+<Shift>+<F9>.
Why take
your hands off of the keyboard just to select a row or column in Excel?
You don't have to! You can use <Ctrl>+<Space> and <Shift>+<Space>
to select the entire column or row, respectively, of the current cell.
Hold down the <Shift> key and use the arrow keys to extend your
selection to additional columns or rows.
In some
cases, you'd like to e-mail a web browser shortcut which will "Fetch"
a document from Livelink instead of having Livelink "translate"
the document and display it as an HTML document. Unfortunately, you
can't Copy Shortcut directly. Here's a workaround: "Fetch"
the document onto your local machine normally from Livelink (select
Fetch from the dropdown list for the document). After the document
has been opened properly in the native application, click on
History in the web browser. Under
Today in the History window, click on
livelink. Find the appropriate link in the list of shortcuts
under livelink. The link will contain
func=doc.Fetch in the URL. Right-click on the link and choose
Properties from the context menu. In the properties window,
right-click on the highlighted Internet Address and choose
Copy. The shortcut can now be copied into a document or e-mail
message to create a hyperlink. Likewise, the shortcut can be dragged
from the History window into a document or e-mail message.