Computing Power - 1924

I wanted to post a link to this blog entry. Its a blog called Shorpy. http://www.shorpy.com/ It specializes in old pictures and I found this one particularly interesting.

http://www.shorpy.com/computing-division

And they say there is a shortage of women in the computing industry. Apparently Not.

6 Common IT Budgeting Mistakes

As part of my Master's Degree program, I have really been getting interested in the pitfalls of managing IT as an investment and asset. When companies construct new buildings, sign leases, and hire new employees (all assets) there are a number of underlying assumptions that most people are aware of. Like negotiating a lease termination fee or estimating local property taxes. These assumptions can have a rather large effect on a companies bottom line and are somewhat common sense (arguably) in the work place.

However, IT on the other hand requires a completely new set of expertise. The following article discusses 6 Common IT Budgeting mistakes. After reading them they all seemed like common sense (most good points do). However, I know there are a number of real-life situations just like this one. Something to keep in mind when trying to solve a problem with IT. "What will my operating costs be?" "What kind of reports will I need?" "What will my new problem be?".

Very good article.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=321645

Personal Note

On a personal note, the semester is finally over. Looking back on it I can say that I've accomplished quite a bit. I've learned ASP.NET, SQL Server, AJAX, CSS, and DOM concepts. I began (and will continue) to write a blog. I've established a GoogleReader account, a Digg Account, a GoogleSite, a GoogleGroup, and pretty much everything else Google. And of course I've learned far too much about the cloud.

I'm not sure why but this was the hardest semester so far. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the course work but a combination of the following factors:

A) Its summer and especially hard to be locked up in class on Saturdays.
B) Its the third straight semester (or almost one full year complete) and the tank is running on "E".
and
C) I took on a new role at my company and was doing a job transition.

I'm going to keep writing this blog. Great place to capture all of my ideas and thoughts on technology.

I'm on a much needed vacation next week, so no posts then. But will be back on shortly after. In addition, I may start another blog to capture the progress of our Capstone Project.

More on that later...

A New Role or a New Title

I recently read an article on CIO.com (which is quickly becoming my favorite web site / RSS Feed).

http://www.cio.com/article/441079/A_New_Role_for_CIOs

The article goes into detail about a new role that is springing up in organizations called the Senior Vice President for Operations and Technology. While I am fascinated with the growth of maturation of technology, I don't see this as a new role. This title is just a re-branding of the CIO title. As organizations (and the people in them) begin to mature and understand the role of IT in combining the "problem space" and "solution space" they are looking for a new term. Early CIO's had a major uphill battle to fight and often did not deliver on the true promise of the position. As corporate and government customers begin to see the value and benefit of these positions they are beginning to turn the corner. In order to get the CIO role out of Gartner's "Trough of Disillusionment" they had to come up with a new name. Hence... the President of Operations and Technology. Or more easily said... "POT". Ok, so they'll have to stick with CIO for now. But its promising to see technology being applied to solve problems on a more regular basis. And doing so in an organized framework that manages the investment and assets as a whole.

Here is a great excerpt from the Article...

********
Turn a cost center into a corporate investment. In addition to the age-old wisdom of knowing the business and building relationships, McNamee points to something more specific. "As CIO, you are responsible for a significant spend in IT. If you can build a process for engaging the company in how most strategically to spend that money and how to bring a return on that investment, suddenly the discussion moves away from mainframes and infrastructure, and you become a leader in driving operational improvements," he says. "If you build a successful governance process, you have just worked your way up to the point of controlling a corporate investment that drives business value and revenue." Less an order taker and more of a business driver, you are one step closer to the integrated role.