If you get their attention with one of the 'elevator speeches' above, you could try something like this for a more detailed description. Note that while we offer CVS Suite as one solution, we'd rather see you use something rather than nothing -- we just believe our solution has all the features you'll need at a great price.
Change Management is a discipline to ensure that the configuration of an item (and its components) is known and documented and that changes are controlled and tracked.
Everyone who works with documents uses some form of change management, from simple to sophisticated systems. A simple system might have the latest copy in the user "Documents" folder and older copies stored in an email "sent items" folder. A more sophisticated process would keep the information in a consistent location and capture detailed information on the important elements of change: What was the change, Who did it, Why did they change it, When did the change happen, and provide the ability to easily retrieve any previous version.
Change Management processes don't require software (you can maintain a log of changes in a written journal), but with the right software your process will be much easier to use and consistently apply. The opposite is also true: the wrong software can make it much harder to manage change and cause frustration and delays, slowing down the change you are trying to manage. It is important that the software you choose is not getting in the way of your change management process.
Modern CM research by firms such as the Configuration Management Institute has shown that the majority of benefits only occur when the change management system can ensure the integrity of all managed items, make their evolution more manageable and the interrelationship clear. The effectiveness can be improved by implementing automated techniques for Insulation, Security and Access Control, Lifecycle Management, Communication and Detailed Reporting.
In summary, Effective Change Management is a process that for each managed item will:
Document changes.
Ensure integrity.
Make the evolution more manageable.
Clarify the relationships between changes.
Manages security and access control.
Facilitates easy flow through the lifecycle.
Enable communication and detailed reporting about changes.
CVS Suite contains the features you need to establish an effective Change Management process.
You need to think like your managers think (I know, THE HORROR!!!). They can't *prove* any of the projected ROI numbers on any of their other projects, and you aren't expected to either.
You need to make a reasonable educated guess based on similar implementations. Talk to people who have done similar projects for similar companies and get their actual ROI numbers. Take a good look at that, then guess. That should help with the justification.
Oh, and to answer your question -- there's 1 in our company.
$20 for 4-6 hours, though... hmm, I it could be worth it, I tend to continue to get entertainment out of a game even once I complete them...
LOL I still play Quake. It's simple, fun, and very playable. Graphics are very dated, but it's a blast to play. I have Quake 2, 3, Doom3, Half-Life, HL2, etc. etc. but there's something about the original Quake that's just fun. Just go and blast that pewp outta some digital monsters!
I attended one of those day-long SCORE seminars for $75, and it was ABSOLUTELY the BEST use of my time and money. They talked about marketing, accounting, legal, business plans, etc. but it wasn't just some random people off the street. There was a working Lawyer, CPA, and marketing professional. There was a banker and insurance agent. The hour of the lawyer speaking alone was worth the entry fee. Invaluable advice... AND invaluable contacts! Don't underestimate the power of meeting people in the different fields that you'll be encountering out there in the business world.
FWIW, I also attended a shorter business startup at the local SBA, but it wasn't nearly as compelling. It was free, and worth the time to attend, but lacked the quality speakers (and contacts for that matter). The SBA has a lot of EXCELLENT resources for new businesses so get familiar with them as well.
While I agree that to be a great IT manager you need to have a solid understanding of development, it is not required. You didn't mention if this person was reasonable with expectations or trusting of your recommendations, just that it was annoying that they didn't know enough about your work.
If your manager understands people, can be effectively guide your team to accomplish the goals for your company, and promote your team's value to the company leaders then I don't see any problem with helping them with computer problems. However, if they have poor leadership skills then I agree with the "Quit" suggestion above.
I just (today) got laid off from a fortune 100 company after 14 years of service. During that time, I had a mix of managers most of whom did not understand IT. I have found that the best and most inspirational leadership ability was not related to their knowledge of IT.
Unfortunately my last manager not only didn't understand IT but had terrible people skills. She didn't trust us, didn't understand the work, and made poor strategic decisions. I can easily see why we were targeted for a layoff--Don't let yourself get caught in the same trap.
I work for a business unit within a Fortune 100 co and did an analysis of lease vs. buy some 6 years ago. We concluded that because 1) the depreciation cycle and 2) the rapidly changing notebook hardware we would lease notebooks and purchase the monitors, keyboards, and mice. Desktops would be leased on a 3-year cycle and notebooks on a 2-year.
We have a lot of trouble getting units back on time as well, but that's not my department anymore;). You should be sure to include the cost of late / damaged units in your own analysis.
Another important point is that hardware isn't changing as fast as it was 6 years ago -- just how long will a current machine be usable to you now?
Others have already spoken more specifically about the tax & accounting benefits, so I won't repeat it here.
While not calling this undisputed evidence, this is a pretty fucking good evidence (as good as you can get without a paper trail) that there was not just "election fraud", but that the very basis of your society was fucking hijacked.
Statistical nonsense is *not* considered evidence, and it is certainly NOT undisputed judging by the comments here today. The fact is that there are a number of issues that our country is polarized on and the person who can win over the most "swing" voters will take the country. No party would want to risk getting caught trying to rig something like that because it would seriously derail any message they hope to communicate.
So the question - what you gonna do now? Will anything change?
Well for one thing, I'm hoping we get better candidates next round. I had some big issues with both of them this year. I think South Park had it about right:
But Stan, don't you know, it's always between a giant douche and a turd sandwich. Nearly every election since the beginning of time has been between some douche and some turd. They're the only people who suck up enough to make it that far in politics.
I don't know how all the machines work, but with the ones I've used your selection cycles through the candidate's names in alphabetical order. Confusion and laziness could likely skew the numbers because in both cases selecting the first candidate is the path of least resistance to the next screen
Least resistance? Since "B" would be at the top of the screen, it would require *more* energy to move your hand all the way up there...:)
Least resistance would be to not show up to vote at all.
My wife and I voted for Gore in '00 and Bush in '04. Switch voters weren't even considered a possibility in the results summany so does that mean I'm not allowed to vote for the other party? Think about it: there are a number of reasons someone might choose Bush over Kerry or vice-versa on the issues, not on the way they voted in the past or what their voter's registration card says.
My voters registration card says rebublican, perhaps I should switch to independent but that's not the point.
That sounds a lot like the Rioxio Easy Media Creator 6 I have... which is adequate for a DVD n00b, but the OP was asking about the next level. Unless there is some phenominal improvements in version 7 over v6, which there apparently isn't, then there's no way I'd recommend it.
My wife and I played ToonTown for some time. It's a MMORPG aimed at the 5-12 year old set, but lots of fun for anyone working in a major corporation or can understand the inside jokes. AFAICT there were more people my age on than kids:)
Also make note of the fansite http://toontowncentral.com. There you can get tips, learn more about it, and trade secrets. You need a secret code exchanged outside the game to enable full keyboard chat, to help protect the kiddies.
Looks like their editor revised the reply somewhat from earlier instances I've seen here. Here's the full text:
This is from our Chairman and Founder Mark Surfas:
GameSpy welcomes any and all help finding genuine bugs and security breaches on our servers. What we don't welcome are people publishing security hacks that have the potential to hurt our products. GameSpy products are supposed to be about having fun, but hacks and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks take the fun out of it. It doesn't simply hurt GameSpy; it hurts every person playing games with our products.
What this person did was more than reverse engineer two of our products, RogerWilco and GameSpy3D-he was describing our backend services and publishing Cdkey generation information without letting us know. At first we welcomed his bug alerts. We responded to him immediately and thanked him for his bug research, as we do with everyone who contacts us with bug information. We even sent him a thank you letter, which we have on file.
But then we found out he was also publishing how to brute force our RogerWilco Cdkeys and had published hacks on other game Cdkeys as well. He was doing more than reporting bugs; he was publishing game pirating techniques. He published how to attack our network. This is not the way ethical security researchers operate. It was at this point that we stopped our communication with him and asked him to remove the materials in question.
When we were first contacted, this person was associated with a small software security company. They asked if GameSpy wanted to pay a "consulting fee" to fix the hacks. However, these were not bugs; it was information about how our products work. When we brought this to the software security company's attention, they disavowed their relationship with that person and removed him from their servers.
Let me repeat-we welcome any bug alerts and will fix any and all security breaches that come to our attention. We find and fix nearly all of them before any external sources find them. It's all about playing games and having fun, people! That's why we do what we do! However, we won't pay "consulting fees" to people who create Cdkey hacks of our proprietary software, then post the results if we don't pay them.
Gamers trust us. We have to protect them from any and all attacks on our network that affects gamers.
Slashdot Mirror
Change Management is a discipline to ensure that the configuration of an item (and its components) is known and documented and that changes are controlled and tracked.
Everyone who works with documents uses some form of change management, from simple to sophisticated systems. A simple system might have the latest copy in the user "Documents" folder and older copies stored in an email "sent items" folder. A more sophisticated process would keep the information in a consistent location and capture detailed information on the important elements of change: What was the change, Who did it, Why did they change it, When did the change happen, and provide the ability to easily retrieve any previous version.
Change Management processes don't require software (you can maintain a log of changes in a written journal), but with the right software your process will be much easier to use and consistently apply. The opposite is also true: the wrong software can make it much harder to manage change and cause frustration and delays, slowing down the change you are trying to manage. It is important that the software you choose is not getting in the way of your change management process.
Modern CM research by firms such as the Configuration Management Institute has shown that the majority of benefits only occur when the change management system can ensure the integrity of all managed items, make their evolution more manageable and the interrelationship clear. The effectiveness can be improved by implementing automated techniques for Insulation, Security and Access Control, Lifecycle Management, Communication and Detailed Reporting.
In summary, Effective Change Management is a process that for each managed item will:
Enable communication and detailed reporting about changes.
CVS Suite contains the features you need to establish an effective Change Management process.
Quoting from a draft for http://march-hare.com/
I just hope there's a good firewall.. wouldn't want just anyone to PING my underpants...
I guess most people aren't worried about incontinence AND sperm production...
Hey, baby... let me just slip out of these Depends and we can get busy! LOL
There's no need. REAL men's underwear don't ever get GUI!
Well if the underpants never got GUI, then there's no need for the sensor!! Hellooo!!
You need to think like your managers think (I know, THE HORROR!!!). They can't *prove* any of the projected ROI numbers on any of their other projects, and you aren't expected to either.
You need to make a reasonable educated guess based on similar implementations. Talk to people who have done similar projects for similar companies and get their actual ROI numbers. Take a good look at that, then guess. That should help with the justification.
Oh, and to answer your question -- there's 1 in our company.
$20 for 4-6 hours, though... hmm, I it could be worth it, I tend to continue to get entertainment out of a game even once I complete them...
LOL I still play Quake. It's simple, fun, and very playable. Graphics are very dated, but it's a blast to play. I have Quake 2, 3, Doom3, Half-Life, HL2, etc. etc. but there's something about the original Quake that's just fun. Just go and blast that pewp outta some digital monsters!
I attended one of those day-long SCORE seminars for $75, and it was ABSOLUTELY the BEST use of my time and money. They talked about marketing, accounting, legal, business plans, etc. but it wasn't just some random people off the street. There was a working Lawyer, CPA, and marketing professional. There was a banker and insurance agent. The hour of the lawyer speaking alone was worth the entry fee. Invaluable advice... AND invaluable contacts! Don't underestimate the power of meeting people in the different fields that you'll be encountering out there in the business world.
FWIW, I also attended a shorter business startup at the local SBA, but it wasn't nearly as compelling. It was free, and worth the time to attend, but lacked the quality speakers (and contacts for that matter). The SBA has a lot of EXCELLENT resources for new businesses so get familiar with them as well.
Another candidate for the new blasphemous mod rating!
While I agree that to be a great IT manager you need to have a solid understanding of development, it is not required. You didn't mention if this person was reasonable with expectations or trusting of your recommendations, just that it was annoying that they didn't know enough about your work.
If your manager understands people, can be effectively guide your team to accomplish the goals for your company, and promote your team's value to the company leaders then I don't see any problem with helping them with computer problems. However, if they have poor leadership skills then I agree with the "Quit" suggestion above.
I just (today) got laid off from a fortune 100 company after 14 years of service. During that time, I had a mix of managers most of whom did not understand IT. I have found that the best and most inspirational leadership ability was not related to their knowledge of IT.
Unfortunately my last manager not only didn't understand IT but had terrible people skills. She didn't trust us, didn't understand the work, and made poor strategic decisions. I can easily see why we were targeted for a layoff--Don't let yourself get caught in the same trap.
I work for a business unit within a Fortune 100 co and did an analysis of lease vs. buy some 6 years ago. We concluded that because 1) the depreciation cycle and 2) the rapidly changing notebook hardware we would lease notebooks and purchase the monitors, keyboards, and mice. Desktops would be leased on a 3-year cycle and notebooks on a 2-year.
;). You should be sure to include the cost of late / damaged units in your own analysis.
We have a lot of trouble getting units back on time as well, but that's not my department anymore
Another important point is that hardware isn't changing as fast as it was 6 years ago -- just how long will a current machine be usable to you now?
Others have already spoken more specifically about the tax & accounting benefits, so I won't repeat it here.
While not calling this undisputed evidence, this is a pretty fucking good evidence (as good as you can get without a paper trail) that there was not just "election fraud", but that the very basis of your society was fucking hijacked. Statistical nonsense is *not* considered evidence, and it is certainly NOT undisputed judging by the comments here today. The fact is that there are a number of issues that our country is polarized on and the person who can win over the most "swing" voters will take the country. No party would want to risk getting caught trying to rig something like that because it would seriously derail any message they hope to communicate. So the question - what you gonna do now? Will anything change? Well for one thing, I'm hoping we get better candidates next round. I had some big issues with both of them this year. I think South Park had it about right:
But Stan, don't you know, it's always between a giant douche and a turd sandwich. Nearly every election since the beginning of time has been between some douche and some turd. They're the only people who suck up enough to make it that far in politics.
I don't know how all the machines work, but with the ones I've used your selection cycles through the candidate's names in alphabetical order. Confusion and laziness could likely skew the numbers because in both cases selecting the first candidate is the path of least resistance to the next screen
:)
Least resistance? Since "B" would be at the top of the screen, it would require *more* energy to move your hand all the way up there...
Least resistance would be to not show up to vote at all.
My wife and I voted for Gore in '00 and Bush in '04. Switch voters weren't even considered a possibility in the results summany so does that mean I'm not allowed to vote for the other party? Think about it: there are a number of reasons someone might choose Bush over Kerry or vice-versa on the issues, not on the way they voted in the past or what their voter's registration card says.
My voters registration card says rebublican, perhaps I should switch to independent but that's not the point.
That sounds a lot like the Rioxio Easy Media Creator 6 I have... which is adequate for a DVD n00b, but the OP was asking about the next level. Unless there is some phenominal improvements in version 7 over v6, which there apparently isn't, then there's no way I'd recommend it.
My wife and I played ToonTown for some time. It's a MMORPG aimed at the 5-12 year old set, but lots of fun for anyone working in a major corporation or can understand the inside jokes. AFAICT there were more people my age on than kids :)
http://toontown.com/
Also make note of the fansite http://toontowncentral.com. There you can get tips, learn more about it, and trade secrets. You need a secret code exchanged outside the game to enable full keyboard chat, to help protect the kiddies.
Isn't this just a rehash of the ID Chip Spoof from a couple years back? It seems very similar.
Of course, I can't get to the referenced site because it's long since slashdotted...
Looks like their editor revised the reply somewhat from earlier instances I've seen here. Here's the full text:
This is from our Chairman and Founder Mark Surfas:
GameSpy welcomes any and all help finding genuine bugs and security breaches on our servers. What we don't welcome are people publishing security hacks that have the potential to hurt our products. GameSpy products are supposed to be about having fun, but hacks and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks take the fun out of it. It doesn't simply hurt GameSpy; it hurts every person playing games with our products.
What this person did was more than reverse engineer two of our products, RogerWilco and GameSpy3D-he was describing our backend services and publishing Cdkey generation information without letting us know. At first we welcomed his bug alerts. We responded to him immediately and thanked him for his bug research, as we do with everyone who contacts us with bug information. We even sent him a thank you letter, which we have on file.
But then we found out he was also publishing how to brute force our RogerWilco Cdkeys and had published hacks on other game Cdkeys as well. He was doing more than reporting bugs; he was publishing game pirating techniques. He published how to attack our network. This is not the way ethical security researchers operate. It was at this point that we stopped our communication with him and asked him to remove the materials in question.
When we were first contacted, this person was associated with a small software security company. They asked if GameSpy wanted to pay a "consulting fee" to fix the hacks. However, these were not bugs; it was information about how our products work. When we brought this to the software security company's attention, they disavowed their relationship with that person and removed him from their servers.
Let me repeat-we welcome any bug alerts and will fix any and all security breaches that come to our attention. We find and fix nearly all of them before any external sources find them. It's all about playing games and having fun, people! That's why we do what we do! However, we won't pay "consulting fees" to people who create Cdkey hacks of our proprietary software, then post the results if we don't pay them.
Gamers trust us. We have to protect them from any and all attacks on our network that affects gamers.
Mark Surfas
Chairman & Founder
GameSpy