The company I've been with for 3.5 years has done this, every year.
When I got here, the IT department was huge, bloated, and mostly useless. The company realized this, fired the CIO, and laid off hundreds, including outsourcing large parts (such as desktop support). Surprisingly (or not so), things didn't get better, they got worse. They had no idea who to layoff, or why they were doing it, they just knew they were 'too large'. Cue 2nd CIO getting fired.
3rd CIO comes on board. Another round of layoffs. Again, wrong people get let go. Now, we have a bloated (still) IT department, filled with mostly the wrong people. And the good people, at this point, are just keeping their heads down, hoping not to get the axe. So nothing productive is getting done, as everyone focuses on shoring up their jobs. Politics begin in earnest here, as everyone starts to panic.
This cycle repeats itself 3 more times - yes, in 3+ years, we're on CIO #5. They just had another round of layoffs (the 3rd). This time, they nailed a bunch of the useless middle management, and some 'cabal leaders' that really needed to go. Even a blind squirrel gets a nut every now and then, I guess.
I don't work for IT (I work closely with them), and I've had enough. I just found a new job, and am bailing out, while I can.
What does this show? CxO's know that IT can be bloated/useless - but I don't have any confidence that they have a clue how to fix that, other than blanket layoffs, and bringing in 'management consultants'.
It also shows that jobs are out there - I didn't have much trouble finding a job, once I got serious about my search. In one of the other comments in the thread (I can't find it at the moment), someone mentioned that the lower level IT jobs and maintenance jobs are the ones getting impacted. Thats OK, I think - it's the natural cycle. As the lower level stuff becomes routine, it can be done by lower and lower level people, or one person can do more of it. The trick here is growing your career at least as fast as the industry, so you can keep closer to the cutting edge, and have opportunities. I almost fell off that treadmill, glad to be back on.
While that looks neat, there is no download for it.
"Splashtop is bundled with motherboards, desktops and notebooks by their manufacturers. Currently, it is available with products from the following manufacturers: Notebooks ASUS Motherboards ASUS Desktops"
So, unless you buy an ASUS machine, with this loaded, you look to be SOL.
"One proposal, pushed by an international team called the Avogadro Project, aims to define the kilogram in terms of a specific number of silicon atoms. Just how many? That's where the newly created silicon spheres come in."
they're creating these spheres so they can measure that. The article is pretty neat, actually.
...if you are already up there with a ladder, so you can manually move the Looj around corners etc? Scooping out the leaves is trivial at that point - the real PIA is getting out the ladder, and going up/down and moving it from side to side.
Doesn't seem like this performs and real useful activity?
I have also limited checking emails to 3 times a day. If there is an emergency, there is a phone and you can stop by my cube. I tried this, but found that it simply increased my pop-in interruptions significantly. Someone would IM (which would get ignored, as i was set 'away'), or email, and after 10 minutes or so of no response, they plop on over and poke their head into my office. I've tried explaining to them what I am trying to get done (more work), but the culture here is one of interruptions. Drives me up the wall.
I'd say thats the whole problem right there - if you want to outsource, you need very strong and very good project management - something that is really sorely lacking even in domestic projects.
With a domestic project, poor or sub-par project management can be overcome, but add in 12+ hour time delays, language and cultural barriers, and a sub-par project manager will get eaten alive, and the project will be doomed to fail. I've seen that dozens of time myself.
It doesn't help that most PMP's and other 'professional' project managers I've met and worked with aren't very useful. The handful of good PM's I've worked with are worth their weight in gold, though.
I didn't RTFA, but maybe this is why quality is not so great in offshore products? We have unqualified people flying over to 'take a chance' and end up in management roles, without the requisite experience needed to get the job done correctly.
Thats funny, mine rejects just fine with a 550 error s for invalid domains/users, etc.
It's up to the admin to configure it correctly, but it works properly, and very effectively.
Cash servers? I'd love to be able to buy one of these, do you have contact info? Cash flow is troublesome around here, and if I could increase it, I'd be a hero...
No, just a solution that doesn't fit what you are looking for. Me? I use Foxmarks to keep my bookmarks synced between my multiple machines. Having sessions/passwords etc sync would be great, once I could get over the privacy issues.
take a look at some of the more powerful green lasers out there (several are reviewed on the website in my sig, below)
Some have ranges of 30+ miles - 500' is nothing for these lasers. They are truly awesome, but to shine one at an aircraft is just about the height of stupidity.
No, I think he was getting at the fact that they don't have any firewalls that do any sort of packet inspection, etc. Just ACLs blocking ports, which is *technically* a firewall.
Packet inspection is the key to his comments here, I think.
I can't say what company I work for (for obvious reasons) but this *exact* issue just happened to us last Friday night. Release went out, and BAM, down goes the product. Turns out the Sr. Architect had checked in code without telling QA, and it really fubar'd the system. He thinks he's above reproach, so he just did it, and what a nightmare it caused.
Very well reasoned, I've never thought about it this way before. I wish there were some way we - the paying public - could definitively know what the artists are paid per CD sold - though I'm sure it varies a bit from artist to artist. I'd happily pay $4 for a cd-worth of music (say, 10-12 tracks), if the money went straight to the artists. I'm OK with some money going for distribution and marketing - that happens in every industry. Just not 90% of the cost.
Frankly, I'm getting sick of the music in my collection now (all ripped from CD's I own, or downloaded music for CD's I own). I haven't bought a CD in close to 8 years, and have purchased a grand total of 2 albums from iTunes (what a PIA it was to convert from m4p to mp3, so I could use the music that I paid for).
So basically, they have lost my as a consumer until such time as the prices are reasonable. But the don't seem to care, so neither do I.
or are like me, and just haven't had time to get that far yet. I'm only at the acid part right now. I have limited gaming time, and TF2 is taking most of it up:)
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The company I've been with for 3.5 years has done this, every year.
When I got here, the IT department was huge, bloated, and mostly useless. The company realized this, fired the CIO, and laid off hundreds, including outsourcing large parts (such as desktop support). Surprisingly (or not so), things didn't get better, they got worse. They had no idea who to layoff, or why they were doing it, they just knew they were 'too large'. Cue 2nd CIO getting fired.
3rd CIO comes on board. Another round of layoffs. Again, wrong people get let go. Now, we have a bloated (still) IT department, filled with mostly the wrong people. And the good people, at this point, are just keeping their heads down, hoping not to get the axe. So nothing productive is getting done, as everyone focuses on shoring up their jobs. Politics begin in earnest here, as everyone starts to panic.
This cycle repeats itself 3 more times - yes, in 3+ years, we're on CIO #5. They just had another round of layoffs (the 3rd). This time, they nailed a bunch of the useless middle management, and some 'cabal leaders' that really needed to go. Even a blind squirrel gets a nut every now and then, I guess.
I don't work for IT (I work closely with them), and I've had enough. I just found a new job, and am bailing out, while I can.
What does this show? CxO's know that IT can be bloated/useless - but I don't have any confidence that they have a clue how to fix that, other than blanket layoffs, and bringing in 'management consultants'.
It also shows that jobs are out there - I didn't have much trouble finding a job, once I got serious about my search. In one of the other comments in the thread (I can't find it at the moment), someone mentioned that the lower level IT jobs and maintenance jobs are the ones getting impacted. Thats OK, I think - it's the natural cycle. As the lower level stuff becomes routine, it can be done by lower and lower level people, or one person can do more of it. The trick here is growing your career at least as fast as the industry, so you can keep closer to the cutting edge, and have opportunities. I almost fell off that treadmill, glad to be back on.
While that looks neat, there is no download for it.
"Splashtop is bundled with motherboards, desktops and notebooks by their manufacturers.
Currently, it is available with products from the following manufacturers:
Notebooks
ASUS
Motherboards
ASUS
Desktops"
So, unless you buy an ASUS machine, with this loaded, you look to be SOL.
um, you THINK?
"One proposal, pushed by an international team called the Avogadro Project, aims to define the kilogram in terms of a specific number of silicon atoms. Just how many? That's where the newly created silicon spheres come in."
they're creating these spheres so they can measure that. The article is pretty neat, actually.
...if you are already up there with a ladder, so you can manually move the Looj around corners etc? Scooping out the leaves is trivial at that point - the real PIA is getting out the ladder, and going up/down and moving it from side to side. Doesn't seem like this performs and real useful activity?
You, sir, must be new to this internet thingy.
Or, increase investment in bomb shelter manufacturers :)
Hell, sign me up for 5! I'll give up work, and just tend to these all day. Sure, it'll be cramped on my .20 acre plot, but hey!
With a domestic project, poor or sub-par project management can be overcome, but add in 12+ hour time delays, language and cultural barriers, and a sub-par project manager will get eaten alive, and the project will be doomed to fail. I've seen that dozens of time myself.
It doesn't help that most PMP's and other 'professional' project managers I've met and worked with aren't very useful. The handful of good PM's I've worked with are worth their weight in gold, though.
I didn't RTFA, but maybe this is why quality is not so great in offshore products? We have unqualified people flying over to 'take a chance' and end up in management roles, without the requisite experience needed to get the job done correctly.
Thats funny, mine rejects just fine with a 550 error s for invalid domains/users, etc. It's up to the admin to configure it correctly, but it works properly, and very effectively.
http://postmaster.gtcs.com/CudaFix.php
Cash servers? I'd love to be able to buy one of these, do you have contact info? Cash flow is troublesome around here, and if I could increase it, I'd be a hero...
k, thx.
and will be issuing an embarrassing retraction here in a few days :)
Define reasonable price? I don't think $1/song is reasonable, so I don't buy. I don't download either.
It shouldn't cost multiple thousands of dollars to fill my small (insert MP3 player of choice here).
No, just a solution that doesn't fit what you are looking for. Me? I use Foxmarks to keep my bookmarks synced between my multiple machines. Having sessions/passwords etc sync would be great, once I could get over the privacy issues.
take a look at some of the more powerful green lasers out there (several are reviewed on the website in my sig, below)
Some have ranges of 30+ miles - 500' is nothing for these lasers. They are truly awesome, but to shine one at an aircraft is just about the height of stupidity.
No, I think he was getting at the fact that they don't have any firewalls that do any sort of packet inspection, etc. Just ACLs blocking ports, which is *technically* a firewall.
Packet inspection is the key to his comments here, I think.
I can't say what company I work for (for obvious reasons) but this *exact* issue just happened to us last Friday night. Release went out, and BAM, down goes the product. Turns out the Sr. Architect had checked in code without telling QA, and it really fubar'd the system. He thinks he's above reproach, so he just did it, and what a nightmare it caused.
Normally, I wouldn't post something like this, but I couldn't resist.
:-D
Do they come with spell-checkers, too?
Very well reasoned, I've never thought about it this way before. I wish there were some way we - the paying public - could definitively know what the artists are paid per CD sold - though I'm sure it varies a bit from artist to artist. I'd happily pay $4 for a cd-worth of music (say, 10-12 tracks), if the money went straight to the artists. I'm OK with some money going for distribution and marketing - that happens in every industry. Just not 90% of the cost. Frankly, I'm getting sick of the music in my collection now (all ripped from CD's I own, or downloaded music for CD's I own). I haven't bought a CD in close to 8 years, and have purchased a grand total of 2 albums from iTunes (what a PIA it was to convert from m4p to mp3, so I could use the music that I paid for). So basically, they have lost my as a consumer until such time as the prices are reasonable. But the don't seem to care, so neither do I.
I've come to the conclusion that .25$ is my sweet spot. I'd buy alot of music at that price. .99$ is too steep - to fill my iPod would be 5k or so.
or are like me, and just haven't had time to get that far yet. I'm only at the acid part right now. I have limited gaming time, and TF2 is taking most of it up :)
Heh, that thought occurred to me, too (that they removed photos). Cue 'X Files' theme here....