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Mike
I am an IT leader with Engineering/MBA credentials that provide a unique perspective on integrating business and technology solutions to create cost-efficient and process-driven systems and operations.
Recent Activity
The Tyranny of Rules
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Rules are meant to be an means to an objective not an end unto themselves. This past week, Beren Acadamy, an Modern Orthodox Jewish high school made the headlines when they advanced to the semifinals in the Texas Association of... Continue reading
Posted Mar 6, 2012 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Found Photos - Japan, 1958
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23 glimpses into another place and time Other than a belated "I'm taking a break" post it's been 13 months since I've posted to this blog. With all of the changes in the world of IT and 13 months to... Continue reading
Posted Feb 19, 2012 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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I've been taking a break . . .
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. . . a long, long break. With the start of the New Year I decided to take a break. I stopped blogging, stopped using Twitter, and just made a complete break from the whole social networking arena. The routine... Continue reading
Posted Aug 27, 2011 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Better Communication: Technology Isn't Always The Best Solution
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IT folks get a lot of knocks for poor communication skills. In response we typically react by increasing the number of emails we send out and the announcements we post on our company's intranet. Ultimately we are shocked to learn... Continue reading
Posted Jan 4, 2011 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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A Tale of Apple, Microsoft, Google and Others For The Holiday Season
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In the spirit of the holidays and with most profound apologies to Moore and/or Livingston my gift to you this holiday season is this little poem written with extreme poetic license. Please feel free to add a stanza of your... Continue reading
Posted Dec 21, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Wikileaks Positive Side Effect for IT
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The disclosure of diplomatic cables by the organization Wikileaks got a tremendous amount of attention. Given that the story involves issues related to theft, sexual assault, the moral duty for civil disobedience and just plain gossip, this is not at... Continue reading
Posted Dec 10, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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A New Blog by HR Competency Expert, Robin Kessler
Robin Kessler, a good friend of mine (we went to B-School together way back when) has just become one newest members of the blogosphere with her blog. Robin is a Competency Speaker and HR Consultant. Note that I said "Competency"... Continue reading
Posted Nov 30, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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What Sarbanes-Oxley, Lawyers, and Auditors Really Mean for IT
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Don't rely on a "higher authority" to justify your policies and procedures A lot of IT folks routinely invoke a higher authority as justification of why we have to do something or a policy can't be changed. This "higher authority"... Continue reading
Posted Nov 24, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Why E-Commerce Still Isn’t Easy To Do
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Recognizing the difference of the Internet is key to online sales success Doing business over the Internet, whether B2C or B2B, is not the same as the traditional pre-Internet methods. I’m sure the typical response to this is “well, duh!”... Continue reading
Posted Nov 10, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Making IT Better For Customers
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Three things to keep in mind when designing applications. IT spends a lot of time trying to improve our system and the user interface, especially when they will be used by our external customers. Most of the time, we're pretty... Continue reading
Posted Oct 27, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Elliot, Thanks for the comment. Excellent point. In the BYOT model of the staff sourcing their own technology this is a real-world issue. One way IT could address this to provide loaner equipment. However, this involves more administration, cost etc. The second model is where IT is resourced to support the myriad technologies. This would be great but you better have deep pockets in order to be able to train and maintain the adequate support staff. These highlight part of the reason why I think we'll see BYOT in limited situations and not as the standard operating model for most IT departments, at least for some time. Mike
Toggle Commented Oct 13, 2010 on "Bring Your Own Technology" Is In Your Future at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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"Bring Your Own Technology" Is In Your Future
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IT leaders need to start thinking in terms of users making their own technology choices. Consider the concept of BYOT, or Bring Your Own Technology. The premise is that instead of IT dictating the supported computing platforms and cellphones, users... Continue reading
Posted Oct 13, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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SIMposium2010
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I'm not a big fan of IT conferences. For the most part you're just paying for the privilege of attending a vendor sales pitch. I don't like the free ones and certainly see no need to pay for one. The... Continue reading
Posted Oct 10, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Alec, Thanks for commenting. That's a great way to handle it the complexity. The key is in knowing your audience. The tech guys need the details as a way of documenting for code writing and configuration. The exec staff is only interested in the high-level overview. It's dangerous and counter-productive to try to be "efficient" by making the same diagram work for both. Mike
Toggle Commented Sep 26, 2010 on How IT Can Give Better Presentations at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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How IT Can Give Better Presentations
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Cut out jargon and focus on helping, not limiting, customers. IT has long sought to be considered a partner to the other business leaders in our companies. It's all part of our pursuit of the holy grail of "having a... Continue reading
Posted Sep 15, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Why IT Must Embrace Facebook, Twitter, iPhone
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Consumer technologies are infiltrating the corporate world. Learn to leverage them. I like TED. TED is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to "Ideas Worth Spreading." They have conferences where they bring together thought leaders from the world of technology,... Continue reading
Posted Sep 1, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Top Five Technology Fanboys
Apple has its lovers. Microsoft and Google have fanboys who love to hate them. A popular theme for technical writers is to compare one product or technology with another. PC vs. Mac, iPhone vs. Droid, IE vs. Firefox, etc. These... Continue reading
Posted Aug 18, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Why Windows 7 Tablets Won't Kill iPad
Apple's tablet is for consumers. Microsoft should aim for business users. Despite previously killing a tablet PC initiative, Microsoft is reportedly feverishly working with its partners on Windows 7-powered tablets. Some think this is an attempt to catch up to... Continue reading
Posted Aug 4, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Lessons From Apple's 'Antennagate'
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Sometimes how you handle a problem is more important than the solution. Last week Steve Jobs addressed the antenna issues of the iPhone 4, the so-called "antennagate." The "-gate" suffix is rather illustrative. The original "gate, Watergate, started out with... Continue reading
Posted Jul 21, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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10 Communication Mistakes CIOs Still Make
Meridith Levinson just published a great article on CIO.com and Networkworld.com on communication mistakes that CIOs (and I dare say many in IT) make. There is a lot that we all can learn from these common mistakes. Levinson was kind... Continue reading
Posted Jul 15, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Where's My Flying Car?
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Unlike futurists, IT has to deliver on its possibilities. Massachusetts based Terrafugia, Inc. recently announced that it has successfully completed its flight test program for its "Flying Car." Terrafugia hopes to have the first delivery of its beta prototype in... Continue reading
Posted Jul 7, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Ending Apple's AT&T Problem
Steve Jobs needs to get other phone carriers on board--fast. The Apple-AT&T partnership for the iPhone and iPad hasn't gone exactly as well as planned. AT&T has stumbled more than once. Most recently, there have been problems with iPhone 4... Continue reading
Posted Jun 23, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Don't Blame Google For Grabbing Your Data
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Why people should secure their own Wi-Fi networks, and what the IT industry can do to help. Google was taken to task recently when it was discovered that it had captured private payload data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks while its... Continue reading
Posted Jun 9, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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The Hidden Price Of Free Applications
Access to our personal data is the price we pay for ''free'' services on the Internet. Privacy issues, the Internet and social media in particular have been getting a lot of attention lately. Facebook has become the poster child for... Continue reading
Posted May 26, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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Driving E-mail To The Cloud
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With the right applications, e-mail in the cloud could be a productivity boon. There has been a lot of discussion about companies moving their email systems from in-house operations to a cloud application--in other words, to a hosted platform on... Continue reading
Posted May 12, 2010 at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
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