Tag Archives: bill-vass

The Test of Commitment and The Nuances of Estimation: Lessons from the IT Trenches

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Across three decades of diving deep into the intricacies of IT, from software engineering to enterprise architecture, there’s a multitude of lessons I’ve unearthed. However, two recent experiences bring to light some invaluable insights about software delivery and the broader strokes of business ethos.

Consider a scenario where your project hinges on the delivery timeline of an external firm. A firm that’s been given two years to code a mere API HTTP PUT request, with the deadline stretching from mid to end September. The stakes? The very funding of your project. Enter the vendor’s sales representative: brimming with confidence, he assures an on-time delivery. Yet, when playfully challenged with a wager to affirm this confidence, he declines. A simple bet revealing the chasm between rhetoric and conviction.

Such instances resonate with an enduring truth in software delivery and business: actions always echo louder than words. The real “test” in business is not just about meeting estimates or deadlines, but about the conviction, commitment, and authenticity behind the promises.

However, alongside this test of commitment, lies another challenge I’ve grappled with regardless of the cap I wore: estimating software delivery. Despite my extensive track record, I’ve faced moments when estimates missed the mark. And I’m not alone in this.

Early in my career, Bill Vass, another IT leader, imparted a nugget of wisdom that remains etched in my memory. He quipped, “When it comes to developer estimates, always times them by four.” This wasn’t mere cynicism, but a recognition of the myriad unpredictabilities inherent in software development, reminiscent of the broader unpredictabilities in business.

Yet, the essence isn’t about perfecting estimates. It revolves around three pillars: honesty in setting and communicating expectations; realism in distinguishing optimism from capability; and engagement to ensure ongoing dialogue through the project’s ups and downs.

In the grand tapestry of IT and business, it’s not always the flawless execution of an estimate or a delivered promise that counts. At the end of the day, an estimate is just that; an estimate. The crux lies in how we navigate the journey, armed with authenticity, grounded expectations, and unwavering engagement. These cornerstones, combined with real-world lessons, are what construct the foundation of trust, catalyse collaborations, and steer us toward true success.

Bill Vass’ top reasons to use Open Source software

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You might not have seen Bill Vass’ blog article series on the topic of the top reasons to use and adopt Open Source software; and as it’s such an insightful series of articles I thought I’d bring it to your attention here.

Each one is highly data driven and contains insight that you probably haven’t seen before but is useful to be aware of when positioning Open Source to a CTO, a CIO or an IT Director, because of Bill viewpoints (having come from a CIO and CTO background). Often when you see this sort of thing written it can be rather subjective, almost ‘faith based’, so I’m always on the lookout for good factual information that is contextually relevant.

Bill Vass’ top reasons to use and adopt open source:

    1. Improved security

    1. Reduced procurement times

    1. Avoid vendor lock in

    1. Reduced costs

    1. Better quality

  1. Enhance functionality

And before you mention it, I know Bill already summarised these articles in his lead-in piece “The Open Source Light at the End of the Proprietary Tunnel…“, but it was such a great set of articles it seems a shame not to highlight them them to you!

links for 2009-01-26

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Roller Weblogger blog post tag link code for blogs.sun.com, technorati and del.icio.us

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Here’s some code that produces tag links to four popular tag destinations, your blog, blogs.sun.com, technorati and del.icio.us (for your Roller Weblogger based blog, as the code is velocity).

It also ensures that the links are marked as tags, so that crawlers that look for and index tags and tag data will pick them up (microformat and semantic web focused applications, like the ‘Operator’ plug in for Firefox also pick them up of course).

I only add it to individual entries, rather than collections, which is what “#if ($model.permalink)” checks for.

Best to add just before or just after the Comments section in your main Roller template.

The code also includes some functionality to replace ‘-‘ and ‘+’ with ‘ ‘, so as to make the text fit in the table (this does not affect the tag).

You can see this functionality here, on my blog, and on Bill Vass’ blog, however you will need to look at an individual blog post to see it.

If your on bsc you’ll need to replace ‘eclectic’ with your bsc blog name, or if your not on bsc you’ll need to replace “http://blogs.sun.com/eclectic/” with your entire blog URL.

Here’s the code:


#if ($model.permalink) <!-- BEGIN TAGS: $entry.title -->

<div class="comments-head">Tags</div>














This blog








Sun Blogs








Technorati








Del.icio.us

















 #set ($mytags = $entry.tags) #foreach ( $tag in $mytags ) #set ($tagText = $tag.name) #set ($tagTextNew = "") #if ($tagText.length() > 0) #set ($toDo = $tagText.length() - 1) #set ($number = 0) #foreach ($number in [0..$toDo]) #if (($tagText.charAt($number) == "-") || ($tagText.charAt($number) == "+")) #set ($tagTextNew = $tagTextNew + " ") #else #set ($tagTextNew = $tagTextNew + $tagText.charAt($number)) #end #end #end



#end





$tagTextNew


$tagTextNew


$tagTextNew


$tagTextNew










 
 #end

Roller Weblogger language translation with Google using JavaScript and Velocity

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So here’s the latest version of my Google Translation code for Roller Weblogger, as used to host blogs.sun.com (or ‘bsc’ as we in Sun call it).

It’s much improved over the original and Google versions.

First off it checks for JavaScript, if there then it uses it to make sure the page hasn’t been translated before as well as get the current URL to translate (Google generates translation glitches if it tries to translate pre-translated pages).

If not it still generates the language translation by using Velocity / Roller JSP code.

If your on bsc then $baseURL needs the ‘eclectic’ text replaced with whatever your bsc site is called, otherwise $baseURL needs to be your blog URL.

If your not on bsc you’ll also need to change $iconURL to where you are hosting the flag images (which I got from FamFamFam), unless of course you leech off mine.

So far this code is being used on Bill Vass’ blog and Glenn Brunette’s Security Weblog (as well as this one of course).

Here’s the code for you to have a look at and cut and paste if you’d like to use it. It needs to be embedded in your Roller template code, probably best to put it in the sidebar. You can also use it to translate from other source languages other than English, more on this at the bottom of the page.



<div style="margin:0px; padding:1px;"> <!-- BEGIN _MOD_TRANSLATE --> ## Current Language
#set ($langCur="en") ## Lang Text
#set ($langText_ar="Arabic")
#set ($langText_bg="Bulgarian")
#set ($langText_zh-CN="Chinese (Simplified)")
#set ($langText_zh-TW="Chinese (Traditional)")
#set ($langText_hr="Croatian")
#set ($langText_cs="Czech")
#set ($langText_da="Danish")
#set ($langText_nl="Dutch")
#set ($langText_en="English")
#set ($langText_fi="Finnish")
#set ($langText_fr="French")
#set ($langText_de="German")
#set ($langText_el="Greek")
#set ($langText_hi="Hindi")
#set ($langText_it="Italian")
#set ($langText_ja="Japanese")
#set ($langText_ko="Korean")
#set ($langText_no="Norwegian")
#set ($langText_pl="Polish")
#set ($langText_pt="Portuguese")
#set ($langText_ro="Romanian")
#set ($langText_ru="Russian")
#set ($langText_es="Spanish")
#set ($langText_sv="Swedish") ## Lang Code
#set ($langCode_ar="ar")
#set ($langCode_bg="bg")
#set ($langCode_zh-CN="zh-CN")
#set ($langCode_zh-TW="zh-TW")
#set ($langCode_hr="hr")
#set ($langCode_cs="cs")
#set ($langCode_da="da")
#set ($langCode_nl="nl")
#set ($langCode_en="en")
#set ($langCode_fi="fi")
#set ($langCode_fr="fr")
#set ($langCode_de="de")
#set ($langCode_el="el")
#set ($langCode_hi="hi")
#set ($langCode_it="it")
#set ($langCode_ja="ja")
#set ($langCode_ko="ko")
#set ($langCode_no="no")
#set ($langCode_pl="pl")
#set ($langCode_pt="pt")
#set ($langCode_ro="ro")
#set ($langCode_ru="ru")
#set ($langCode_es="es")
#set ($langCode_sv="sv") ## Other variables
#set ($tranText01="<a style="padding:0px" title='") #set ($tranText02="' href="%22)%20%20%20%0A#set%20(%24tranServer=%22http://66.102.9.104%22)%20%20%20%0A#set%20(%24tranCommand=%22/translate_c?hl=%22)%20%20%20%0A#set%20(%24tranText03=%22&#038;langpair=%22)%20%20%20%0A#set%20(%24tranText04=%22%7C%22)%20%20%20%0A#set%20(%24tranText05=%22&#038;u=%22)%20%20%20%0A#set%20(%24tranText06=%22"><img decoding="async" alt='") #set ($tranText07="' style="border:0px; padding:0px 8px 8px 0px;" src="/web/20090226230923im_/http://blogs.sun.com/eclectic/entry/%22)%20%20%20#set%20(%24iconURL=%22http://blogs.sun.com/eclectic/resource/%22)%20%20%20#set%20(%24iconTLA=%22.png"></a>" ) ## specific blog entry ? #if ($model.permalink) #set ($baseurl="http://blogs.sun.com/BVass/entry/$utilities.encode($model.weblogEntry.anchor)" ) #else #set ($baseurl="http://blogs.sun.com/BVass/" ) #end <script language="JavaScript"><br/><!--<br/>{ /* Allocate memory */<br/>strLangPage = new String (location.href); /* Catch pages translated externally and re-assign */<br/>if ((strLangPage.indexOf("/translate_c?")!=-1)) { /* Catch pages with the new google tracking code and strip */ if ((strLangPage.indexOf("&usg=")!=-1)) { strLangPage = strLangPage.slice((strLangPage.lastIndexOf("u=") + 2),(strLangPage.lastIndexOf("&usg=") )); } else { strLangPage = strLangPage.slice((strLangPage.lastIndexOf("u=") + 2)); } } document.write("<div style='margin:0px; padding:0px;'>");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_ar$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_ar$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_ar$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_ar$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_bg$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_bg$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_bg$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_bg$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_zh-CN$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_zh-CN$tranText05",<br/>strLangPage,<br/>"$tranText06$langCode_zh-CN$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_zh-CN$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_zh-TW$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_zh-TW$tranText05",<br/>strLangPage,<br/>"$tranText06$langCode_zh-TW$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_zh-TW$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_hr$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_hr$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_hr$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_hr$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_cs$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_cs$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_cs$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_cs$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_da$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_da$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_da$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_da$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_nl$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_nl$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_nl$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_nl$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_en$tranText02",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_en$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_en$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_fi$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_fi$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_fi$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_fi$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_fr$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_fr$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_fr$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_fr$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_de$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_de$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_de$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_de$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_el$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_el$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_el$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_el$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_hi$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_hi$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_hi$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_hi$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_it$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_it$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_it$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_it$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_ja$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_ja$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_ja$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_ja$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_ko$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_ko$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_ko$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_ko$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_no$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_no$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_no$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_no$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_pl$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_pl$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_pl$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_pl$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_pt$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_pt$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_pt$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_pt$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_ro$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_ro$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_ro$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_ro$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_ru$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_ru$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_ru$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_ru$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_es$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_es$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_es$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_es$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("$tranText01$langText_sv$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_sv$tranText05",strLangPage,"$tranText06$langCode_sv$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_sv$iconTLA$tranText08");<br/>document.write("</div>"); }<br/>// --><br/></script> <noscript>

<div style="margin:0px; padding:0px;">
$tranText01$langText_ar$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_ar$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_ar$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_ar$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_bg$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_bg$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_bg$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_bg$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_zh-CN$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_zh-CN$tranText05$baseURL$langCode$tranText06$langCode_zh-CN$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_zh-CN$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_zh-TW$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_zh-TW$tranText05$baseURL$langCode$tranText06$langCode_zh-TW$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_zh-TW$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_hr$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_hr$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_hr$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_hr$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_cs$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_cs$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_cs$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_cs$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_da$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_da$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_da$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_da$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_nl$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_nl$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_nl$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_nl$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_en$tranText02$baseURL$langCode$tranText06$langCode_en$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_en$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_fi$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_fi$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_fi$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_fi$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_fr$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_fr$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_fr$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_fr$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_de$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_de$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_de$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_de$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_el$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_el$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_el$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_el$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_hi$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_hi$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_hi$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_hi$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_it$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_it$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_it$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_it$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_ja$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_ja$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_ja$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_ja$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_ko$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_ko$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_ko$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_ko$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_no$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_no$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_no$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_no$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_pl$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_pl$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_pl$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_pl$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_pt$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_pt$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_pt$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_pt$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_ro$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_ro$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_ro$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_ro$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_ru$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_ru$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_ru$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_ru$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_es$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_es$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_es$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_es$iconTLA$tranText08
$tranText01$langText_sv$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_sv$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_sv$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_sv$iconTLA$tranText08
</div>

</noscript> <!-- END _MOD_TRANSLATE --></div>

As I mentioned above it can also be used to translate from other source languages other than English.

By changing #set ($langCur=”en”) it’ll translate from other source languages. For instance set $langCur to ‘fr’ to use French as a the source language. You’ll also need to transpose the ‘en’ output strings with that of the source language you want to use, because Google doesn’t like trying to translate a page to and from the same language! For instance, still using French as an example:


$tranText01$langText_en$tranText02$baseURL$langCode$tranText06$langCode_en$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_en$iconTLA$tranText08
needs to become
$tranText01$langText_fr$tranText02$baseURL$langCode$tranText06$langCode_fr$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_fr$iconTLA$tranText08
and reciprocally
$tranText01$langText_fr$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_fr$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_fr$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_fr$iconTLA$tranText08
needs to become
$tranText01$langText_en$tranText02$tranServer$tranCommand$langCur$tranText03$langCur$tranText04$langCode_en$tranText05$baseURL$tranText06$langCode_en$tranText07$iconURL$langCode_en$iconTLA$tranText08

Remember that there are two versions of this string though, one encapsulated in JavaScript (using ‘document.write’) and the other free standing in the ‘NOSCRIPT’ element, just in case JavaScript isn’t used.