The Anti-Blog Blog: Everyday Engineering and Architecture

Virtual Box is #3 on the list

Sweet!

Managing by Spreadsheet (mBS)

It never ceases to amaze how many of my customers with million dollar budgets still rely upon homegrown spreadsheets to manage their projects. Large or small, doesn't matter -- it's spreadsheet. Oh sometimes it's color coded to indicated status, you know, red for behind schedule, yellow for mostly on schedule but about ready to slip and green if it's lucky enough to be ahead or on schedule (what that purple, brown, orange color coding means I have no clue). About 1/2 the time it's up-to-date, the other 1/2 it's not and in some cases it's really far out of date. Many times it's shared via email and some of the times it's even kept out on the server were team members can download the latest copy. Heaven forbid they should want to change it themselves -- majority of the time they email their changes to the Project Manager or whoever "owns" the spreadsheet... ahem, project plan.

Come on, we all know organizations that do exactly this. Let's not kid ourselves we also do it as well ("Hi I'm Dave. I suffer from mBS syndrome")

The Trouble in Spreadsheet-town

The main issue is that project management by spreadsheet just doesn't do the trick. There's too much data re-entry (I'll send you an update via email and you update the sheet for me) and in most cases things aren't up-to-date. Additionally the data needed isn't tracked to the level needed (eg. the spreadsheets are really high level lest they cause even more data re-entry) and performance metrics really aren't tracked over time so you can't improve forecasting as the project goes along or apply some form of multiplier to the next project very easily.

The Trouble with Microsoft Project

At the other end of the spectrum, you've got Microsoft Project and other very high end tools that are capable of tracking the largest of large projects (like building submarines, sky scrapers, shopping centers and malls). These have too much detail and the tools themselves get in the way of managing the project. There's a genuine and legitimate fear of these types of tools.

Some Simple Options

Enter the web-based tools. There are now many offerings (almost too many in fact) that are web-based and occupy the middle ground between spreadsheets and the Microsoft projects of the world. Even better yet, there are now some specialized tools for managing Agile development work as well (eg. scrums and defects). Awesome!

At the very basic end of things, there's a category of project tools which really have a focus on the collaborative aspect of projects. The emphasis here is on collaboration and not necessarily enforcing good project management discipline or even capturing project metrics. What these tools is get the project plan and general info off someone's hard drive, laptop or home directory and make it a group effort. Keeping it up-to-date is no longer one person's job. Adding new issues or items is no longer one person's job. Everyone can see what's going on and if everyone keeps it up-to-date, then everyone sees the up-to-date data. Neat!
Some eliminate the need for the spreadsheet by providing basic task breakdown, other services out there simply add collaboration to that spreadsheet.

There are quite a few in this category but two I've recently run across that seem to be decent, one called Huddle and one called Basecamp. Think social network meets task / project management. Good basic stuff and better than mBS.

High End

At the high end you find things like Project Insight which, while not quite like Microsoft Project, can actually offer up about 75% to 80% of Microsoft Project's features via the web. Or for those just starting out, Project Insight can start smaller and offer something like 25% to 40% of Microsoft Project's core features in a workgroup edition.

I know. I know. What about Open Source or FLOSS (free as in libre open source software)? Yes Virginia, there are even open source offerings in this high end category. One such service and software package is called Project.net. Very feature rich and high end, yet open source. Yes, I put Project.net in the high end category.

Middle of the Road

Sometimes we can't simply get that $300,000 Italian sports car and must settle for a good old Chevy with a decent stereo system.
More middle of the road web-based project management adds true project management features beyond the collaboration. You're now tracking meaningful metrics such as time spent vs. projected, risk levels and issues, etc. Things that help you not only deliver the current project but also will help you plan / estimate the next one as well.

At the very low end of this category would be QuickBase from Intuit which I consider more a bridge between very basic and middle of the road. Good clean user interface (it's from Intuit, the Quicken people, would you expect otherwise?). No QuickBase isn't for complex projects or project portfolio management (PPM) but it's a decent online project management system with a good UI. I had a customer complain that QuickBase was too simple of a tool. Um, I got news for you it's still light years ahead of doing it by spreadsheets IMHO.

On the high end of the middle of the road (MOTR) category you find things like Daptiv's platform which can do many many things and even has an API you can develop integrated applications against if you are so inclined. Again Daptiv is a hosted solution like QuickBase.
If you're looking for something open sourced web-based either hosted or on-prem in the MOTR category, I like TeamWork -- it's award winning open source which also has an Agile component. Nice.

Ok, I confess I also like Copper for it's UI, is well done, modern and easy to use (can a UI be sexy?). The design reminds me alot of Apple Mac for some reason -- well done and useful perhaps?

One other one that's solidly in this category is Team Dynamix which more than a couple of my Higher Education customers use. Team Dynamix is something you can start simple and grow with but doesn't do much specifically with Agile.

Specifically for Agile

Agile development brings new things to manage in a faster paced environment. (Yes I've seen Agile management via spreadsheet. Again, no no no. Have we not learned anything from the project management by spreadsheet attempts?). Luckily there are some offerings out there to assist with Agile development projects.

I mentioned that TeamWork has an Agile module for managing the scrum, so it can do basic project management and agile scrum management which is pretty good. If you want something that focuses more on just the development aspects of agile projects, the Rally and VersionOne are a couple of options.

Rally kind of seems like the Microsoft Project in this category, really feature rich and often more than what people need so I am not so impressed with it. I'd also consider VersionOne as being at the high end of the agile project management tools here -- it does seem easier or perhaps a bit more user friendly though.

Personally, I also like TargetProcess, ThoughtWorks and AgileBuddy for tools that are crisp, easy to use and really beneficial in this area. ThoughtWorks is really high on the list, AgileBuddy and TargetProcess come in a close 2nd with VersionOne running 3rd in my mind.

Recent Recommendation

Recently I had an opportunity to take a look at one particular customer project. Doing quite a bit of development work and had a real need for testing, solid promote to production cycle management and upgrading their overall project management to something more than spreadsheets.
I basically told them to look at the ThoughtWorks product set of Mingle, Cruise and Twist right away for the development, testing and promotion cycle management. And then review Team Dynamix or Copper for the project management side of things. If I had to choose between Team Dynamix and Copper, my deciding factor would be project portfolio management (PPM) -- if PPM wasn't a requirement, I'd go with Copper.

Have you ever wondered why "thin clients" haven't really captured more of the corporate desktop?

Or "Eco Computing"?

Wondering why that SOA initiative or Identity Management initiative really isn't farther along that it is?

And what's up with all the hype and argument about Cloud Computing? Is it a good thing or isn't it?

Well, Mike Kavis has an excellent post that although it's aimed at Cloud Computing, it really applies to most major compute changes within an organization... it's not about the technology, it's about the people.

A good article over at Slashdot points out "Why IT Won't [or Can't] Power Down PCs"...

It's amazing that all this comes down to governance really... then again I am not really surprise because those organizations that's one of the large differences between organizations that exist at the lower end of the Maturity Model spectrum versus those that manage to break through the ceiling of the 2nd quartile... simply put, governance... the ability to see the larger picture and make effective decisions...

Perhaps one of the best blog posts this year about Open Source...

Simon Phipps' "Five Ideas To Get FOSS Into Governments"

The good news is that just released update to VirtualBox v2.1.2 fixes a couple of the issues that I had installing the Windows 7 beta on my Mac.

In 2.1.2 (released this morning) there's a specific Windows 7 entry in the dropdown when you create a new machine, i.e. where you chose Vista. And the 2.1.2 guest additions work without needing compatibility mode.

Hooray! (I guess I was a day early and a dollar short -- jumped the gun installing the beta on VirtualBox)

Well installing the Windows 7 Beta on top of Virtual Box 2.1 on my Apple MacBook Pro wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Virtual Box pretty much made it a snap quite frankly.

Started up Virtual Box...

• Selected "New"...
• Chose "Windows" and "Vista 32-bit" from the operating system options...
• Entered "1024MB" or 1GB for virtual memory size for my new virtual machine...
• Bumped up the video memory to "64MB"...
• Told it I wanted to start a "New" virtual hard drive and used the default of "20GB" for it...
• Edited the settings for DVD and Audio... mounted the DVD drive that contained the Windows 7 Beta DVD I burned from the ISO the other day... configured the audio for "Core Audio" and "Sound Blaster 16" driver...

Then started the virtual box...

Windows then began to load and start the install process from the DVD. Neat. Notice I said "neat" not "fast". My MacBook Pro isn't the newest or fastest so it wasn't speedy for the install but still was acceptable. I'll have to repeat this on my iMac that *is* newer and faster to see if things improve.

Results so far...

• Sound did not work. I will have to change the driver or install the VBox Guest Tools...
• Network worked fine and Windows even found 2 updates, installed them and then rebooted
• Changed my login picture and my theme...
• Bumped video memory up to 128MB, checked "enable" 3D acceleration

VirtualBox Guest Tools

• Attempted to install VirtualBox Guest Additions and it came back and said "unsupported" OS
• Un-installed the additions
• Re-installed using XP compatibility mode... so rather than running with AutoPlay, right clicked into preferences --> compatibility --> Windows XP 32-bit, then ran the VirtualBox Guest Additions
• that's much better now... video driver scales the display when I resize it and mouse works across windows

Audio

• Changed audio back to default of "Core Audio" and "ICH AC97" ... upon reboot Windows 7 found the device and installed the device driver... dummy me for not just taking the defaults... doh!... works like a champ now.

Suspend / Resume

• So far suspend or resume isn't quite working

And VirtualBox 2.1.2 is released today! Get your copy at http://www.virtualbox.org

Project Crossbow is finally integrated into Open Solaris with Build 105... w00t! w00t!

It's an awesome achievement and something that's been much needed.

Ben Rockwood has a wonderful summary post on his blog.

Willie Walker has an excellent blog post on "Why We Do It".

In a nutshell:

• We love doing what we do, we have a passion for our work. Both as an organization and individuals.

• Sun whole heartedly supports the work, even when it appears unpopular or even if it doesn't contribute to the bottom massively and directly (accessibility?)

Thanks for the excellent post Willie, along with staying at Sun!

Sun is adding two new independent board members.

All I have to say is, "It's about time."

Although I question whether "adding" is the right choice rather than not replacing and maintaining or reducing the number.

Erwann just posted a screencast on how the recently released OpenSolaris 8.11 new Time Slider feature works.

This is a neat excuse to try the new OpenSolaris release out, get your live cd at the download page, if you want to install it and don't have an spare machine you can use VirtualBox to set up a virtual machine and play around with it.

By the way, for the curious hackers the time slider code is available through src.opensolaris.org.

This is just awesome!

I'd love to see more of this happen in the US.

Sun has relesed the Sun Storage 7000 series of unified storage systems. The systems use a "hybrid storage pool" consisting of solid state disks, hard disk drives, and RAM to improve performance -- and it's super easy to administer, sexy even. This is quite frankly what should be used as the yardstick by which all other Sun admin interfaces and appliances are judged. Oh and if you're wondering why I have this tagged as "Eco Computing" well these little appliances use less electricity (smaller carbon foot print) than other options. (AWESOME!)

The Sun Storage 7110 has 8GB of RAM and provides 2TB of storage in a 2U form factor.

The Sun Storage 7210 provides up to 44TB of storage in a 4U form factor.

The Sun Storage 7410 scales up to 576TB with multiple expansion arrays.

In addition, Sun has released a simulator for the units as a VMWare virtual machine image. My only wish was that they had release the simulator using VirtualBox.

Interesting article in the NY Times...

John Doerr's Advice for Barack Obama: Hire Bill Joy

If you think OpenSource Software is interesting and good... check out the OpenSource Hardware!

There's a whole 'nother community out there called the OpenSPARC community and Sun just published our T2 core documentation out there. How neat is that? You can actually run a T2 core on an FGPA!

Along with the documentation for the T2 core and the T2 core on FGPA, a new book titled, OpenSPARC Internals, is now available for FREE. You can download the PDF yourself.