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20050314 Monday March 14, 2005

 The Virtual Hallway

A little over a year ago I broke my hip while skiing. Well, to be more precise I broke my hip while falling. Thanks to modern medicine and three 6'' screws, my recovery was not too prolonged. While recovering I worked from home and quickly learned that I missed the interaction of the office. As an engineering manager, one of the most rewarding and important parts of my job is regular conversation with the folks on my team. I say conversation, because given the distributed nature of all teams these days this conversation is just as likely to be over the phone as it to be in the hallway.

Which brings me to my point (finally). What I discovered while recovering was the power of IM and IRC. These tools provide a seamless mechanism for creating a virtual hallway of regular conversation. I personally use GAIM because it works well with both of these protocols and others as well. I have a slight preference for IRC in that the chat rooms provide others the opportunity to listen in and contribute just as with those regular hallway chats. Over the course of the past year IM and IRC have become an invaluable part of my toolbox that I recommend every manager and member of a distributed team investigate.




( Mar 14 2005, 03:10:55 PM CST / Mar 14 2005, 01:46:00 PM CST ) Permalink Comments [2]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/mtibbets/entry/the_virtual_hallway

20050309 Wednesday March 09, 2005

 Jim Collins

You just can't help but be impacted by the influence of good business research and insightful analysis. Here's another Sun Blogger influenced by Jim Collins.






( Mar 09 2005, 12:21:28 PM CST / Mar 09 2005, 12:20:30 PM CST ) Permalink Comments [0]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/mtibbets/entry/jim_collins

20050303 Thursday March 03, 2005

 Turnaround Tips

Some more wisdom from  Shelby Carter regarding turnaround tips for companies.
  1. Establish a vision for the whole company.
  2. Set clear expectations for every level of the company.
  3. Construct realistic strategies that don't require rocket science.
  4. Focus everything on the customer, because the customer is the ultimate arbiter of success.



( Mar 03 2005, 02:00:16 PM CST / Mar 03 2005, 02:03:00 PM CST ) Permalink Comments [2]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/mtibbets/entry/turnaround_tips

20050301 Tuesday March 01, 2005

 Criminal Mastermind

I was in my truck driving to lunch when I heard this over the radio. My favorite line from the reporter was "Details on how exactly the naked man become covered in nacho cheese are sketchy." Sometimes you just have to laugh out loud.

( Mar 01 2005, 01:09:46 PM CST / Mar 01 2005, 01:15:04 PM CST ) Permalink Comments [0]
Trackback: http://blogs.sun.com/mtibbets/entry/criminal_mastermind


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