Big Data: The Next Big Thing

First a brief personal history of data warehousing time. In 1987, I started working with relational database systems when they were in their infancy.  We tried to build OLTP and OLAP systems on single relational databases, client server platforms.  It didn’t go so well.  By the

What is Big Data?

This is a question that comes up all the time. I was recently away at a conference where we discussed this topic in great detail for a couple of hours and at the end I think we had a view of the concept of big data, but no common definition. One of the funniest analogies of big data w

Proper Project Communication is Key…right?

I was chatting with a friend recently about a project she is on that she described in her own words as a ‘master disaster’ – timelines in jeopardy, cost overruns, unrealistic expectations, and frustrated team. I thought back to my own experiences and research and my first

Project Plans and the SDLC Continued…Project Plan Models

Last week we talked about Project Plans and the SDLC and touched on the waterfall model of project plans. In case you missed the first post you can read it here. This week we will talk about other project plan models… The fountain model recognizes that although some activities c

Project Plans and the SDLC

As we all know every project starts with a plan.  It is crucial to have a roadmap to guide you on any endeavour that you plan to undertake.  As it is said, if you don’t have a plan then you plan to fail.  Of course, we need to have a plan that depicts your objectives and incorporates

Speaking Up II

Jim, a friend of mine, was a summer student hired by the Federal Government to work in Kenora to work on implementing giving First Nations people the vote.   This was an important initiative by the governement and Prime Minister Diffenbaker came to give the program his support.

Poetry Versus Prose

Graham Boundy and Harvey Gellman would often say that this book would have made a good article.  Recently I read a peice that suggested expressing your ideas in a poem was much more efficient.  So maybe often a book should have been a poem. I have not completely digested t

Speaking Up

Sometimes we are annoyed when someone takes a controversial position in a discussion or meeting.   We want people to agree with our position and do not like contrary opinions.  However often if we are open to listening we can learn some important things.  Often the s

Giving People the Benefit of the Doubt

Do you dismiss opinions that do not jibe with you view of the world?  Do you consider that they may be seeing things from a different perspective?   I find seeing the others point of view when is not alignned with mine very difficult.   I just heard a story that one

Meetings on the Phone

So many meeting these days are held on the phone rather than in person around a table.  How to manage effective meetings?  In person meeting are challenge enough and often are not done well.  Adding the complexity of a phone meeting, adds significant challenge for al