Category Archives: opinion

We’re Making Stew: Guidelines for Serial Blogging

One of my editors gave me a great piece of advice one day regarding writing and blogging. He said (and I paraphrase):

stew pot

We’re making stew when we publish. Sometimes the reader gets a nice big piece of steak for an article. Sometimes she gets a carrot and sometimes it’s a potato. We mix it up and give the pub a great flavor so there isn’t too much of one ingredient or another. Continue reading

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IT Purchasing Math: 8 Ways that Confusion = Profit

There’s a simple equation to keep in mind if you’re not sure you’re getting a fair deal when making a major IT purchase:

Confusion = Profit
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Who Moved my Cheese? Lifestyle Book or Horror Story?

I’ve always wondered. Is Who Moved My Cheese a motivational book or a horror story? Continue reading

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The Animal Farm Rule of Help Desks and Network Management

Running a Help Desk or a Data Center can be confusing in that while you try to treat all customers the same way, there are just some people who need extra-special assistance. You may go all out for your internal and external customers but there are always certain classes of people who you really have to go ALL OUT for. Continue reading

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Three Things to Do When Blogging and Publishing On-line

One of the problems with accessing on-line publications (including blogs) is that it’s hard for readers to verify the accuracy, reliability, and freshness of the content you’re reading. Especially in a technical article where a solution written for one version … Continue reading

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And then someone gets fired: IBM i ERP Implementations Gone Bad

Here’s two cautionary tales and lessons learned when migrating to a new IBM i ERP system, and some ideas on what to do when things don’t happen as planned Continue reading

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Comparing the PureSystems #10Kandcounting Standard Versus the Power i Standard and Vice Versa

IBM PureSystems 10K and counting picture--2-3-14

With IBM recently announcing that “IBM PureSystems family of expert integrated systems…have now shipped more than 10,000 units through the 4th Quarter of 2013”, is this a significant number compared against the number of existing accounts and installations for the IBM i family (Power 4 and above)? Continue reading

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IT Management and the Hertvik Paradox: Invisibility is Your Friend

Here’s the formula for success in IT infrastructure:

Success=Invisibility

The more people actually see you doing your job, the less successful you are.
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My First Job: Customer Service & Entrepreneurship Through Newspaper Delivery

There’s a popular series of articles circulating on LinkedIn right now where mega-successful people discuss their first jobs and what they learned. While I don’t fall in the ranks of the mega-rich, mega-successful business people, it might still be somewhat educational … Continue reading

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Today’s Thought: Disk is cheap but it’s not free

Disk is cheap but it’s not free. With increased disk space comes increased responsibility to use it wisely. Additional expenses incur, particularly for backup, replication, and maintenance. Inexpensive disk drives cost more than the purchase price. It’s a paradox in … Continue reading

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Heard on the Street: IBM i Business Partners Busy Writing Extended Support Contracts for V5R4

Maybe not a groundswell but… I’m hearing that some business partners are doing a good business writing extended maintenance contracts for customers who haven’t yet migrated off i5/OS V5R4 before the V5R4 end of support date of this Monday, September 30, … Continue reading

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IBM i, iSeries, System i, AS/400: Why Don’t We Just Call it Bruce?

Why don’t we skip all the old and new names like IBM i, System I, iSeries, and AS/400 and just call it Bruce? Continue reading

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Recommended Listening: The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin

The Icarus Deception is a decent book about Seth Godin’s perceived end of the industrial economy and how the future will belong to those who make more direct connections and focus on their “art” rather than fitting in and becoming an industrial cog. Continue reading

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What’s IBM going to announce regarding i 6.1 on Power7+ Hardware?

IBM wound up posting some info on tomorrow’s announcement on the DeveloperWorks Web site today, where they mention the Power7+ versions of the 710, 720, 730, 740, 750, and 760 rack servers. They also mentioned enhancements to the HMC and … Continue reading

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IBM i QuickTip: Adjusting IBM i Access After an Upgrade

After my latest IBM i 6.1 upgrade, some of my users started getting CPF9E17 messages (Usage limit exceeded  – operator action required) when starting a Personal Communications green-screen session (PC5250). The problem was that in addition to the software license keys IBM … Continue reading

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