October, 2011

This is one of the most remarkable, open, personal, and candid interviews that I have “ever” conducted since the 1980s’ with a most talented executive and academic leader who is shaping history on many fronts. It is unlike any I have ever done before and it is part of a series—this extensive interview covers Maria’s experiences from early childhood to 30. As a side note, Maria is keynoting at the IFIP...

Don’t you wish sometimes that you had a crystal ball showing you what technology is coming down the pipe and if it’s going to disrupt your status quo? It would just make life so much easier. No more guessing what the CIO is going to insist be deployed ASAP just because he read about it in PC magazine. You’d be ready for it already. No more jumping through hoops because a competing company is harnessing...

“ACM's Tech Pack series provides perspectives and insights into the fast-growing EA discipline and profession, which is critically important to both for-profit and non-profit enterprises. The new Tech Pack is well suited for experienced Enterprise and IT Architects and researchers as well as those less familiar with EA. EA helps businesses translate their vision and strategy into effective enterprise...

While our American counterparts won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving for several weeks yet, I hope all of our Canadian readers are enjoying a great long weekend, filled with friends and family – I know I will be! All the best to you and yours,

It’s a bit of a Catch-22 – deploying a new operating system can be an expensive proposition, but not using up to date technology can cost a business worker productivity, recruitment of top talent, and integration with customers and partners. For development shops, making sure your application runs on the latest platform contributes to the longevity of a useful product. It’s exhausting trying to keep...

Network Professional Association invites you to join us for a webinar. Working in the Cloud with Office 365 Presenter : Jim Belasco, DF/NPA, CNP, MCP Date: 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM Pacific time , November 5th 2011 Description: Microsoft launched Office 365 some time ago to make it easier for businesses to use Microsoft Office. By eliminating the need for setting up your own infrastructure and by simplifying...

Earlier this year, Christian Beauclair , John Bristowe , and I hosted in-person development manager-focused discussions where we talked about how you, as a development manager, can minimize time, cost, and risk in your development projects. We talked about how development teams are constantly challenged to deliver highly secure, quality software in an environment of growing business demand and quick...

Earlier this year, Christian Beauclair , John Bristowe , and I hosted in-person development manager-focused discussions where we talked about how you, as a development manager, can minimize time, cost, and risk in your development projects. In a business world of increasing focus on compliance and control, Development and QA Managers must balance the need for agility against the reality of quality...

A little while ago I posted about the new series that we’ve started – the Manager Tech Talk Video series. We broadcast each episode live on the 2nd Thursday of the month and record it for on-demand access later. I take the audio and use it to create an episode for our long standing IT Manager Podcast.  Below are the recordings from our September episode – enjoy! If you’d like to join us live online...

Have your team take on the Mango Challenge and get an unique opportunity to have the team and your organization internationally recognized. How does this work? Submit 2 "quality" apps and you could get a free Windows Phone 7.5 plus the apps could be featured in the MSDN newsletter and MSDN web site which has a following of millions worldwide. To find out more: https://www.microsoft.com/canada...

Even with the bounty of online forums, webcasts, blog posts and articles, in person events are still a critical part of keeping up to date with the latest in technology as well as gaining valuable relationships with others in the industry. TechDays is a great way to make sure your IT team have the knowledge they need to make the best decisions on technology solutions. Below my colleague Paul outlines...

Twice a year, every autumn and spring, we send out a survey called the Global Relationship Study to a number of IT Professionals across Canada. We use the feedback from this survey to make changes and adjustments within the company and how we engage with you – our customer, our audience, our reason for being. We take the results of this feedback quite seriously, so it’s a great way for your to get...

TechDays is THE conference for technical training in Canada and it’ll be hitting these cities on these dates: October 25-26: Toronto November 15-16: Vancouver November 29-30: Montreal This year I’m putting together the speakers and sessions for the security, identity and management track. It’s going to be great – we’ve got a number of really good, in-depth sessions. Below is a sneak peak at the sessions...

Last week when my colleague Jonathan Rozenblit and I were at TechDays Toronto , we had the opportunity to sit down with Jeff Woolsey, the Principal Program Manager Lead for Windows Server Virtualization at Microsoft. During our chat we talk about virtualization (of course!), but we also discuss managing your systems, taking advantage of the public cloud and automating tasks with PowerShell and why...

While you’re working hard with today’s technologies, you need to stay abreast of tomorrow’s innovations. On the next episode of the AlignIT Manager Tech Talk, Ruth and I will be chatting with Sam Guckenheimer, the man who wrote the book on Agile and Visual Studio, about how development teams can optimize Application Lifecycle Management, utilize advanced methods to deliver higher-value software faster...

A little while ago I posted about the new series that we’ve started – the Manager Tech Talk Video series. We broadcast each episode live on the 2nd Thursday of the month and record it for on-demand access later. I take the audio and use it to create an episode for our long standing IT Manager Podcast. Below are the recordings from our October episode – enjoy! If you’d like...

Microsoft Virtual Academy Contest The MVA contest has finally launched! It’s an IT Pro focused contest where you can win a $3000 prize pack by signing up for the contest and MVA. In addition, if you download the specified evaluations on TechNet, you get more chances to win. The first 500 people to sign up for the contest and register for MVA also get a shirt... https://www.microsoft.com/canada...

TechDays Toronto is only a few days away, and here is yet another reason that your team should be there next week or in Vancouver or Montreal in November, right in the thick of things. Not only are there great sessions and a plethora of experts to learn from, but this year we’ve also added a number of instructor led labs where they can dive in, roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. Below...