• Perfect is the enemy of good
• The worst decision is no decision

When people are scared to make a decision, is it because an organisation has a blame culture?

The culture...

Do IT people have the mentality for union membership?

On average, how long do IT people stick with one employer?  In the UK, demand for IT skills has always run ahead...

Primarily aimed at new starters, I have written a Confluence page that lists learning resources I recommend. For these, I list the following

• Technology of interest
• Author or presenter
• Price...

I think it takes a while for people to grasp the implications of a change in technology and work out how best to make use of it.  Otherwise its "faster...

With the right guard rails GenAI is a powerful tool.  It is capable of bringing together information scattered across many resources and into a cohesive whole.  It is also capable...

I have a couple of friends who are in the cyber-security.  I used to imagine that hacking was done by technical geniuses operating at a level of capability far beyond...

With the DORA metrics is to recognise them as being as a result of good practice.  They are an indicator, not a goal in their own right.

I dealt with a...

We have a  Co-Pilot subscription and I have mixed results with it.  I have been using it with two extensions in VS Code

• GitHub Co-Pilot
• GitHub Co-Pilot Chat

The accuracy of...

The one that sticks in my mind was a Finance system that was creaking under the strain.

They took a report extract from some form of reporting tool and put it...

Throughout my career I have had a love/hate relationship with Shadow IT.  I've observed that what people actually want IT to address are small frictions and relatively minor tasks which...

Preparation is key.  Beyond the technical aspects I'd say make damn sure you know what you want from your move.  In my early career my needs were very simple.  I...

I notice that BULK INSERT can be used with OPENROWSET too import Parquet and DataBricks Delta tables.  I just wish there was a BULK EXPORT command.  The bcp utility is...

I started at school on a Commodore Pet, eventually getting myself a Vic20.

When I 1st used a PC there was a choice between DOS and CPM.  WordPerfect was the dominant...

One aspect of a Return To Office shift is economics.  Obviously there is the cost of commuting and office appropriate clothing.  We used to shoulder that as just part of...

I have about 5 years left and have worked over 25 years in an office where I have seen high levels of effectiveness.  Since the rapid movement to 100%...