Mon, 31 Aug 2009
Look for the people that everyone mocks
Pay very close attention to them. Nothing marks a trouble spot in quite
the same way. Either they're being picked on and something needs to be done
or they are the first people you should be helping to pursue new
opportunities. Very far away. Either way you need to know.
Leaving incompetent people in place destroys morale for the good staff and encourages them to look elsewhere. When there's a bad apple or two lowering the teams value, and the quality of their output, pure professional pride only gets you so far. At some point you need to have a culture that rewards effort and punishes wastes of space.
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Posted: 2009/08/31 20:58 | /nottech | Permanent link to this entry | This entry and same date
Cloud Application Architectures - Short Review
With all the hype and misdirection around the cloud it's always good to
find a little bit of concrete information. If you're interested in the
general principles of how the cloud (and Amazon Webservices in
particular) could replace some of your existing infrastructure then Cloud Application
Architectures isn't a bad place to start.
The book is a slim tome, it's easy to read in a couple of sittings and covers all the basics. The author felt more than a little biased towards the cloud (IMHO) but what do you expect from someone leading the push? The book is well written, clear in making its points and the worst omission / error are a couple of missing figures, but the text works fine without them.
I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the Berkley Cloud paper (PDF), a great paper for defining terms regarding the cloud, and any of the keynotes by Simon Wardley (especially the one from FrOScon 2009) as other good starting points - both of which are free.
If you're interested in how the cloud could play a part in your environment and want something a little more concrete (and AWS focused) then this book is for you. 7/10.
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Posted: 2009/08/31 20:26 | /books | Permanent link to this entry | This entry and same date
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