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Get on over there and vote now.

I recommend doing a write-in for best blog. (hint, hint) But really are the one’s available the best bloggers? No, they aren’t. They are the ones that just say the same thing as each other all the time. I bet Guy Kawasaki is pissed he’s not on the list.

What Are Your Web Favorites?You know them well. They’re the sites you’ve got bookmarked, ready for you to drop down and click on—whether you need a trove of information, a good guffaw, or a killer deal. Or maybe there’s a site that’s become an indispensable tool for the creation or sharing of your own information and content.

Technology News, Science News : Best of the Web Survey 2006

technorati tags:business, web, bestof, businessweek, poll

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I saw this somewhere and thought it was a great idea mostly because this is exactly what I do on my sites.  Especially when working with many different ID’s, classes and colors…I comment my code with the most commonly used colors for the site, usually at the top like so:

/*– Site’s colorscheme

DarkGrey : #333
LightGrey: #ccc
CrimsonRed : #CC0000

–*/

Just a friendly tip that usually saves me from trying to remember which element/selector has what color and where and when I need it.

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I got my new eWeek in the mail today and was quite intrigued by the cover story so I picked it up and read it right away. It was entitled ‘The Designer IT Guy‘. eWeek interviewed CIO’s from all over the country looking for what they thought of to be the next generation of IT worker.

“Why the confusion? Technology and business are changing as they grapple with outsourcing and lick their wounds from the tech boom. IT jobs can easily be outsourced. The truth is that IT is just not valued that highly by the people in charge—rather, it’s still being viewed as a cost center by many companies that focus more on business.

With all this structural change, the vision of what an IT professional is supposed to be should be following suit. “The old model of IT doesn’t work anymore,” said Steve Novak, CIO at Kirkland & Ellis, a Chicago-based law firm.

While that model is still being sorted out, Novak, along with other CIOs interviewed by eWEEK, is on the lookout for the holy grail—a designer IT person who can adapt and thrive in changing environments and still remain valuable. Meanwhile, it’s in the best interest of the IT worker to embody those traits that will woo the likes of Novak.”

Building the Perfect IT Person

In a nutshell, Deborah Rothberg finds five traits that CIO’s are looking for these days:

1. Personality - interactive discussion, likeability, communication
2. Experience - certifications don’t matter as much as they used to
3. Global Perspective - how can you help your company in a global marketplace?
4. Business Knowledge - it takes more than technical know-how these days
5. Adaptation - can you be agile in an adaptive landscape?

I completely agree with her. But I still think these are essentially managerial qualities that potential IT managers must embrace. If you are the most amazing programmer in your area and you don’t like to communicate with the marketing team it does not matter if you get the job done.

On the other hand in an ever changing landscape of IT where outsourcing is a common fear all IT people should strive to achieve the above traits because they will ensure your survival. After all in business it is survival of the fittest. And there could be a time shortly where your programming skills do not matter because two people overseas can do the same job cheaper.

I’m glad I went to business school. Business knowledge and communication skills are essential in today’s market place. But you know that…

technorati tags:business, eweek, IT, globalization, outsourcing, technology

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activeCollab is an open source project management solution that is essentially a Basecamp clone. It was created by Ilija Studen from Novi Sad, Serbia. It is a hosted solution so the only caveat is you have to find a host for yourself, which GoDaddy can offer for around $4/mo which is still less than the pricing plan of Basecamp.

Why did I choose it?

Essentially this decision came down to monetary reasons. At this point I cannot justify dishing out cash for project management software like Basecamp. We are a poor startup working out of a garage, and we host many of our own websites.

Another reason is it’s web based, and I have complete control over the application. We did not need anything as robust as Microsoft Project / Project Server. We just need a place to be organized.

How was the implementation?

Granted, I am an experienced Windows system administrator but I think anyone with relatively basic systems skills will find this easy to install. I had it up and running in less than 10 minutes with the following configuration:

• Windows Server 2003
• PHP 5
• MySql 5

How does it stack up against Basecamp, other PM applications?

Well it’s not hard to beat MS Project, so I won’t even go there. So far I have created several projects and task lists while successfully delegating said tasks. I have uploaded documents, tagged them, and downloaded them. From my perspective it’s as good as Basecamp. Slacker Manager has a more thorough comparison.

Do I recommend it?

Yes, I do. But it definitely has a target audience. If you are a freelance professional I still recommned Basecamp. If you are a small company or have systems experience, it is definitely your best bet.