What Cloud “…aaS” Could Mean to You

Posted on November 1, 2015 by

Are you confused about what technology is in “The Cloud”? If so, you might also be confused by “aaS”. Simply, “aaS” is the acronym for “as a Service”. Delivering information technology “as a service” is a licensing model where the software and hardware asset, and related maintenance and support, are offered as a subscription instead of being owned or leased. This is the essence of Cloud Computing.

In a traditional information technology asset acquisition model, you would purchase or lease hardware for placement in your own facility, or a leased facility under your control. For software, you would purchase licenses, either for perpetual use or for a fixed term. In addition, you would pay for maintenance and support on the hardware and software on a recurring basis for the useful life of the product at a cost annually of about 20-25% of the original purchase. In this model, you typically have a large capital cost for a product that continually diminishes both in terms of a financial and technological value.

In Cloud Computing, software and hardware are offered as a service by the technology provider, and the technology is typically (not always) installed and running at the technology provider’s data center, not in your local data center. Instead of purchasing or leasing the technology, you subscribe to use it. The subscription cost is typically on a monthly basis, and covers all use, hosting, maintenance and support, as well as technology upgrades. Therefore, you do not have a large upfront (or recurring) capital expense. Instead, you have a recurring operating expense which can often be more cost effective.

What has allowed Cloud Computing to become more prevalent over the past few years is a result of an improved and more readily available high internet bandwidth. Internet Service Providers now offer high bandwidth internet connections at very reasonable costs. Many organizations need the high bandwidth internet connections to support the amount of data transferred between the technology provider and the organization.

Cloud Service Models

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – The service provider hosts servers, storage and other hardware, mostly virtually, with all hardware supporting services. The provided servers will host and run user applications and the service provider will handle all tasks related to system management, monitoring, maintenance, backup and resiliency planning for the subscribed infrastructure.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) – The service provider delivers hardware and software tools needed for application development. A PaaS provider hosts the hardware and software on its own infrastructure. As a result, PaaS frees users from having to install in-house hardware and software to develop or run a new application.

Software as a Service (SaaS) – The service provider distributes software (programs/apps) via their own hosted environment and makes the software available to clients over a network, typically the Internet. In addition, they include all support and upgrades for the subscribed software.

How Cloud Computing is Offered

Public Cloud – The service provider makes the technology, such as software applications and hardware, available to their clients over the Internet. The clients connect to the service provider’s system to access the subscribed technology.

Private Cloud – Typically found in larger companies and organizations, the organization itself becomes the service provider. The organization’s facility hosts and manages the technology and offers the services to their business groups. User costs are typically incurred and managed via internal budgeting practices.

Cloud Computing provides a simple way to access servers, storage, databases and a broad set of application services over the Internet. You would be wise to consider a Cloud Computing model when you need to replace or upgrade your technology. While there are many advantages to using or implementing a Cloud Computing methodology, I will address that in a future post.

I encourage you to leave a comment by clicking on “…comments” below…

David Schuchman

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Debrief at the End of Each Project

Posted on October 18, 2015 by

Adam Kovitz

Making mistakes during a project, although sometimes painful, can be valuable as long as we learn from them. The same can be said for the project successes. More than a casual conversation about what did and didn’t work, a debriefing digs into why things happened, and can help accelerate progress on future projects.

Not all failures are bad. Some of them are actually good because of the valuable learning opportunities they present. Dividing your project’s failures into categories will help you distinguish the good, useful failures from the bad, useless ones. In turn, you can be prepared to deal with them and learn from them:

Preventable failures. These are caused by inadequate training, inattention to task details, or lack of skills and ability. They’re typically easy to diagnose and fix. Using a robust checklist at the very beginning of a project is a good tool to identify potential points of failure.
Unavoidable failures. Every project has built-in uncertainty of tasks and work effort. Projects that are very complex, have tight timelines or involve high risk will have an increased opportunity for unavoidable failures. Good project due diligence at the start of a project will mitigate most failures. Have a plan to triage such events, and even add some time into your project plan to deal with these should they arise. However, accept that some failure is possible and may not be avoided.

What is a Debriefing?
Start by talking with your team about why a debriefing is important. Maybe you want to improve for the next time, or you want to analyze a unique situation that arose. Perhaps you hope to capitalize on your strengths or learn from mistakes. Others may want to continuously learn and improve.

What to Ask When You Debrief

What were we trying to accomplish? Every debriefing should start by restating the objectives you were trying to hit. The project team should have agreed on clear objectives prior to taking action in the first place. If the objectives were not clear, the rest of the debriefing will be of little value because you won’t know how to judge your success.
Where did we hit and miss our objectives? With clear objectives, you can clearly identify if you did or didn’t hit them. Review your results, and ensure the group is aligned.
What caused our results? This is the “root-cause analysis” step for your successes and failures. It should go deeper than obvious, first-level answers to missed objectives. Don’t be satisfied with answers like, “We needed more time”. Keep digging and ask why you needed more time. For example, it may be the time was adequate if the project team had a different skill set.
What should we start, stop, or continue doing? Given you uncover the root causes, determine what you should do next now that you know what you know.

Make sure you capture lessons learned in a usable format for later use. At a minimum, take notes and distribute them to the project team members. In addition, make the information readily available to other project teams or even to a broader organizational audience. In the end, you may find the most successful process changes are the easiest to implement.

I encourage you to leave a comment by clicking on “…comments” below…
David Schuchman

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Monthly Meeting

Posted on October 11, 2015 by

Adrienne Roman

The Breakfast Club NJ Presents : “A 360 Approach to Personal Effectiveness” presented by Janet Cargill

Saturday November 14th at 8:00am ET

Synopsis:

“A 360 Approach to Personal Effectiveness”

The benefits of having a professional, polished appearance can’t be overestimated.

The million dollar questions are:

What does my image project?

What is my body language really saying?

Is my dress appropriate for this occasion?

In today’s changing marketplace it is imperative to use all the information that is at your disposal to set yourself apart from the competition. Your body posture, tone of voice and overall projection of confidence invites others into a comfortable trust relationship with you. In the first 30 seconds, your image, combined with your passion, experience and expertise in your line of work, creates the perfect recipe for a successful career.

Profile of Janet Cargill

Janet Cargill is a highly sought-after image consultant, author, and motivational speaker, Janet Cargill is a seasoned traveler in the world of style. After more than 10 years as a wardrobe consultant, fashion coordinator, executive sales trainer, and award winning sales person for Brooks Brothers, Ralph Lauren and Liz Claiborne, Janet channeled her talents and experience 15 years ago into creating her successful firm, Image 360.Janet provides customized image training workshops and consultations to organizations and corporations around the country. She also works with private clients, sharing her invaluable expertise to help them project confidence and success to the world. Janet is the author of the popular book, “Look DAMN Good: At Your Age, With Your Body, and On Your Budget”. And, she was cited by the NJ State Legislature for her advocacy and support for women through her volunteer work with the Career and Life Transition Center for Women in Hunterdon County.

Please share this with other groups you may be in. Join us on Meetup.com at: http://www.meetup.com/The-Breakfast-Club-NJ/ to RSVP for the meeting.

RSVP

TBC meetings for 2015 are free (courtesy of one of our members), and free breakfast (bagels) to the first 50 attendees!!!

Be sure to tell your friends and bring them along. Be a part of our growing network of Job Seekers, Hiring Managers, Recruiters, Career Coaches, and people who want to be able to help themselves and each other.

Event Location:

Days Hotel Conference Center
195 Rt. 18 South, East Brunswick, NJ 08816
732-828-6900

Meeting Format:

7:30 to 8:00 – Registration & Open Networking

8:00 to 8:15 – Welcome and housekeeping

8:15 to 9:15 – Presentation by the guest speaker – Limited to 60 minutes

9:15 to 10:15 – Elevator Pitch – 30 Seconds about yourself, who you are, what you are looking for, target companies (3-4), how we can help you, how you can help others. Follow the rule of the Three B’s of Public Speaking: Be informative; Be brief; Be seated.

10:15 until you choose to leave – Open Networking, follow up with people you are interested in meeting following their elevator pitch, exchange business cards, peruse the library, arrange follow up meetings, etc.

The Breakfast Club NJ – 10 Points for Good Member Citizenship

1) Attend meetings regularly to keep group strong and help pay back to others (meeting logistics on our website www.thebreakfastclubnj.com)

2) Keep anti-virus on your machine up to date and run scan regularly

3) Review messages and if request for assistance please help whenever possible

4) Once you have received your invitation and joined our linked in group, connect to other members directly(questions see Gerry Peyton -gpeyton@ptd.net)

5) Join groups Facebook group, Google +, and connect to other members directly (questions see Adrienne Roman – adrienne1204@optonline.net)

6) Join groups twitter account (questions see George Pace – keeppace@gmail.com)

7) If you run across someone in transition invite them to join our group and sponsor them through process (details on our website www.thebreakfastclubnj.com)

8) Sunday mornings listen to our radio show, “Your Career Is Calling”, at 8am ET either on radio at 107.7 or via internet 24/7 live or on demand at www.1077thebronc.com (as this is a call in show your calls help make it successful)

9) If you are in transition put your elevator pitch in writing to group, ask for help with job search issues or connecting to people at target companies, regularly post job opportunities (from email you joined the group – send email to thebreakfastclubnj@yahoogroups.com)

10) Help fellow members whenever possible

Attend meetings regularly to keep group strong and help pay back to others (meeting logistics on our website www.thebreakfastclubnj.com)
Keep anti-virus on your machine up to date and run scan regularly
Review messages and if request for assistance please help whenever possible
Once you have received your invitation and joined our linked in group, connect to other members directly(questions see Gerry Peyton -gpeyton@ptd.net)
Join groups Facebook group and connect to other members directly (questions see Adrienne Roman – adrienne1204@optonline.net)
Join groups twitter account (questions see George Pace – keeppace@gmail.com)
If you run across someone in transition invite them to join our group and sponsor them through process (details on our website www.thebreakfastclubnj.com)
Sunday mornings listen to our radio show, “Your Career Is Calling”, at 8am ET either on radio at 107.7 or via internet 24/7 live or on demand at www.1077thebronc.com (as this is a call in show your calls help make it successful)
If you are in transition put your elevator pitch in writing to group, ask for help with job search issues or connecting to people at target companies, regularly post job opportunities (from email you joined the group – send email to thebreakfastclubnj@yahoogroups.com)
Help fellow members whenever possible

RSVP

We look forward to seeing everyone let’s make this a great meeting for our members that are in transition and welcome those that have landed

Posted in Monthly Meeting Tagged with: BCNJ Member, BCNJ Member Blog Feed, Breakfast Club NJ, career coaching, career opportunities, career opportunity, career roadmap, confidence, Days Hotel Conference Center, digital, digital technologies, image, image training, Interview, interview prep, it professional, Janet cargill, job search, look good, Personal effectiveness, personal image, personal style, project confidence, project success, successdul career, wardrobe consultant, women

Bring Your Own Device

Posted on October 1, 2015 by

Adam Kovitz

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is an increasing trend toward employee-owned devices within the workplace. Smartphones are the most common example. However, employees may also take their own tablets, laptops and USB drives for use in the workplace.

BYOD encourages company employees to work on the device they choose, accessing corporate email and applications via their own technology. The driving force behind BYOD is an IT self-sufficiency among company employees who already own and use personal technology. These devices are often newer and more advanced than the equipment deployed by many IT departments. Some key advantages to operating a BYOD strategy:

Increased employee satisfaction – Employees can work more comfortably and flexibly on equipment they know well.
Cost savings – Reduced corporate hardware spend, software licensing and device maintenance.
Better work-life balance – Employees who need to work from home already have the technology they need.
Productivity gains – Employees are happier, more comfortable and often work faster with their own technology.

While BYOD promises many benefits, it also increases pressure on the IT infrastructure to manage and secure devices and data:

Company-issued IT typically comes with an acceptable use policy, and it is protected by company-issued security that is managed and updated by the IT department. It can be trickier telling an employee what is, or is not, an acceptable use of their own equipment.

Businesses that fall under compliance mandates (e.g. PCI DSS, HIPAA, or FDA) have certain requirements related to information security and safeguarding specific data. Those rules must be followed even if the data is on a laptop owned by an employee.

In the event that a worker leaves the company, segregating and retrieving company data can be a challenge. Obviously, the company will want to keep its data while the employee wants to keep his/her data out of the company.

What You Can Do

Make sure you have a clearly defined policy for BYOD that outlines the rules of use, ownership of data, and states up front what the expectations are. Lay out minimum security and virus protection requirements, or even mandate company-sanctioned security tools as a condition for allowing personal devices to connect to company data and network resources. Include this in your Employee Handbook, and get the policy agreement of all new hires.

Investigate deploying virtual desktop infrastructure, such as VMWare, Citrix and Remote Desktop. This is using the organization’s server hardware to run desktop operating systems and application software, as well as controlling access to file-stored data, inside a virtual machine. Users access these virtual desktops using their existing PCs. All corporate security is managed on the virtual server.

I encourage you to leave a comment by clicking on “…comments” below…
David Schuchman

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Bad Interview—Everybody Loses

Posted on September 26, 2015 by

Adam Kovitz

During a recent presentation to a job search networking group, I told the audience that 5 out of 10 interviewers do a bad job; 3 do an acceptable job; and the remaining 2 do a very good job. The audience agreed with me, even though many in attendance were in leadership positions themselves and had […]

The post Bad Interview—Everybody Loses appeared first on Landing Expert Career Coaching.

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How does a PM get resources for the project?

Posted on September 20, 2015 by

Adam Kovitz

I know a certain Project Manager (PM) who we’ll refer to as “Bob.”

Bob meets with his manager and is told that he has a big new project that has to be staffed. When it comes to staffing a project, there may be three scenarios:

1.) resources are given

2.) resources have to be requested

3.) resources that will fit into his project team

In each scenario, Bob has to review the project and find the right fit for the positions on the project. And, let’s not forget the “fit” on the project. Is the resource the right fit for this project, or in other words, will the resource work with the other resources?

Let’s take a look at how each scenario plays out.

The resources are given to Bob

Bob is given two resources for this project: a business analyst (BA) and a software engineer (SE). Bob suggests that he needs time to review the statement of work (SOW) for analysis. Bob’s manager gives him an hour because an introductory call with the client project sponsor along with the client user will take place in about 90 minutes.

Immediately, Bob clears his calendar for the next 60 minutes. He studies the SOW closely and the specific tasks for this project. Bob has worked with the two resources before and Bob likes the choices. But Bob also sees a need for developer for a specific delivery, and neither has the skills for this specific delivery. So Bob’s first task before the call is to request another resource from his manager, stating the facts supporting the need for this resource. Seeing that need, the manager agrees, but states that this resource is not needed right away and can be assigned in a couple of weeks. Bob agrees and states that he will follow up with the manager in two weeks, because he has a specific resource in mind for this task.

The introductory call goes well and the project kickoff is set.

Bob has to request resources

Bob is told by his manager that he is responsible for reviewing the SOW and requesting the specific resources he wants on his project team. In addition, a client introductory call will be conducted tomorrow and all, if not most, of the resource requests must be made by then.

Bob cancels meetings that are not critical and begins studying the SOW. He knows he needs a BA and a SE, but he also sees a need for the delivery of a specific task in the middle of the project. Bob meets with the BA and SE team leads and requests specific resources for the BA and SE roles. Along with the SE role, Bob requests a specific developer that reports directly to the SE for the specific task scheduled for mid-project delivery. This is tricky because the SE lead has a need for that same resource during that timeframe for another project that has already started. Bob now has to negotiate with the other PM to see if the task that developer is needed on for the other project is a critical path item. Bob finds that it is not a critical path delivery and can be delayed for 3 weeks. Bob needs this developer for only 2 weeks and they strike a deal. Bob and the other PM must keep each other informed about the progress of the project and Bob must make this a risk on the risk and issue list.

Bob speaks to his manager before the introductory client call and shares his progress. They have the call and Bob mentions that there should be a kickoff scheduled as well as an identified risk before the project begins. Bob will take all steps to mitigate this risk and the introductory call goes well.

Resources that will fit into his project team

Bob is given three resources for the project and must have a team meeting immediately as an introductory call is scheduled for tomorrow. Bob reviews the SOW and the resources for the project (a BA, an SE, and a developer) and sees that all the resources have the necessary abilities to complete their tasks. Bob also notes that two of the resources don’t get along very well. Before he schedules a team meeting, Bob schedules time to meet individually with the resources that have an issue with each other. He states the same thing to both of them: he understands that they had issues in the past, but they are professionals and they have to put those issues aside for this project. Bob also mentions that he will have individual meetings with each of the three resources along with the project team meeting prior to the client status meetings. Bob knows that this is additional time and must make an adjustment to the time allotted to the project for this. Bob mentions this to his manager, who does not take this very well. Bob explains that this is necessary to avoid trouble on this project. Bob agrees to update the manager on the status of the project, as well as the status of the resources.

Conclusion

So as you can see, each situation has a specific need that Bob must address. PMs must be able to address each scenario for their sanity and ensure that these risks are documented and addressed.

I am open to discussion at any time on these blogs or anything else related to project management you would like to explore. If you would like to comment about this blog, please do so by posting on this blog or by responding in an email at Benny A. Recine. You may inspire a blog article. I look forward to your comments.

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Proper Netiquette for Business

Posted on September 16, 2015 by

Adam Kovitz

“Netiquette” is network etiquette: The do’s and don’ts of online communication. While Netiquette covers both formal (professional) and the informal rules for communicating on line, we’ll focus on the formal communication rules in this post.

Writing can be divided into many different categories. One of the main divides is between informal online and formal writing:

Informal online writing is seen in text messages (texting) and also in personal emails. For many people, personal emailing is being replaced by texting. In order to more quickly type what they are trying to say, many people use abbreviations and acronyms instead of words. The language created by these abbreviations is called “text speak”.

Formal writing includes business writing, formal letters, and academic writing.

The vehicle for writing (text, email, paper) is not the distinction between informal and formal writing. The style of writing is.

Some people believe that using text speak is hindering the writing abilities of students, and the communication effectiveness of professionals. While this is a debate issue, the first thing to understand is that informal writing is not “wrong”, nor is formal writing “right”. Each is appropriate for certain circumstances. As an analogy, while it’s perfectly acceptable to go out in jeans and a t-shirt, that may not be the best choice of what to wear when working in the office or going on a job interview.

When deciding whether your message should be written formally, consider who will be reading it and why. If your audience is just your friends and the purpose of your message is to let them know about where you will meet later in the day, you probably don’t need to use the rules of formal writing. However, if you are presenting a proposal to your boss, writing a cover letter for job application, or writing a research paper for a teacher, the formal rules of writing typically apply.

Some Basic Rules of Formal Writing

Use a sophisticated vocabulary with terms that are accepted in the topic’s field.
Keep a serious tone with literal meanings.
Organize the writing into paragraphs that fit together.
Avoid contractions (i.e. can’t, don’t, etc.).
Use standard spelling. No text speak or chat acronyms, such as “CUL8R” or “LOL”.
Use proper grammar and standard punctuations.

For more information about Netiquette and formal writing, here are some great resources:

“The Elements of Style“, William Strunk & E.B. White: First published in 1959 and updated many times since, this is one of the most influential books on writing style.

“Netiquette IQ: A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email“, Paul Babicki. Paul Babicki is an email grammar, tone and content software subject matter expert, and developed an email IQ rating system called Netiquette IQ.

I encourage you to leave a comment by clicking on “…comments” below…

David Schuchman

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Monthly Meeting

Posted on September 13, 2015 by

Adrienne Roman

The Breakfast Club NJ Presents : “How to Better Communicate for Success” presented by Paul Hatrak, CPA, CGMA, Certified Business Coach