December 10, 2003
I'll have to collect my thoughts later, but a quick few notes on the Government IT Symposium. I kinda hate to unceremoniously dump these notes here without taking the time to think things through, but some things didn't make it into my written notes, so they end up here.
- The project management sessions were largely worthwhile. One in particular, on dealing with the people part of a project, was especially insightful and one I'll write about later.
- During a spirited discussion at lunch, someone said they were trying to enforce use of only Internet Explorer at their agency because it was "the most secure." I have to track this guy down to find out just what the hell he's smoking. :) He said something about how IE doesn't "punch through your firewall" like Netscape. Seriously, I'm going to find him to figure out what he means. That particular discussion was cut short because someone was afraid of a holy war in an otherwise civil conversation (a justifiable but unnecessary fear).
- One of the best lines of the day: "Outsourcing is good. Consultants are bad." Yep, that's the attitude out there.
- Another good line, but not tongue-in-cheek: "Business requirements should be kept separate from technical requirements."
- Everything I heard today about best practices in project management flies squarely in the face of how a certain project that I have not yet ranted about here has been mismanaged from day one. Just like I and many of my colleagues been saying all along, but apparently to the wrong people.
- Project management is not about managing, it's about leading.
- Even though it was never brought up today, I am even more convinced that agile methodologies like Extreme Programming are to be given serious consideration. I will definitely get back to that point someday soon.
- The wireless network was slow, and I was one of the few people there with a laptop. It didn't turn out to be as useful as it has at other conferences, so it stays home tomorrow.
Okay, now off to sleep. More sessions tomorrow.
