Category — Management

Windows 7 is the newest Operating System (OS) from Microsoft.  It is currently in the beta stage of production, but will soon be in the release candidate stage.  While the new OS isn’t expected until late 2009, early 2010 Microsoft is going to need to do a number of things in order to make this OS a success.

Microsoft screwed up the launch of Vista so bad that even still, most computer users have a negative perception of Vista even if they have never used it.  Microsoft needs to give Windows 7 away for free or it could face a large decline in the number of users who use Microsoft products.

Here are 5 reasons why I feel that Microsoft should give Windows 7 away for free:

1. Windows Vista was a mess
   Microsoft really messed up with the launch of Vista. The prices were too high, there were too many versions, Device Drivers weren’t there (technically not their fault), and hardware support for the OS was abysmal. Because of this people didn’t like Vista and in turn, didn’t switch over to Vista. If Windows 7 were free more people would switch, even if they’re just trying it out.
2. Linux has become much more user friendly
   With Ubuntu and Fedora (and many other distributions) becoming increasingly user friendly, the Windows operating system has a lot more competition than the days of 95, 98 and XP. If Windows wants to compete against free operating systems, they need to offer something to the end users.
3. Perception of Microsoft is extremely low
   People dislike Microsoft. They have for a really long time, but with the disgrace of Vista I think this dislike has hit a new all-time low. People are fed up with paying high prices for software and are looking for change.
4. The current economy
   With the way the current economy is going, people just can’t afford to switch to a new operating system. People are more likely to stick with XP than they are to dish out $100+ to spend on something new. If Microsoft wants Windows 7 to be adopted quickly, they are going to need to give it away.
5. Microsoft Can Afford It
   Microsoft has been leading the OS market for many, many years now and can afford to give Windows 7 away. While they would notice the loss in income, they do have other sources and would still remain profitable in the end.

There are a number of things Microsoft should do to make sure it’s adopted well by users. They should only offer 2 or 3 versions (Regular, Business, Ultimate) and the price should be $0.  Microsoft could still make money by selling Windows7 to companies like HP and Dell to put on their computers, it would just be free for consumers like us.  But this is just me talking, what are your thoughts? Should Microsoft give Windows 7 away for free? Will you switch to it?

I’m a big believer of the fact that developers need to be comfortable in order to produce at their highest potential. While this includes such things like a relaxed dress code, and an ergonomic and comfortable work space, a good work environment is what is most important.

Have Fun

Knowing that your day holds the potential to be fun makes it much easier to get up and come in to the office every day. Work is no longer a dull place to be, but a place you actually enjoy being in.

We do a lot to make sure that we can have fun at work. We have low-walled cubicles, so everyone can see everyone, which encourages communication and joking around throughout the day. For lunches and overtime breaks, when they happen, nearly everyone in the department has a Nintendo DS, and we’ll play multiplayer games for 20 minutes or half an hour.

It’s a great way to give your brain a bit of a break from your work and have fun with your co-workers.

Competitions

Hold competitions or contests that are open to anyone in the office to join. We typically run sports pool, especially during the playoffs. Charity fundraisers are big for us too. We recently held a “Toss and Rock” fundraiser. The main idea is to wear a t-shirt from your favorite band, play rock music for the day and compete in the paper airplane tossing competition.

The competition was simple, build your own airplane, and throw it into a box with a hole one foot across cut in it (we made it look like a ring that was on fire), that’s suspended 18 feet away, 10 feet off the ground. You got 2 throws for 5 bucks.

We ended up raising over $800 for a local charity that day, and everyone had a blast.

Put some thought into what would work to make your office a fun place to be. Try some of it out, it’ll help improve moral, and possible change some peoples’ attitude about work.

On his blog, Steve Rowe shares a story of an employee who claims to be done their work, but by Steve’s standards is not. Steve puts this down to a difference in opinion of the word ‘done’.
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Development is a very task oriented profession. Everything can be broken down into small requirements or tasks that need to be finished to get meet the overall goal. In some projects you might have hundreds of different steps to complete before you are done, and keeping track of these can be critical to success.
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A difficult, yet obvious, lesson to learn is that you need to know what you’re doing before you do it. Many developers just dive into a project without the proper planning or without fully understanding what it is that they need to get accomplished.

You might get a feeling of productivity because you’ve started coding, but what does it get you? What have you actually started to code? Chances are it’s not exactly what is required, and that means you’ve wasted your time. No matter how you cut it, wasting time is not productive.
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Having a good manager can make the difference between an amazing work experience and a horrible one. At work, you can tell the developers that have a good manager from the ones that don’t based purely on how well they work and how happy they are.

As a manager, making your developers happy and comfortable can increase their productivity and make a better work experience for everyone. Here are 10 tips to becoming a great manager:
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Management can be a tricky thing. Developing continuous improvement processes, input protocols, training procedures and a whole host of other things can be time consuming and difficult. And that’s when they actually work.

When it doesn’t though, you have to get at it again and try something else, taking up even more time and effort.
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This tip is something I learned watching my father growing up. He’s the Director of IT for the insurance division of one of the largest banks in North America, so I’m pretty sure he knows what he’s doing.

He was always a big advocate for spending time with his family, or at least being at home should anyone need him. To ensure that he could do this, he found a chunk of the day where he could be the most productive that wouldn’t take away from his time with anyone else.
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Problems are one of the few things we seem to never be in short supply of. Problem solvers, however, are more difficult to come by, and the reason for this is simple – most people don’t solve the real problem. They’ll come up with a short term patch and a clever spiel about how it’s the ultimate solution. Everyone then believes their hype and that’s that.

Two weeks, a month, or a year later the problem is back and twice as bad as it was before.
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After a year or two working at a company, you begin to have a good understanding of the flow of a project. You begin to understand what typically goes wrong and what doesn’t. As managers and developers, it is our jobs to optimize the flow and massage out any kinks in the process.
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