Declan Chellar

Why do some customers put a proof of concept into production? In part, I suspect it has to do with wanting to spend as little as possible and still end up with something that earns them revenue. But I think it is mostly because customers fail to grasp what proof of concept really means. It [...]

Here is a fabulous animation from RSA Animate, illustrating a talk by author Barbara Ehrenreich on how positive thinking can be delusional and harmful. She basically says what I said in “Reality check“, but with more eloquence and concrete examples. I dislike her already. Applause to the cartoonist also. Thanks to my friend Rowan Manahan [...]

Every project needs the perspective of Demetri Martin. Jokes.com Demetri Martin – Findings comedians.comedycentral.com Futurama New Episodes Funny Demon Zombie TV Show Funny TV Comedy Blog

Which of the following two profiles do you think matches what a leader should be and which matches what leaders generally are in reality? Profile A Profile B Is likely to be male. Has a “Can do” attitude, to the extent that he never challenges the status quo. Makes promises based on aspirations and expects [...]

Hands up anyone who has been invited to a meeting, spent an hour or more listening to someone drone on (or worse, sat through Death by Powerpoint), only to wonder why you had been invited in the first place. Oh, look! All of you. MS Outlook allows you to indicate whether each attendee is required [...]

A visitor to my blog commented on the post “No favourites” saying that her solution to the problem of being asked multiple security questions (none of which might apply) is to use a single word as the answer to all such questions. So no matter whether they ask what your favourite movie is, or what [...]

To the people who think up security questions for web sites: I do not have a favourite actor / musician / artist. If I pick one just for the sake of it, I will not remember my choice when I have to answer the security question. I did not have a favourite place to visit [...]

When you join a project as a business analyst, I think it’s useful to note the extent to which people in the customer’s organisation copy others unnecessarily on e-mails. I am sure many of you, if not most, have been on projects where everyone gets copied on everything. What does that suggest? To me, it [...]

Further to yesterday’s post about data loss, it turns out (according to the Mail Online) that the data was stored not on CDs which went missing, but on hard drives which were stolen from a cupboard in a supposedly secure area. A logging system would not have prevented that, of course, but adherence to a [...]

I have just read on the BBC news website that another UK state body has lost media containing sensitive data. In this case it is the Royal Air Force. I don’t understand this. In all the cases of data loss in the public sector that have hit the news in recent years, not one (to [...]