TEAM Zarate Tarrani Notes From the Field

Are you in a time warp? Have you visited this weblog or its sister, Postcards from the Revolution, discovered no new entries, then returned the next day to find entries that were date/time stamped as being posted during your earlier visit? You are not going crazy. We post our material, but don't publish it until one of the other team members has peer-reviewed it. In that respect we practice the same quality procedures that we preach. Invariably something will slip through, but it usually gets corrected by Kate Hartshorn who is one of the sharpest technical editors I know. As a team we all have come to depend on Kate's meticulous command of English and grammar, and I have grown to depend on her for much more. I'll leave that topic for another time.

Risky Business. I recently discovered a site that you'll want to bookmark: Risk Audit Benchmarks, which is like having an online list of common business risks a mouse click away. There are no long-winded dissertations, just a list of common risks for a number of business areas. Although it's little more than a memory jogger, it's a comprehensive one, as evidenced by the listing of list of internet based applications risks.

My Previous Entry. On the topic of risks above, and the software defect and project management discussions in my last entry, the paper titled Avoiding Premature Delivery of Software serves as a keystone for many of the topics I've introduced. Another paper that augments my last entry is Screening Contracts for Product and Process Development. There is a contradiction between the approach I advocate (the buyer is responsible for requirements) and the views of the authors that claim the seller is responsible. However, that does not diminish the value of the paper because the underlying message is to carefully examine your supplier's processes.

Security is Everybody's Responsibility. It is also an important consideration in any IT contactual arrangement. Security for IT Contracts is a paper that should be read and heeded by buyers and sellers alike.

Neat Packages. I'm going to wrap this up with two documents that support the ones in this entry and in my preceding entry: A single-page MS Word document that summarizes Deming's 14 points (think of it as either an inspiration or an extension of your conscience), and an IT Security Evaluation Manual (this 261-page MS Word document may save you days of effort and shave off a significant fee to consultants if you tailor it to your organization and employ it).

Good morning from Tustin, California.