FreshTECH

Basecamp

Website: www.basecamphq.com

Basecamp is new web based project management tool for multiple small projects. Created using Ruby On rails, basecamp has grown to over 500,000 users in just a few years.

This is a great tool for any small business that manages several projects. Lawyers, Students, design teams and development shops find that Basecamp gives you simple todo’s, task lists, messaging capabilities, scheduling, file sharing and time tracking at a very reasonable price.

DEVshop

Website: www.devshop.com

Designed specifically for managing software development projects, DevShop is a web based tool that starts with requirements gathering and takes you through project scheduling and project analysis. Its designed to be cross browser compliant so that it works on any machine with any browser.

This tool is probably considered to be part of the Web 2.0 generation of web apps for its very sleek user interface. DevShop is what you would call and ASP, meaing they provide the hosting and management of the entire application so you can focus on building your software product and not on managing servers and hardware.

The system allows all of the stakeholders to participate in the lifecycle of the project. The CEO can login and see what’s going on just as easily as the developers and analysts and inturn closing the communication gap.

DevShop is still in its beta stages of development but will soon become a leader in project management software.

Dotproject

Website: www.dotproject.net

Developed in PHP, Dotproject is a free opensource project management tool that you can download and setup on your own servers for free. The system is simple to use and is full of useful features including, User Management, Email based trouble Ticket System, Client/Company Management, Project listings, Task List, File Repository, Contact List, Calendar, and Forum.

Dot Project is good for small IT departments with small bugdets. The ticketing system is very useful for users to report problems to the network administrator and then helps the administrator mange the variety of tasks to be completed.

Teamplay

Website: www.primavera.com

Teamplay is what the big enterprise companies use to manage the Project Management Office. When your teams start to include 50 to 100 people or more, its time to use an enterprise level product.

Teamplay by Primavera is the premier project management tool for organizations that manage many complex projects. Teamplay helps you manage your IT department like its own business by aligning the business strategy with resources available in the most efficient way. For a full set of features visit their web site.

I’m in the process of researching a few more tools to add to the list. If you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment and I’ll add it.

The term Web 2.0 hit the market in 2005 and for some reason it has created a new buzz that has many people stoping to take a look. The question still comes up every day so I figured I would post some resources to help clear things up.

Here is a collection of several articles from various sources that explain what the whole buzz is about.

O’Reilly — What Is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 on Wikipedia

Web 2.0 - Paul Graham

Wired News: Are You Ready for Web 2.0?

What’s Web 2.0? by whatisweb2.0.com

Emptybottle.org - The Web 2.0 Bullshit Generator

Introduction to Web 2.0 on Squidoo

Web 2.0 Explorer on ZDNet.com

Digital Web Magazine - Web 2.0 for Designers

O’Reilly Radar > Web 2.0: Compact Definition?

The Business Anslysts role is most often someone who can use their rich knowledge of the business end of things to develop systems and applications that actually work well for the business. They analyze the needs of the business, users and stakeholders and convert that information into technical specifications for the development of a system.

Business Analysts are one of the top three most important roles in an IT department today. They provide an unbiased look at business challenges, they are an injection of energy to company teams and help provide new solutions to old problems.

CIO Magazine wrote an article titled “The New IT Department” where they highlight the top three positions that IT departments need today.

They highlight Project Managers, Relationship Managers and Business Analysts.

Project Managers are on the top of the list for their abilities to manage people, information and tasks in a timely manner.

Relationship Managers also called Account Managers, work in both the IT department as well as on the business side. They tend to work with both teams to find technological solutions to the greater business challenges.

Business Analyst are similar in skillset to relationship managers but play more the role of translator between business process owners and the development teams. Business Analysts tend to focus on specific projects. Tradtionally they were stronger business professionals then technical experts, yet the new breed of Analysts need to have a more balanced knowledge of new technologies and how to apply them to the business. The business analyst should always be educating themeselves on new technologies that could become possible solutions to the defined business problems.

Another growing need amoung business analysts is being biligual. Analysts with a grasp of a second language tend to be better communicators.

The basic role of the business analyst involves the following tasks.

• Interview stakeholders
• Define the project’s scope
• Gather and document requirements
• Communicate the requirements to IT
• Identify the solution
• Manage change request
• Verify that the business requirements have been met

These basic tasks are the foundation of what business analysts do on a daily basis. Each one varies in complexity depending on the scope of the project.

To learn more about business analysts and the role they play in todays successful IT Departments visit the International Institute of Business Analyst.

FireFTP is the latest addition to my Firefox extensions collection. FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client which provides easy and intuitive access to your web servers. Simply install the extension and your ready to transfer files in a matter of seconds. You can open the FTP client in one of your tabs to make it easy to switch between what your building and what your editing on the server. Why pay for an FTP client if you don’t need to.

Here is just a sample of news articles of the problems with Internet Explorer and all the so called fixes.
Hackers target home users for cash (25 September 2006)
Smut sites use IE exploit to spread spyware (21 September 2006)
Warnings grow over unpatched IE flaw(18 September 2006)
Patch Tuesday omits critical Word fix(14 September 2006)
Microsoft flaw fix opens users to attack (24 August 2006)
ActiveX security faces storm before calm (2 August 2006)
MS announces plans to deliver IE7 as security update (27 July 2006)
Patches released for zero-day IE threat (29 March 2006)
Zero-day WMF flaw underscores patch problems(13 January 2006)
World+dog scrambles to fight Windows flaw (3 January 2006)

There is one very easy fix for all of these problems. It’s called Firefox!