When we were children, we were scared of monsters. These horrible demons would appear in our dreams, and our imagination … it was frightening! Managing software projects have often been described in terms that approach these childhood fears … scope creeps, cost overruns, or just plain lack of effective communication between software geeks and "normal folk" (not sure where I fit on this spectrum!).

Even though I may make light of this problem, this issue is very serious and costs organizations huge amounts of money. If you ever get involved with managing software projects, take some time to listen to at least one, if not both of these podcast interviews with the author of the new book: Dreaming in Code.  The byline for this book states:

"Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software"

As the book’s author, Scott Rosenberg, is actually a journalist … as much as any journalist can be described as "normal", this would describe Scott; he is not one of the "geeks"!

• Podcast #1: Dreaming in Code – Open Source Conversations
• Podcast #2: Dreaming in Code – MP3 – Posting (scroll to bottom)

What is innovation? When do we achieve it? How do we know we’ve innovated? These are not easy questions to answer. However, one the one fact that does remain, without innovation companies die. This blog forces me to constantly be doing research, and learning new ideas.  Does that represent innovation in my field of knowledge management? The answer obviously lies with how I apply the data and information I learn.  With these thoughts I now leave you with:

• Seattle Innovation Forum (sponsored by the University of Washington)
  • Forum webcasts from UWTV (free)
  • Boeing: Enterprise-wide Innovator
  • Creating New Billion Dollar IT-based Business in the 21st Century
  • e-Types: Innovation Strategy in a Design Firm
  • IT Innovation: Investments, Process, and Results
  • Organizational Dilemma of Stewards and Creators
  • What Are The Key Dimensions and Issues of Team Level Innovation?

Finally, if watching webcasts does not work well for you … go back to my posting on innovation podcasts.

I was all prepared to like Ning.  This service provides the ability to create, without charge, one’s own public or private social network. Your newly created network may include links to blogs, rss feeds, forums, photos and videos … just to name some of the more prominent features. Your members can add to most of this content.  I even created a Ning … you can view it at eContent.Ning.Com. Consider my Ning a sandbox to join and play around in.

Okay … if I like the feature set and concept, how come I give Ning a partial Ding? 

• The administrative interface needs work. It was not obvious to me at first how one could delete individual entries … important if one makes mistakes or objectionable content gets posted. I kept searching via the "Manage" menu.  I expected to find a link to each feature which would list the various entries … with the option to edit or delete. It took a visit from one of Ning’s administrators (see comments) to point me in the right place.  If one drills down to each piece of content, you ultimately get the ability to make changes.
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• The system is sllllooooowww.  Ning needs to optimize their code, or get more bandwidth.

I’ve included five annotated screen shots which take you on a quick tour of my Ning. Just click upon the thumbnails to view. If you’re interested, Ning does give you the ability to edit source code, however, personally I’ve got better things to do than learn another scripting language. 

This company is worth monitoring.  They are on to a good idea, but I’ll wait for the next release. Take some time and watch this short Ning demo from the Scoble Show. In addition, here is a link to Ning’s Blog.
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If you only explore one podcast series which I recommend this year, Pop!Tech should be that one podcast. For the last few years, Pop!Tech has been one of my favorite sources for leading edge material. Briefly stated, Pop!Tech is a thought leaders conference held annually each October in Camden, Maine. I would love to attend, but the high cost doesn’t fit my budget. Last year’s conference just became available via podcast.

This morning, while driving into work, I listened to Chris Anderson (Editor: Wired Magazine) speak to the topic: What Happens When Everything Becomes Free? Last night I watched Thomas Friedman explain why today’s energy crisis is "not your parent’s energy crunch". Note how I said "listen" and "watch". These talks are available without charge via podcast or streaming video. Finally, make certain you take in all the sessions.  Don’t only attend the topics which correspond to your own social views and morals.  This is the perfect series to expand your mind and viewpoint.

• 2006 Pop!Tech Podcasts

Prior year’s Pop!Tech Podcasts: 2005 | 2004.