CAPEX, OPEX and Cloud?

Here is a really good overview of CAPEX and OPEX as well as how it impacts Cloud Computing initiatives:

http://itprojectfinancials.com/insights/2011/06/05/capitalizing-software-development-costs-from-sdcl-to-agile/

I think we all find the CAPEX/OPEX financial issues to be troubling on multiple levels.  Thanks to Matthew Dube for letting me know about this.

Training is the kiss of death

I was listening to Jason Kalenkanis and Leo Laporte on the podcast "This Week in Tech - Grand Theft Yahoo" which triggered this posting.

Designing your application or service to require training is the easiest way to kill it. <Sarcasm ON>The other idea I love to see is coming up with a new design that is functionally different from the way everyone else is doing it <Sarcasm OFF>. Running with the herd doesn't show off your mad design skills, but it does help people just get the job done.

Microsourcing

Microsourcing - taking a task your group currently performs and finding a vendor or company to provide that service. It can be rather small, but the purpose is to free up your internal staff to focus on high-value internal tasks and projects. Outsourcing is a term that immediately polarizes everyone. You are either losing your job over it or someone is keeping their job by sacrificing your job. The decision to outsource basically comes down to what has to be done internally by a company versus by satellite or vendor companies. I actually think long term outsourcing is going to be really good for the world. Until the market forces around it stabilize, it is going to be quite difficult surviving the process.