Bursting the CMM hype - Many executives insist on doing business with offshore software companies that have a high CMM rating.  The expectation is that a company with a CMM level of 4 or 5 will do a better job and be more reliable than a company with a lower rating.  But a rating of "5" really only means that a company has a continually improving process.  According to CIO magazine: "Buying by the CMM number alone could mire CIOs in the same problems that caused them to look offshore in the first place: high costs, poor quality and shattered project timetables - not to mention the loss of thousands of U.S. IT jobs."     

New University of Michigan Executive Program - Starts this spring for mid-level and senior project leaders at the University of Michigan. At Menlo, we understand the need for innovation.  That's why we're thrilled to participate in this new program. The course focuses on the role of leaders in fostering innovation and provides a toolbox of innovation methods that you can start using immediately. The program is titled "Leading Innovation: Putting Creativity to Work Where You Work" and runs May 10-12, 2004. It will be jointly taught by Jeff DeGraff, Clinical Professor of Management of Education, Matthias Martin, Corporate Creativity Consultant, and Richard Sheridan, President of Menlo Innovations. Reserve your place now.  Find out more here. 

Creativity in War - We all know how the private sector can foster creativity. We point to Thomas Edison's invention factory and Bell Labs as examples   But what about the US Government?  DARPA is where it's at now.  Got a wacky idea?  Well, DARPA might just be interested.  There's just one catch. Understand that DARPA fosters creativity that is limited to lethal technologies.

Death to the Blue Screen of Death - We at Menlo rely on our High-Tech Anthropologists to ensure that our software is intuituve for our customers to use.  When we write error messages, we would like to think that someone would be able to understand them. I think we would all agree that one of the most ridiculous error messages that we have ever seen is the feared "blue screen of death."  You know, that gibberish that appears on a blue background when something goes horribly wrong with MS Windows.  Did you know that all of those hexadecimal characters actually mean something?  In fact, we found one brave soul who actually gives you tips on how to decode it!  As you read this article, consider how utterly ridiculous and unfair it is to force users through such hoops, just to find out what's wrong with their computer.

Big Brother is Watching! - Yes, he really is. Don't believe it? Type in the address of your home, place of work or any other address in the U.S. and see a satellite photo of it. 

Why your Gadget Won't Crash the Plane - Anyone who's flown on a plane knows that your not supposed to use your PDAs or Notebooks on the plane at certain times.  If you do, the fight attendant will confiscate them. What's the big fear? "Electromagnetic radiation emitted by all electronics messes with navigation equipment, interfering with compasses, radio beacons, and more."  But does it really?

Adapting Projects to an Accelerated Society - is a new white paper by Richard Sheridan that describes that if you want to build killer software applications then you must build an agile software team. Period. No debate. No excuses. It is that important. Don’t delay, request your free copy at the bottom of this webpage.

Spring is Here! - It's a good time to join us for Menlo Innovations' new "Taste of Success." Focused on High-Tech Anthropology®, the goal of this 90 minute session is to help folks understand how to create great software. The next session will be hosted on Thursday, April 22 at Menlo Innovations in Ann Arbor.

The Outsourcing Bogeyman - Should Americans, especially those of us in the IT, world fear outsourcing?  "Not particularly" says Foreign Affairs writer Dan Drezner.  What we should really be fearing though is the political backlash to outsourcing.  "Scapegoating foreigners for domestic business cycles is smart politics, and protecting domestic markets gives leaders the appearance of taking direct, decisive action on the economy."

The God Particle and the Grid - It will cost three billion dollars - just to find one lousy subatomic particle.  This is the goal of the Hadrons Collider.  OK, but this sure seems like an esoteric goal and what does this have to do with IT anyway you ask? Plenty. This endeavor "will have a powerful real-world spinoff: to process all that data, scientists are building a worldwide meta-network of PCs, organized into large clusters and linked by ultra high-speed connections into a global, virtual computing service. It's called the LHC Computing Grid, and it could mark the evolution of the Internet from a pervasive communications network into a powerful, global computation network."

The Triumph of Trust - "Just outside Berlin are the remnants of an East German checkpoint: Drewitz-Dreilinden. For nearly 40 years, it was a stark barrier between East and West, separating two cultures on the constant brink of war. One culture was built on state control and fear. The other was based on freedom, private markets, and trust. "The later perfectly captures the essence of how eBay, the most successful Internet company in the world, has triumphed."

Hurry! Sign up for a Menlo Class.  - The Menlo April and May class schedule is out.  Spring is a great time to buckle down and learn how to really apply those use cases, manage those projects, and deliver systems successfully! 

Need a Speaker for an Upcoming Event? - We love public speaking (yes, we really do!) and are happy to deliver inspiring messages focused on business success with information technology. Call us at (734) 665-1847 to schedule your next event. Look here for a list of some of the topics that we’ve spoken about in the past.