By Paul Hyman

All Things Distributed
allthingsdistributed.com
By Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon.com
In Vogels' personal blog—which he insists does not reflect the opinions of his employer—the CTO of Amazon discusses the challenges of building distributed systems that are both scalable and robust. While you may occasionally need to wade through Vogels' thoughts on whatever video game he is currently immersed in, you'll eventually find intriguing observations about the organizational structure at Amazon.com. Other topics include open source, Amazon's fulfillment network and technology transfer.

Excerpt:
"To ensure that a service meets the needs of the customer (and not more than that), we use a process called 'Working Backwards,' in which you start with your customer and work your way backwards until you get to the minimum set of technology requirements that satisfy what you try to achieve. The goal is to drive simplicity through a continuous, explicit customer focus. The product definition process works backwards in the following way: We start by writing the documents we'll need at launch (the press release and the FAQ) and then work towards documents that are closer to the implementation. The Working Backwards product definition process is all about fleshing out the concept and achieving clarity of thought about what we will ultimately go off and build."

The Candid CIO
theweiders.com/candidcio
By Will Weider, CIO of Ministry Health Care and Affinity Health System, Menasha, Wisc.
Will Weider posts once every two or three weeks, sharing what he's learned through what he calls "my mistakes and other crazy things in the life of a healthcare CIO." A veritable Jerry Seinfeld of IT, Weider picks through the minutiae of his experiences and comments on them, turning them into life lessons. For example, Weider recently discovered that inserting an electronic sensor into his running shoes provides real-time feedback that, in turn, has inspired him to get more exercise. This is an example, he writes, of how accurate, timely and meaningful information can lead to behavioral change.

Excerpt:
"I have seen a lot of project heartache that could have been avoided with better testing. However, testing is an art form, and very few organizations do it well. Most people believe the intent of testing is to make sure the system behaves as expected. But that is the easy part.

Most project plans that I see need to triple the amount of testing that they plan. The development of a comprehensive test plan is a key component of any IT project. I feel so strongly about testing [that]we have created a new position in our organization for a testing guru.

This person will be the consultant to the various projects, helping the project teams to develop effective test plans. This person will also develop our internal methodologies which we will improve over time."

High-Performance Workplace
hpw.blog.gartner.com/blog/
By members of Gartner's research staff, including Tom Austin, group VP; Jeffrey Mann, research VP; and Simon Hayward, VP.
The blog's multiple-author approach brings a diversity of perspectives that cuts across a wide swath of technologies. The posts touch on various ways CIOs can boost employee performance and productivity. A good deal of time consuming research obviously goes into these thought-provoking commentaries. One author, for example, recently conducted a poll to determine the level of concern about privacy issues.

Excerpt:
"Security, privacy, encryption, authentication and protection from malware—including, but not limited to, keystroke capture software—are all high on the list of issues users should think about, whether they're using corporate provided technology for corporate purposes or personal technology for personal purposes. When it comes to security, most users are as much at risk from losing their 'stuff' (be it personal or corporate) as they are from the other Malthusian-like threats modern computer users face. Do you provide simple guidelines for your users on how they can protect their personal IT health on non-corporate systems and for non corporate information? If so, do you create the content or turn to various Web sites for reasonable guidance? If the latter, then what sites do you frequently search for material for your users' general use, not limited to corporate issues?"

IT@Intel
blogs.intel.com/it
By various IT leaders at Intel, most frequently Nathan Zeldes, a principal engineer in the IT group; Marty Menard, director of platform capability; Eleanor Wynn, a member of the company's IT research council; and Jeff Moriarty, a program manager in Intel's Enterprise Collaboration & Engineer Group.
At first blush, this might appear to be an engineering blog, but wait! This isn't about circuits, but is instead an inside peek into the perspectives of Intel's IT honchos. Roughly once a week, one of these IT executives posts an entry and invites discussion. Sometimes, as many as two dozen readers will fire back with their own thoughts. It makes for a lively chat session. Recent topics have included distractions and interruptions that can damage productivity, new development methodology, problems surrounding data center capacity planning and management, and developing a common language of business value.

Excerpt:
"'You can't measure that!' I hear this all the time from IT managers. Most of the time, I hear it when people just don't want to put in the effort to determine the ROI [return on investment] of an IT solution. If I had a fraction of the ROI I've quantified after being told it was too hard to measure, I'd be sitting on a beach in Barbados drinking beer for the rest of my life. Everything is measurable; it is more a question of the reliability and validity of what you decide to measure."

Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms
mikeschaffner.typepad.com/michael_schaffner
By Michael Schaffner, former director of IT and CIO of Dresser-Rand, a supplier of compressors and turbines based in Houston, Texas.
Schaffner is in transition, seeking a senior IT/CIO slot in a manufacturing or process industry company. That gives him plenty of time to keep his blog—subtitled "Mike Schaffner on creating real value through information technology"—up to date. Every day (sometimes twice a day) he shares his thoughts on topics as diverse as the challenges of security and data integrity to IT.

Excerpt:
"The Antikythera Mechanism...created more than 2,000 years ago…was the first known analog computer. Although it wasn't found completely intact, the main fragment has at least 30 gear-wheels...and was designed to compute and display the movement of the sun, the moon and perhaps even the known planets around Earth, and it predicted the dates of future eclipses. I find it utterly amazing and fascinating that they were able to accomplish so much, given the knowledge and tools of the time....As we often react to the everyday pressure to get things done, it might be worthwhile to contemplate what we can accomplish using computers if we go about it correctly. Four thousand years from now, if archeologists should find the remains of your PC, what would they conclude you were using it for?"

CIO Mind
ciomind.biz
By Felix Enescu, the Romania-based CIO of Rompetrol, a multinational oil company with headquarters in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
While Romania may not be the global center of all things IT, Enescu is an expert in building, leading and motivating teams of up to 120 productive employees. What's more, he turns out one very good, very smart blog that addresses issues of high importance to CIOs. Recent posts have dealt with staff turnover, communicating with the CEO, open source and strategic planning.

Excerpt:
"How many times, when we think about stress, do we think only about negative events? How many times, when we think about resistance to changes, do we think only about bad changes? But how about helping a co-worker who just married to cope with stress? This a case of stress caused by a good event, but still a strong stress. How about helping someone to cope with stress induced by a promotion? Usually, we tend to ignore these kinds of events; after all, they are good events. Try this: Next time when one co-worker passes a major event (especially a good one), apply all that you have learned about coping with stress and change management. You may be amazed by the results. "

Paul Hyman is a freelance writer and former editor in chief of Electronic Buyers News and GamePower.