Chuck's Blog

Are You An Informationist?

I saw it again this morning.  I was presenting to a customer, and it came up again.  The customer was a smart guy, worked for a great company, they had a well-run IT shop.

And there it was -- I call it The Question.

"We've got hundreds of terabytes of information -- and it's just stuff -- what do we have, what do we do with it, and why does it matter?".

Once again, I saw a technologist edging towards becoming an informationist.

Enterprise Architecture As Strategy

I spend more than a little amount of time on airplanes, as do many of us.  I've learned to travel without liquids or gels, and have come to appreciate the special joys of that center seat at the back of the plane that doesn't recline, right next to the lavatories.

Some people listen to music, others pretend to work.  Me, I like to read.  I can plow through 1 or 2 good-sized books on a business trip.  And I came across a great book that really did something for me, and maybe it'll do the same for you.

Oracle Open World

I'm not a fan of large industry trade shows.  Maybe it's my attention deficit disorder, but after a few hours, I'm usually bushed and looking for something else to do.  And there's only so much SWAG and mindless pitches you can listen to before you start going bonkers.

The most recent Oracle Open World is a good counterexample.  The Oracle people have built this event into a premier inidustry happening, and less of a vendor shindig.  I thought I'd add a couple of thoughts to the general mix.