Confessions of an IT Manager_Phil Factor

iv
Clinging to the Flotsam. A Survivor's Tale ........................................97
Section III: Software Projects: the Good, the Bad and the
Pitiful............................................................................................100
Secrets of successful IT projects......................................................101
Confessions of an IT Strategist ........................................................109
The Technically Minded Subclass and the Fog of
Misperception .................................................................................. 113
The Data Dialog............................................................................... 117
The Joy of NAD...............................................................................121
Smoke and Mirrors ..........................................................................127
The Acronym Playpen .....................................................................131
The Writing on the Wall...................................................................135
The Ghost in the Machine................................................................139
The Sticking Page-Down-Key Incident...........................................145
The Escape from Developer Hell.....................................................149
The Time Bomb ...............................................................................153
On the Trail with the Cowboy Coders .............................................159
When the Fever is Over, and one's Work is done ............................163
Section IV: Hiring, Firing and other acts of Villainy...................174
Bogus resumes and unblushing lies: navigating the database
hiring waters ....................................................................................175
IT Agencies and the Devil ...............................................................181
The Stepford Geeks .........................................................................187
The Terror of Technical Tests ..........................................................191
The Interview with the Psychometric Test.......................................193
Brown Shoes Don't Make It.............................................................195
Technical Interviews and Tests Have Got to Stop! ..........................199
Two stops short of Dagenham .........................................................203
The March of Time ..........................................................................207
Fired With Enthusiasm ....................................................................209
The Whipping Boy...........................................................................213
Hens that Crow ................................................................................219