Blogs

Ramblings of a c# developer

John Powell is an experienced Windows software developer having built business applications in a number of sectors over 18 years. John's current focus is on managing software developers at a strategic and tactical level and providing architectural input at the organisation level.

That's funny

I had to chuckle today, I was searching for a link someone told me existed for TaskClerk and stumbled across a whole lot of sites stating they had cracked TaskClerk. What! I exclaimed - its free you wallies what are you trying to crack?My guidance to would be users is -> Download it from an official site, its quicker and very free!... (more)

TaskClerk Version 107

Version 107 of TaskClerk has shipped. This version contains some bug fixes and was compiled under Visual studio 2008 - The framework has not been upgraded but work has started on the WPF version and some enterprise features, thanks to the efforts of my friends.Download at http://www.taskclerk.com/downloads.ashxHave a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!Enjoy!... (more)

Version 106 of TaskClerk

A new version of TaskClerk has been shipped. This version contains an updated printing dialog and some improved UI usability features.Enjoy!... (more)

compilewith.net

Paul Jackson has held various development roles over the last 15 years ranging from Software Engineer to Technical Architect. He has extensive development experience using many languages and methodologies. Paul is an excellent communicator, standard setter and best practices expert in all aspects of design, development and software quality assurance.

Microsoft Surface Developer Training Released

Mid-way through last year, I started the design work for developing nine modules of Microsoft Surface training, teaching developers how to design and develop Microsoft Surface applications by using WPF and XNA. After much hard work from us and the Surface team at Microsoft the training has been released. I initially saw an announcement by the Surface team on Twitter, and then later in the Microsoft Surface Partner email newsletter, but Pete Brown describes it best in a really nice write up. You can get the training itself here. Enjoy! ... (more)

GL.NET WPF Talk – Part II

A big thank you to everyone who came along to my talk at the GL.NET User Group last month; I had a blast talking to you all and I hope you all enjoyed the talk as much as I did. I promised the code for the Image Search application to anyone who was interested—which I am very happy to do—however, I am not going to post the code publicly just yet. I intend to write a little bit about some of the specific elements within the application, such as the Aero Glass Behaviour and the Windows 7 integration features,... (more)

GL.NET WPF Talk

For those of you who attended my WPF talk last night at the GL.NET User Group meeting, thank you for coming and listening; here are the book references I promised: 1. Essential WPF by Chris Anderson Chris was one of the Architects on WPF and therefore... (more)

Techn@gerial

Matt Jones has over 15 years industry experience, focusing on development management in telco, defence and internet markets. He is a proven and successful manager of delivery teams and has expert knowledge of software development, project management and product development lifecycles. He has in depth knowledge of outsourced resourcing models and extensive line and organisational management experience.

Never Mind The Calibre…

On occasion, usually during times of corporate stress or when high levels of change are occurring, the “calibre” of people can be drawn into question. “Calibre” is one of those deeply meaningful management metaphors that hides its completely subjective nature and is often regarded as a binary switch or a gauge. In the [...]... (more)

Morale Decline

Morale is the de facto measure of corporate contentment it would seem, often featuring in weekly meetings as an agenda item and cited in “Company of The Year” awards as a key indicator. But what is morale and is there anything you can do to keep it high and buoyant? I have an unusually “glass half [...]... (more)

The Curious Case of The Porcelain Plan

Various posts on this blog have discussed the vagaries of planning for software development projects. This post goes a little further than that and will explain what can happen when you get good at delivery and confidence grows in your ability to deliver. This may not be easy to read if you are currently delivering [...]... (more)