http://www.firstpartners.net/blog People, Technology, Business and Innovation Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:31:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Quick Review I would have bought the Packt JPBM workflow book even though I got a free review copy. I wish I had it when I was first learning Workflow / jBPM Long Review I like workflow, which doesn't tend to make me very popular at parties. But, since you're reading this blog, ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/business/rules/2010/02/18/book-review-jboss-business-process-management/ It's been about 18 months since I started my new job, and if you haven't already noticed the update on my LinkedIn status, it may or may not surprise you that I've been working for Enterprise Ireland. I'm pleased to announce the (soft) launch of Enterprise Ireland's third blog - BestConnected. ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/business/2010/02/08/enterprise-ireland-best-connected-blog-soft-launch/ If you're a consultant, the place to make money is just before an idea / process / technology goes mainstream. Too early and you risk been seen as a nutcase. Too late are you get lost in the chorus of 'me too'. The best method of gauging when a technology idea ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/people/2010/02/01/economist-special-report-on-social-networking/ Currently playing with Foresight, a Getting Things done plugin for Outlook. It's now free, and fixes the traditional problem with the Outlook task list of not being able to handle anything beyound the most simple of projects. Watch this blog for how it goes. http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/technology/outlook/2010/01/22/foresight-getting-things-done-for-outlook/ In a previous life, I've been lucky to work with two very good JBoss Products - JBoss jBPM (Workflow) and JBoss Drools (Rules). Just in case you missed it; slides from the IJTC conference (jBPM), Rules presentation to the jBPM conference and of course not to forget the Rules Book. ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/technology/java/2009/12/19/jboss-jbpm-book-on-its-way-from-packt-java-business-process-management-workflow/ Full notes and links below. Key Learning points User Experience. User Experience. User Experience iPhone currently the leader, revolutionized Mobile app sales, but market (and devices) evolving very quickly. Good case for usage in Enterprise (cost reduction, growing use of iPhone platform in Enterprise, New channel to customers) but be flexible, be ready ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/dublin/2009/12/02/iphone-as-an-enterprise-platform-event-dublin/ I was lucky enough to get invited to yesterday's launch of Microsoft new Data Centre. More on RTE and Microsoft's own site. Here are the important points; It's Big. It's the first data centre that Microsoft have built outside of the US. Kudos to the  Microsoft Ireland team and the IDA for their ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/dublin/2009/09/25/microsoft-data-centre-launch/ Really looking forward to Bizcamp tomorrow in the Guinness Storehouse Dublin.  5 Streams of 8 Sessions each = 40 Top speakers, not to mention the buzz of meeting 500 people in the business and technology areas. And it's free (thanks to a word from the sponsors ... ) Want to ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/dublin/2009/09/18/bizcamp-dublin-is-tomorrow-see-you-there/ This event may be of interest if you're about in Cork , Galway or Dublin on the 8th to 10th of Sept. (Disclosure - event is linked to my day job, but I would recommend it even if it were not). Enterprise Ireland in association with IT@Cork, ITAG and ISA would ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/dublin/2009/08/23/opportunities-in-the-new-software-economy-event-cork-dublin-and-galway/ The guys over at the official Drools blog beat me to the announcement, as I was waiting for it to published on Amazon, but now that it has, I'm happy to announce that after 12 months of pushing and shoving, I've finally got my first book , on Business rules ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/business/workflow/2009/04/11/my-first-book-published-business-rules-with-jboss-drools/ In case you missed it, the Bizcamp Dublin coverage on the RTE news is available here. http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/aaa/2009/03/08/bizcamp-dublin-coverage-on-rte-news/ Bizcamp is a conference (un-conference) for start-up companies and entrepreneurs. The conference will be held in Dublin, on 7 March with another event in Limerick on the 21st March. BizCamp is an opportunity for entrepreneurs and innovators to come together, share experiences, and possibly create new value out of the day. ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/dublin/2009/02/07/what-is-bizcamp-dublin-and-why-you-should-go-on-the-7th-march/ On the recent twelve pubs of Christmas event I had a discussion with the distinguished ex-president of the chamber of commerce (you know who you are – Graham!). Given this event involves 12 pubs , in one night, the following has been translated back into English. The main thread of ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/business/government/2009/01/06/irish-economy-%e2%80%93-can-us-rats-save-the-sinking-ship/ I've just tried to make a donation via the SVP website. Unfortunately the site does not work with non IE Web browsers (such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome). That means about 1/4 of the people wishing to donate are being locked out. Normally at this point I'd rant about whatever corporate ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/ireland/2008/12/03/svp-dont-want-your-money-but-what-can-i-do-to-help/ Just watching the X-Factor (long story) and it hit me - the solution for Irish Democracy (or at least getting people to vote) is to merge it with the TV Show. Even if the vote doesn't go the way of the experts, the Judges get to save one option for the next ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/ireland/2008/11/29/irish-voting-meets-the-x-factor/ 'Credit Crunch' might be the favourite buzzword of the moment, but 'Security' and 'Software as a Service' are not very far behind. Ok, they're a long way behind 'will I lose my house' or 'will I have a job tomorrow', but you get the idea. So I'm proud to associated ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/business/security/2008/10/12/security-in-your-software-as-a-service-saas-application/ What if Ireland really did get a chance to vote Obama or McCain in the forthcoming US Presidential election? While this Irish Times article suggests that we're more Memphis than Massachusetts (think about that - Dana as an Irish version of Sarah Palin), now we're going to find out what ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/us/2008/10/06/irelands-chance-to-vote-obama-or-mccain/ Apologies for not gettting this posted by the closing date. But the 'closing' date on these things tend to be flexible, so if you're interested if worth checking out the NEPP site. Mulley has already blogged about similar programmes at hothouse (docklands), sepp (south east) and m50 (Tallaght IT)  if you're located ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/dundalk/2008/09/16/start-your-own-business-dkit-north-east/ IT@Cork have got good speakers from Eclipse, Springsource and Sun, and a Bargain at 130 Euro .. More details are available here. Java@cork 2008 Tuesday, September 9, Radisson SAS Hotel, Little Island, Cork Featuring speakers from SpringSource, Sun Microsystems, Eclipse Foundation and much more… Agenda OSGI and the Enterprise Ben Hale, SpringSource Lucene - Open Source ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/people/2008/08/21/javacork-2008-%e2%80%93-1-day-java-conference/ I recently got into a conversation about corporate blogging. The sort of conversation that starts with 'what is a blog?' and ends with 'it'll never work here'. And, as always, the killer argument for corporate blogging popped into my head 5 minutes too late. A tractor in a field yesterday Many years ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/business/2008/08/18/why-corporates-should-blog-reason-one-of-many/ Heard on the Doirt Girl 1: I can't believe my car is only worth 15 thousand but the car loan is still 20. It's so unfair. Girl 2: What colour is it? Girl 1: Red Girl 2: That's ok then. And women are normally more careful with money. We're all doomed. http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/business/2008/08/11/the-economic-crisis-from-the-horses-mouth/ Stressed? No time to talk to people? Losing sleep over tomorrow's work? You don't have a lot of time to read this, so I'll keep this short. Have a task / todo list. On Outlook , Excel , wiki or paper. Daily, pick off most important tasks and allocate time for ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/aaa/2008/08/04/time-management-for-really-really-busy-people/ I like LInkedIn a lot, and have written about the business social networking tool before, so I'm not going to repeat myself. There is one small change I'd like them to make - you have only the black or white option of either showing , or hiding your connections. I think there ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/people/2008/07/28/dear-mr-linkedin-will-you-show-me-yours-if-i-show-you-mine/ I thought I was good at shameless self publicity. But Alan O'Rourke is even better at it. And he's got a great business idea in Toddle (a very easy to use tool that allows people to send out dramatic, relevant emails). The above picture is from the Irish Independent writeup on ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/drogheda/2008/07/15/toddle-drogheda-man-about-to-take-over-the-world/ I've been very lucky in the 9 years that I've been working for myself. Lucky in the opportunities to travel and the people that I've met. Lucky in I'm doing something I love - playing with and building the latest technologies.  Lucky on the financial side of things that it's ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/business/enterprise/2008/07/08/and-now-for-something-completely-different/ Idea from Elly and Robin. From Wordle (a beautiful Java Applet) http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/business/cv-2/2008/07/02/cv-as-tagcloud/ Don't you hate it when you spend months (or years) working on a pet project / book / mad take over the world idea, then somebody comes out with something even better? Yep, it's just happened to me. Years working on the idea of the 'Wisdom of Crowds' (even prior to ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/business/knowledge-management/2008/06/30/collective-intelligence-in-action/ From the BBC. The best quote from the news report: The driver of the Lexus declined to be interviewed. http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/belfast/2008/06/27/solution-to-dublin-parking-crisis-found/ You know the Irish Economy is hurting when Sainsbury's Supermarket in Newry (in Northern Ireland) has to close it's doors at 7.30pm on a Saturday due to too many shoppers from the south trying to get in. For those of you that don't understand the above line: It's unusual for an ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/dundalk/2008/06/26/you-know-the-irish-economy-is-hurting-when/ Web 2.0 is great - it allows users to get involved on your website. Allthetopbananas.com shows not how to do it. Just be lazy and not bother to tell your website that Cork is not near Drogheda (for our non-Irish-based readers, they're at opposite ends of the country, about a 4-5hr ... http://www.firstpartners.net/blog/location/ireland/2008/06/23/how-not-to-do-web-20-no-cork-is-not-near-drogheda/