Monthly Amazon gift cards on offer

I’m now offering two free $15 Amazon gift cards per month to people. The first thing you need to do is either be a SharePoint Operations Guide subscriber, which you can do at www.wssops.com or you need to be a subscriber to the CIAOPS email newsletter, which you can do at:

 

http://ciaops.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=e641b9327b1cf4c45ad4e593f&id=c851ddf6cf

 

Once you are on at least one of these lists, then all you need to do is send me information on either technology (i.e. cloud computing, social networking, smart phones, etc), productivity tips or SharePoint. Information could be cool sites, tips and tricks, technical articles, ‘how to’ documents, links, etc. Once a month I’ll select the two best (one for SharePoint and one for everything else) and those people will receive a free $15 Amazon gift card.

 

That means you have the chance of earning a $15 Amazon gift card every month simply by signing up to a CIAOPS newsletter and sending me some ‘stuff’ (via email director@ciaops.com) . Couldn’t be easier right? I’ll be picking the winners at the end of every month so hop to it if you want to be in running by 1 June 2011.

CIAOPS Bootcamp USA bound

With some help from Tim Carney I am bringing my SharePoint bootcamp to the San Francisco Bay area on Tuesday the 14th of June. For AUD$399 you’ll receive a full days hands on SharePoint training and a 12 month subscription to my SharePoint Operations Guide. You can find all the details and how to register at:

http://www.ciaops.com/bootcampsf

I also have a discount code available for those that want to email me directly (director@ciaops.com) to obtain it.

If you can’t attend, don’t fret I hope that this will be the start of many SharePoint bootcamps run across the US. Keep your eye peel for more information on these soon.

It’s back!


Yes, that’s right, the CIAOPS Podcast has finally returned after a hiatus. I’d like to say that its simply because I’ve not had anyone offering to come on the show but luckily Jason Thomas from Ragg Weir has put up his hand and now Episode 19 is available for download.

In this episode Jason and I look at the pros and cons of the Microsoft Server offerings in the SMB space. Is Small Business Server still good value? Is SBS Essentials viable with the move the cloud? Where does Home Server fit in all this. Follow along as Jason provides us with some great insight into what he is seeing out there in the market.

You can access the podcast directly from:

http://ciaops.podbean.com/2011/05/05/episode-19-jason-thomas/

as well as view all previous episodes at:

http://ciaops.podbean.com

where you can not only subscribe via mediums such as iTunes but also leave comments and ratings on each episode.

If you are interested in, or know a business that is, sponsoring the show please contact me directly (director@ciaops.com). Also if you would like to appear as a guest or would like to hear from someone specifically again contact me (director@ciaops.com). Finally, if you think the show has provided you with value I’d appreciate any donation you’d care to make. All donations go to helping me improve what is offered (http://www.ciaops.com/donation).

Predictably Irrational – Book review

Predictably Irrational The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I found this book to be a very stimulating read. It closely examines how many of the things we do are different from the things that we say. It demonstrates how we are strongly ruled by our behaviours rather than our logic.

Apart from the human interest aspects of this book I also found it very interesting in a business context. Many of the behaviours illustrates provide deep insight into the purchasing nature of people. It for instance demonstrates how powerful the concept of ‘free’ is to people’s psyche.

The book is easy to read and written in a very engaging style. It contains numerous examples and intriguing experiments conducted by the author. If you are interested in understand how the human mind works and how behaviour is dominate over logic in most human experiences then this book is certainly a great read and high recommended.
View all my reviews

Purchase from CIAOPS Amazon store

SharePoint Foundation 2010 RTM available for download

SharePoint Foundation 2010 has left beta and is now available for download via the Microsoft web site at:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=49c79a8a-4612-4e7d-a0b4-3bb429b46595

 

I have downloaded in and installed it onto a Windows 2008 R2 server without issues. The new release automatically downloads and installed the additional components it requires which is a change from the beta release. So far that is about the biggest change I can see but more information after some more testing.

 

Now, the interesting question – will SharePoint Foundation 2010 RTM run on SBS 2008? Out of the box no, because it requires a number of additional components such as:

 

– Windows Identity Foundation

– Microsoft Sync Framework RunTime v1.0

– Powershell V2

– etc

 

None of these appear to get installed automatically so I’m trying to install them manually one by one and then installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 RTM. At this stage, I’m not 100% sure it can be installed and am in the process of checking but I get the feeling that it probably won’t work or that some of the prerequisites may break other components of SBS 2008.

 

I’d suggest that you at least hang off trying to install SharePoint Foundation 2010 RTM on SBS 2008 until I can run a few tests.

 

More updates soon.

In the beginning

image_2_04369766

 

Above you’ll see an email I recently received from Linkedin telling me that they now have 100 Million users and that I was user 737,876.

 

For many years after joining Linkedin I must admit that I really didn’t use it, but all that has changed of late. In many ways I think Linkedin has become the Facebook for business. Think about it, Linkedin can give you access to 100+ million people. Now who wouldn’t want that tohelp their business or career?

 

I am still amazed at how many people I know that don’t use. It is not that it costs anything as well as providing a place for you to create an online CV, Linkedin is now so much more than that. It is way for me to stay connected to a whole rang of business people over their career. Chances are when people move to a new position they may be looking for people with a certain skills set. Where do you think the most likely place they are going look? More and more I’ll bet it is via Linkedin.

 

One of the other powerful features of Linkedin is the ability to write testimonials for others. This makes recommending someone simple and easy. This also makes your profile so much more powerful when people visit because they can view all these testimonials.

 

Like any networking tool, you simply can’t just set it and forget it. You need to keep working it, adding information, adding activities, adding contacts, etc. The more you add the more powerful ii becomes to help grow your career and/or your business.

 

If you are not already using Linkedin then I suggest you get yourself across to the site and set up your profile. If you have a profile, but have neglected it, I’d suggest you get in there and update it. No matter what I suggest you start making Linkedin a central part of business networking strategy.

 

Have a look at my profile:

 

http://www.linkedin.com/in/ciaops

 

and connect up with me.

Productivity and health

I was watching a recent video upload from Tim Ferriss which you’ll find here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qwP74XpaFU

 

For those who haven’t heard of him he the author of the 4 Hour Work Week and the 4 Hour Body both I which I commend to people. Now Tim’s work certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but a lot of what he says really resonates with me.

 

One of the topics he deals with is the link between health and productivity. When Richard Branson was asked what one way he would recommend to lift productivity, his answer was simple – work out. Tim also mentions a great book (which I have also read) called “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” which demonstrates the link between improve brain function and physical activity.

 

All this got me to thinking. Some of the smartest and hardest working people I know are also the most unfit. Imagine what they could achieve if they could improve their fitness. So many of them pooh-pooh the idea regular physical activity citing time constrains and workloads, etc. My response to that is this is simply an excuse. How do I know? Well, I was in a similar boat for many years. Although I have always been physically active I did not differentiate between exercise for recreation and exercise for health. I do now.

 

As Tim notes, exercise for health does not necessarily mean absolutely killing yourself in the gym. It means setting some goals, developing a plan and measuring the results. As time progresses it is matter of finding out what is minimum amount of work that can be done for the maximum result. Simple efficiency if you will. Problem is that too many people don’t take the time to learn and understand their body and what works for them, they are lead by ‘popular opinion’. As Tim notes, popular opinion is wrong most of the time.

 

Even if you dislike Tim you should at least acknowledge the process he goes through to obtain results. He tests, and adjusts. Measures and adjusts. Learns and adjusts. In recent time this is exact what I have been doing for myself (more in later posts) and I can’t tell you the improvement that it has made for me.

 

There is no time like the present to make a change, and the secret to successful change is to make in small increments. However, just as importantly you need to MEASURE what you do so you can spot trends. Again, in the above video Tim responses to a question about what are the key characteristics of successful people. One of his observations is that they measure and record their results so they can spot trends.

 

Let me ask you, what are you doing?