It reflects the latest information (in 2001), including the impact of global competition and rapid technological advances, that have accelerated trends such as shared service centres, outsourcing and just-in-time training. A number of actual company examples demonstrates how concepts are being used in several leading-edge organizations.

    The book will be divided into 30+ Pearls of Wisdom (based on the original manifesto and wildly successful Web phenomenon, "How to Be Creative"), and will be laced throughout with the author's witty, smart single-frame cartoons.

    I would love to write that book, but at this time I have no indication that such a book would be worth writing. Most books fail in the market, and most of them fail not because they are poorly written or edited, but because there aren’t enough people interested in them. They are not the right it.What you are reading now is a pretotype edition of the book. I wrote and “edited” it in days instead of months, just to test the level of interest in such a book. I had a few friends and colleagues review it, but don’t be surprised if you find typos, misspellings, bad grammar, awkward formatting and all sorts of misteaks.Releasing it in its present state is not easy for me.The toughest thing about pretotyping is not developing pretotypes, that’s the fun part. The tough part is getting over our compulsion for prema- ture perfectionism and our desire to add more features, or content, before releasing the first version. The tough part is getting our pretotypes in front of people, where they will be judged, criticized and – possibly – rejected.Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn once said: “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”I am plenty embarrassed. I must be on the right track.http://www.pretotyping.org/pretotype-...

    In their classic, authoritative work on coaching, Everyone's a Coach, they distilled their rich collective experience down to its key elements and shared their secrets for inspiring others to greatness.Now, by popular demand, Blanchard and Shula have created The Little Book of Coaching, capturing the essence of their classic in this indispensable motivational gem--a gift to their readers and fans.At the heart of this book is a simple acronym that describes the qualities of an effective leader:Conviction-driven--Never compromise your beliefsOverlearning--Practice until it's perfectAudible-ready--Know when to changeConsistency--Respond predictably to performanceHonesty-based--Walk your talkUsing a highly effective "tag-team" approach, Blanchard and Shula impart the five leadership secrets behind this acronym. Shula tells you how each coaching concept worked on the field, and then Blanchard explains how you can apply each strategy in a leadership situation.Instructive and inspirational, The Little Book of Coaching is the essential handbook that will teach you how to unleash excellence in anyone.

    Yet with Mark Podolsky’s tried-and-true technique of raw land investment, you can become Dirt Rich without ever having to battle with a tenant, toilet, or termite. In this step-by-step guide, Mark breaks down his “ultimate subscription model” for creating passive income through the niche of raw land investment. Featuring details on common pitfalls, tips on cultivating an investor’s mind, and advice on working smart instead of hard, this handbook will show you how to obtain a life of fiscal independence, with the flexibility to work where you want, when you want, and with whom you want. Financial freedom is within your reach. It’s time to make your dreams a reality by starting to think dirty.

     Some said much while others said little . . . very little.

    Updated and revised for iPhone SDK 3, many of the discussions in the original book have been clarified to make some of the more complex topics easier to understand. In addition, all of the projects have been rebuilt from scratch using the SDK 3 templates.Assuming only a minimal working knowledge of Objective-C, and written in a friendly, easy-to-follow style, this book offers a complete soup-to-nuts course in iPhone and iPod touch programming. The book starts with the basics, walking you through the process of downloading and installing Apple's free iPhone SDK, and then stepping you though the creation of your first simple iPhone application. From there, you'll learn to integrate all the interface elements iPhone users have come to know and love, such as buttons, switches, pickers, toolbars, and sliders. You'll master a variety of design patterns, from the simplest single view to complex hierarchical drill-downs. The confusing art of table building will be demystified, and you'll see how to save your data using the iPhone file system. You'll also learn how to save and retrieve your data using SQLite, iPhone's built-in database management system. In addition, you'll also learn about Core Data, an important persistence mechanism that has just been added with SDK 3.And there's much more! You'll learn to draw using Quartz 2D and OpenGL ES, add multitouch gestural support (pinches and swipes) to your applications, and work with the camera, photo library, accelerometer, and built-in GPS. You'll discover the fine points of application preferences and learn how to localize your apps for multiple languages. You can discover more about this book, download source code, and find support forums at the book's companion site, at www.iphonedevbook.com.The iPhone 3 update to the best-selling and most recommended book for iPhone developers Packed full of tricks, techniques, and enthusiasm for the new SDK from a developer perspective The most complete, useful, and up-to-date guide to all things having to do with Apple's iPhone SDK

    This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights with others. A leader's singular job is to get results. But even with all the leadership training programs and "expert" advice available, effective leadership still eludes many people and organizations. One reason, says Daniel Goleman, is that such experts offer advice based on inference, experience, and instinct, not on quantitative data. Now, drawing on research of more than 3,000 executives, Goleman explores which precise leadership behaviors yield positive results. He outlines six distinct leadership styles, each one springing from different components of emotional intelligence. Each style has a distinct effect on the working atmosphere of a company, division, or team, and, in turn, on its financial performance. The styles, by name and brief description alone, will resonate with anyone who leads, is led, or, as is the case with most of us, does both. Coercive leaders demand immediate compliance. Authoritative leaders mobilize people toward a vision. Affiliative leaders create emotional bonds and harmony. Democratic leaders build consensus through participation. Pacesetting leaders expect excellence and self-direction. And coaching leaders develop people for the future. The research indicates that leaders who get the best results don't rely on just one leadership style; they use most of the styles in any given week. Goleman details the types of business situations each style is best suitedfor, and he explains how leaders who lack one or more of these styles can expand their repertories. He maintains that with practice leaders can switch among leadership styles to produce powerful results, thus turning the art of leadership into a science.

    A strategic plan helps crystalize the future of an organization--mapping a clear path from where the company stands today to where you wish it to be.It may sound complicated, but Brian Tracy knows how to make it simple. Throughout his career, he has shown countless leaders and organizations how to achieve stunning success. In this concise and practical book, he shares the most important lessons for strategic planning. Readers will discover how to:• Ask the five key questions vital to any strategic plan• Determine a corporate mission that lifts and inspires people• Gain valuable insight with market share/market growth and strategy/operations matrices• Define themselves in relation to their competition• Utilize the concept of "driving force"• Anticipate crises• Reposition their business with new products, services, and technologies• Measure success via clear financial objectives• And moreIncorporating examples ranging from Alexander the Great to IBM and General Electric, Tracy gives readers proven ideas for increasing their company's ROI and maximizing their strengths and opportunities. Powerful and portable, Business Strategy will help readers take control of their company's destiny.

    As for the latter, are you a programmer and curious about being your own boss? Where do you turn for information? Until now, online and traditional literature havent caught up with the reality of the post-dot com bust.Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality explains what works and why in today's emerging micro-ISV sector. Currently, thousands of programmers build and deliver great solutions ISV-style, earning success and revenues much larger than you might guess. Written by and for micro-ISVs, with help from some of the leaders of the field, this book takes you beyond just daydreaming to running your own business. It thoroughly explores how it is indeed possible to launch and maintain a small and successful ISV business, and is an ideal read if you're interested in getting started.

    Indeed, that's what computers are for. You can enlist your own computer to automate all of your project's repetitive tasks, ranging from individual builds and running unit tests through to full product release, customer deployment, and monitoring the system.Many teams try to do these tasks by hand. That's usually a really bad idea: people just aren't as good at repetitive tasks as machines. You run the risk of doing it differently the one time it matters, on one machine but not another, or doing it just plain wrong. But the computer can do these tasks for you the same way, time after time, without bothering you. You can transform these labor-intensive, boring and potentially risky chores into automatic, background processes that just work.In this eagerly anticipated book, you'll find a variety of popular, open-source tools to help automate your project. With this book, you will learn: How to make your build processes accurate, reliable, fast, and easy. How to build complex systems at the touch of a button. How to build, test, and release software automatically, with no human intervention. Technologies and tools available for automation: which to use and when. Tricks and tips from the masters (do you know how to have your cell phone tell you that your build just failed?) You'll find easy-to-implement recipes to automate your Java project, using the same popular style as the rest of our Jolt Productivity Award-winning Starter Kit books. Armed with plenty of examples and concrete, pragmatic advice, you'll find it's easy to get started and reap the benefits of modern software development. You can begin to enjoy pragmatic, automatic, unattended software production that's reliable and accurate every time.

    Google's AdWords platform enables you to create pay-per-click advertisements that appear as 'sponsored links' when someone searches for content related to your product or service. You bid for the position to place your ad, and you only pay when someone clicks. It's that simple. If used correctly, AdWords can garner higher targeted traffic, which in turn will increase your conversion rates and profits. So, AdWords will definitely help your business, but you have no idea how to utilize them. What should you do? Take a couple of hours to read this book. Google AdWords for Beginners is designed to teach you the fundamentals of AdWords, how it works, why it works, and the proven techniques that you can use to make it work for you and your business. Additionally, this book details an eight-step blueprint that has consistently delivered positive results for companies. Upon completion, you'll be armed with the knowledge to launch profitable campaigns or drastically improve an existing one.

    It's Tuesday morning and on his drive into the office, Bill gets a call from the CEO. The company's new IT initiative, code named Phoenix Project, is critical to the future of Parts Unlimited, but the project is massively over budget and very late. The CEO wants Bill to report directly to him and fix the mess in ninety days or else Bill's entire department will be outsourced. With the help of a prospective board member and his mysterious philosophy of The Three Ways, Bill starts to see that IT work has more in common with manufacturing plant work than he ever imagined. With the clock ticking, Bill must organize work flow streamline interdepartmental communications, and effectively serve the other business functions at Parts Unlimited. In a fast-paced and entertaining style, three luminaries of the DevOps movement deliver a story that anyone who works in IT will recognize. Readers will not only learn how to improve their own IT organizations, they'll never view IT the same way again.

    Because almost every aspect of an enterprise is now dependent on technology, the focus of IT security must shift from locking down assets to enabling the business while managing and surviving risk. This compact book discusses business risk from a broader perspective, including privacy and regulatory considerations. It describes the increasing number of threats and vulnerabilities, but also offers strategies for developing solutions. These include discussions of how enterprises can take advantage of new and emerging technologies—such as social media and the huge proliferation of Internet-enabled devices—while minimizing risk. With ApressOpen, content is freely available through multiple online distribution channels and electronic formats with the goal of disseminating professionally edited and technically reviewed content to the worldwide community. Here are some of the responses from reviewers of this exceptional work: “Managing Risk and Information Security is a perceptive, balanced, and often thought-provoking exploration of evolving information risk and security challenges within a business context.  Harkins clearly connects the needed, but often-overlooked linkage and dialog between the business and technical worlds and offers actionable strategies.   The book contains eye-opening security insights that are easily understood, even by the curious layman.” Fred Wettling, Bechtel Fellow, IS&T Ethics & Compliance Officer, Bechtel     “As disruptive technology innovations and escalating cyber threats continue to create enormous information security challenges, Managing Risk and Information Security: Protect to Enable provides a much-needed perspective. This book compels information security professionals to think differently about concepts of risk management in order to be more effective. The specific and practical guidance offers a fast-track formula for developing information security strategies which are lock-step with business priorities.” Laura Robinson, Principal, Robinson Insight Chair, Security for Business Innovation Council (SBIC) Program Director, Executive Security Action Forum (ESAF) “The mandate of the information security function is being completely rewritten. Unfortunately most heads of security haven’t picked up on the change, impeding their companies’ agility and ability to innovate. This book makes the case for why security needs to change, and shows how to get started. It will be regarded as marking the turning point in information security for years to come.” Dr. Jeremy Bergsman, Practice Manager, CEB     “The world we are responsible to protect is changing dramatically and at an accelerating pace. Technology is pervasive in virtually every aspect of our lives. Clouds, virtualization and mobile are redefining computing – and they are just the beginning of what is to come. Your security perimeter is defined by wherever your information and people happen to be.

    It is important for every person to save for one’s retirement as one can expect to live for twenty years after one retires as life expectancy of an Indian is going up steadily due to lower infant mortality and better medical care. There is a complete absence of social security safety net for most Indians today, even for those working in Government sector, there is no inflation adjusted pension available anymore. I have tried to simplify the advantages and disadvantages involved in investing your savings in various asset classes. I have deliberately left out two of the most popular forms of investment among middle class Indians 1) Life insurance 2) Real estate Let us consider life insurance first most of us confuse insurance as an instrument of savings, it is not. We have this wrong view because of the tax breaks given to income tax assesses by the Central Government. Insurance is a product that mitigates risk and is sold by the rich to the middle class and is always skewed in the favour of the insurer rather than the insured. A substantial portion of the total money invested by you goes towards paying agent’s commission and premium for insuring you for the risk of mortality. The balance left out is invested in government securities and other securities. Hence the amount of money invested out of the total premium paid is less than half paid by the insurer. The return on money invested by the policy holder is less than half of the money he would have earned either in bonds or fixed deposits. A person who needs insurance is a person whose family will need support in the event of his untimely death. Alternately insurance is required for a person who has debt in form of mortgage and does not want to burden his family in the event of his passing. The product which covers these risks is called term insurance. One should not buy insurance to avoid taxes as there is better tax saving tools available. Real estate is also considered as a good investment by several retail investors but nothing can be further from the truth. Nobody makes money by buying plots in the middle of nowhere. The easy availability of mortgages from the nineties and the tax breaks given by the Central Government on housing loans has created an unparalleled boom in the residential market. There is now a painful correction process under way in that sector. The price of land is reflexively connected to availability of money. The lower the cost of money, greater the returns in real estate. Buying plots in the middle of nowhere is similar to buying lottery tickets as investment. Land cannot be liquidated immediately into cash at a short notice to meet urgent requirements. Cost of maintenance and protection of real estate from illegal occupation is prohibitive and time consuming. Verification of title deeds to the property is a complex process and needs sound legal advice. You should have a house to live and another to collect rent as rent is equivalent of inflation adjusted pension. The return on investment generated in the three different asset classes over 25 years would be in the following order 1) Equities 2) Gold and finally 3) Debt instruments. I enjoyed writing this book as a companion volume to my first book. It is my fond hope that you enjoy reading this book.