Interview with U.S. Senator and Majority Whip Richard Durbin

Interview on current topics with the U.S. Senate Majority Whip, Senator Richard Durbinimg src=http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/trarticles/~4/LzxdHVr7vSI height=1 width=1/

Google Android Personal Finance App Review

My current cell phone is an iPhone 3GS but recently I had the opportunity to try out a Google Android based phone the older G1 on T-Mobile. I’ve had just about every flavor of Windows Mobile phone which were great but they just couldn’t touch the iPhone’s interface, and app availability. I was eager to see what Google had to offer and did a run through of the various personal finance based Android Apps. I was impressed by the variety of apps and the phone was not bad, from what I’ve seen of t

Household Budgeting: Getting it All in Order

Rollover USA-401K Rollover to IRA is a post from: Rollover USA-401K Rollover to IRA With so many homes available right now due to the foreclosure storm that’s been going on in our current economic crisis, it can be a great time to buy a first home. However, before you fork out your hard earned money to buy one of these deals, make sure that your budget will allow you [...]

What should Microsoft Money users do?

I use Microsoft Money to track our personal finances — everything from income and spending to tracking our portfolios. Money has its quirks but I’ve been using it for years and it gets the job done. Unfortunately, facing competition from free online money management tools such as Wesabe and Mint , Microsoft has decided to shutter the Money product line. While a current copy of Money Plus can be used indefinitely, online updates will expire two years after initial activation or Jan. 31, 20

Proper Diversification for Increasing Your Income

If you're already leveraging your debt to produce more than one stream of income, you're pretty familiar with how the process works. However, it's really easy to get complacent when you're leveraging debt and you may be missing out on other opportunities if you're not looking outside your current comfort zone. While it is perfectly fine to focus on one area, it is riskier and you could be losing a chance to make even more money by diversifying. Let's say that you've already gone into debt for

How to reclaim your apartment “renewal fee” (Koshinryo)

Triumphant lawyers outside the court advocating mansion renewal fees in a similar case some years ago in Kyoto - This time they were not so lucky Did you sign your current rental agreement at the top of the market and wondering whether or not you should move houses at the end of your current contract? Would you be willing to stay where you are if you to didn’t have to pay an entire months rent (or sometimes two) to your landlord to thank them for renewing your contract? Or does it just really

Strickland release on current budget situation and media links…

This in via e-mail from the office of Governor Ted Strickland: Governor Statement on Legislative Conference Committee I have always believed that government is at its best when all sides work together to find common sense solutions to the challenges we face. I also believe that legitimate public policy disagreements are essential to the health of our democratic process, as they fuel the marketplace of ideas and require leaders to find middle ground. That’s what makes the deafening silenc

Customer Centered Products Creating Successful Products Through Smart Requirements Management

Customer Centered Products Creating Successful Products Through Smart Requirements Management

A powerful system for getting the right requirements–and creating products faster, better…and cheaper!

“Never time enough to do it right, but always time enough to do it over.” In today’s “faster-better-cheaper-at-any-cost” world, this is not just a joke, but an all-too-frequent reality. And, most often, a poor understanding of the requirements for a product is the reason it must be done over.

CUSTOMER-CENTERED PRODUCTS is a highly practical new book that helps readers gain a clear understanding of how to elicit the right requirements early on in a project–and make the right product the first time. Packed with useful information, enlightening real-life examples, and money-saving solutions, this book shows readers how to:

* Identify where their current requirements process is weak * Bridge communication breakdowns that lead to muddy requirements * Eliminate costly mistakes and rework * Improve product quality without increasing cost * Use operational concepts to improve requirements quality * Improve the fit between the product and the customers’ needs * Prove that faster, better, cheaper is possible, and more.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Not as good as the other reviews would indicate
I picked this up based on other reviews. I have read dozens of books on this topic as I am a consultant and trainer in this field and this book is just average. If you are looking for a primer on an end to end process, perhaps this is decent for that. If you are a practitioner that has some experience in this process, you may also find some interesting sections to learn from, but you will have to dig a bit.

To be fair, finding a good book on this topic is elusive, but one I use in my classes is Managing Software Requirements - A Use Case Approach by Leffingwell and Widrig.

4 Stars Requirements management best practices for big projects
I thought this was a decent overview of the requirements process of a large project. It does not go into great depth but it does cover a wide range of topics and the implications of doing poor requirements.

4 Stars Good primer on product development
A thorough and straight forward primer on developing new products. Where it lacks creativity and a wealth of examples, it provides a solid understanding and approach. Recommended reading, but I would check your local library before shelling out money for this book. A good read but not one that I would necessarily keep on my shelf for future reference.

5 Stars Essential reference for anyone in product management!
I was looking for a book that efficiently summarized the process of defining requirements. This book begins by establishing a need for requirements, and proceeds to give practical advice on improving the planning process of any project, be it software or manufacturing. The writing is very conversational, and the examples are pertinent to most competitive planning environments. Highly recommended for anyone involved in planning projects!

5 Stars Good book on requirements
I work in the defense requirements generation business, and this book really helped me get to some important breakthroughs in working with several programs. The authors bring experience from government and commercial programs - experience that can be applied to any situation. Hooks and Farry present their common sense approach to requirements development and management which should benefit anyone researching requirements.

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The future of telemarketing is a ‘co-sourced’ partnership approach

Recent research undertaken by specialist telemarketing agency X-Sellerant suggests that high tech companies are increasingly looking to reduce costs and drive revenues by outsourcing particularly in the current economic climate. X-Sellerant has analysed market trends and results show that companies that are planning to use an outsourced telemarketing solution within the next 6 months has increased [...] Related posts: X-Sellerant releases white paper on the pros and cons of outsourced telema