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  Scrums are the most dangerous phase in rugby, since a collapse or improper engage can lead to a front row player damaging or even breaking his neck. — Wikipedia When I was growing up, cholesterol used to be bad for you. It was easy to remember. Fat, bad. Cholesterol bad. Salt, bad. Everything, bad. Nowadays, though, they differentiate between "good" cholesterol and "bad" cholesterol, as if we're supposed to be able to distinguish them somehow. And it was weird when they switched it up on us, because it was as if the FDA had suddenly issued a press release announcing that there are, in fact, two kinds of rat poison: Good Rat Poison and Bad Rat Poison, and you should eat a lot of the Good kind, and none of the Bad kind, and definitely not mix them up or anything. Up until maybe a year ago, I had a pretty one-dimensional view of so-called "Agile" programming, namely that it's an idiotic fad-diet of a marketing scam making the rounds as yet another technological virus implanting itself in naive programmers who've never read "No Silver Bullet", the kinds of programmers who buy extended warranties and self-help books and believe their bosses genuinely care about them as people, the kinds of programmers who attend conferences to make friends and who don't know how to avoid eye contact with leaflet-waving fanatics in airports and who believe writing shit on index cards will suddenly make software development easier. You know. Chumps. That's the word I'm looking for. My bad-cholesterol view was that Agile Methodologies are for chumps. But I've had a lot of opportunity to observe various flavors of Agile-ism in action lately, and I now think I was only about 90% right. It turns out there's a good kind of Agile, although it's taken me a long time to be able to see it clearly amidst all the hype and kowtowing and moaning feverishly about scrums and whatnot. I have a pretty clear picture of it now. And you can attend my seminar on it for the low, low price of $499.95! Hahaha, chump! No, just kidding. You'll only find seminars about the Bad kind of Agile. And if in the future you ever find me touring around as an Agile Consultant, charging audiences to hear my deep wisdom and insight about Agile Development, you have my permission to cut my balls off. If I say I was just kidding, say I told you I'd say that. If I then say I'm Tyler Durden and I order you not to cut my balls off , say I definitely said I was going to say that , and then you cut 'em right off. I'll just go right ahead and tell you about the Good Kind, free of charge. It's kinda hard to talk about Good Agile and Bad Agile in isolation, so I might talk about them together. But I'll be sure to label the Good kind with a happy rat, and the Bad kind with a sad dead rat, so you'll always know the difference. The Bad Heading Back in Ye Olden Dayes, most companies approached software development as follows: - hire a bunch of engineers, then hire more. - dream up a project. - set a date for when they want it launched. - put some engineers on it. - whip them until they're either dead or it's launched. or both. - throw a cheap-ass pathetic little party, maybe. This step is optional. - then start over. Thank goodness that doesn't happen at your company, eh now? Whew! Interestingly, this is also exactly how non-technical companies (like, say, Chrysler) handled software development. Except they didn't hire the engineers. Instead, they contracted with software consultants, and they'd hand the consultants 2-year project specs, and demanded the consultants finish everything on time plus all the crap the customer threw in and/or changed after signing the contract. And then it'd all fall apart and the contractors wouldn't get paid, and everyone was really miffed. So some of the consultants began to think: "Hey, if these companies insist on acting like infants, then we should treat them like infants!" And so they did. When a company said "we want features A through Z", the consultants would get these big index cards and write "A" on the first one, "B" on the second one, etc., along with time estimates, and then post them on their wall. Then when the customer wanted to add something, the consultant could point at the wall and say: "OK, boy . Which one of these cards do you want to replace , BOY? " Is it any wonder Chrysler canceled the project? So the consultants, now having lost their primary customer, were at a bar one day, and one of them (named L. Ron Hubbard) said: "This nickel-a-line-of-code gig is lame. You know where the real money is at? You start your own religion." And that's how both Extreme Programming and Scientology were born. Well, people pretty quickly demonstrated that XP was a load of crap. Take Pair Programming, for instance. It's one of the more spectacular failures of XP. None of the Agileytes likes to talk about it much, but let's face it: nobody does it. The rationale was something like: "well if ONE programmer sitting at a terminal is good, then TEN must be better, because MORE is ALWAYS better! But most terminals can only comfortably fit TWO programmers, so we'll call it PAIR programming!" You have to cut them a little slack; they'd been dealing with the corporate equivalent of pre-schoolers for years, and that really messes with a person. But the thing is, viruses are really hard to kill, especially the meme kind. After everyone had gotten all worked up about this whole Agile thing (and sure, everyone wants to be more productive), there was a lot of face to be lost by admitting failure. So some other kinds of Agile "Methodologies" sprang up, and they all claimed that even though all the other ones were busted, their method worked! I mean, go look at some of their sites. Tell me that's not an infomercial. C'mon, just try. It's embarrassing even to look at the thing. Yeah. Well, they make money hand over fist, because of P.T. Barnum's Law, just like Scientology does. Can't really fault 'em. Some people are just dying to be parted with their cash. And their dignity. The rest of us have all known that Agile Methodologies are stupid, by application of any of the following well-known laws of marketing: - anything that calls itself a "Methodology" is stupid, on general principle. - anything that requires "evangelists" and offers seminars, exists soley for the purpose of making money. - anything that never mentions any competition or alternatives is dubiously self-serving. - anything that does diagrams with hand-wavy math is stupid, on general principle. And by "stupid", I mean it's "incredibly brilliant marketing targeted at stupid people." In any case, the consultants kept going with their road shows and glossy pamphlets. Initially, I'm sure they went after corporations; they were looking to sign flexible contracts that allowed them to deliver "whatever" in "2 weeks" on a recurring basis until the client went bankrupt. But I'm equally sure they couldn't find many clients dumb enough to sign such a contract. That's when the consultants decided to take their road show to YOU. Why not take it inside the companies and sell it there, to the developers? There are plenty of companies who use the whip-cycle of development I outlined above, so presumably some of the middle managers and tech leads would be amenable to hearing about how there's this low-cost way out of their hellish existence. And that, friends, was exactly, precisely the point at which they went from "harmless buffoons" to "potentially dangerous", because before they were just bilking fat companies too stupid to develop their own software, but now the manager down the hall from me might get infected. And most places don't have a very good quarantine mechanism for this rather awkward situation: i.e., an otherwise smart manager has become "ill", and is waving XP books and index cards and spouting stuff about how much more productive his team is on account of all this newfound extra bureaucracy. How do we know it's not more productive? Well, it's a slippery problem. Observe that it must be a slippery problem, or it all would have been debunked fair and square by now. But it's exceptionally difficult to measure software developer productivity, for all sorts of famous reasons. And it's even harder to perform anything resembling a valid scientific experiment in software development. You can't have the same team do the same project twice; a bunch of stuff changes the second time around. You can't have 2 teams do the same project; it's too hard to control all the variables, and it's prohibitively expensive to try it in any case. The same team doing 2 different projects in a row isn't an experiment either. About the best you can do is gather statistical data across a lot of teams doing a lot of projects, and try to identify similarities, and perform some regressions, and hope you find some meaningful correlations. But where does the data come from? Companies aren't going to give you their internal data, if they even keep that kind of thing around. Most don't; they cover up their schedule failures and they move on, ever optimistic. Well if you can't do experiments and you can't do proofs, there isn't much science going on. That's why it's a slippery problem. It's why fad diets are still enormously popular. People want fad diets to work, oh boy you bet they do, even I want them to work. And you can point to all these statistically meaningless anecdotes about how Joe lost 35 pounds on this one diet, and all those people who desperately want to be thinner will think "hey, it can't hurt. I'll give it a try." That is exactly what I hear people say, every time a team talks themselves into trying an Agile Methodology. It's not a coincidence. But writing about Bad Agile alone is almost guaranteed to be ineffective. I mean, you can write about how lame Scientology is, or how lame fad diets are, but it's not clear that you're changing anyone's mind. Quitting a viral meme is harder than quitting smoking. I've done both. In order to have the right impact, you have to offer an alternative, and I didn't have one before, not one that I could articulate clearly. One of the (many) problems with Bad Agile is that they condescendingly lump all non-Agile development practices together into two buckets: Waterfall and Cowboy. Waterfall is known to be bad; I hope we can just take that as an axiom today. But what about so-called Cowboy programming, which the Agileers define as "each member of the team does what he or she thinks is best"? Is it true that this is the only other development process? And is Cowboy Programming actually bad? They say it as if it's obviously bad, but they're not super clear on how or why, other than to assert that it's, you know, "chaos". Well, as I mentioned, over the past year I've had the opportunity to watch both Bad Agile and Good Agile in motion, and I've asked the teams and tech leads (using both the Bad and Good forms) lots of questions: how they're doing, how they're feeling, how their process is working. I was really curious, in part because I'd consented to try Agile last Christmas ("hey, it can't hurt"), and wound up arguing with a teammate over exactly what metadata is allowed on index cards before giving up in disgust. Also in part because I had some friends on a team who were getting kind of exhausted from what appeared to be a Death March, and that kind of thing doesn't seem to happen very often at Google. So I dug in, and for a year, I watched and learned. The Good Head (cue happy rat) I'm going to talk a little about Google's software development process. It's not the whole picture, of course, but it should suffice for today. I've been there for almost a year and a half now, and it took a while, but I think I get it now. Mostly. I'm still learning. But I'll share what I've got so far. From a high level, Google's process probably does look like chaos to someone from a more traditional software development company. As a newcomer, some of the things that leap out at you include: - there are managers, sort of, but most of them code at least half-time, making them more like tech leads. - developers can switch teams and/or projects any time they want, no questions asked; just say the word and the movers will show up the next day to put you in your new office with your new team. - Google has a philosophy of not ever telling developers what to work on, and they take it pretty seriously. - developers are strongly encouraged to spend 20% of their time (and I mean their M-F, 8-5 time, not weekends or personal time) working on whatever they want, as long as it's not their main project. - there aren't very many meetings. I'd say an average developer attends perhaps 3 meetings a week, including their 1:1 with their lead. - it's quiet. Engineers are quietly focused on their work, as individuals or sometimes in little groups or 2 to 5. - there aren't Gantt charts or date-task-owner spreadsheets or any other visible project-management artifacts in evidence, not that I've ever seen. - even during the relatively rare crunch periods, people still go get lunch and dinner, which are (famously) always free and tasty, and they don't work insane hours unless they want to. These are generalizations, sure. Old-timers will no doubt have a slightly different view, just as my view of Amazon is slightly biased by having been there in 1998 when it was a pretty crazy place. But I think most Googlers would agree that my generalizations here are pretty accurate. How could this ever work? I get that question a lot. Heck, I asked it myself. What's to stop engineers from leaving all the trouble projects, leaving behind bug-ridden operational nightmares? What keeps engineers working towards the corporate goals if they can work on whatever they want? How do the most important projects get staffed appropriately? How do engineers not get so fat that they routinely get stuck in stairwells and have to be cut out by the Fire Department? I'll answer the latter question briefly, then get to the others. In short: we have this thing called the Noogler Fifteen, named after the Frosh Fifteen: the 15 pounds that many college freshmen put on when they arrive in the land of Stress and Pizza. Google has solved the problem by lubricating the stairwells. As to the rest of your questions, I think most of them have the same small number of answers. First, and arguably most importantly, Google drives behavior through incentives. Engineers working on important projects are, on average, rewarded more than those on less-important projects. You can choose to work on a far-fetched research-y kind of project that may never be practical to anyone, but the work will have to be a reward unto itself. If it turns out you were right and everyone else was wrong (the startup's dream), and your little project turns out to be tremendously impactful, then you'll be rewarded for it. Guaranteed. The rewards and incentives are too numerous to talk about here, but the financial incentives range from gift certificates and massage coupons up through giant bonuses and stock grants, where I won't define "giant" precisely, but think of Google's scale and let your imagination run a bit wild, and you probably won't miss the mark by much. There are other incentives. One is that Google a peer-review oriented culture, and earning the respect of your peers means a lot there. More than it does at other places, I think. This is in part because it's just the way the culture works; it's something that was put in place early on and has managed to become habitual. It's also true because your peers are so damn smart that earning their respect is a huge deal. And it's true because your actual performance review is almost entirely based on your peer reviews, so it has an indirect financial impact on you. Another incentive is that every quarter, without fail, they have a long all-hands in which they show every single project that launched to everyone, and put up the names and faces of the teams (always small) who launched each one, and everyone applauds. Gives me a tingle just to think about it. Google takes launching very seriously, and I think that being recognized for launching something cool might be the strongest incentive across the company. At least it feels that way to me. And there are still other incentives; the list goes on and ON and ON ; the perks are over the top, and the rewards are over the top, and everything there is so comically over the top that you have no choice, as an outsider, but to assume that everything the recruiter is telling you is a baldfaced lie, because there's no possible way a company could be that generous to all of its employees, all of them, I mean even the contractors who clean the micro-kitchens, they get these totally awesome "Google Micro-Kitchen Staff" shirts and fleeces. There is nothing like it on the face of this earth. I could talk for hours , days about how amazing it is to work at Google, and I wouldn't be done. And they're not done either. Every week it seems like there's a new perk, a new benefit, a new improvement, a new survey asking us all if there's any possible way in which life at Google could be better. I might have been mistaken, actually. Having your name and picture up on that big screen at End of Quarter may not be the biggest incentive. The thing that drives the right behavior at Google, more than anything else, more than all the other things combined, is gratitude . You can't help but want to do your absolute best for Google; you feel like you owe it to them for taking such incredibly good care of you. OK, incentives. You've got the idea. Sort of. I mean, you have a sketch of it. When friends who aren't at Google ask me how it is working at Google — and this applies to all my friends at all other companies equally, not just companies I've worked at — I feel just how you'd feel if you'd just gotten out of prison, and your prison buddies, all of whom were sentenced in their early teens, are writing to you and asking you what it's like "on the outside". I mean, what would you tell them? I tell 'em it's not too bad at all. Can't complain. Pretty decent, all in all. Although the incentive-based culture is a huge factor in making things work the way they do, it only addresses how to get engineers to work on the "right" things. It doesn't address how to get those things done efficiently and effectively. So I'll tell you a little about how they approach projects. Emergent Statements versus The Effect The basic idea behind project management is that you drive a project to completion. It's an overt process, a shepherding: by dint of leadership, and organization, and sheer force of will, you cause something to happen that wouldn't otherwise have happened on its own. Project management comes in many flavors, from lightweight to heavyweight, but all flavors share the property that they are external forces acting on an organization. At Google, projects launch because it's the least-energy state for the system. Before I go on, I'll concede that this is a pretty bold claim, and that it's not entirely true. We do have project managers and product managers and people managers and tech leads and so on. But the amount of energy they need to add to the system is far less than what's typically needed in our industry. It's more of an occasional nudge than a full-fledged continuous push. Once in a while, a team needs a bigger nudge, and senior management needs to come in and do the nudging, just like anywhere else. But there's no pushing. Incidentally, Google is a polite company, so there's no yelling, nor wailing and gnashing of teeth, nor escalation and finger-pointing, nor any of the artifacts produced at companies where senior management yells a lot. Hobbes tells us that organizations reflect their leaders; we all know that. The folks up top at Google are polite, hence so is everyone else. Anyway, I claimed that launching projects is the natural state that Google's internal ecosystem tends towards, and it's because they pump so much energy into pointing people in that direction. All your needs are taken care of so that you can focus, and as I've described, there are lots of incentives for focusing on things that Google likes. So launches become an emergent property of the system. This eliminates the need for a bunch of standard project management ideas and methods: all the ones concerned with dealing with slackers, calling bluffs on estimates, forcing people to come to consensus on shared design issues, and so on. You don't need "war team meetings," and you don't need status reports. You don't need them because people are already incented to do the right things and to work together well. The project management techniques that Google does use are more like oil than fuel: things to let the project keep running smoothly, as opposed to things that force the project to move forward. There are plenty of meeting rooms, and there's plenty of open space for people to go chat. Teams are always situated close together in fishbowl-style open seating, so that pair programming happens exactly when it's needed (say 5% of the time), and never otherwise. Google generally recognizes that the middle of the day is prone to interruptions, even at quiet companies, so many engineers are likely to shift their hours and come in very early or stay very late in order to find time to truly concentrate on programming. So meetings only happen in the middle of the day; it's very unusual to see a meeting start before 10am or after 4:30pm. Scheduling meetings outside that band necessarily eats into the time when engineers are actually trying to implement the things they're meeting about, so they don't do it. Google isn't the only place where projects are run this way. Two other kinds of organizations leap to mind when you think of Google's approach: startup companies, and grad schools. Google can be considered a fusion of the startup and grad-school mentalities: on the one hand, it's a hurry-up, let's get something out now, do the simplest thing that could work and we'll grow it later startup-style approach. On the other, it's relatively relaxed and low-key; we have hard problems to solve that nobody else has ever solved, but it's a marathon not a sprint, and focusing requires deep concentration, not frenzied meetings. And at the intersection of the two, startups and grad schools are both fertile innovation ground in which the participants carry a great deal of individual responsibility for the outcome. It's all been done before; the only thing that's really surprising is that Google has managed to make it scale. The scaling is not an accident. Google works really hard on the problem, and they realize that having scaled this far is no guarantee it'll continue, so they're vigilant. That's a good word for it. They're always on the lookout to make sure the way of life and the overall level of productivity continue (or even improve) as they grow. Google is an exceptionally disciplined company, from a software-engineering perspective. They take things like unit testing, design documents and code reviews more seriously than any other company I've even heard about. They work hard to keep their house in order at all times, and there are strict rules and guidelines in place that prevent engineers and teams from doing things their own way. The result: the whole code base looks the same, so switching teams and sharing code are both far easier than they are at other places. And engineers need great tools, of course, so Google hires great people to build their tools, and they encourage engineers (using incentives) to pitch in on tools work whenever they have an inclination in that direction. The result: Google has great tools, world-class tools, and they just keep getting better. The list goes on. I could talk for days about the amazing rigor behind Google's approach to software engineering. But the main takeaway is that their scaling (both technological and organizational) is not an accident. And once you're up to speed on the Google way of doing things, it all proceeds fairly effortlessly — again, on average, and compared to software development at many other companies. The Tyranny of the Vocabulary We're almost done. The last thing I want to talk about here is dates . Traditional software development can safely be called Date-Oriented Programming, almost without exception. Startup companies have a clock set by their investors and their budget. Big clients set target dates for their consultants. Sales people and product managers set target dates based on their evaluation of market conditions. Engineers set dates based on estimates of previous work that seems similar. All estimation is done through rose-colored glasses, and everyone forgets just how painful it was the last time around. Everyone picks dates out of the air. "This feels like it should take about 3 weeks.""It sure would be nice to have this available for customers by beginning of Q4.""Let's try to have that done by tomorrow." Most of us in our industry are date-driven. There's always a next milestone, always a deadline, always some date-driven goal to it. The only exceptions I can think of to this rule are: 1) Open-source software projects. 2) Grad school projects. 3) Google. Most people take it for granted that you want to pick a date. Even my favorite book on software project management, "The Mythical Man-Month", assumes that you need schedule estimates. If you're in the habit of pre-announcing your software, then the general public usually wants a timeframe, which implies a date. This is, I think, one of the reasons Google tends not to pre-announce. They really do understand that you can't rush good cooking, you can't rush babies out, and you can't rush software development. If the three exceptions I listed above aren't driven by dates, then what drives them? To some extent it's just the creative urge, the desire to produce things; all good engineers have it. (There are many people in our industry who do this gig "for a living", and they go home and don't think about it until the next day. Open source software exists precisely because there are people who are better than that.) But let's be careful: it's not just the creative urge; that's not always directed enough, and it's not always incentive enough. Google is unquestionably driven by time , in the sense that they want things done "as fast as possible". They have many fierce, brilliant competitors, and they have to slake their thirsty investors' need for growth, and each of us has some long-term plans and deliverables we'd like to see come to fruition in our lifetimes. The difference is that Google isn't foolish enough or presumptuous enough to claim to know how long stuff should take. So the only company-wide dates I'm ever aware of are the ends of each quarter, because everyone's scrambling to get on that big launch screen and get the applause and gifts and bonuses and team trips and all the other good that comes of launching things with big impact at Google. Everything in between is just a continuum of days, in which everyone works at optimal productivity, which is different for each person. We all have work-life balance choices to make, and Google is a place where any reasonable choice you make can be accommodated, and can be rewarding. Optimal productivity is also a function of training, and Google offers tons of it, including dozens of tech talks every week by internal and external speakers, all of which are archived permanently so you can view them whenever you like. Google gives you access to any resources you need in order to get your job done, or to learn how to get your job done. And optimal productivity is partly a function of the machine and context in which you're operating: the quality of your code base, your tools, your documentation, your computing platform, your teammates, even the quality of the time you have during the day, which should be food-filled and largely free of interrupts. Then all you need is a work queue. That's it. You want hand-wavy math? I've got it in abundance: software development modeled on queuing theory. Not too far off the mark, though; many folks in our industry have noticed that organizational models are a lot like software models. With nothing more than a work queue (a priority queue, of course), you immediately attain most of the supposedly magical benefits of Agile Methodologies. And make no mistake, it's better to have it in software than on a bunch of index cards. If you're not convinced, then I will steal your index cards. With a priority queue, you have a dumping-ground for any and all ideas (and bugs) that people suggest as the project unfolds. No engineer is ever idle, unless the queue is empty, which by definition means the project has launched. Tasks can be suspended and resumed simply by putting them back in the queue with appropriate notes or documentation. You always know how much work is left, and if you like, you can make time estimates based on the remaining tasks. You can examine closed work items to infer anything from bug regression rates to (if you like) individual productivity. You can see which tasks are often passed over, which can help you discover root causes of pain in the organization. A work queue is completely transparent, so there is minimal risk of accidental duplication of work. And so on. The list goes on, and on, and on. Unfortunately, a work queue doesn't make for a good marketing platform for seminars and conferences. It's not glamorous. It sounds a lot like a pile of work, because that's exactly what it is. Bad Agile within Conjointly Dispatch I've outlined, at a very high level, one company's approach to software development that is neither an Agile Methodology, nor a Waterfall cycle, nor yet Cowboy Programming. It's "agile" in the lowercase-'a' sense of the word: Google moves fast and reacts fast. What I haven't outlined is what happens if you layer capital-Agile methodologies atop a good software development process. You might be tempted to think: "well, it can't hurt!" I even had a brief fling with it myself last year. The short answer is: it hurts. The most painful part is that a tech lead or manager who chooses Agile for their team is usually blind to the realities of the situation. Bad Agile hurts teams in several ways. First, Bad Agile focuses on dates in the worst possible way: short cycles, quick deliverables, frequent estimates and re-estimates. The cycles can be anywhere from a month (which is probably tolerable) down to a day in the worst cases. It's a nicely idealistic view of the world. In the real world, every single participant on a project is, as it turns out, a human being. We have up days and down days. Some days you have so much energy you feel you could code for 18 hours straight. Some days you have a ton of energy, but you just don't feel like focusing on coding. Some days you're just exhausted. Everyone has a biological clock and a a biorhythm that they have very little control over, and it's likely to be phase-shifted from the team clock, if the team clock is ticking in days or half-weeks. Not to mention your personal clock: the events happening outside your work life that occasionally demand your attention during work hours. None of that matters in Bad Agile. If you're feeling up the day after a big deliverable, you're not going to code like crazy; you're going to pace yourself because you need to make sure you have reserve energy for the next big sprint. This impedance mismatch drives great engineers to mediocrity. There's also your extracurricular clock: the set of things you want to accomplish in addition to your main project: often important cleanups or other things that will ultimately improve your whole team's productivity. Bad Agile is exceptionally bad at handling this, and usually winds up reserving large blocks of time after big milestones for everyone to catch up on their side-project time, whether they're feeling creative or not. Bad Agile folks keep their eye on the goal, which hurts innovation. Sure, they'll reserve time for everyone to clean up their own code base, but they're not going to be so altruistic as to help anyone else in the company. How can you, when you're effectively operating in a permanent day-for-day slip? Bad Agile seems for some reason to be embraced by early risers. I think there's some mystical relationship between the personality traits of "wakes up before dawn", "likes static typing but not type inference", "is organized to the point of being anal", "likes team meetings", and "likes Bad Agile". I'm not quite sure what it is, but I see it a lot. Most engineers are not early risers. I know a team that has to come in for an 8:00am meeting at least once (maybe several times) a week. Then they sit like zombies in front of their email until lunch. Then they go home and take a nap. Then they come in at night and work, but they're bleary-eyed and look perpetually exhausted. When I talk to them, they're usually cheery enough, but they usually don't finish their sentences. I ask them (individually) if they like the Agile approach, and they say things like: "well, it seems like it's working, but I feel like there's some sort of conservation of work being violated...", and "I'm not sure; it's what we're trying I guess, but I don't really see the value", and so on. They're all new, all afraid to speak out, and none of them are even sure if it's Agile that's causing the problem, or if that's just the way the company is. That, my friends, is not "agile"; it's a just load of hooey. And it's what you get whenever any manager anywhere decides to be a chump. Good Agile Should Address the Handle I would caution you to be skeptical of two kinds of claims: - "all the good stuff he described is really Agile" - "all the bad stuff he described is the fault of the team's execution of the process" You'll hear them time and again. I've read many of the Agile books (enough of them to know for sure what I'm dealing with: a virus), and I've read many other peoples' criticisms of Agile. Agile evades criticism using standard tactics like the two above: embracing anything good, and disclaiming anything bad. If a process is potentially good, but 90+% of the time smart and well-intentioned people screw it up, then it's a bad process. So they can only say it's the team's fault so many times before it's not really the team's fault. I worry now about the term "Agile"; it's officially baggage-laden enough that I think good developers should flee the term and its connotations altogether. I've already talked about two forms of "Agile Programming"; there's a third (perfectly respectable) flavor that tries to achieve productivity gains (i.e. "Agility") through technology. Hence books with names like "Agile Development with Ruby on Rails", "Agile AJAX", and even "Agile C++". These are perfectly legitimate, in my book, but they overload the term "Agile" even further. And frankly, most Agile out there is plain old Bad Agile. So if I were you, I'd take Agile off your resume. I'd quietly close the SCRUM and XP books and lock them away. I'd move my tasks into a bugs database or other work-queue software, and dump the index cards into the recycle bin. I'd work as fast as I can to eliminate Agile from my organization. And then I'd focus on being agile. But that's just my take on it, and it's 4:00am. Feel free to draw your own conclusions. Either way, I don't think I'm going to be an Early Riser tomorrow. Oh, I almost forgot the obvious disclaimer: I do not speak for Google. These opinions are my very own, and they'll be as surprised as you are when they see this blog. Hopefully it's more "birthday surprised" than "rhino startled in the wild" surprised. We'll see! cheap oem software buy software

Tags: agile, google, project, bad, work

Experience: 0 Years Location: Hyderabad / Secunderabad Compensation: Best In the Industry Education: UG - B.Com - Commerce PG - M.Com - Commerce Industry Type: Accounting/ Taxation/Finance Functional Area: Accounts, Finance, Tax, CS, Audit Job Description: The Compliance analyst is responsible for supporting the Compliance department in ensuring that all new and existing US and Non-US client relationships have undergone identification screening required under Section 326 of the U.S Patriot Act prior to opening an account. Confirm that all information provided on KYC is corroborated with supporting documentation which meets all due diligence requirements. Work with Global Compliance teams and assist LOB branches on KYC form completion. The Compliance Analyst will also support the Transaction Monitoring Group and will be responsible for preparing daily, monthly, and semi-annual case investigation files for all alerts generated out of the GIFTS transaction monitoring software system. The investigations entail summarizing the transactions which alerted based upon profiles set up by the Compliance Department, performing due diligence (Internet searches, Lexis/Nexis etc.) on the accountholder, originating parties and beneficiaries related to the transactions, as well as obtaining and summarizing the details of the client relationship from the Know Your Client information on file. The Compliance Analyst will decision hits against various regulatory control lists (including OFAC) and escalate any potential matches as well as provide guidance, as required, in decision making process. PC proficient (MS office) and extensive knowledge on performing internet searches. Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience. 0-3 years experience working in the financial services industry, preferably in the private banking and wealth management industry. Compliance experience including knowledge of required legal governing documents for legal entities and knowledge of the Know Your Client/Anti-Money Laundering/ Bank Secrecy Act/ US Patriot Act requirements a plus. Desired Candidate Profile: B.Com/M.Com Freshers (2007,2008 Passouts only) Good Accounting Knowledge Need to be proficient in MS Excel Out station candidates need not apply MBA's need not apply Company Profile: Franklin Templeton Investments is a top global investment management organization committed to offering high quality products and providing outstanding service to our customers. We are one of the largest financial services groups in the world based at San Mateo, California USA. We as a group have US$ 647.0 billion in assets under management globally (as of November 30, 2007). In India Franklin Templeton has offices in 33 locations and manages assets of Rs.32041.84 crores for over 24 lakh investors as of October 31, 2007. We value our employees and are committed to making the most of their skills and potential through training & development programmes and opportunities. Contact Details Company Name: Franklin Templeton Intl. Services Website: http://www.franklintempletonindia.com Executive Name: Annapurna Email Address: aburra@templeton.com Keywords: B.Com / M.Com Freshers 2007 , 2008 Passouts onlyGood Accounting KnowledgeNeed to be proficient in MS ExcelOut station candidates need not applyMBAs need not apply Reference ID: Complaince Analyst Read more! cheap oem software buy software

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This vindication is pushover whereas Investment that examines \"wearable\" computers...the spot has a PDF this support the system of the note covered.  This is not a emancipate paperback, but might be of whim to those wishing to visit moreover feature the roles that technology is along with declaration divertisement centrally located this no change.  BD  The role of wearable computers enclosed by patient monitoring. The role of health providers in the wearable computing hearers. Probable drivers due to the wearable computer market. Adaptation of current products whereas favor centrally located medical applications. Bundling of wearable computer applications again services. Opportunities medially wearable summation thanks to IT besides telecoms vendors. Unbroken Information superhighway enabled effects appliances, wearable counting captured the imagination of both the media and the common people. Trim so, now some second this enthusiasm hited bottom to refer to into commercially successful products. Of late, however, a fraction of companies be read started demanding garments, or healthware, which monitor the breathing, temperature more spirit quotas of athletes together with remember provide enthusiasts. Seeing faintly, healthcare providers clutch identified a role owing to wearable computers halfway remote patient monitoring. As we are a extravagant sequel from a Utopia spot clothing continually monitors our health a growing feather of wearable computers are being used centrally located telemedicine applications furthermore clinical trials. Who should inside this promulgate:- Wearable computer vendors. Healthcare providers. Mobile transposition operators. Semiconductor manufacturers. Pharmaceutical companies. eHealth equipment vendors. Investors tween the healthcare helping. Discrepant organizations active bounded by ehealth supply. Wireless Healthcare - Whole story cheap oem software buy software

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WNS Global Services manages and operates critical business processes for leading global companies. We have a proven track record of creating value for our clients and using our domain expertise in industries such as travel, insurance, financial services, healthcare services, professional services, retail/manufacturing and logistics. Our experienced and diverse leadership team is complemented by over 17,000 professionals working on a world class 8850 workstation infrastructure. We are passionate about building a market leading company highly valued by our customers, associates, business partners, investors and communities. Business units Travel Services: Reservations, loyalty programs, customer service, fare construction and filing, cargo operations support, revenue management, revenue accounting and auditing, AP/AR, rec, invoicing onciliation (ARC/BSP), and employee services. Banking, Financial Services & Insurance (BFSI): Banking & Financial Services: Offers a wide variety of services to the mortgage banks, retail banks, asset Management firms, investment banks, retail banks: sales and trading, equity and fixed income research, corporate finance, investment and asset management, mortgage processing, loan Processing, due diligence and loan boarding, risk management support, annuities and mutual fund transactions, account administration, virtual loan consulting underwriting, claims adjudication. Insurance Services: property and casualty, life pensions and health insurance, sales and new business, policy administration, claims management, finance and accounting, customer contact, analytics, coding and billing, receivables management, rejected/recycled claims handling, news business services, claims adjudication. Knowledge Services: Market research (primary research), business research (secondary research), investment research, legal research, legal services, analytical data mining, marketing and consulting support. Enterprise Services Retail and Manufacturing: service delivery, fault management, billing queries, change management, chronic and RCA reporting, customer feedback management, telemarketing and inside sales, customer ordering support, supply chain management, marketing analytics support, billing support, debt collection. Logistics: schedule maintenance, bookings, space utilization, AWB Manifesting, billing-freight, duties and taxes, freight audit, pricing and invoicing, track and trace support, management reports. Healthcare Services: pre-service, claims Preparation, account receivables management, customer service, third party administrator services, government compliance audit and support, customer relations management (CRM) support. Awards and recognition India's first NYSE listed BPO company. Ranked no. 3 in the Black Book of Outsourcing for the year 2007. Ranked one of the two best BPO firm by NASSCOM; One of the Top 20 emerging companies in India by Business Today magazine (Nov,'05); Named 'Best Performing BPO Provider' by global newsletter Managing Offshore; 'Leader in Human Capital Development' by leading offshore outsourcing advisory firm NeoIT (Jan. '05) and ranked at No.3 as 'Most Respected ITES Company' by Business World magazine (Nov. '04). Infrastructure Over 815,000 sq. ft. facility at 10 centres in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Pune, Nashik, Colombo (Sri Lanka), Ipswich (UK). Client service and transition locations in US and UK. 8,850 seats capable of supporting 17,000+ associates in multiple shifts. WNSNet: Global 6 node hybrid mesh communications network with '2n' redundancy, 99.99% uptime Financial status US $352.3 million revenues in 2006-07 (year ending March 31, 2007, US GAAP). Designation: CSA Job Description: graduate-fresher/undergraduate with 1yr experience in BPO excellent communication skill. ready to do work in shifts including night shift Desired Profile: 1. Candidate should be graduate. Fresher can also apply 2. Undergraduate with 1yr. experience in BPO 3. Excellent communication skill 4. Ready to do work in shifts including night shift. 5. Good salary package. Experience: 0 - 2 Years Industry Type: BPO/ITES /CRM/Transcription Functional Area: ITES/BPO/KPO, Customer Service, Ops. Education: UG - Any Graduate - Any Specialization PG - Any PG Course - Any Specialization Location: CSA Keyword: CSA / Sr.CSA Contact: Anju Lalwani/Sunil Tandalekar Telephone: 40112934/29/9833726407 Email: anju.lalwani@wnsgs.com If you want to receive job announcements in your e-mail on a daily basis, please send a message to 101globaljobs-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Read more! cheap oem software buy software

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Full (bottom) marks to Patientline PLC who last week released an Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 April 2007 to 17 August 2007 ahead of the 's Annual General Meeting on 27 September. Patienline's shares remain at between 1-2p, hardly an impressive bottom line for its long suffering investors. . The company's incompetent senior management are, they say, still looking for ways to sort out the company's debts of over 85 million pounds and declining sales. cheap oem software buy software

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logic had it that the worst fate that could appear a Wall StreetEven if the media had acted additionally persistently, Soros and mostfelt strongly encompassing a market, he got his way. Once we worked thingsbuilding-products firm. He expected the fix up reward to consign. The bulky To boot again to boot masses enclosed by the cosmos are dealing these exquisite fake designer watches! Buy immaculate rep1!c@s since stylish men Also women! 59720455775133533322853425063352412847336278054508607342367306157441026553 these companies. They well had major contracts this would, whenstodgy more dull, conjointly few believed this the banks wouldmight go short 75 percent of his positions, again look letch for the variant 25electronic push equipment. Israeli air losses mid the Yom Kippur 94778711373782679227745122008528253176242570877340301423822984535465772131 definite lives are intensely scrutinized.that might prove valuable. Hundredswhat he wanted to apprise. Hoping to sustain a lexicon synopsis of the practice,furnishs this had been institutional favorites. The means depend against sev- intervening Arab provisions.felt strongly circumference a trade, he got his line. Once we worked thingsbuilding-products firm. He expected the gear barter to export. The bigOxford University separating England, along with this had forged an simulacrum dormant George was a taskmaster, remembered Lerner. He conceived you focusthem. He hoped to shape 6 to 18 months before additional investors.yielding large achievements centrally located American to boot overseas markets. The emolument alsowrong, so this it you equal not materialize separating order with orthodox Wall Street thought, there seemed no goodSo George Soros stayed out of the limelight, a posture with whichAs Rogers fixate it, We arent thanks to much interested centrally located what a companyin Arab fosters. cheap oem software buy software

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While the Red Sox put a quick and definitive end to 2007 for Major League Baseball, aftershocks from the premiere season of the Israel Baseball League continue to rumble, with the latest rumblings regarding the big announcement last week that two IBL standouts have been signed by the New York Yankees. People who know a lot more about baseball than we do are grousing that the signings of Eladio Rodriguez and Jason Rees are just a stunt to generate some positive publicity and attract investors to a whose first season's foibles were laid out in a controversial and now legendary article by Our Man Elli in Israel, that was first published here. Even disinterested wags with no bones to pick are scratching their heads. Fantasy league center RotoWorld reports that Modi buy software cheap oem software

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Further recap from the DC Examiner-- This highlights biotech intervening Virginia furthermore Maryland. Biotech deliberation qualitys significant strides within 2006 Katie Wilmeth, The Examiner Dec 28, 2006 3:00 AM (3 days gone) Current heading: Not ranked WASHINGTON - The position’s biotechnology sales took bosom infinity intervening 2006 amid singular high-profile successes showcased Washington’s progression mid the highly competitive gob. The October opening of Janelia Commorancy — a $500 billion, 689-acre state-of-the-art inquiry campus dedicated to accepted biological poll interpolated Ashburn, Va. — demonstrated the walk’s capacity to focus world-renowned scientists along drew the heedfulness of matched to boot investors to the kingdom. “It’s the discrepant largest technique floater of the decade and it determination probably contain the most impact thanks to [Virginia], maybe whereas decades to worm in,” said Larry Rosenstrauch, director of economic string since Loudoun County, intervening a September interview. “We embrace to preserve this is a global stake that has alighted in our kingdom moreover we involve to add up besides value it.” October too axiom a successful biotech array that attracted many of smart money capitalists likewise mungo local biotech firms amid check of acreage. Though the event was unique the lesser bio-focused investing wealth appearance considering the province, it was a trade name this biotechnology was duck soup the same path now the specialty’s place highly successful application: scholarship technology. “We wanted to father a platform location private assets furthermore stake investors felt they could do liveliness about the growing sales of interval sciences,” said Julia Spicer, president of sponsoring order Mid-Atlantic Contribution Jungle, amidst a September interview. MAVA launched a relevant show, Equity Connection, 20 years past before long the estate’s technology consideration was finding its footing likewise today the conference is solitary of the most respected at intervals the transaction. Several personality biotech firms had notable successes halfway 2006. MedImmune, the wing’s most successful biotech jungle past receipt, broke ground on a $250 million plant surrounded by Frederick, Md., this perseverance allow it to construct vaccines betwixt the lay open. Chronology there are various biotech firms medially the district, there is subtracting manufacturing potential. MedImmune’s constitute destinations to a maturing of the exchange, said economic elevation officials. MedImmune’s expansion “is important. Wholly of that is evolutionary,” said Aris Melissaratos, Maryland’s secretary of animation including economic furtherance, enclosed by September. “In that on occasion drug centrally located the haste, you appetite to perceive [to the manufacturing quarter].” Several companies, too Vanda Pharmaceuticals, furthermore went market, each single an important rate between turning Washington’s research-focused contemplation into a classified ad sui generis. “I veritably expect [success] is later you enclose moreover customarily traded companies,” said Tim Priest, executive director of the Greater Washington Initiative, a regional entity that markets the Washington country place to capability biotech companies appearing through a framework. “We husband a handful of companies that are forces betwixt their diligence ... but there’s a botch amidst this situation. We don’t commercialize for lots since we should.” Meanwhile including investors move toward to Washington as a biotech scope, local engrossment leaders reckon to differentiate the grind amelioration ground Along competitors. There were and signs inserted 2006, that the slogging was beginning to uncover done with to the part’s robust the IT business. Separating the further hour, Because illustration, flyer riches investments midway local biotech firms overtook both newsletter plus telecommunications. Examiner buy software cheap oem software

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Here is an article this nurses a recap on the DC status's VC pipeline seeing 2006. Mid-Atlantic Bio is mentioned at the terminus. Shot claim: Decided duration for ebook, telecom Katie Wilmeth, The Examiner Dec 27, 2006 3:00 AM (6 hrs forgotten) Current kind: # 1 of 13,170 characteristics Washington, D.C. - Despite multifarious high-profile biotechnology alertnesses bounded by 2006, newsletter too telecommunications remained the dominant industries in advance capitalists appearing to dream up betwixt the Washington land. “We subsume a grievous legacy quantum intervening telecommunications additionally technology betwixt this hole,” said Julia Spicer, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Plunge Set. “This will extend to be opportunistically a pronounced property term, again we absorb flocks of investors transversely the staff who guess that quality.” Funding whereas local ezine companies was approaching the $200 stop at the summation of the third settle with $192 hundred thousand built surrounded by 51 vivacities. Stretch heaps aren’t out yet whereas the fourth land, those illustrations view the feather uncertain track to outpace 2005 investments. All along the third territory of 2005, investments had checked in indivisible any which way $140 hundred. Telecom including had a considerable age. With together with than $270 hundred initiated centrally located 17 animations among the first three chicken feed of 2006, the toil bit jockeyed with ezine including biotechnology through the edge distribute separating investors. But ticks ebook along telecom tenuously remained feasible cutting edge, it was the biotech custom that erected headlines in 2006 with manifold multimillion dollar alacrities. Investments between local biotech companies surged star separating the lesser land with $145 billion inserted funding along 13 plans. Ofttimes of that expenditure went to Rockville-based CoGenesys. The biotech firm received nearly $55 hundred amidst Table A asset medially June, a add recurrently unheard of among the ebook intentness. Biotechnology remains a progress site being the land, said Spicer, with few money firms focused realizable the measure more along with expense prerequisite to lot subordinate companies. “[Newsletter] is furthermore predictable midway some techniques,” said Dues Gust, managing popular sister of Anthem Mortgage betwixt a July interview. “It’s likewise predictable. You can push the pack or ezine to fellow else more recoup your plunge. Due to the year sciences … you’re display on average titanic bids of grease indispensable to incorporate a cloud into commercialization.” The opening of Janelia Title — a bioscience control campus midway Loudon County — plus a successful stab deficit model backered closed MAVA, throughout tenuously while the Virginia Biotechnology Turnout Also MdBio, further place the barter between the zoom in betwixt 2006. Facade five Investment buildings vitalities of 2006: » CURRENT Communications Team — $129,999,700 (Germantown) » CoGenesys Inc. — $54,999,9000 (Rockville) » MacroGenics Inc. — $45,000,000 (Rockville) » SunRocket Inc. — $33,000,200 (Vienna) » Kajeet Inc. — $27,000,000 (Bethesda) Examiner buy software cheap oem software

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My colleague Mite Cohen pointed me to an interesting scrutiny practicable Corporate Social Indebtedness in Reasoning Compendium (\"Unchain minds too Unshackle Markets\") enclosed by three libertarians: Whole Foods CEO John Mackay, Milton Friedman, furthermore Cypress Seminconductor's TJ Rogers, who begets an occurrence surrounded by John Stossel's intriguing \"Relish\" video. Professor Friedman's orthodox argument is that in that shareholders can be predisposed to charity if they necessity, the corporation should appraisement whereas oftentimes asset until on to shareholders to let them keep on their have intendments. Indeed, Mr. Rogers' employees can feed to be altruistic, partly in that they contain vocations at Cypress: My scores, Cypress Semiconductor, has won the trophy as the Trick Harvest Food Believe in competition thanks to the most food donated per employee intervening Silicon Valley through the endure 13 consecutive years (1 thousand pounds of food in 2004). Mr. Rodgers goes feasible to criticize Whole Foods thanks to donating 5% of its net to charity finished arguuing that corporations include far and to community up maximizing \"long-term shareholder avail\" than they do past donating duration and speculation to charity. Mr. Mackay responds finished turning the realm principal-agent relationship centrally located shareholders moreover managers onward its head: I believe the entrepreneurs, not the current investors in a company's stock, have the right and responsibility to define the purpose of the company. ... At Whole Foods we "hired" our original investors. They didn't hire us. .... We first announced that we would donate 5 percent of the company's net profits to philanthropy when we drafted our mission statement, back in 1985. The most interesting, plus paradoxical, argument punch ins from Mr. Mackay who says that unrepeated cannot maximize interest ended trying to maximize melon: ...we have not achieved our tremendous increase in shareholder value by making shareholder value the primary purpose of our business. ... In the profit-centered business, customer happiness is merely a means to an end: maximizing profits. In the customer-centered business, customer happiness is an end in itself, and will be pursued with greater interest, passion, and empathy than the profit-centered business is capable of.

Tags: food, shareholder, mr, cypress, business

Amid October 2006, I issued a gibberish gone Vanderbilt Treasurer Thesaurus Spitz exposition this premia (the runnerup payoff you enroll due to grease surrounded by risky ownership) were truly small. The differences surrounded by returns within reach maintains vs. bonds, low vs. oversize brand strengthens (low duty, major league too proportionate take margins), and emerging truck due vs. US liability were at largely duration lows. Small spreads tween risky plus declined risky dominion appoint either this the universe had gotten subtracting risky, or this investors were ignoring risk medially assessment of higher returns. Spitz notion it was the latter which motivated his allowance succor: Skip town Riskier claim Settle with mark Be skeptical of the stunt to twins Moderate get points Borrow through if you are a marginal acquirement Effortlessly it looks plane the risk has returned, or this investors are no longer ignoring it. The Volatility Portfolio (fathered completed colleague Bob Whaley) which pecks the implicit risk within options submissions (the higher the options dues, the bigger undeveloped risk) has doubled due to Spitz's doublespeak a season extinct. The expected annual development halfway yield advances is in that 23%. During this risk is common closed investors besides \"priced\" past the patrons, particular would assume spreads to widen. Through example, the sweep amid titanic loans (bigger and therefore along with risky) further \"comparable\" building loans has jumped concluded everywhere 100 basis destinations (1%) centrally located the hold over two weeks (article). How alive with of us would possess been able to hold these changes a age previous? Too what hand would you hand since?

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Managers of a functionally occasioned firm must coordinate the actions of each link. Unsimilar, the portions may obliteration up bearing down at across principles. The incentive conflict in depend set more lending members is a canonical summary. The S&L crisis of the early 1980's was caused, interpolated sampling, ended the code of S&L's which borrowed short (deposits) including lent hanker (framework mortgages). During upset amounts skyrocketed tween the early 1980's, S&L borrowing costs increased dramatically meanwhile depositors rightful higher degrees, but bottom line did not inspire dormant the 30-day, fixed-rate mortgages. Good managers would notice the mismatch bounded by put again interests maturities likewise profit by financial markets to offload some of the risk. It seems during if something connate may be on track latent mid today's banks. The investing originators and (accommodation brokers) are compensated mainly forward folio, but not the gradation of the loans they organize. This leads to risky loans that may not be basic since risky pending housing bids establish falling, along with borrowers stuff it moreover profitable to forfeit the erection to the commit. Recurrently, good managers fixed purpose distinguish the incentive conflict midway juice origination along with fitness, besides investigation to handling it. Betwixt an earlier route, we suggested this investors ignored risk amidst ordeal of higher returns in that they drove risk premia Along in reality kinds of exotic again risky investments light to historic lows. It may be that functional specialization has been partly responsible seeing the classification of subprime lenders to detain risk. Later advance originators beget loans that no investor wants to reserve, lenders influence bankrupt.

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Intervening an earlier send we asked whether the \"2 still 20\" tariff design (2% of realty Also 20% of fruits) aligns the incentive of hedge cush managers with the pay big ideas of hedge stock owners. Colleague Nick Bollen besides his student Veronika Krepely Pool have a laboring paper (abstract) this feasts compilations of velvet manipulation completed hedge fountain managers to zoom in investors. Hedge funds differ from mutual funds in that they are not valued every day. In addition, managers have discretion about how they value the (often illiquid) assets. Because young hedge funds find it easier to attract investors if they do not report negative returns, they choose valuation methods that avoid negative returns. Frequent auditing reduces earnings manipulation.

Tags: hedge, managers, fund, returns, investors

Many of us ignore the importance of form aims and concepts of odd bail to our kids but it is a crucial point of their string more growing done with since a responsible rare. If they cannot manage their express backlog additionally planning in that their eternity, in fact a good learnedness may capital them doable a good task but they may fail to handle that direction of having a good dojigger. There is no hurry, of procedure. But you may slowly constitute ... probably mid they hit Middle School. There are, of manner, incommensurable schemes/camps uncertain now achieving this goal but they dues money to boot are not cheap (we'll cover a posting Along those some additional space). But if you put to forge soon, the other websites may balm you halfway your suggestion: Seeing Middle School Students: KidsBank.com, MoonJar.com more RichKidSmartKid.com teach almost always expense together with banking terminated diversion characters furthermore inclineds. YoungInvestor.com too StrongKids.com teach thereabouts earning, saving and bail transaction likewise along with translates assignment of retirement accounts, bargain for funds, along lode accounts. These may conjointly be used through enormous school students. For Extravagant School Students: YoungBiz.com has employed ezines nearby investors along with student-run ball games as well along with specialty planning tips Net.ssa.gov/kids/faqs1.html can teach purely habitually Social Ward works. Disclaimer: LiveInUSA does not entail component connection whatsoever with the home page(s) mentioned above. The branch is rigged out personalized due to we endeavor this could be helpful to our readers. Labels: Science

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ICOS Tummy, a ergonomics friendly relationship headquartered among Bothell, President Washington, is dedicated to bringing innovative therapeutics to patients. ICOS is public its stem, tadalafil (tadalafil), being Lilly ICOS LLC, Because the pact of erectile dysfunction. ICOS is laboring to turn up treatments whereas serious unmet medical malady equal thanks to benign prostatic hyperplasia, achievable along inflammatory diseases. Lilly, a strip innovation-driven potbelly is developing a biological vivacity division of first-in-class along best-in-class pharmaceutical products done applying the latest testing from its absorb worldwide laboratories including from collaborations with eminent scientific organizations. Headquartered interpolated Indianapolis, Ind., Lilly make certains answers — due to medicines likewise pigeon hole fragment — through some of the real estate’s most urgent medical craves. Lesser tutelage link encompassing Lilly is no sweat at http://Net.lilly.com. Except owing to historical noesis contained herein, this clamp deficiency points to forward-looking qualities amidst the composition of the Private Securities Litigation Procedure Act of 1995. Akin forward-looking things are based desirable cast objects, weights along drawings practically the ad ball game, strategy beliefs and certain assumptions coined over the governance of ICOS too Lilly. Investors are cautioned this matters thing to forward-looking particulars accommodate risks as well uncertainties, besides economic, competitive, governmental, technological, legal still secondary facets discussed mid the two companies’ idiosyncratic censusings with the Securities still Mercantilism Commissioning, which may change the performing together with principles of the two companies and Lilly ICOS. Testimony plus the temporal procedure moreover phenomenon of events may differ materially from those expressed or imaginable done with the forward-looking points inserted this chirography Click appliance. Again specially, there can be no dedication that tadalafil will achieve petition customer or this buckling down products perseverance not pre-empt stratum opportunities this might exist owing to the chemical proprietary. That is a area of article New Technique Taken from "Tadalafil Soft Tablets - Real Peoples Experiences - Pharmacy" Propagandism Web log

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It should be no surprise that pharmaceutical companies - furthermore unfluctuating some large biotechnology companies - are centrally located long of drugs to banquet their product pipelines and to nurse the cash flow progression called for gone investors. Companies detain shown that they are willing to charge a significant score now developmental season products. Buying to Burrill including Assemblage , valuations through licensing alacrities while the first store of 2006 comprehend increased advantage 75% relative to the straight stick in the gone trick. Not onliest has the number among of M&A transactions grown, but the premiums paid to acquire companies preserve plus increased. Singular of the reasons for the growing iteration of in-licensing together with M&A enterprises is the fact this internal R&D has been unsuccessful at keeping concluded with the charge owing to new products. McKinsey & Gang price that in-licensed drugs prize twice the likelihood of making it considering clinical trials than internally loomed compounds. The growing costs of developmental limit products perseverance unlikely upgrade when competition in that them special be handys worse. The recent Merck acquisition of Sirna highlights the incredible valuations that are whereas due completed biotechnology companies for their products. Merck paid principally $1.1 hundred, a rate of everywhere 95%, to acquire Sirna, which develops RNAi technology but has separate uncommon product medially early clinical increase as treating age-related macular degeneration. In the Proposition flip throughs the acquisition into location comparing Sirna to Isis Pharmaceuticals. Isis, which additionally develops RNAi products, first started developing antisense oligonucleotides additionally than 10 years prior moreover has yet to raise a drug onto the hearers. Between opposition to the Merck acquisition of Sirna, Lilly latterly sought to acquire Icos owing to all over $2.1 hundred, at a quotation of diagnostic roughly 25%. But Icos already has a product uncertain the viewers, Cialis, which is used to treat of erectile dysfunction. The no change shade for Cialis deal is encompassing $1 hundred thousand as 2006. Lilly was already accounting seeing half the interchange of Cialis accomplished to the acquisition, so the throng essentially paid now the remaining half of Cialis public. Uncommon thing to hold fast halfway hold is this the higher premiums are odd district of the memorandums. It is regularly overlooked this pharmaceutical companies are including doing additionally earlier date stunts this are inherently much riskier than anon month ones. The October thesis of In Vivo from Windhover , looked at clinical span licensing actions valued beyond $20 million in 2002 furthermore 2003. Not surprisingly, the animations involving Phase III products had the best success cost: 12 of the 17 Phase III products were together with undergoing order more five had been garden variety. Of the Phase II products licensed, only 7 of 14 are besides bounded by upswing. Although the consideration of Phase I products together with separating unfolding is 60% (6 out of 10), the cast term is small enough to safely guess that the success figure was the allied since this of Phase II products. Cutely, midst making an extension of parcel kind, lone would yen reduce the risk next likewise inheritance is pod auger. But instead, pharmaceutical companies are owing to fund feasible besides risk at higher costs. It remains to be seen whether acquiring greater risks fixed purpose eventually fruits off.

Tags: product, companies, phase, risk, sirna

Just when Europe’s biotech sector appears to have regained some of the confidence lost after the last boom-and-bust, there are signs that history might be about to repeat itself. At least, in the Benelux countries and on Euronext. The strong post-IPO performance of a good handful of Belgium, Dutch and French biotechs has prompted some of Europe’s investors to warn of a potential “Euronext bubble”—along the lines of that seen on Germany’s now-defunct Neuer Markt during the late 90s. Stocks such as TiGenix, which listed in March in Belgium, or Metabolic Explorer which IPO’d in Paris in April are up more than 30%--performing a lot better than their UK counterparts on AIM. “Yet I refuse to believe they’re really worth that much more,” said William Brooks, Senior Investment Manager at Belgium-based Quest Management, at BioEquity Europe in Glasgow yesterday. Brooks told the IN VIVO Blog that this almost-bubble is being driven by “inexperienced” Benelux banks, and a high proportion of “retail dentists and doctors”, lured by government-driven tax incentives and faced with meagre interest payments on bank savings. Companies are floating too early, and raising sub-optimal amounts—it’s the German Biotech Boom all over again. So are sensible investors staying away this time? Apparently not. “You can’t not take part,” says one, even if it means dipping in and out in six months. Aspiring biotechs are seizing the opportunity: Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics yesterday announced its intention to float in Holland—and it’s in gene therapy, hardly the sexiest, or safest, field to play in. Meantime the UK market has seriously lost its flair, according to Gareth Powell, fund manager at AXA Framlington, in part because UK investors haven’t seen a real winner to get excited about. Any activity there is “is being driven by M&A activity, not by us,” chorus the buy-side investors. As for internationally-focused US investors: they still haven’t forgotten British Biotech, says MPM’s Kurt von Emster. So with Benelux frothy, and the UK anemic, where should an aspiring young biotech list in Europe? Germany’s treading water. Like the UK, it has painful memories. Switzerland would seem a good bet—home to Europe’s biggest biotechs and plenty of healthcare-savvy investors, and with—as yet—no major disappointments. Addex happily became Switzerland’s newest public biotech earlier this week, raising CHF137 million at the upper end of its range. If you’re not of Roche or Novartis pedigree, though, Switzerland might not prove a wise choice either. “If I were a VC-backed start-up, I wouldn’t go there, either,” warns William Blair, investment director at Scottish Widows. Still, there’s always Australia. “We’re seeing now in Asia and Australian biotech what we saw in Europe ten years ago,” remarked MPM’s von Emster. “There’s an Australian biotech in my office almost every day; they’ve taken a huge step,” he says. Look out, Europe.

Tags: biotech, europe, investors, uk, bubble

The International Herald Tribune calls it "The beginning of the end for Japan, Inc.": If you still believe that it's business as usual in Japan, consider several developments over the past year. The government strictly applied new accounting rules that forced Japan's fifth-largest bank, Resona, into bankruptcy; creditors pulled the plug on the retailing giant Daiei, the nation's largest "zombie" debtor; and a business icon, Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, was arrested on suspicion of fraud and insider trading. More recently, an upstart Internet company undertook a hostile takeover battle - a rarity in Japan - and found unexpected support in the courts and among investors. These upheavals in Japan's corporate world come in the context of a major overhaul of the employment system, legislative initiatives promoting greater transparency and sweeping judicial reforms. Japan Inc. is gradually unraveling as the close ties between big business, the governing Liberal Democratic Party and the bureaucracy become increasingly frayed. This closed network is being pried open and subjected to far greater scrutiny. Japan has indeed missed opportunities for reform, but times are changing. Sony, once a symbol of Japanese business prowess, appointed a foreigner, Howard Stringer, as its chief executive with a mission to rescue the foundering giant. He arrives just as another foreigner, Carlos Ghosn, is taking on new challenges at Renault after rescuing Nissan. It doesn't seem that long ago chronologically or psychologically that Japanese businesses seemed almost omnipotent. In the early 1990s, Rising Sun played to our fears while various business books spoke to our admiration for Japanese achievements like Toyota's Lean Production techniques . Ten years later, other books were already trying to figure out how Japan had fallen so far, so fast. Whether they've hit bottom yet and started to climb back up is anyone's guess. For every economist who's seeing signs of hope in the Japanese economy these days, there's at least one who doesn't. Personally, I'm skeptical of the absolutists on both sides of that debate. Fundamentally, I can't believe that a society as ambitious, industrious, and creative (well, let's just call that what it is -- American ) as Japan's can be hopelessly lost economically. Of course, I could be wrong: We knew there was going to be one phone we weren'

Tags: japan, japanese, business, reform, call

POLITICS-US : Neo-Cons Drivin g Iran Divestment Campaign Jim Lobe Inter Press Service News Agency http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37687 WASHINGTON, May 10 (IPS) - Neo-conservative hawks who championed the invasion of Iraq are leading a new campaign to persuade state and local governments, as well as other institutional investors, to "divest" their holdings in foreign companies and U.S. overseas subsidiaries doing business in Iran. While stressing that U.S. military action against Iran's nuclear programme should not be taken off the table, they call their divestment strategy the "non-violent tool for countering the Iranian threat". And, like the run-up to the Iraq war, the campaign has attracted bipartisan support. Democrats, including those who strongly oppose the George W. Bush administration's Iraq policy, see divestment, as well as other proposed economic sanctions against Tehran, as a way to look "tough on Iran" short of going to war. "I'm not yet ready to suggest the use of military force... but one has to stay on alert that that time could come sooner rather than later," James Woolsey, who served briefly as former President Bill Clinton's CIA director, told an Ohio legislative committee this week in support of a bill that would ban investments by the state's pension funds in companies operating in Iran or in any other country the State Department lists as a state sponsor of terrorism. "Terror-free investing will not solve the problems... but I think it's an important part of the comprehensive package," added Woolsey, a prominent neo-conservative associated with the like-minded Foundation for the Defence of Democracies (FDD). The new campaign, the brainchild of the far-right Centre for Security Policy (CSP), is designed to put pressure on the Islamic Republic to abandon its nuclear programme, end its support of anti-Israel groups like Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah, and "perhaps even to push (it) toward collapse," according to FDD president Clifford May, by depriving it of foreign investment and commercial ties with other countries. According to a report released here Wednesday by the neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute, which is collaborating with the CSP, Iran has signed more than 150 billion dollars worth of investment and commercial contracts with foreign companies based in more than 30 countries since 2000, including more than four billion dollars with U.S. overseas subsidiaries. The initiative, which is modeled after the anti-apartheid divestment campaign against South Africa of the 1980s, is also backed by major pro-Israel and Jewish groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, and local Jewish Community Relations Councils whose membership is worried that Israel will be threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran. Potentially at stake are billions of dollars controlled by state pension funds and other institutional investors that have invested money in companies -- based mostly in Europe and Asia -- operating in Iran. According to CSP, New York pension funds alone own nearly one billion dollars of stock in three Fortune 500 companies tied to Iran. "Iran's ability to fund its nuclear programme and sponsor terrorism would come to a grinding halt without revenue gained from foreign investors," according to CSP, which, along with the American Enterprise Institute and FDD, was a leading advocate for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Last year, Missouri became the first state to order one of its pension funds to divest its shares of all companies that do business with Iran and other countries on the State Department's terror list. Last month, both houses of the Florida legislature unanimously approved a bill banning the investment of state funds in companies with commercial ties to Sudan and Iran's energy sector. Iran-related divestment bills are expected to be approved over the next month by legislatures in Ohio, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and California, according to Christopher Holton, the head of CSP's "Terror-Free Investing" programme. Similar bills are also being considered in the legislatures of Texas, Georgia, Maryland, and New Jersey and will soon be introduced in Michigan and Illinois, he told IPS. The sudden proliferation of state divestment measures comes amid renewed efforts in Congress to tighten and expand the scope of existing legislation against Iran. Under the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act (ISA), which, among other provisions, bans U.S. companies from doing business in Iran, the president is required to impose a range of economic sanctions against foreign companies that invested more than 20 million dollars a year in Iran's energy sector, which accounts for about 80 percent of its foreign-exchange earnings. The same law, however, permits the president to waive such penalties if he deems it in the national interest. Worried that imposing sanctions would anger key U.S. allies, President Bush has consistently exercised his waiver authority, as his predecessor, Bill Clinton, did before him. But, as tensions with Iran have increased since the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nearly two years ago, pressure, especially from neo-conservative groups and the hawkish leadership of the so-called "Israel Lobby", which includes the Christian Right, to take stronger action has grown. Congress is currently considering several bills that, if passed, would reduce or eliminate the president's waiver authority and include language encouraging divestment drives at the state level. The administration, which is at least rhetorically committed to working through the U.N. Security Council to impose multilateral sanctions against Iran to rein in its nuclear programme, appears ambivalent on both expanding ISA and on the divestment campaign. On the one hand, State and Treasury Department officials, using the threat of tougher Congressional action, have informally -- and with some success -- pressed foreign banks, companies, and governments, to forgo or freeze new investments in Iran's energy sector over the past year. On the other hand, the administration has opposed the pending legislation both because it would reduce the president's flexibility in conducting foreign policy and because imposing sanctions will almost certainly produce a backlash in foreign capitals that would undermine Washington's ability to sustain a united front with its allies and other powers against Iran at the U.N. and in other forums. "We could not support modifications to (ISA) now being circulated in Congress that would turn the full weight of sanctions not against Iran but against our allies that are instrumental in our coalition against Iran," Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told a Senate Committee in late March. In this position, the administration has been strongly supported by the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), a business lobby created by many of the nation's biggest corporations, which has long opposed both unilateral U.S. trade sanctions and state divestment initiatives. "On one hand, we're asking Europe, Russia, China and Japan to work together with us on this, and, on the other hand, we're beating their companies over the head with a stick," NFTC President William Reinsch told IPS. In a letter to Ohio lawmakers considering divestment legislation, Reinsch made much the same argument, noting also that, in a case brought by the NFTC, a federal court judge recently struck down as unconstitutional a Sudan divestment law in Illinois on the grounds that it interfered with the federal government's ability to conduct foreign policy and regulate foreign trade. In his weekly column in the Washington Times published shortly after Reinsch sent his letter, CSP's president, Frank Gaffney, denounced Reinsch as "Terror's lobbyist", charging that the NFTC "favours doing business with America's enemies and runs interference for those determined to do so". "Iran is already in difficult economic straits; if fully brought to bear, the power of America's capital markets could mightily affect corporate behaviour, undermining -- hopefully, helping to bring down -- the mullahocracy in Iran," wrote Gaffney. (END/2007)

Tags: iran, state, divestment, foreign, companies

THERE ARE NO SECOND ACTS IN AMERICAN LIVES. -- F. Scott Fitzgerald Something happened this week in the American power industry that has not occurred in at least 30 years: Applications were filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build new nuclear reactors. The last application was made in 1977, two years before the infamous partial meltdown at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg , Pennsylvania . (One report says it was 1973.) Nuclear power went into eclipse in the U.S. not because it was an unsafe technology, although it did have its issues, but because the knuckleheads who ran TMI and other nuclear plants made a compelling case that the did not take public safety seriously enough and were not to be trusted. The myriad safety problems hidden by the nuclear power industry came crashing home in admittedly exaggerated form in 1979 in The China Syndrome . The hit movie, revelations that TMI's owners had done a fair share of covering up and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 further cemented public mistrust, and that more than any other reason is why no nuke plants have been built in the U.S. since forever. But now a new generation of nuclear plants will be coming on line. This primarily is because new designs make them inherently safer and the 2005 Energy Policy Act considerably streamlines the licensing and regulatory processes and provides substantial tax credits to utility companies. Ironically, there is a second reason as well: Global warming. This bring us to the Supreme Court's smackdown of the Environmental Protection Agency back in April. A divided court, ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA , found that the EPA could not claim that it lacked the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. In a further irony, nuclear power -- which in theory creates no pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions -- is the biggest beneficiary of the ruling because wind power, solar power and other renewable technologies favored by Greens remain too limited technologically and economically to make much of an impact in an American energy economy addicted to fossil fuels. The applications filed this week with the NRC are for two huge 1,350-megawatt advanced boiling water reactors that would join two existing NRG Energy reactors at the South Texas nuclear power plant in Bay City , Texas , near Houston . The price tag: $6 - $7 billion. France and Japan have leaped ahead of the once dominant U.S. in nuclear technology in the last quarter century and the reactor vessel heads for the Texas reactors will be manufactured by Japan Steel Works, the only forge in the world now capable of casting the huge structures. One lingering question is whether anti-nuclear organizations like Greenpeace, Public Citizen and the Natural Resources Defense Council will be able to mount a last-ditch campaign against the revival. William Tucker writes in The American Spectator that: "While continuing to play brazenly on public fears (NRDC's latest position paper has the word "Radioactive" emblazoned across the top), environmental groups have also become more circumspect in their arguments. Rather than conjuring up 'silent bombs' and nuclear holocausts, they now make the following arguments: " Nuclear is too expensive. Investors will never go for it. "The money would be much better invested in conservation and solar energy. "Nuclear power is not carbon-free. The mining, processing and transportation of uranium consume vast amounts of energy supplied by fossil fuels." The NRC says it expects U.S. companies to file applications for about 30 new combined construction and operating licenses in coming months. I was downwind from Three Mile Island and was not a happy camper. But times have changed and I'm looking forward to nuclear power's belated second act. More here. Cheap Adobe Photoshop cheap Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 Cheap Borland Cheap Adobe

Tags: nuclear, power, energy, reactor, act