Lessons in Grid Computing: The System Is a Mirror

383 Pages·2006·9.096 MB·English

by  Stuart Robbins

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L e s s o n s i n
G r i d
C o m p u t i n g :
The System
Is a Mirror
Stuart Robbins
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Lessons in
Grid
Computing
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Additional praise for Lessons in Grid Computing:
The System Is a Mirror
“I really like the storytelling format for communicating these ideas, and
I have a strong feeling this book will be uniquely positioned in the vol-
umes of IT advice/offerings. The “Stuart Robbins philosophy” of IT
project management is rooted in a genuine appreciation of the human
side of technology. This book articulates these important and surpris-
ingly simple (yet all too often overlooked) lessons. The accessible story-
telling format will communicate to a wider audience than just IT
management.”
Maggie Law, User Interface Designer, PeopleSoft
“I was thrilled to read this. It’s such an easy thing but most often it is
overlooked. It’s very true that system reflects the harmony (or the lack
of) of an organization. This book explains in plain English one of the se-
crets of measuring the success or failures in this complicated and ever
changing world of IT.”
Ruyben Seth, Database Manager, Symantec Corporation (Oregon)
“This is a very complicated and challenging concept and you have
raised some serious thought provoking issues.”
Atefeh Riazi, Worldwide CIO, Ogilvy & Mather, Inc.
“These stories are easy to read, and good fodder for students!”
Carol Brown, Ph.D., Kellogg School of Business
“You are an excellent writer and [this theory] demonstrates that you
are a visionary in our industry!”
Steve Yatko, Head of IT R&D, Credit Suisse First Boston (NYC)
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L e s s o n s i n
G r i d
C o m p u t i n g :
The System
Is a Mirror
Stuart Robbins
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This book is printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robbins, Stuart, 1953-
Lessons in grid computing : the system is a mirror / Stuart Robbins.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-79010-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-471-79010-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Information technology—Management. 2. Business—Computer networks. 3.
Management information systems. 4. Industrial management—Technological
innovations. 5. Decision making. I. Title.
HD30.2.R627 2006
658.4’038—dc22
2006002910
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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For my son, Max
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“We must transform ourselves.”
–Steve Yatko
Head of IT R&D, Credit Suisse First Boston
2004
“Language is digital.”
–Gregory Bateson
Steps Toward an Ecology of Mind
1972
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CONTENTS
Foreword by Geoffrey Moore xi
Foreword by Thornton May xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
CHAPTER 1 The Prime Theorem 1
Information Systems Mirror the People that Build Them
CHAPTER 2 Interfaces 7
How They Work and What Happens When They Are Broken
CHAPTER 3 Relationship Management 21
We Can No Longer Manage the Systems as Single Nodes
CHAPTER 4 Virtualization 36
A Natural Stage in the Maturity Cycle of Technologies
CHAPTER 5 Orchestration 59
Finding a Sensible Order amid too Many Complications
to Count
CHAPTER 6 Complexity 80
Databases, Passwords, Collaboration, Funding, Smashed
Atoms, and a Professor
vii
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viii Contents
CHAPTER 7 Distributed Resources 99
Two Types of Diffusion—Compute Resources and
Human Capital
CHAPTER 8 Flash Teams 122
Analysis of New Organizational Groups from Several
Perspectives
CHAPTER 9 Network as Narrative Form 138
Basic Building Blocks Connected to Create Various
Structures
CHAPTER 10 Identity 155
Finding the Needle in the Haystack and Giving It a Name
CHAPTER 11 Organizational Architecture 170
How We Organize Ourselves Is as Important as What We
Say and Do
CHAPTER 12 (Theory of) Resonant Usability 181
Everything Is Moving to the Presentation Layer, Where
Humans Interact
CHAPTER 13 Turbulence 208
Creating Stability in the Face of Chaotic Disruption
CHAPTER 14 Libraries 232
Two Lives, Two Windows, and the Search for Information
CHAPTER 15 Abstraction 246
Lift Yourself above the Conflicting Details and Look for
Similarity
CHAPTER 16 Insubordination as an Asset 260
Why You Must Allow Employees to Disagree with Your
Decisions
CHAPTER 17 The Consortium 281
The Multisourced IT Organization and a Software
Commons—Our Future
CHAPTER 18 The Everysphere 303
An Example of Synchronous Events between “Unrelated”
Objects