Business Knowledge for IT

This community aims to provide links, resources, book suggestions, tips and insights to facilitate learning and development of IT professionals in financial services, and to develop a forum for IT professionals to exchange views on various related items.

Retired Member 

Why the 10,000 Hour Rule Matters in Software Development

Introduction I’ve just recently finished reading two books. The first was “Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, And the Science of Success” by Matthew Syed. He is a British journalist and broadcaster who was the English number one table tennis player for many years In the book he made a number of references to another book which was “Outlie...

22 November 2012

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So You Want Your Software On Time and On Budget?

Introduction I’ve been working in the software industry for over 30 years and one thing hasn’t changed in that time. Clients, quite understandably, continue to want software delivered on time and on budget. For software developers, like our company, this is the base requirement that we live with on every project with every client. In my time I’ve ...

03 October 2012

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Stop Wasting Money On Software You Don't Need!

THE BIGGEST SCANDAL IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT Many years ago I was invited by a UK FTSE 100 company to a meeting to discuss a project to audit one of their legacy applications and to make recommendations about how they could redevelop it. This application had been operational for over 10 years and was coming to the end of its life. One of the things...

10 September 2012

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7 Reasons Why Software Development Is So Hard

Introduction I’m often asked by lay people why we humans can undertake large construction or engineering projects with relative success and yet we struggle to deliver software projects without bugs and on time. In an attempt to explain why this is the case I give below 7 reasons why software development is very difficult. This is not an attempt to ...

08 August 2012

Retired Member 

I trust your passport, BUT ...

I recall a passionate debate in 2011 with some colleagues on if internationally trusted national passports (sometime in future) will be ever trusted by businesses to allow people access to their premises? Is such a scenario ever possible (as we move to digital passports and additional information on the chip)? More fundamentally, what does this in...

10 May 2012 /security /regulation

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IRS issues new FATCA guidelines

IRS yesterday issued Notice 2011-53. This Notice is the third that addresses the US law that was enacted back in March 2010 - the Hiring Incentives to restore Employment Act. Title V of that Act was about making sure that Americans could not hide assets in foreign bank accounts and essentially evade US tax laws. Title V has become more commonl...

15 July 2011

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Incompatibility in card technology? Not really.

I decided to write this after seeing a summary of Aite Group’s report concerning U.S. cardholders and their experience abroad. It states that “The promise of ubiquitous card payments acceptance falls apart once U.S. cardholders cross their national border” and “an issue caused by incompatible card technology is treated far more seriously by cardhol...

30 October 2009 /security /payments

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Is the PEN mightier than the PIN?

Despite chip and pin and its promise to secure card transactions, what makes the PEN still mightier than the PIN? The answer has something to do with interchange fees and security (zero liability for cardholders). Banks earn more when their cardholders use their cards with the PEN (signature) or when their cardholders use their debit cards as credi...

15 December 2008 /security

Elton Cane Digital product delivery at News Corp Australia

Business practices no longer patentable in the US

This ruling is going to have a huge impact on the financial and software industries if it's not overturned on appeal (which I hope it isn't). Interesting to see that State Street Bank started the questionable process of patenting business practices. Personally I think it's a good thing to put these to the (common sense) test before the patent is g...

31 October 2008

Retired Member 

Introduction to Financial Technology

Book: Introduction to Financial Technology (Complete Technology Guides for Financial Services) I am through just approx 30 pages or so (of 368), and already impressed with the way technology and some fundamental concepts of banking/trading are explained. I think it is a must read for IT professionals who are keen to develop their understanding of t...

23 October 2007