Bob Gourley

I found: If We Can Put a Man on the Moon: Getting Big Things Done in Governmentto be a book I couldn’t put down. This great read is about results and how to get them.  And, as the title implies, it focuses on big results in government.  The government is doing many things to the highest of standards and getting many big things done, but the list of failed programs, fiascoes and squandered opportunities seems to be growing longer and longer.  Some highlighted in the book include Iraq, Boston’s Big Dig, Hurricane Katrina and the drowning of New Orleans, Abu Ghraib, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, failed immigration reform, and the massive economic meltdown.  Many successful pursuits/accomplishments were also studied. The point, of course, is that we can study both fa... (more)

Announcing: The CTOvision.com Technology Titan List

I’ve long sought to track disruptive IT on the CTOvision.com site, and have featured several firms on the CTOvision.com Disruptive IT list.  A new feature on the site is the CTOvision.com Technology Titan List, where I’ll more closely track the activities of the Information Technology firms with the largest market cap.  This is the first entry on this theme. One thing has become very clea... (more)

Blackberry 9630 Tour: Perfect for My Small Business Needs

I just upgraded my Verizon Blackberry World Edition to the BlackBerry Tour 9630. This note provides a few observations. I use my phone for business, so I need good clear always-on voice.  But my Blackberry is also my hand held office. I need a device that lets me rapidly draft and send e-mails, and I need always on connectivity to the many cloud computing services we have all grown to dep... (more)

DIY Update to Windows 7

Yesterday, I came down to find my Vista 32-bit machine in a registry loop.  After getting over my aggravation, I decided that I would just make the move to Windows 7.  Having already downloaded a release candidate (RC 7201 64-bit).  Using another 32-bit Vista machine, I set out to turn my 8GB flash drive into a window’s install disk. I decided to switch to 64-bit for my inevitable upgrade... (more)

DCGS Worldwide Conference 2009

Yesterday I was on a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) panel at the 2009 Distributed Common Groundstation (DCGS) conference in Virginia Beach VA.  The panel, which was pulled together by JFCOM J2 CTO John Marshall, included Ms. Michele Munson of Aspera, Mr. Lewis Shepherd of Microsoft, Mr. Rudi Ernst of Pixia, Dr. Kari Kelton of NSI and Ms. Casey Henson, CTO of the Defense Intelligence Agen... (more)