Silver Bullets: How Interoperable Data Will Revolutionize Information Sharing and Transparency

Silver Bullets isn't about understanding the technology of standard, interoperable data; it's about why the technology is important and how you can use it. If you care about effective operations, no matter your job title, this book is for you. Interoperable data is a major game changer for business and information technology, government and commercial, national and international organizations. This book will let you make it happen, versus wondering what happened and how you were left behind. As Frederick Brooks famously noted in The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, there is no single-approach solution - no Silver Bullet - that delivers significant improvements in productivity, reliability, or simplicity. But in Silver Bullets, Pete O'Dell shows how a single concept - standardized data interoperability - yields improvements in any industry to which it is applied. O'Dell builds his case by reviewing the past. From the Great Wall of China to shipping containers, from punched cards to the VISA network, standardization has fueled enormous breakthroughs. O'Dell investigates current data standardization including XML and the Common Alerting Protocol, using case studies to illustrate success stories ranging from homeland defense to diabetes management. Finally, O'Dell offers practical suggestions on how to get started with interoperable data and points to emerging leaders in commercial, governmental and not-for-profit fields. This accessible, plain-spoken book is full of parables, anecdotes and stories, delivering humor as well as insight. Reading it enables you to make practical decisions about your organization's future and growth. Silver Bullets shines a clear light into your inoperable future.

Pete O'Dell is a technology executive based in Washington, DC. He's had a long career on the information highway, working for companies including Digital Equipment Corporation, Autodesk, Microwarehouse, Microsoft, and Online Interactive, and cofounding Swan Island Networks. Pete consults for companies including SAIC, CommsFirst, HCLTEM, and Village Roadshow Limited. Pete's first book, The Computer Networking Book, was published in 1989 by Ventana Press. He has authored numerous articles, and speaks at conferences on technology and business topics. He served honorably in the U.S. Army, and has been involved in emergency management, situational awareness, and secure information since 9/11. He has an undergraduate degree in business and an MBA. In his free time, Pete is an avid fly fisherman, a reasonable runner, a voracious consumer of technology information, and a poor golfer. He can be reached at peterlodell@gmail.com. Comments on actions you took based on reading this book would be highly appreciated. If you like the book, please post a review online somewhere.