This repository contains the CC-BY-SA release of Ultralight IT (ISBN: 978-0997869309)
I wrote Ultralight IT almost a decade ago based on my experience improving IT operations using (then still newer) cloud technologies. The second half of the book was focused on implementation and so was outdated shortly after it was printed.
The first half, however, captures lessons that I believe are still relevant - particularly as they concern user-focused technology delivery and practical risk management.
What the book couldn't include are the things I've learned since then concerning distributed systems, resilient system design, the importance of open source, and the relationship between competition and cooperation in driving excellence. In the spirit of incorporating those lessons, I'm releasing the original version under a Creative Commons License.
Ultralight IT explores how cloud-based tools like Google Workspace improve the ways IT can support smaller organizations. The Ultralight approach to IT uses emerging technologies to achieve greater capability and simplicity, enabling excellence without high cost. Four critical concepts drive this transformation:
- User-Centered: IT is for people. Start and end with the user.
- Excellence-Focused: Do only what you do best.
- Cloud-based: Let others do the rest. Unencumber yourself.
- Hardware-minimizing: Liberate time by removing distractions
Ultralight uses this framework to allows IT to focus on the important things: providing an amazing user experience, making it easier to get work done, and supporting business value delivery.