Software teams that have migrated to agile processes are benefiting from better collaboration, faster release cycles and tighter QA processes. Yet for agile to reach its full potential in a software or services-based company, its practices and processes often need to extend beyond development to other areas of the business. Viewing agile as a business … continue reading
With Halloween over, an even scarier event is on the horizon for IT staff: the online doorbusters that come with the winter holiday season. The term “doorbuster” applies (sometimes literally) to brick-and-mortar stores during the holiday season. It also translates well to the information technology systems that get stressed heavily on big online sales days … continue reading
I love that quote from Ricky Gervais. It typically resides in a corner of my monitor, where it reminds me that no matter how much organizational or grammatical debt I’ve accumulated, it’s never too late to get to work on what matters most to me. As I saw at the recent STARWEST 2015 testing conference, … continue reading
Boards are increasingly concerned about code. This is primarily because code plays an ever more important role in company performance. Great code enables companies to better engage customers, make smarter decisions, and disrupt markets—or at least keep pace with disruptive competitors—while avoiding security and compliance risks. So boards have to worry about it. Code is … continue reading
Last time, I wrote of my conversation with Grady Booch, a legendary thinker who first made his mark in the mid-1990s (as co-inventor of the Unified Modeling Language and contributor to the Rational Unified Process). He continues to be on the cutting edge of development in his role as IBM Fellow. He spoke of a … continue reading
In a previous column, I discussed the important shift taking place toward microservices and provided a characterization of the key aspects of this new architectural approach. Here I discuss the factors that will help enterprises transition to a microservices approach to software development. Culture and skill: Evaluate your organization’s culture and skill and make any … continue reading
Just months after celebrating Java’s 20th birthday (and the qualities that made it the most used mainstream programming language), the programming world is abuzz with rumors that Java is doomed. In September, it was widely reported that Oracle had laid off a significant number of its Java evangelism team, and then, in October, InfoWorld ran … continue reading
It’s often easier to talk about what NoOps isn’t than what it is. It doesn’t mean you fire your Operations team. It doesn’t mean the end of Operations, or that Operations is dead. So just what is it? To explain NoOps, we must first explain DevOps. A DevOps primer DevOps is a software development model … continue reading
IT Operations people are too often the unsung heroes in an IT organization. They perform a phenomenal set of tasks that can easily be overshadowed by more glamorous developers. You know the ones: Always in the spotlight creating the apps that promise to make the business 1, 10 or 100 million dollars. IT Operations teams … continue reading
Rodney Dangerfield made going “Back to School” popular in the mid-1980s, and now, 30 years later, it’s being made popular again, but this time by software developers who “get no respect” in their current position. Unlike Rodney’s big college experience at “Grand Lakes University,” though, these developers are turning to small software development trade schools—or … continue reading
This hasn’t been a great year for Apple. Their stock peaked in early February, and it has been declining ever since. The Apple Watch that was hoped would reverse this slide had no real material impact, iPads are now in decline, and they’ve recently tried to reinvigorate iPods in order to get some positive traction. … continue reading
Last month, discussing the habits that developers should cultivate that will keep them employed, I emphasized aspects that were visible outside your current employment. But the easiest way to stay employable is to be highly valued at your current job; believe me when I tell you that searching for a job is vastly more productive … continue reading
When I first learned I’d have the opportunity to speak with the brilliant Grady Booch about the future of application development, I thought it a contradiction. For you kids new to development, Booch is perhaps best known for working with Ivar Jacobson and James Rumbaugh at Rational Software in the mid-1990s to create the Unified … continue reading
If I had to make a prediction about the future of software delivery, I would say that it will look a lot like it does now—but closer to perfection. Over the next five years or so, I expect the process of software development and delivery to be much smarter, faster and better because enterprises will … continue reading
