“DevOps” is an interesting term. It is a bit like the word “accountability.” Everyone agrees it is important, but it means different things to different people. That, of course, is partly what makes it so popular. If nothing else, the DevOps movement is a call for change, but that change looks different depending on which … continue reading
In nature, new threats sometimes arise to threaten the survival of a particular species. Occasionally, the threatened population will include a minority that has a genetic mutation that, while generally detrimental, coincidentally provides a defense to the new threat. For example, a mutation that prevents an animal from properly absorbing certain nutrients may also prevent … continue reading
I love being a part of the selection process for the SD Times 100. It’s so interesting to see where the industry is going, and to look back at where things were in 2003, when the first SD Times 100 was announced. In 2003, there was no talk of cloud or user experience or DevOps. … continue reading
The Apple Watch, arguably the best-funded and most integrated product in the wearables market, is still getting mixed reviews. Most of the rest of the products are just noise in comparison. So how hard is it to get a smartwatch right? It seems pretty simple: Just take some of the stuff off the phone, put … continue reading
The Internet of Things (IoT) is delivering new screens and new showcases for quality apps beyond the traditional mobile ecosystem, opening the door to new app development revenue streams. This evolution has brought with it a burgeoning app economy that expands beyond the OS duopoly the mobile world is accustomed to. But what is the … continue reading
A programmer walks into a job interview and is asked to write the most efficient program to output the first five primes. The programmer spends three hours implementing the Sieve of Atkin, a GPGPU shader. “Not what we’re looking for,” says the interviewer, pointing at the exit door. “Why? What did you want?” asks the … continue reading
Microservices and containers are perhaps the greatest potential change in how IT organizations deliver and run software services since the arrival of virtual machines. Such a change brings with it lots of interest and enthusiasm, and inevitably much hype and bandwagon-jumping, too. But, amid all the noise, let’s not forget that it’s early days yet—not … continue reading
In many ways, agile principles seem antithetical to how Project-Management Office (PMO) systems operate. While PMOs exemplify structure, management and governance, agile developers focus on, well, agility. They plan in small increments, work quickly to solve immediate problems, and then move on to the next ones. This lends itself to a classic agile/PMO tug of … continue reading
What does scalability mean in your software organization? Scalability is a word that is used quite often in the IT world, but it means something different to every software development company. The definition is straightforward: Scalability is the ability of a system, network or process to handle a growing amount of work in a capable … continue reading
Software is how organizations compete in today’s marketplace. New companies like Uber and Airbnb are invading existing businesses, using the power of software and services to succeed in this sharing economy. Those are the innovative companies. So to see how traditional companies think about satisfying their customers with new software, development company 3Pillar Global and … continue reading
The first thing you learn when you get into quadcopters and multi-rotors is that battery life is a huge deal. No, wait: The first thing you learn is that when talking to fellow hobbyists, instead of “drone,” you should say “quadcopter” or “multi-rotor” or “UAV” (unmanned aerial vehicle). The second thing you learn is that … continue reading
Almost 10 years ago, Amazon CTO Werner Vogels famously revealed how the company had moved away from traditional department-led Web operations to developers deploying their own code. “The traditional model is that you take your software to the wall that separates development and operations, and throw it over and then forget about it. Not at … continue reading
I recently attended Facebook’s F8 developer conference in San Francisco, where I had a revelation on why it is going to be impossible to succeed as a technology vendor in the long run without deeply embracing open source. Of the many great presentations I listened to, I was most captivated by the ones that explained … continue reading
The online retail marketplace continues to get more competitive every year, and end users are connected around the clock by desktop, smartphone or tablet wherever they are, including in the store. Because our world is now omnichannel and always-on, application developers, testers and production teams need to be on top of their game to keep … continue reading
