Speed – and other stuff – drives the need for test automation
It started with working from home. That’s what fired off the rocket of digital transformation. People who converted to virtual interactions with their customers did well, and those who didn’t suffered. But to do so, and keep up with those virtual competitors, often meant exposing things before they were ready, or even fully thought out. … continue reading
The tech generation gap
Recent studies show a divide between older workers – many in management positions – and the younger ones trying to get ahead. It’s a generation gap, for sure, exacerbated by the advances in technology that place a burden on both cohorts. This is because they view work differently. Many older executives (full disclosure: I am … continue reading
Cross-talk hurts VSM adoption
Value stream management has a messaging problem. That was a key takeaway from the recent {virtual} VSMcon 2022, hosted by SD Times last month. What is a value stream? What is value? Which metrics matter? Is it a tooling thing? A people thing? We empaneled some industry experts at the conference to look at the … continue reading
Remember ‘people over processes’
Here we are, late January, with a “bomb cyclone” weather pattern about to drop a foot or more of snow on us here in New York. What better time to hunker down and reflect on the last year and to determine what is really important in the year ahead? Many – if not most – … continue reading
Accurate data isn’t enough — it needs to be actionable
As the COVID-19 pandemic has shut down offices, people have taken to working remotely, and many have even moved from locations where the cost of living is high to places where it’s more manageable. This raises the issue of data quality, not only in terms of the accuracy of data being input into fields in … continue reading
Online shopping and drugs (not related)
A couple of items crossed my desk this past month — one didn’t surprise me, based on the current state of the world, but one did. First, the expected. Adobe released its Digital Economy Index, with data gleaned from more than a TRILLION visits to U.S. retail sites. Based on that, Adobe expects U.S. holiday … continue reading
The password is … passwordless
Microsoft’s announcement last month that users of Office and other company software can now create passwordless login scenarios was welcome news. I think I speak for the entire computer-using world when I say this is just great. Passwords are the bane of our existence. They really give the worst user experience of all. I’ve worked … continue reading
Is DevOps actually ‘The Bad Place’?
SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for the TV show “The Good Place.” In the television series “The Good Place,” four people die and are told they are in heaven — The Good Place. But their time is marked by a series of escalating annoyances that finally makes one of them realize they are … continue reading
Value stream intelligence
Metrics are great. They give you insight into how your systems are running, and help you see the results of what you’ve done. They help you derive value from your efforts. But what if you want to not merely play catch-up with what the metrics are telling you, but instead want to mitigate against how … continue reading
Layered progressive delivery
We’ve written a lot lately about progressive delivery, and how it can help organizations deploy more quickly to get feedback on changes before releasing them widely. Progressive delivery uses experimentation techniques such as feature flags, blue-green rollouts and canary releases to show new features or bug fixes to a small cohort of users, and takes … continue reading
