Cloud app development can reap the benefits of Agile
The first step is to think of the cloud as an ever-changing organism, rather than a static platform. "A developer may not realize that the infrastructure beneath them is shifting constantly in the cloud and [may need to] incorporate responses to common transient failures." One example of this would be scalability. What would happen if a cloud application got popular and the traffic suddenly spiked? Developers would need to know beforethis happened in order to carry out an effective scalability plan. When it comes to the cloud, quality is not an end result. It is a constant process, and cloud applications need to be designed with a process-oriented mindset.
In a hyper-social world, some seek a little privacy
"Companies have realized there's some privacy boundaries to what people want to share," said Justin Brookman, director of consumer privacy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C. Comments from Zuckerberg reflect the shifting tide. In an onstage interview in 2010, Zuckerberg suggested people were happy to share widely. "People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people," he said at the time.
How to reach a software-defined operational state of bliss
It is an "operational state" achieved by eliminating current silos of compute, storage, network and software and adopting a new way of managing and controlling all the moving parts within the infrastructure. With the trend toward software-defined infrastructure comes a new level of complexity that can only (says Cirba) be controlled through sophisticated analytics and purpose-built control software. The ability to make unified, automated decisions that span compute, storage, network and software resources, that are based on the true demands and requirements of the applications, and that are accurate enough to drive automation without fear, is the foundation of the next generation of control of IT infrastructure.
Surrounded by 'code halos'? Here's how your IT organization can embrace this new religion
These security, privacy and compliance issues are not simple, but every day different companies across the world are making tremendous progress on being able to solve some of these issues. That’s part one. The second side of the coin is people in many cases are willing to share more and more information, right? What we’re seeing is more and more of an opt-in economy. So people are saying, “Yes, I am willing to share this information, my information, with you, as a company, but you have to treat it with respect. ” Companies have to be compelling and honest in their ability to manage that information in an ethical and trustworthy way, and they have to deliver a level of value that makes it worth the give. We call this the "give-to-get" ratio.
Emotional intelligence: Key to our success
It is important to realize that emotional intelligence is the primary determinant of the quality of relationships in our business as well as in our personal lives. Emotional intelligence is often referred to as our soft skills. I have mixed feelings about that, as some may be inclined to downplay the importance of soft skills, and our EQ is very, very important! Emotional intelligence is having empathy, being able to put ourselves in the shoes of others to sense how they feel and even why they may feel that way. EQ is knowing how to put people at ease, to connect with them and convey the sense that we care.
When tracking defects, make efficiency the end goal
Tracking defects to provide insight also seems suspicious. It allows management by spreadsheet. I would prefer that management get involved in the work. If your team doesn't fix all the preproduction bugs, and customers care about them, then tracking bugs to remember those details might make sense. My preference is only to file a bug report if the issue is not fixed, but is deferred and still worth documenting. The fourth idea is to change the test strategy to find the defects that are actually emerging. To do this, I would look at both preproduction and production defects along with our test approach to see what defects we are missing and what tests we could run to find them.
CISOs still struggle for respect from peers
Those companies that have a CISO have tended to relegate them to a purely operational, fire-fighting role with little say in overall risk management. Over the years, CISOs have often complained about not having enough clout within their organizations to effect real change. The situation stems from an overall misunderstanding of the CISOs role in enterprises, said ThreatTrack Security president and CEO Julian Waits. Many in the C-suite view the CISO function as purely technology related and fail to appreciate the broader role that security executives can play in mitigating and managing overall operational risk, Waits said.
What the IBM and Apple deal means to you and me
Basically, it's going to mean that your devices and your apps learn you. Think about combining Google, Amazon, Facebook, your best friend, and your mom into a device. That's what this new Watson-powered Apple device is going to be. And you thought Watson was cute when it won on Jeopardy. You thought it was just an IBM research project that had no real world application. You were wrong. Watson is at the epicenter of this new phase of computing. Your phone, your tablet, your car, your computer, and even your home will become extensions of you. Forget the Jetsons—that's as far from what's coming as the Jetsons were from the Flintstones.
How Kanban Works
how (or may be why) Kanban works? Is it because it exposes the system and enables visual tracking of requests? Or is it due to limiting work-in-process and reducing the wasteful effect of task switching? Or may be due to frequent and granular feedback it provides to managers through simple measurements like cycle time and throughput? In this article, we will dig into details and study Kanban in the light of queuing theory and Little’s Law1. Also, using case studies, we will illustrate three typical problems which face managers of Kanban development systems, and how to resolve them. This will reveal some basic concepts and insightful ideas about how Kanban works.
IBM Acquires Security Software Provider CrossIdeas
“The addition of CrossIdeas extends IBM’s market share leading portfolio of identity and access management capabilities,” said Brendan Hannigan, general manager of IBM Security Systems, in a statement. “IBM can now provide enterprises with enhanced governance capabilities and transparency into risk from the factory floor to the board room, giving leaders the insight they need to protect their brand and customers.” As part of IBM’s Identity and Access Management portfolio, CrossIdeas will deliver new identity and access governance capabilities to help mitigate access risks and segregation of duty violations.
Quote for the day:
"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant." — -- Max DePree
The first step is to think of the cloud as an ever-changing organism, rather than a static platform. "A developer may not realize that the infrastructure beneath them is shifting constantly in the cloud and [may need to] incorporate responses to common transient failures." One example of this would be scalability. What would happen if a cloud application got popular and the traffic suddenly spiked? Developers would need to know beforethis happened in order to carry out an effective scalability plan. When it comes to the cloud, quality is not an end result. It is a constant process, and cloud applications need to be designed with a process-oriented mindset.
"Companies have realized there's some privacy boundaries to what people want to share," said Justin Brookman, director of consumer privacy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C. Comments from Zuckerberg reflect the shifting tide. In an onstage interview in 2010, Zuckerberg suggested people were happy to share widely. "People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people," he said at the time.
It is an "operational state" achieved by eliminating current silos of compute, storage, network and software and adopting a new way of managing and controlling all the moving parts within the infrastructure. With the trend toward software-defined infrastructure comes a new level of complexity that can only (says Cirba) be controlled through sophisticated analytics and purpose-built control software. The ability to make unified, automated decisions that span compute, storage, network and software resources, that are based on the true demands and requirements of the applications, and that are accurate enough to drive automation without fear, is the foundation of the next generation of control of IT infrastructure.
Surrounded by 'code halos'? Here's how your IT organization can embrace this new religion
These security, privacy and compliance issues are not simple, but every day different companies across the world are making tremendous progress on being able to solve some of these issues. That’s part one. The second side of the coin is people in many cases are willing to share more and more information, right? What we’re seeing is more and more of an opt-in economy. So people are saying, “Yes, I am willing to share this information, my information, with you, as a company, but you have to treat it with respect. ” Companies have to be compelling and honest in their ability to manage that information in an ethical and trustworthy way, and they have to deliver a level of value that makes it worth the give. We call this the "give-to-get" ratio.
Emotional intelligence: Key to our success
It is important to realize that emotional intelligence is the primary determinant of the quality of relationships in our business as well as in our personal lives. Emotional intelligence is often referred to as our soft skills. I have mixed feelings about that, as some may be inclined to downplay the importance of soft skills, and our EQ is very, very important! Emotional intelligence is having empathy, being able to put ourselves in the shoes of others to sense how they feel and even why they may feel that way. EQ is knowing how to put people at ease, to connect with them and convey the sense that we care.
When tracking defects, make efficiency the end goal
Tracking defects to provide insight also seems suspicious. It allows management by spreadsheet. I would prefer that management get involved in the work. If your team doesn't fix all the preproduction bugs, and customers care about them, then tracking bugs to remember those details might make sense. My preference is only to file a bug report if the issue is not fixed, but is deferred and still worth documenting. The fourth idea is to change the test strategy to find the defects that are actually emerging. To do this, I would look at both preproduction and production defects along with our test approach to see what defects we are missing and what tests we could run to find them.
CISOs still struggle for respect from peers
Those companies that have a CISO have tended to relegate them to a purely operational, fire-fighting role with little say in overall risk management. Over the years, CISOs have often complained about not having enough clout within their organizations to effect real change. The situation stems from an overall misunderstanding of the CISOs role in enterprises, said ThreatTrack Security president and CEO Julian Waits. Many in the C-suite view the CISO function as purely technology related and fail to appreciate the broader role that security executives can play in mitigating and managing overall operational risk, Waits said.
What the IBM and Apple deal means to you and me
Basically, it's going to mean that your devices and your apps learn you. Think about combining Google, Amazon, Facebook, your best friend, and your mom into a device. That's what this new Watson-powered Apple device is going to be. And you thought Watson was cute when it won on Jeopardy. You thought it was just an IBM research project that had no real world application. You were wrong. Watson is at the epicenter of this new phase of computing. Your phone, your tablet, your car, your computer, and even your home will become extensions of you. Forget the Jetsons—that's as far from what's coming as the Jetsons were from the Flintstones.
How Kanban Works
how (or may be why) Kanban works? Is it because it exposes the system and enables visual tracking of requests? Or is it due to limiting work-in-process and reducing the wasteful effect of task switching? Or may be due to frequent and granular feedback it provides to managers through simple measurements like cycle time and throughput? In this article, we will dig into details and study Kanban in the light of queuing theory and Little’s Law1. Also, using case studies, we will illustrate three typical problems which face managers of Kanban development systems, and how to resolve them. This will reveal some basic concepts and insightful ideas about how Kanban works.
IBM Acquires Security Software Provider CrossIdeas
“The addition of CrossIdeas extends IBM’s market share leading portfolio of identity and access management capabilities,” said Brendan Hannigan, general manager of IBM Security Systems, in a statement. “IBM can now provide enterprises with enhanced governance capabilities and transparency into risk from the factory floor to the board room, giving leaders the insight they need to protect their brand and customers.” As part of IBM’s Identity and Access Management portfolio, CrossIdeas will deliver new identity and access governance capabilities to help mitigate access risks and segregation of duty violations.
Quote for the day:
"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant." — -- Max DePree
