December 16, 2014

Finding critical business data -- fast
"We used to call it ‘complex event processing,’" he adds. But that approach required proprietary software and expensive servers, which limited usage. In contrast, one of today’s technologies, Hadoop, "is linearly scalable, and you can throw lots of hardware at it and use memory very effectively," he says. Roll into that the lower cost of flash memory, adds Baer, and "now we can process data very fast, and do more sophisticated processing than when you were bound by I/O."


The 5 Elements of A Killer Mobile App
By 2015, more than 780 million people will be mobile users only. This means they won’t own a laptop or desk computer. These 780 million users will be your customers, partners, business stakeholders, suppliers, and other business associates. As organizations begin to align their mobile first strategy with this shift in users, it’s important to focus on what these mobile apps must do.


APIs should not be copyrightable
The story of SMB and Samba is a good example of how non-copyrightable APIs spurred competition. When Windows became a dominent desktop operating system, its SMB protocol dominated simple networks. If non-windows computers wanted to communicate effectively with the dominant windows platform, they needed to talk to SMB. Microsoft didn't provide any documentation to help competitors do this, since an inability to communicate with SMB was a barrier to their competitors. However, Andrew Tridgell was able to deduce the specification for SMB and build an implementation for Unix, called Samba. By using Samba non-windows computers could collaborate on a network, thus encouraging the competition from Mac and Linux based systems.


This Linux grinch could put a hole in your security stocking
The fundamental flaw resides in the Linux authorization system, which can inadvertently allow privilege escalation, granting a user "root," or full administrative access. With full root access, an attacker would be able to completely control a system, including the ability to install programs, read data and use the machine as a launching point for compromising other systems. To date, Alert Logic has not seen any exploits that harness this vulnerability, nor did the research team find any existing mention of this hole in the vulnerability database maintained by the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), according to Stephen Coty, Alert Logic's director of threat research.


Frameworks and Leadership on Cyber-Risks
Just identifying and defining the risks is a daunting enough task. Stuart Levi, a partner with law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom who focuses on cyber-security, warns that any company with even a single computer connected to the internet is vulnerable. “Every public company—regardless of their industry, what they do, what data and information they have —needs to be focused on this issue,” he says. ... Aaron Weller, a managing director in data protection and privacy with PwC, said at Compliance Week West that companies need to think beyond compliance to make their data and their systems secure. “Compliance is not security,” he said


How CIOs Can Prepare for Healthcare ‘Data Tsunami’
"Identify who owns the data and build consensus on data definitions," Dunbrack says in an email. "Understanding what the data means is key to making data governance and interoperability work, and is essential for analytics, big data initiatives and quality reporting initiatives, among other things." To be sure, ironing out data governance policies within a healthcare organization is anything but a black-and-white process. Complicating matters significantly are the diverse and growing sources of medical data, each raising distinctive ownership and compliance questions.


Defining a Major IT Transformation Now Happening in Telecoms
"One of the things I'm looking at as operators go through this journey is that this is a cycle that will take between 10 and 15 years," Kelly told eWEEK during a break at the conference. "Most operators have a high capital expenditure structure--they have a lot of high sum costs in the infrastructure--and they're not going to abandon that. What they are trying to do is take advantage of opportunities in the digital services economy to compete against the over-the-top providers, mostly because their core businesses are under attack."


2015 will be the year Linux takes over the enterprise
This rise of Linux in the world of big data will have serious trickle down over the rest of the business world. We already know how fond enterprise businesses are of Linux and big data. What we don't know is how this relationship will alter the course of Linux with regards to the rest of the business world. My prediction is that the success of Linux with big data will skyrocket the popularity of Linux throughout the business landscape. More contracts for SuSE and Red Hat will equate to more deployments of Linux servers that handle more tasks within the business world. This will especially apply to the cloud, where OpenStack should easily become an overwhelming leader.


The First Agile and Lean Open Source Method for Continuous Improvement
There are no silver bullets, we only move forward by learning, experimenting and sharing our discoveries with each other. That is the spirit of Open Kanban to keep those communications lines open, to help people innovate, and collaborate across the aisles of Lean and Agile, a method where innovation and people who think different are welcome. As wonderful as it is to have a few people who think different and collaborate from different sides of Agile and Lean today, this is not enough, especially when they get attacked simply becauase they are seen as the rebels, the non-conformants, the ones who dare to challenge the establishment in their respective camps of Agile or Lean.


QA & Testing Budgets Are Rising for Financial Services Firms
The survey found that as many as 52 percent of organizations are investing more in transformational projects rather than maintaining legacy systems (48 percent). This includes developing new mobile, cloud, and big-data applications and systems. With more development, comes more risk. One application failure can quickly turn into a business process disaster, consumer backlash, and reputational damage -- reiterating the importance of QA and testing today.



Quote for the day:

"My definition of agile is that you accept input from reality, and you respond to it." -- Kent Beck

December 15, 2014

From Police to Partner: The Changing Role of IT
As an IT professional, it’s your job to equip employees with the tools they need to get their jobs done while policing to make sure all solutions meet security or compliance requirements for the business. Managing employees is especially important with the emergence of BYOIT and as new web-based services gain traction in consumer and business markets — you don’t want them to circumvent your policies when they use their favorite tools, after all.  But how do you get employees on board when you can’t lock them down anymore? You must adopt a new role that strikes a balance between employee needs and preferences and security. You have to become a “partner.”


Three IT Roles at Threat from Self-Service Business Intelligence
Something has to change when decisions are reliant on a team of many because it’s simply not sustainable. It’s too costly when non-technical employees (95% of an organization’s staff) have no way of creating views or information dashboards that integrate all of their relevant data in a unified business intelligence platform. So, going back to my question about how many decision-makers are required to produce a dashboard, the answer really comes down to every organization and its comfort level in empowering employees with the right tools to integrate, cleanse and enrich data themselves.


Cloud Compliance Remains a Challenge
A technical interpretation of the data protection law would solve the problem. Analogously, a meaningful technical solution does not have to stand in the way of unfashionable, non-IT oriented law. That sounds compelling. A revision of the data protection law would thus not be necessary at all. Caution is called for once again: As opposed to the copyright law, data protection law is not a commercial law. Data protection is a personal right. Hence, the interests of the citizens in data protection principally ranks behind a technical and thus economy-friendly interpretation of the law. As a result, the issue of control and data sovereignty on the cloud therefore remains unresolved to date.


A Terabyte on a Postage Stamp: RRAM Heads into Commercialization
Because of its greater density, RRAM will be able to use silicon wafers that are half the size used by current NAND flash fabricators. In a single chip, it has nearly 10 times the capacity of NAND flash and uses 20 times less power to store a bit of data. It also sports 100 times lower latency than NAND flash, meaning performance is massively improved, according to Crossbar. And because RRAM is fully compatible with the standard manufacturing processes already used in NAND fabrication, no changes will be needed in manufacturing facilities. But before it could send its technology to the factory, Crossbar had to overcome a major technological hurdle -- error-causing electron leaks between memory cells.


Government IT In 2014: GAO's Critique
The General Accountability Office has always been a reliable resource for seeing what IT dilemmas the federal government is grappling with. Through its reports and testimony, the GAO seeks to help the feds keep IT projects on schedule, maintain high levels of security, meet statutory requirements, and make the most of their investments. The GAO produced 31 reports and testimony on IT in 2014. While some reports focused on mundane IT matters, others addressed emerging technologies or uncovered government-wide IT deficiencies that merit inclusion in this roundup.


10 cybersecurity predictions for 2015
Year end is a time for reflection. Based on my history in this space, plus the fact that my day job of running CSC's Global Cybersecurity Consulting business lets me talk to and help hundreds of executives around the world, I wanted to offer my perspective on how 2014 turned out and my thoughts on what to watch for in 2015. ... 2014 had both high- and low-profile attacks against industrial control and SCADA systems, and it continues to be a head-to-head battle where the atom meets the bit.


Does the world need 5G? Driverless cars, IoT, future devices will demand it
5G probably won't diverge from the age-old pattern, but it does come with one added hassle: we just don't have enough spectrum to go around any longer, according to wireless analysts. Roaming in particular could be problematic. "Spectrum is and will remain a major challenge for the success and early rollout of 5G. We don't have enough spectrum in general and 5G is a lot about optimising the use of spectrum. But clearly, allocating more spectrum to 4G and later 5G would help and this is a global challenge... An additional challenge will be to find a globally harmonised band for 5G roaming since all suitable spectrum is already in use in one or another part of the world," said Thibaut Kleiner, head of the European Commission's CONNECT Directorate-General.


Top 10 Big Data Predictions For 2015
Big data has seen a massive growth in interest in recent times, as more and more companies are investing in various facets of this technology. While this year, businesses’ understanding and willingness to explore big data opportunities have matured from the previous years, the coming year is expected to be even more critical, believe analysts. IT market research agency IDC has shared top 10 predictions for Big Data and analytics segment. These predictions will help IT leaders and CIOs to come up with better strategies in 2015, states the research firm.


6 IT Workforce Predictions for 2015
2015 promises to be a banner year for IT workers as the unemployment rate continues to plummet, salaries increase and organizations double down on retention and engagement strategies. CIO.com asked experts to predict the biggest trends, technology and strategies that will make an impact on hiring and recruiting in 2015. Every new year brings a unique set of challenges and opportunities for IT workers as existing technologies evolve and new technologies emerge. The first half of 2015 looks promising based on these six predictions from career experts.


Secret CIO: Stop Making Stupid Software Decisions
Most LOB experts focus on the here and now. That's what lines of business are all about. But we make major software investments for the future, for requirements we don't necessarily have yet, for the business we want to create. It's difficult for most LOB managers to step into a software assessment project and shift their perspective. They're not being replaced during the evaluation, so they're distracted by present-day work. The three major players in this type of software project have three different objectives. The company wants to power current and future business capabilities -- to increase customer value and create competitive advantage.



Quote for the day:

"The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such." -- Andre Mauroisv

December 14, 2014

Google and Avaya to bring Chromebooks and WebRTC to call centers
Avaya hopes the offering will attract new clients and prompt customers of its call center software to upgrade their systems, especially those looking to move away from traditional Windows desktop PCs loaded with local software or to replace thin, virtualized clients, and thus simplify their infrastructure. Meanwhile, Google expects the partnership to help spur demand for Chromebook devices. Although Google doesn’t make Chromebooks, the company generates revenue licensing and IT administration software for the devices. The Avaya-Google bundle includes the Avaya Agent for Chrome software, and the Google Chrome management console.


5 Ways to Pull Useful Analytics Out of Big Data
It is generally made up of both structured and unstructured data. Structured data is data that’s already in a format designed for analysis, like data in a spreadsheet or database, while unstructured data is freeform, and includes things like infographics, presentations, blog posts, and social media posts. Astounding quantities of data are generated every day. In just one minute, there are 2 million Google searches, 685,000 Facebook updates, and 48 hours of video uploaded to YouTube. How can organizations draw useful analytics from this massive, heterogeneous pool of data? Here are 5 ways.


Debunking Disruptive Innovation – Why Disruptive Innovation is Not a Strategy
Most people familiar with the research on innovation also know about “paradigms.” Paradigms are mental models that contain unquestioned assumptions about how things work. The world is flat. The sun revolves around the earth. People get AIDS because God is punishing them for being gay. These assumptions are accepted as truths, until they’re turned upside down and replaced with an alternative paradigm. Paradigms have, and will always exist. Just like “quality” and “reengineering” were the business world’s lenses in the 1980’s and 1990’s, disruptive innovation is one of today’s biggest paradigms.


Iranian Hackers wiped out machines at Sands Corp Casino
“Typing from a Sony (SNE)VAIO computer, they compiled a small piece of code, only about 150 lines long, in the Visual Basic programming language. The program proved potent. Not only does it wipe the data stored on computers and servers, but it also automatically reboots them, a clever trick that exposes data that’s untouchable while a machine is still running. Even worse, the script writes over the erased hard drives with a random pattern of ones and zeros, making data so difficult to recover that it is more cost-effective to buy new machines and toss the hacked ones in the trash.” continues the post.


69 new external resources and articles about data science, big data
Starred articles were potential candidates for our picture of the week published in our weekly digest. Enjoy our new selection of articles and resources (R, data science, Python, machine learning etc.) Comments are from Vincent Granville.


NSA revelations forced Google to lock down data
After reporters showed Google engineers a diagram of the intelligence agency’s methods to tap links between Google data centers, the engineers responded with a “fusillade of words that we could not print in our family newspaper,” Washington Post reporter Craig Timberg said. Google responded to the revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden by spending a lot of money to lock down its systems, including 2,048-bit encryption on its traffic, Schmidt said. “We massively encrypted our internal systems,” he said. “It’s generally viewed that this level of encryption is unbreakable in our lifetime by any sets of human beings in any way. We’ll see if that’s really true.”


Open Data Grey Areas
“The trustworthiness of open data,” Boswarva explained, “depends on the particulars of the individual dataset and publisher. Some open data is robust, and some is rubbish. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with open data as a concept. The same broad statement can be made about data that is available only on commercial terms. But there is a risk attached to open data that does not usually attach to commercial data.” Data quality, third-party rights, and personal data were three grey areas Boswarva discussed. Although his post focused on a specific open dataset published by an agency of the government of the United Kingdom (UK), his points are generally applicable to all open data.


eBook: Android Security (and Not) Internals
Android is a software stack for a wide range of mobile devices and a corresponding open-source project led by Google. Android consists of four layers: Linux Kernel, Native Userspace, Application Framework and Applications. Sometimes Native Userspace and Application Framework layers are combined into the one called Android Middleware. Figure 1.1 represents the layers of the Android software stack. Roughly saying, in this figure the green blocks correspond to the components developed in C/C++, while the blue cohere with the ones implemented in Java. Google distributes the most part of the Android code under Apache version 2.0 licence.


The ERP monolith begins to unravel, sort of
Again, blame it on the cloud. The days of huge, complex on-premises IT infrastructures interwoven through the business are numbered. Many essential services and application functions can be accessed as needed and in piecemeal style via cloud, versus making huge up-front investments in software, equipment, and consulting assistance. "Raised with a new set of social, mobile, sensory, and wearable technology, [IT managers] will demand SAP's experience and functionality to reflect the new order." That order, of course, would be using HR, finance, and operational services from the cloud.


Companies need to trust gov't on cybersecurity, DOJ says
In addition to more trust, more engagement from private companies is needed, added Joe Demarest, assistant director of the Cyber Division at the FBI. But calls by DOJ officials for legislation to require mobile phone operating systems to include back doors in newly announced encryption tools may be a major stumbling block to additional cooperation. In recent months, FBI Director James Comey[cq] called on Congress to rewrite the 20-year-old Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act to allow for law enforcement agencies to access encrypted data on smartphones.



Quote for the day:

"The first step to leadership is servanthood." -- John C. Maxwell

December 13, 2014

Interview: Lucie Glenday, chief digital officer, Surrey County Council
“It’s a hard thing,” she says, calling herself a troublemaker. “That’s what the role is – somebody to come in and ask questions no one else has asked.” But CIO Paul Brocklehurst has taken it all in his stride. Already the council is advanced when it comes to digital thinking and has managed to deliver £250m worth of savings over the past four years. “But we’ve got more to go, and when you’ve got that constant battering of someone saying ‘I think you can do that better’, that’s really tricky,” says Glenday. “Especially when, to all intents and purposes, it’s a new face, someone who’s come down from cabinet officer and doesn’t seem to act in the same way everyone else does.”


The Cost of Data Loss on a Smaller Scale
If these numbers don’t scare you enough, they pull out another familiar figure: the dollar sign. These companies like to estimate the cost of data loss for a company. In 2012, Seagate estimated that $40 million is lost annually on data loss events. According to an Aberdeen research study, the average company loses $163,674 in unused labor and lost revenue for each hour of downtime due to data loss. But most of the time, these daunting percentages and huge numbers seem like empty threats. Data loss can’t possibly be that common, right? And even if it were, it certainly couldn’t cost that much, right?


Seven areas to focus on when complying with PCI DSS v3.0
Merchants and service providers are required to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which represents a set of guidelines for securing card data. If a business is found to be noncompliant, it can suffer considerable repercussions. Despite this, the Verizon 2014 PCI Compliance Report revealed that in 2013 only 11.1% of organisations fully complied with the requirements of the PCI DSS, and only one in five organisations came close to complying and passed 95%+ of controls.


Building a Data Governance Team with a Eye on Information Security
Potter noted that information is essential to supporting good patient care, as well as operational effectiveness, reducing costs; but data in itself also produces a level of risk for the organizations. Historically, she said, there has been a perception that data should be available any time, anywhere. There needs to be recognition that provider organizations must maintain control of data, which is essential to the care of the patient, she said. She noted that provider organizations today have access to vast amounts of data, from personal identifiable information, personal health information, corporate information, intellectual property and research.


For Long-Term Data Archive Solutions, Tape Storage Still on Top
For long-term data archive solutions, why does Google prefer to use tape storage drives and devices to archive and back up every email it stores? Because Google, recognizes that tape is less expensive, has greater longevity and reliability and is more portable and compatible with a variety of data formats than hard disk drives (HDDs). The need for long-term data archive solutions that will endure well into the future is only increasing. Recent advances in the Linear Tape File System (LTFS) and tape libraries from IBM, Oracle, Quantum, Spectra Logic and others are making data access times much faster. In addition, Linear Tape-Open (LTO) standardization, now on its sixth iteration (LTO-6), guarantees data access across devices well into the future.


Hyper-V Replica for Disaster Recovery
Appropriately called Hyper-V Replica, Microsoft introduced it with Windows Server 2012 R2 and upgraded it in the subsequent release. While it provides replication designed to ensure business continuity, Hyper-V Replica is not a substitute for failover clustering. If your organization has the budget to build a clustered Hyper-V deployment, you should definitely do so. Although there are similarities between replication and failover clustering, failover clustering is the preferred method for protecting your virtual machines (VMs).


Managed Failovers To Overtake Traditional Disaster Recovery Testing By 2018
“It has been a target for criticism that while it’s technically an open-source technology, it’s really controlled by the company behind it. Rival products are being launched to ‘rein in’ the problem, producing a slew of open projects that developers can tailor to meet their specific needs. We can expect to see more of this in the next couple of years.” Cloud object storage is another “one to watch” in 2015, says Dymacz: “We have been saying this for years, but object storage is something that’s hugely underused at the moment. Data is continuing to grow faster than most organisations know what to do with, and the costs associated with storing that data are growing year on year.


US technology companies facing growing UK pressure over internet spying
No such criticism of American institutions, much less companies, has ever been made before by a senior British government official. According to John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham and a cryptographer, "this statement from GCHQ is without precedent". "The US has an unfortunate track record of ignoring other countries' laws, in the area of high tech especially. It is good that they have been given a clear message from the UK that this must stop happening in the UK. I welcome GCHQ's openness and clarity on this matter. This is a very welcome development," he said.


Mac McMillan’s Clarifying Moment on Data Security
“The events of this past year ,” McMillan, CEO founder of the consulting firm CynergisTek Inc., told his audience, “have begun to show what’s going on, that the folks who want to do harm to us in healthcare have absolutely found us, and they’re not going away.” McMillan cited and briefly summarized 12 different, very serious, data breaches in 2014 that in a variety of ways are illustrative of all the threats facing patient care organizations in the U.S. What’s more, as he pointed out, the external threats—from hostile foreign governments, foreign-based criminal syndicates, and other entities—are beginning to emerge as potentially devastating for the U.S. healthcare system.


Forecasting to Improve Your Data Center Portfolio
Building and managing data center infrastructure represent large amounts of investments; it can easily reach up to hundreds of millions of dollars. Knowing whether or not you need additional capacity or whether your company can wait a few months to make this additional investment, can translate into a significant financial improvement to your data center portfolio. In retail, there are two forecasting models that allow you to manage your inventory levels between Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), distribution centers, retail stores and end customer: sell in and sell through models.



Quote for the day:

"To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

December 12, 2014

Why 2015 will be big for NoSQL databases: Couchbase CEO
"At the moment it's a relatively small number of applications and they're doing it more on an application-by-application basis," Wiederhold said. By the second half of next year that approach will alter to "a strategic, 'We're going to deploy this stuff in a very broad way'". ... "Phase one started in 2008-ish, when you first started to see commercial NoSQL products being available. Phase one is all about grassroots developer adoption. Developers would go home one weekend, and they'll have heard about NoSQL, they download the free software, install it, start to use it, like it, and bring it into their companies," Wiederhold said.


Renewable Energy and the Colocation Provider
Do colocation providers have the same responsibility when it comes to renewable data center energy, and should they be held to the same standards as an Apple or Google? Yes and no. The Googles and Facebooks of the world have the sway to effect real change on the grid, recently lobbying Duke Energy to commit $500 million to renewables. A colocation provider’s options are less flexible, due to efficiency, limited space, and limited flexibility in site selection. But its sway could affect the grid in the future. Currently for many, buying Renewable Energy Credits is the only way to go, though this practice isn’t quite pervasive outside of the mega providers like Interxion and Equinix.


Intelligence community must get its own house in order
The intelligence community has shattered the trust the public has in both technology companies and government itself, and at the same time seriously damaged the ability of firms to sell their products to foreign customers. Because of this distrust, technology companies are justifiably reluctant to work closely with the government, even when doing so would be in everyone’s interest. For example, intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency (NSA) have some of the world’s foremost cryptographers and security experts on their payrolls and should be offering technical assistance to tech companies, but doing so in today’s environment would likely drive away customers.


A brief history of Linux malware
Although not as common as malware targeting Windows or even OS X, security threats to Linux have become both more numerous and more severe in recent years. There are a couple of reasons for that – the mobile explosion has meant that Android (which is Linux-based) is among the most attractive targets for malicious hackers, and the use of Linux as a server OS for and in the data center has also grown – but Linux malware has been around in some form since well before the turn of the century. Have a look.


Gartner Reveals Every Customer MDM Product is Average or Worse
Gartner released the latest Magic Quadrant for Master Data Management of Customer Data Solutions and it is surprising to discover that only one product on the list was well received by customers. Gartner had three clear leaders – IBM MDM Advanced Edition, Informatica and Oracle (Siebel UCM). There were two other products just squeezing into the leaders quadrant – IBM MDM Standard Edition (formerly Initiate) and Tibco. What is surprising is that even though each vendor was able to choose reference customer sites for their products they still received average and below average scores for the software indicating a general difficulty in the marketplace in implementing MDM.


Cisco sees a data analytics fortune at the edge of the network
That’s one piece of Cisco Connected Analytics for the Internet of Everything, a set of new and existing capabilities that the company is introducing as a portfolio on Thursday. CEO John Chambers and services chief Edzard Overbeek are set to do the unveiling at an event at Cisco headquarters, a measure of the importance Cisco places on its Internet of Everything (IoE) vision, which it pegs as a US$19 trillion economy-wide opportunity over the next 10 years. Analytics is a $7.3 trillion chunk of that, the company says.


BlueData EPIC - making Big Data implementations easy
The company has developed a cloud-based platform, BlueData EPIC, designed to simplify the installation and use of common Big Data tools. Setting up a cluster of systems to execute Big Data tools is only a small number of clicks away. Simple enough that even an industry analyst could use it. The company has made it extremely simple to setup and use a cluster of virtual systems to conduct Big Data analysis and then scale it up or down as the company's requirements change. EPIC appears to support many of the most popular Big Data tools. Here's how the company describes what it currently supports:


Can an Industry Data Model Support Physical Instantiation?
The most foundational aspect of the integrated data warehouse design is the availability of a well-architected data model. As has long been the case, a logical data model (LDM) contains data elements organized to support a specific business or industry. The physical data model (PDM) components are the framework for the implementation of these structures, providing the details necessary to generate the DDL for the warehouse. The physical model resides alongside the logical model, expanded to include the components necessary to generate physical database structures like tables, views and indexes, designed to ensure optimum performance.


Desk Phone Extinction? Not so Fast
On Tuesday, Kansas-based AccessDirect Inc. said the results of a survey it conducted show that desk phones face “extinction" as younger employees, who prefer mobile alternatives, take over the workplace. That’s a bold statement, and it’s not the first time it has been made; ever since mobility and the softphone hit the market, people have forecast the demise of the desk phone. Ask yourself, though – how often do black-and-white predictions come to fruition in business technology? Almost always is there room for everything. Regardless, AccessDirect believes the end of desk phone days is nigh.


Introduction to Agile Methods by Sondra Ashmore & Kristin Runyan
Becoming Agile is a journey rather than a destination. Applying new practices is part of the journey. I believe there are some indicators that show that you are moving in the direction of agility. Key indicators that come to mind are regular communication, transparency, and more active engagement from stakeholders and customers. The part of the journey that I see teams struggle with the most is that they feel they encounter failures more often (albeit smaller ones) because they are getting more feedback sooner in the process. A team that is being agile embraces these early opportunities to make a change in the spirit of creating the best possible product for their customers.



Quote for the day:

"The role of leadership is to transform the complex situation into small pieces and prioritize them." -- Carlos Ghosn