Software Architecture Matters
Plain Spoken Guidance for Software
There is evidence that good software architectures and high performing teams go together. Do good architecture create good teams or do good teams create good architectures? I am not sure which is the cause and which is the effect. It did get me thinking. What would I write down for architecture guidance? Below is my list. Expect future posts . . .
9 Ways to Increase Productivity
A WIP free guide
Call me a cynic I have never seen Work In Progress (WIP) limits taken seriously at big companies. So here are 9 ways of increasing productivity that do not reference WIP. TLDR; Create clarity and focus by eliminating everything that is a distraction to front line individual contributors.
9 Ways
- Apply a surge of . . .
Start Doing Checklists
Stop Doing Failure Mode Analysis
Start doing checklists! Stop doing failure mode analysis. Failure mode analysis does not work.
- Checklists work.
- Checklists scale to hundreds of engineers.
- Checklists have a long history in fields like aviation and medicine.
My new book tells the story of migrating a 450 million user website to Azure, and . . .
Retaining Founders
Acquiring Startups is only the begining
When big companies acquire small companies the founders should stay and become part of the team. Here are 4 tips to keep Founders after their options vest.
- Be generous
- Give them a seat at the table
- Give them a path to growth
- Make a space to tinker
Be generous , be nice, do not be critical. Look for . . .
Biggest Challenges in DevOps
Thoughts ahead of DevOpsEnterprise #DOES15
Technology has enabled people to consume products in new ways. Mobile devices, online social, and cloud computing allow customers to easily find what they want and consume products on the go. These consumption patterns lead to entirely new business models and are disrupting existing companies.
Often these challenges are addressed . . .
Predictive Measures
Three Metrics for Peer Review
After my post on stinky metrics a reader asked for good metrics. Good measures are difficult to convey due to their context specific nature. Teams often have very different ways of measuring, filtering out the noise, and evaluating success.
Therefore it's best to start with classes of metrics. Leading indicators are better than . . .
Create Great Teams with Aspirational Metrics
The Guide on Measuring to Win
Metrics make us miserable most of the time. Work is no different. Every job has its weird metric, the one dreamed up by the boss or a triumvirate of software architects. My favorite screwy metrics is 75 Percentile of Mean Time to Mitigate. How can something be an average (50th Percentile) and a 75 Percentile? This metric worked by throwing . . .
