Categories
leadership other

Constraint

As a backbencher you can speak your mind…. Leadership implies constraint.

Categories
decisions design hacks leadership other system

What actually matters

MVP, happy path, test coverage, Devops… In practice everything is in a spectrum. Focus on building value as the primary goal.

Categories
code design other patterns

Cloud patterns

A lot can be said about designing for cloud-first. Async as default, for example. Chatty DB issues of systems designed with an implicit view that data is instantly available (on-prem DB, for example). However cloud DB suffer from latency causing issues.
A good starting point is to to recognise that different physics is at play in the cloud.

Categories
code design other patterns

Microservices pattern

A lot of developers talk about microservices. Microservices at an outset appear anti-agile as separation has to be tackled early on which is not easy as most of the time deeper understanding is required in order to decide how to brake up components. Build MVP and decompose when you learn….

Categories
cloud code other patterns

Big Data anti-pattern

Installations of Hadoop with Gb data feeds that would be faster processed on a laptop.

Categories
cloud future innovation other

Virtual Reality HoloLens

At London’s Future Decoded, Nadella frequently referred to HoloLens, the augmented-reality headset the company is deploying in early 2016. “If you change the way you see the world, you change the world that you see,’ he said on stage, pointing to the ‘augmented’ aspect of the headset. It’s clear to see that HoloLens will be a big part of Microsoft’s future offerings to businesses.

Other soundbites included:
– Mobile-first, cloud-first
– Data from exhaust to fuel
– Lagging indicators like revenue, profit vs leading indicators like usage

Categories
code other

Good to Great Developers

Our Data Architect has strong views about developers: ‘Good developers write good code. Great developers copy great code.’

Categories
behaviour leadership other

Leadership – inspire outstanding performance

Categories
leadership other people support team tools work

Bridging Tech-Business gap

Best way for Tech to bridge gap with the Business is to be helpful and to ensure that tech works 100% of the time.

How to be helpful? Organise knowedge sharing sessions with functional teams (finance, for example), focus on their needs and their core apps, show them how to use the tools to make their job easier. Do this to establish a baseline of Tech knowledge across organisation.

If you are a smaller business or have a developed support function, follow up with one to ones that can be between a few minutes to 30mins. Check user set up, show tools shortcuts, explain new tools use case. Use a check list to ensure consistency.

100% useful/works: Needless to say ensure that Tech works by making common tasks seamless: login, email, change password, file sharing, system updates, printing.

Categories
leadership other people team work

Get others involved

Add business users and other team members (data ops, for example) to stand ups. Resolve conflicts quickly, directly address bottlenecks while creating a sense of common team spirit.