2013 Nov 22

Why Engineers Hate Testing

In previous posts, most recently earlier this week, I discussed the benefits of testing and how admitting you have a problem is the first step, the first success, on the road to victory. Anyone who has managed engineers knows that they hate doing three things more than any others: Wasting time Writing documentation Testing Despite growing evidence that creating automated tests first and only then writing code to implement your business need (test-driven-development or TDD) is very successful and leads to faster, more stable and more reliable releases - which means more revenue for the company and, from the engineers' perspective, fewer nights of emergency bug fixes - engineers instinctively hate writing tests first (well, after too), and will take any opportunity to "

2013 Nov 20

Zero, the Small Victory

I had the pleasure of having coffee one morning this week - straight off the plane - with a colleague who recently took over all technology at a fast-moving startup. This very smart technology leader is after two very big, but related, changes: Continuous Deployment: He wants lots and lots of small changes, as often as they can handle (and perhaps a little more than that). Aren't deployments risky?

2013 Nov 18

The Problem With Platforms and Perfection

What happened to Apple? Everyone either loves them and talks of their inevitable ongoing success, or loves to hate them, and talk of their impending implosion. Earlier this month, well-known Harvard professor Larry Lessig wrote an extensive article listing his travails with upgrading OS X, iOS and iWork all in the same week. Of course, upgrading everything at once is probably a bad idea, but Lessig admits it openly.

2013 Nov 15

Doing a Great Job, and Getting a Great Job

I had coffee recently with a colleague who is looking to get into a certain market. While speaking with him, I was reminded of the irony of the job hunt, especially at senior levels. To succeed at senior roles, especially in the tech sector, you need to be skilled in multiple areas: technology, finance, marketing, product, even sales. Even a mid-level engineering manager needs to know how to code, manage people (HR), handle budgets (including oddities like capitalizing vs expensing major software investments, depreciation schedules, and WACC), interface with marketing, support sales.

2013 Nov 14

It's the Plumbing, Stupid - Part II

A few weeks ago, Adobe announced that hackers had broken into their database and stolen 3MM passwords and other customer identifiable data. Then reports surfaced that it was 10MM. Then 38MM. Latest reports say it may be as high as 150MM. That would be one of the largest data thefts ever, by number of customers compromised, certainly in excess of the 45MM in the infamous TJ Maxx / TJX case from six years ago.

2013 Nov 13

When Your Assets Become Liabilities, a Blockbuster Story

Last week, Jonathan Baskin, a former executive at Blockbuster and now a brand consultant, wrote a fascinating insight in Forbes into the setting for the demise of his former employer. Baskin argues that Blockbuster and its executives early on failed to recognize that its primary value was not as they believed, convenience, "get a movie right in your neighbourhood!" Logically, if physical reach is your key value-add, then a strategy mixing new store expansion and existing store acquisition makes perfect sense.

2013 Nov 11

Should Microsoft Kill Windows?

Here is a radical thought: Microsoft should kill Windows. No, not the cash cow on laptops and desktops, nor the ones that give great views from their Redmond, WA campus. Rather, as Microsoft continually fights and loses to iOS and Android in the mobile space of tablets and smartphones, it should release an operating system that shares nothing with Windows, not even the name. Inside the walls of Microsoft headquarters, this idea is probably heresy.

2013 Nov 8

Between Idealism and Realism - the Rise and Fall of APIs

Yesterday, Benedict Evans pointed out that APIs seem to be suffering death; many well-known services (in the literal, not technical, meaning) are disabling or removing their APIs - Google, Skype, etc. At the same time, many other, younger services, seem to heavily promote their APIs. Facebook is not young, but it has gone through many iterations; Twitter has its API, although it has been known to get into battles with third-party services that use their APIs to compete with Twitter's own interfaces (shades of Apple?

2013 Nov 6

Playing Hard to Get With Users

By most accounts, StackExchange has become very successful. It started out as an easy-to-use community for programmers to get together - StackOverflow - and has since expanded to multiple "Exchanges" for everything from systems administration to home Do-It-Yourself jobs. StackOverflow (the biggest site) has close to 2MM users as of last summer. Sites like the various StackExchange live and die by the engagement of their user community. The more often people visit the site and post quality questions and valuable answers, the greater the value of the network.

2013 Nov 5

Devaluing Miles... and Honesty

Like many a regular United Airlines customer - I have put in ~400k miles over the past 2.5 years - I am upset about the massive devaluation of United MileagePlus miles announced this past Friday. For those unaware, United made it somewhat more expensive to fly premium classes (Business and First) on United, and significantly more expensive - in some cases twice as much - if a single leg of an award itinerary is on a non-United plane, i.