Humans are very, very good at rapid pattern recognition. It is the basis of the flight or fight response and based on our ability to see past events in current and future situations. … humans are amazing pattern-recognition machines. They have the ability to recognize many different types of patterns – and then transform these “recursive… Continue reading Emotions & Facts – Becoming data driven by overcoming bias
Category: Tech
“Only doing what we can execute now” is a terrible strategy – a prescription for unsticking your engineering team.
I engage with a lot of engineering teams (and leaders) that are stuck. They know full well they need to do something to enable thier product, service or business team – but they can’t get started. In almost every case I find a culture of resistance – which can be best summarized as: I don’t… Continue reading “Only doing what we can execute now” is a terrible strategy – a prescription for unsticking your engineering team.
The Message We Do Not Hear
Over the last few days I’ve attempted to write a post here explaining why data driven analysis and action is so important in relation to recent events. It isn’t hard to find data and high quality analytical analysis that speaks to the tragic events in Minneapolis, Baton Rouge and yesterday in Dallas. It also isn’t… Continue reading The Message We Do Not Hear
Enterprise Architecture – Build versus Buy
In the bad old days (pre all the aaS’s) enterprise architecture revolved around build versus buy. The crux of the decision was – does this capability provide us significant and lasting strategic competitive advantage and therefore justify the “build” choice? Today, the cost of “buy” is arguably hirer than ever before – with SaaS per… Continue reading Enterprise Architecture – Build versus Buy
Stop Calling Yourself a Developer
First and foremost, let’s be clear, the entire tech industry suffers from a distinct lack of specificity when it comes to roles and titles. That, however, is no reason to market yourself as a Developer. Developer implies that you just generate code. That, however, isn’t what (most) of us do. We create systems that generate… Continue reading Stop Calling Yourself a Developer
Leadership: Risk or Opportunity Focused
As I’ve worked with teams engineering teams big and small – in both enterprise and startup contexts – over the last 20 years I’ve noticed two distinct patterns in leadership and their impact on the culture and productivity of those teams. Pattern: Risk Focused Leadership Risk focused leadership emphasizes the up front identification and mitigation of… Continue reading Leadership: Risk or Opportunity Focused
Big Data – Empowering the Age of Agile Analytics
Big data is a buzzword, no question. Given that it is incumbent on practitioners – in particular architects – to tie the new patterns available in a “big data” enabled infrastructure to practical business benefits. While there are a variety of business benefits that are enabled by big data infrastructure the single most tangible is… Continue reading Big Data – Empowering the Age of Agile Analytics
Data Architects – no one cares about your ERD…
Data Architecture has changed – massively – and most data practitioners haven’t caught on yet. In a SaaS world – where business users can sign up for and use powerful platforms by simply signing up we have to radically rethink what data architecture means. It certainly isn’t about your ERD – your elegant description of… Continue reading Data Architects – no one cares about your ERD…
How to spot a fake Big Data Engineer
I interview a lot of candidates… I mean a LOT. And every resume I get these days has a “Big Data Project” listed. So, naturally, my first question is – what is it that made it a “Big Data” project? Top five immediate disqualification answers are: We were using Hadoop We had TONS of data… Continue reading How to spot a fake Big Data Engineer
Back to Basics
Sometimes, you have to get back to basics. It is too easy to get caught up in the size of the opportunity, an open IPO window or high expectations. Great companies are built with an intense focus on customers and problems. Great businesses are built by maintaining an intense focus on the metrics that matter… Continue reading Back to Basics