Let's face it, compared to other engineering disciplines software development is just coming out of the stone age. Heck, I'm sure I'll get a lot of flak for even suggesting that software development is an engineering discipline (though I have to admit the way a lot of developers go about their work, calling it engineering … Continue reading Get Your Team Working Together
Author: Dan Ackerson
What Developers Want
Developers are people too. Believe it or not, they have needs and wants just like everyone else. Here are some, which the Operations department should be able to satisfy for a more harmonious and productive workplace. Robust development environment Just as sysadmins have those black sheep servers in the back of the server room used … Continue reading What Developers Want
Continuous Integration Helps Find and Kill Bugs
Today, automated test builds are a goal of most development shops, and Martin Fowler's article on Continuous Integration provides an excellent overview about the major aspects. Regardless of where your team is on the path to achieving this goal, here are a few hints how to ease your way. The committer pulls test coverage out … Continue reading Continuous Integration Helps Find and Kill Bugs
How Leasing Can Improve Cash Flow and Uptime
If your company is strapped for cash, buying a new file server for $10K is a lot of money. But you might not have to shell it out all at once if you consider leasing or cloud computing. Although you ultimately end up paying more, going in front of the board and explaining an extra … Continue reading How Leasing Can Improve Cash Flow and Uptime
Ownership Takes Commitment
Building on my previous article "The Branch Not Taken", I'd like to convince you of the importance of code ownership. In Garret Hardin's essay "Tragedy of the Commons", he describes the burden that communal freedoms place upon a finite resource. Protecting your release branch If you consider stable, production ready code as a finite resource, … Continue reading Ownership Takes Commitment
The Branch Not Taken
Whether you're running your website from the trunk or a release branch, you've already taken the first important step - you're using a source code repository. Depending upon the size of your team and website, the way you manage this repository will vary tremendously. I'd like to share some of my experiences in managing code … Continue reading The Branch Not Taken
What Sysadmins Want
Most of us have seen, or at least heard of, the Mel Gibson movie "What Women Want". It certainly is a tantalizing idea - being able to read the thoughts of other people. Now being able to read your sysadmin's mind may not be at the top of your wish list, but, I bet there … Continue reading What Sysadmins Want
