You’re a lucky guy. Your web app runs on the biggest server available. It takes a mere 10% CPU and has tons of free memory available. Everything is great. Well, not everything… One tiny, little detail might jump out of the darkness at the worst possible moment… That tiny, little detail is a collection of … Continue reading How over-capacity hurts your scalability
Author: Matthias Marschall
The opinions stated here are my own, not those of my company.
How to make a team self-organizing
Self-organizing teams perform better than micro-managed ones. The ability to really make a difference motivates the team members and makes everyone contribute his best effort. But how can we create self-organizing teams when everyone is used to hierarchical command and control patterns? To be able to self-organize and perform optimally, a few basics need to … Continue reading How to make a team self-organizing
The DevOps Dudes
After DevOps Borat and BroOps it's time for The DevOps Dudes!
DevOps is NOT a Job Description
The DevOps hype produces some strange effects. Not only do tool vendors try to jump on the DevOps band wagon by declaring their products "DevOps inside" or listing DevOps as a feature, but companies start to look for a "DevOp" in their job ads. Don't be misled! Here's what DevOps is really about: DevOps Is … Continue reading DevOps is NOT a Job Description
DevOps – Break Down The Wall
Instead of escalating wars between departments by driving them to ever more ambitious, local goals, we need to break down the wall between development and operations. Defining overarching goals which resonate for both departments creates an environment where DevOps collaboration may thrive. Dev and Ops are separate departments Organizations typically divide their teams by type … Continue reading DevOps – Break Down The Wall
Where Agile Falls Short
It's amazing. Talking to a bunch of fellow CTOs I heard a lot of them saying: "We introduced Scrum and it works really well" and "we're too slow to bring new features to our customers". This piqued my curiosity. Scrum is supposed to speed up feature delivery through short iterations. How can an organization claim … Continue reading Where Agile Falls Short
How Non-negotiable Features Kill Software Products
You’ve most probably been there: To win that one ueber-important client, your friendly sales rep sells the farm and his grandmother (well actually he sells features, which he invents right in front of the client to make sure to get the deal, but the effect is nearly the same). And not only does he sell … Continue reading How Non-negotiable Features Kill Software Products
The 5 Biggest Mistakes When Hiring
Sad but true - it's pretty rare for managers to hire the right people. If there are too many candidates, effective filtering is critical. Too few candidates, and it's hard to get applications at all, much less the right ones. I want to describe the top five errors you make when trying to hire the … Continue reading The 5 Biggest Mistakes When Hiring
How “Good to Great” applies to agile software development
Maybe you read it long ago, or it's been on your "to read" list for years. Or maybe you've never heard of it: The book "Good to Great" by James C. Collins. It describes how companies move from being average to great and how they can fail to make the transition. So, what does all … Continue reading How “Good to Great” applies to agile software development
Meetings or Trust – Choose Your Weapons
Sitting in unnecessary meetings sucks. You know what I'm talking about: A lot of people crammed into one room, half of whom have no business with the discussion. The other half are responsible for the topic, but didn't bother preparing for the discussion. So why are all these people sitting together? Let's examine this from … Continue reading Meetings or Trust – Choose Your Weapons
