Managing the IT Project Backlog
September 11, 2019
While IT seems to be an exercise in reading the future and transforming it into business processes, IT often misuses its most vital resource—the people that turn hardware, software and networks into business applications that improve productivity, provide new function, and increase employee effectiveness. Analysts are pulled off projects barely halfway complete, designers are reassigned […]
Podcasts‘Captain COBOL’ Tom Ross on the Evolution of COBOL on Z
September 3, 2019
Reg Harbeck: Hi, this is Reg Harbeck and today I'm here with Tom Ross whose nickname is Captain COBOL and he has been working at IBM on COBOL since the early 1980s. Well Tom before I describe you to the world, why don’t you tell us, how did you end up working at IBM on […]
ArticlesCOBOL Turns 60
May 1, 2019
On April 8, 1959, a team led by Grace Hopper met for the first time to begin developing the specifications for the COBOL programming language. A day short of five years later, on April 7, 1964, the computer platform that would come to be most closely associated with this great programming language was announced: the […]
ArticlesA Closer Look at the 2018 Master the Mainframe Winners
May 1, 2019
For a decade and a half, students from around the world have been taking part in IBM’s annual Master the Mainframe competition. Designed as an introduction to the world of z/OS programming, the contest requires no prior knowledge or skills, and leads participants from their first taste of the UI and the concepts that underpin […]
ArticlesTraditional and Nontraditional Approaches to Application Modernization
March 18, 2019
A discussion of traditional and nontraditional approaches and techniques for application modernization.
Strategies, Methods and Toolsets for Modernization
February 18, 2019
A systematic and organized approach to application modernization.
ArticlesDevOps Tools for z/OS
January 1, 2019
Can DevOps tools work for z/OS? Yes, and there are two current methodologies which can enable using tools like Eclipse, Jenkins, GIT and many others. One methodology, which most of the mainframe community has likely heard about, is Zowe. Zowe is the first open-source framework for z/OS and was announced at SHARE in St. Louis. […]
ArticlesEnabling Open-Source Continuous Delivery Pipelines
January 1, 2019
IBM Z* Open Development is an entry-level toolset for z/OS* development teams who plan to transform their software delivery practices around a common, automated delivery pipeline. It provides the essential link Z developers need to join a platform neutral, continuous integration and deployment pipeline that’s inclusive of z/OS application components. Neat and Lean Developers must […]
ArticlesWriting Applications Means Knowing the Process and Its Users
July 1, 2018
A few years ago, I helped a client modify and enhance applications in key business processes like marketing, accounting, inventory management, order processing and customer service. I wasn’t an expert in application design or coding; my specialty was system software like CICS, Db2, VSAM and MVS, but I did know the COBOL, PLI and Assembler […]
ArticlesIT Change and Renewal
April 30, 2018
Approaches and tactics to address challenges like breathing new life into applications.