Improved Error Handling Increases Usability
March 1, 2019
Errors can be managed, anticipated, controlled and sometimes resolved if an IT development unit is properly structured.
ArticlesIBM Infrastructure Plays a Critical Role in Cloud, AI and Security
February 1, 2019
Cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and security all have underpinnings in infrastructure—the servers, storage and software that power an organization. A purpose-built architecture is critical to achieving the performance needed for current and future business requirements. “Technology alone can’t transform a company, but it’s a very essential ingredient in business transformation,” says Tom Rosamilia, senior vice […]
ArticlesAI-Driven Technological Progress
January 1, 2019
The rate of change for how most tasks in the world are done is accelerating. Like many readers of this publication, I have enough history to contemplate how life was four or five decades ago compared to today. Technological advances have dramatically transformed many life experiences as well as business operations. It’s fair to conclude […]
ArticlesStress Tests Validate Systems and Strain Analysts
January 1, 2019
In conjunction with a client insurance company, I have the dubious distinction and privilege of being an early pioneer in the discipline of stress testing computer systems. Thanks to the wise experience of an IBM Consulting Systems Engineer named Don Lund who took me under his wing and passed his wisdom to me—and mostly kept […]
ArticlesClearly Defining Project Completion
December 1, 2018
My first contract as an independent consultant was with a large, multinational bank. They were attempting a processor-to-processor application that exchanged banking information nightly, and trying to implement a new IBM function called IBM Advanced Program-to-Program Communication (APPC)—something new to them, but not me. I was initially delighted to take the project. I met with […]
The Right KPIs for Mainframe DevOps
November 1, 2018
To compete in fast-moving, disruption-prone digital markets, enterprises must aggressively embrace DevOps on the mainframe. DevOps is becoming increasingly important, and without it—along with associated agile best practices—delivery on these digital initiatives will be too slow and infrequent to keep pace with escalating customer expectations. To successfully drive adoption of DevOps on the mainframe, IT […]
ArticlesFlexibility Is Key in Project Estimation
November 1, 2018
So often we hear of projects—especially government funded projects—exceeding their budget, and for a long time my knee-jerk reaction was that hanky-panky was afoot. I’m sure sometimes that’s true, but when consulting became my career and sizing a project became a necessary skill, I realized it wasn’t so clear cut. In most cases, there are […]
ArticlesProject Plans Require Nurturing Leadership
October 1, 2018
I was recently chatting with a colleague who was complaining about project team members ignoring his directions, neglecting a schedule he’d built before a short vacation and consequently getting an email from his unhappy client about project delays. I asked if he’d held a meeting to discuss assignments and appoint someone in charge. When he […]
ArticlesCreating a Self-Managing Mainframe
September 1, 2018
Hybrid IT environments, along with IT leaders and their teams, are facing more challenges than ever because of digital transformation efforts to add new or improved services for customers. The challenges are coming from all sides, and IT teams are often backed into a corner, left to respond reactively to dynamic changes, customer situations, threats […]
ArticlesMaking Informed Technological Decisions
September 1, 2018
In my early system engineering years with IBM, my primary account was a large insurance company in central Wisconsin that was a leading-edge user of CICS [1] and one of the higher volume online systems in the world. Their advanced, heavily-used, real-time and transaction-based business applications stressed IBM’s largest S/370 processors to their limits. Transaction growth […]