Previous installments of “IT Ops” have argued we should borrow applicable tools or practices from development or data specialists. Publication a few weeks ago of “How to Adjust to the Changing Face of Software Testing” brings testing into position to make its contribution. Continue reading →

Application Performance Management (APM) is an utter waste of effort–or an absolute necessity, depending on how you go about it. As “‘Performance’ means something new in a rationalized cloud architecture” last week described, “APM” covers a too-broad range, and you owe it to yourself to analyze your own use of APM very carefully. Continue reading →

Two recent thoughtful overviews, by Bernd Harzog and the staff at SearchNetworking, respectively, do a particularly good job of capturing the current best thinking on application performance management (APM). Continue reading →

Are your operations mediocre? By the definition of mediocre, most are. If so, you have a greater need of application performance management (APM) than if your IT (information technology) shop were already finely tuned. Continue reading →

Networking is important–truly important. “Networking” here isn’t the kind that appears in simple-minded career advice, like, “let acquaintances know what kind of job you want (except when you shouldn’t)”; it’s the deeply technical kind that has to do with IPv6 … Continue reading →

“Return-on-investment” (ROI) is so important and frequent in business conversations that it’s easy to lose track of the variety of ways it’s used. Make sure the conversations you’re in are consistent about ROI, so that you reach your real goals. … Continue reading →

“How Washington State handled a flood of applications to be its ‘pot czar’” is the most important information technology (IT) story of the year for me. It’s not the titillation of marijuana decrimininalization that deserves our attention: it’s the bottom-line story of delivery of results in a tenth the time, at less than a tenth the cost, that demands deeper understanding. Continue reading →

“[S]tandardize on a homogeneous infrastructure” is hard advice for me to hear. Nearly my whole career has involved some aspect of porting or abstraction across market competitors, and aversion to “single-sourcing” has always been among the commandments of good design. Continue reading →

As much as Application Performance Management helps your company’s operations, it has the potential to boost your career even more. Continue reading →

Trends in the gaming industry will only accentuate the importance of application performance management (APM). Legislation in the world’s richest countries appears poised to legalize many more forms of gambling or “economic gaming” in individual states among the USA, provinces in Canada, and countries of the European Union beyond the United Kingdom and Italy. Continue reading →