Understanding DevOps: An interview with two practitioners

As one of the latest catchwords in the world of software, DevOps is a term that has been growing in popularity over the last decade. Is it yet another meaningless jargon which will fade away when the fashion wears off (Blu Ray discs, are you listening?!). Or is it something really useful, practical, helpful and here to stay for generations to come?

To understand what DevOps is, how it works and how it helps the people who use it, we sat down with software developer Dave and operations manager Oprah to understand how they use DevOps in their company, FutureSoft Solutions. Continue reading “Understanding DevOps: An interview with two practitioners”

Starting a software project on the right foot

Software projects are complex. Often the goal of an application looks simple, but as time progresses, the participants realise how complex the it actually is. Usually they fail to consider every type of input and the corresponding output. Fringe cases are often ignored and suddenly need to be accounted for. The most overlooked flaw is a lack of communication between the one who wants to use the software and the one who builds it. Requirements are not fully discussed and expectations are not fully set.

Most projects are difficult because they are not started the right way. The project starts in a direction that has already drifted from the desired outcome. It continues to drift until a lot of changes or even a ‘scrap and rewrite’ are needed to bring it back to course at a much later stage. In this post, I would like to discuss the points which should be taken care of so that you start a software project the right way. Continue reading “Starting a software project on the right foot”

6 practices that keep your software masterpiece from seeing the light of day

Software engineers switch between two modes: painful perfectionists and band-aid stickers. During the start of a project, software engineers discuss things to painful detail on whiteboards, Post-It notes, restaurant napkins and even glass doors. This eats away precious time that could have been spent on actual development. But as the deadline looms, the whiteboards and glass doors are rubbed, Post-It notes are torn apart and restaurant napkins are trashed. The plans are chucked in favour of anything that makes the application work.

Often, the released solution has plenty of duct tape code that holds the functionality together. After all the over-planning, duct-tape coding is the only thing possible in the limited time that the programmers leave for themselves. Software teams hardly release anything during the early phase of a software project as everything is put in meticulous detail on paper only. But as the deadline approaches, frenetic releases are made everyday or even every few hours, causing confusion among the developers, project managers, testing teams and the clients.

Continue reading “6 practices that keep your software masterpiece from seeing the light of day”