Data Engineering Is The Bottleneck For The Internet Of Things

A problem that has not disappeared is what to do with all of the data generated by the sensors. The challenge is not just the volume of data, but the fact that the modern world of data analysis is something that uses an ensemble of technologies, and each will require its own slice of the data.

via Data Engineering Is The Bottleneck For The Internet Of Things.

Tx Stefano Marzani for the link.

PierG

Extended T-shaped person

 

To compete in an innovative market, our profiles as knowledge workers has to change if compared with 10 yrs ago. We talk about T-shaped persons using the T as a metaphor of our competences:

The vertical bar on the T represents the depth of related skills and expertise in a single field, whereas the horizontal bar is the ability to collaborate across disciplines with experts in other areas and to apply knowledge in areas of expertise other than one’s own. . Wikipedia

I think this vision is not enough. Nowadays the horizontal bar need to be extended: there are so many competences that are adjacent to your business, interests that no one has time and memory enough to acquire all those skills.

Where does this extension comes from? Easy: your network! The Extended T-shaped person actively extends his competences with the competences of his network. I say actively because being part of a network is something that need the most precious resources we have today: time and attention.

PierG

How to be a better programmer

I’m happy to share something that Kent Beck shared with us answering to the post TDD is dead. Long live testing.

What’s I love of Kent’s notes is the fact that he indirectly did a list of the top priorities / skills (/ errors) of a good programmer. Ok probably Kent would argue that this is the list of his priorities but… I like to think is more general than that 🙂

[…] I’m sad […] because now I need to hire new techniques to help me solve many of my problems during programming:

• Over-engineering. I have a tendency to “throw in” functionality I “know” I’m “going to need”. Making one red test green (along with the list of future tests) helps me implement just enough. I need to find a new way to stay focused.
• API feedback. I need to find a new way to get quick feedback about my API decisions.
• Logic errors. I need to find a new way to catch those pesky sense-of-test errors I’m so prone to making.
• Documentation. I need to find a new way to communicate how I expect APIs to be used and to record what I was thinking during development.
• Feeling overwhelmed. I’m really going to miss how, using TDD, even if I couldn’t imagine an implementation I could almost always figure out how to write a test. I need to find a new way to take that next step up the mountain.
• Separate interface from implementation thinking. I have a tendency to pollute API design decisions with implementation speculation. I need to find a new way to separate the two levels of thinking while still providing rapid feedback between them.
• Agreement. I need to find a new way to be precise with a programming partner about what problem I’m solving.
• Anxiety. Perhaps what I’ll miss most is the way TDD gives me an instantaneous “Is Everything Okay?” button.

I’m sure I’ll find other ways to solve all these problems. In time. The pain will fade. Farewell TDD, old friend.

PierG

Wearable need a quantum innovation leap

According to a Harris Interactive poll conducted in September, 49% of Americans believe “wearable tech is a fad.” That sentiment seems to be a result of the less-than-stellar reception given to recently released devices such as the Pebble and the Galaxy Gear.

via Apple iWatch Already in Production, Report Says.

In the wearable devices market we need the same step Apple did with the first iPhone: touch moved from something almost unusable and for-geek-only to something natural that anyone could handle. Will Apple again do the magic?

PierG

[ITA] It’s a maker world

 “Non comprate un nuovo video game: fatene uno. Non scaricate l’ultima app: disegnatela. Non usate semplicemente il vostro telefono: programmatelo” – B.Obama

I 50 secondi in cui Obama dimostra che Carrozza su Internet sbaglia.

E voi? Cosa state FACENDO?
PierG

Lessons from WhatsApp

As an entrepreneur making decisions for your company, always go back to your first principles of what’s important to you and why you started in the first place

via WhatsApp Takeaway | Matt Mullenweg.

I do think the incredible performances/performance (say Steve Jobs as an entrepreneur or Twitter/Facebook as companies) are not good examples to follow: the incredible mix of competences, coincidences, nature and luck are difficult to reproduce as they are usually ‘out of standard’. So probably sticking to good practices and adding your own ‘first principles’ is a good way to go.

PierG

Is the future of Lean in psychology?

The future of lean is exciting. Its tools for eliminating waste and for increasing value as customers define it are being enhanced by huge gains in the volume and quality of the information companies can gather about customer behavior, the value of the marketing insights that can be integrated with operations, and the sophistication of the psychological insights brought to bear on the customer’s needs and desires. These advances bring new meaning to the classic lean maxim “learning to see.”

via Next frontiers for lean | McKinsey & Company.

PierG

[ITA] Le cose non fanno schifo per caso

Le cose  non fanno schifo per caso: fanno schifo per un motivo preciso, che non sei tu quello che fa muovere il modello di business, anche se a volte sembra così. Simone Brunozzi anni fa ha scritto uno splendido post sul perché gli aeroporti fanno schifo. “cercate da dove arrivano i soldi” scriveva. Ecco. Indizio: non vengono dal vostro biglietto aereo.

via Il modello di business spiega sempre tutto, anche le stazioni AV di Bologna e Mediopadana | [mini]marketing.

Amen!
PierG

There are known knowns but also unknown unknowns

There are known knowns:

there are things we know that we know.

There are known unknowns:

that is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know.

But there are also unknown unknowns:

there are things we do not know we don’t know.

— Rumsfeld D. (2002) Press Briefing

via Don’t listen to successful people • Intense Minimalism.

PierG

Hadoop plus Cloud

1. Lowering the cost of innovation
2. Procuring large scale resources quickly
3. Handling Batch Workloads Efficiently
4. Handling Variable Resource Requirements
5. Running Closer to the Data
6. Simplifying Hadoop Operations

via 6 Reasons Why Hadoop on the Cloud Makes Sense | ThoughtWorks.

PierG