A bit ago, Microsoft changed their methodology for development and release of software. They took a fairly big hit in getting things out as they moved from what I’d call a “version” oriented release, where you cram everything possible in to a release version, to more of a scheduled release where things are in the release that are “right” and ready. They also have done the now-notorious change-ups on who works where, responsibilities, etc. many times. The thought then that was talked about was that over time, this would greatly accelerate the rate that they would be able to bring great quality stuff to market.
I think it’s safe to say it was a brilliant move.
When you look at that, and the others that take similar moves, or release in a sort of “agile” mindset rather than massive waterfall type releases, it’s incredible how much is changing and how fast.
We can stand back and point and complain (I do this a lot, frankly) that it’s impossible to keep up or that things are moving too quickly to deploy and fully understand, but the reality is, we simply MUST keep up with the things we’re responsible for. But how?
In my own case, my horizons have come in much tighter. I’ve had to work to figure out the things I work best with, and find others that focus in on other things. At the same time, it’s critical to stick your head up out of the noise frequently – to look for what’s changing and try to understand it and why. I have found the “why” to be really helpful in understanding what’s happening. Why did X, Y and Z get added to the product? What is it they were trying to address?
If you can determine that, it can give you a bit of a handle on things, I think. If you can understand that automatic tuning has some specific goals beyond the obvious from the title, you can start to consider what other things are likely to get automated and plan your learning appropriately. One of the tools that can help is following blogs that are put out by Microsoft, AWS, Azure teams and so-on. The key players that are supporting your infrastructure and providing the services you live and die by. For me, at least, the cross-eyed view of what is happening by looking at the headlines coming out is helpful to show direction and things that are getting the attention.
From there, you can quickly see what items impact you, or COULD impact you and your systems, and read more on them and figure out what’s what. It’s not perfect. Come release season (also known as conference season, when releases come in massive waves), keeping an eye on things is daunting. One of the things I’ve started doing is scanning the headlines, setting aside (marking in my RSS reader) stuff I need to return to and trying to clear the queue of new announcements as quickly as possible.
How do you approach the onslaught? And, perhaps more cynically, how do you determine when something is an announcement of smoke and mirrors (come on, we all know it happens) vs. something substantial that you need to dive into and figure out if it’s on the near horizon for impacting your systems? This last one bites me more than I care to admit.
Oh look! Shiny new toys and features in XYZ product – DIG IN, we gotta use it!
Only to find out it looks more ready for prime time than it perhaps is.
What do you think? What is your methodology for keeping it all in your line of vision?