The Soul of an Internet Machine

Engaging a team of software developers requires expertise, patience, and communication between the development team and team that owns and understands needs of the business. There are times that business can operate well with commercial software applications. Some businesses buy multiple tools. At some moment, the leaders within a company acknowledge that their internal or external

Let’s examine two questions common to software development projects. First, Can complementary tasks create adversarial competition? Second, when to bring more programmers on to a team. The answers depend on the mission and an assessment of what causes delays. As the team narrows the focus, we “begin with the end in mind” discovering objectives of the applications.

The inventions, designs, and concepts developed during the 1970s guide modern software development practices. They work. They are efficient. In the 21st Century, our software must support multiple cultures, multiple languages and bring a degree of flexibility the early pioneers did not design into their practices. How do we accommodate both? During the episode, we explored the impa

Modern software operates within the Cloud or internet. Software requires its own software infrastructure. Some code runs on the Cloud or internet servers. Some code runs within the user’s browser. These languages are different. The back-end software tends to be structured procedural languages. The client-side software tends to be written using object oriented languages. And what

Success in developing a software application depends entirely on the people. A client can short cut some of the risks by engaging a team that carries experience working together. Some clients hire individual programmers wishing that skills and techniques prove compatible. They think: I need software. I’ll hire programmers. A better practice involves finding a team where the indiv

Software development process typically follows a series of steps that start with gathering requirements, developing a technical response, architecture, reviews, then construction. Reality slips in surprises and occasionally messes up the order.

As a modern-day tool-smith, my colleagues and I build the software machines or tools of the modern economy. We developing a applications using tools from Oracle, United Codes, and others. Who is the audience for “The Soul of an Internet Machine”? Let’s start with the curious; curious about technology; curious about history; curious about business processes and entrepreneurshi

Childhood echoes in my today’s movements and actions. This lyrical piece explores the forest of my youth and the history of my long-ago home. Written about Lincoln Massachusetts, tucked between Lexington and Concord, once and still surrounded by literary, political, and scientific giants. I seek treasures, find awe, and rustle oak fallen oak leaves.

Sometimes all of the work smarter, better tools, teamwork boils down to focusing on the job and doing it. Nike says it well: Just do it! A team-building phrase that does carry sympathy and understanding and the tenderness of acknowledging, that work what we get paid to do. It is just work – with deadlines, and challenges, and tiny rewards. Ain’t no real short cuts, but I do fin

“What could possibly go wrong?” Around here, if there is one plan there are three plans. We’ve got to have the primary plan, then the backup plan then the other plan for when it all goes entirely wrong. PST – a reminder to start with a primary plan, a secondary plan, and a tertiary plan. Embracing failure may improve our lives, our work, and our teams.